Mudejar

The top notes, black pepper and grapefruit, create an immediate sensory contrast. The citrus provides brightness, almost a coolness, while the pepper adds warmth and a slight edge. The blackcurrant in the heart is the fragrance's most distinctive element. The actual fruit note is fleeting; what lingers is the leaf, a tart green quality that gives the composition its character. Cedrus atlanticus, the Atlas cedar, provides woody depth that keeps the blackcurrant from reading as purely fruity.

The evolution

The opening arrives with black pepper's warmth followed immediately by grapefruit's citrus brightness. The grapefruit is the fleeting element here, reading clearly in the early minutes before it recedes behind the pepper. What remains is a citrus-spice foundation that sets up everything that follows. As the fragrance develops, blackcurrant emerges alongside Atlas cedar. The blackcurrant is not the sweet berry; it's the leaf, the tart green edge that gives this stage its character. Cedar adds woody depth, and together they create a middle that feels architectural, structured, and substantial, with the kind of weight that makes you aware of your own skin. The drydown arrives as frankincense introduces itself as a smoky counterpoint to the fruit and wood, followed by leather.