The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Neroli 2024 came together in 2024 under the hand of Carlos Benaïm, one of modern perfumery's most exacting noses. The brief reads simple on paper: neroli, treated with the seriousness usually reserved for heavier materials, given structure and shadow so it can carry more than a top-note role. Proad handed the composition to Benaïm and let him work the flower into something with real backbone, something that holds its shape from the first spray to the last breath of the base. The result doesn't hide its aromatic character or its floral center. It moves with the polish of a modern composition but keeps the nerve and lift of a classical neroli intact. There's no apology here for either tradition. The flower gets to be loud, and the surrounding architecture gets to be clean.
What makes this composition work is the cast around the neroli. Lavender and pink pepper in the opening do what they do best, adding coolness and a soft bite, but they never crowd the flower. Cardamom slips in warm and just-spicy-enough to keep things from going too clean. Then the heart widens. Geranium and magnolia bring a green-soapy lushness that neroli alone can't carry, and the named flower gets room to open up properly, supported rather than smothered. It reads as modern because the supporting notes do the lifting, not because anything loud was added.
The evolution
On skin, the opening belongs to lavender and pink pepper, bright and bracing, the kind of cool snap you expect from a well-built neroli. The cardamom circles in underneath, warmer now, and the neroli starts to lift through the geranium like steam curling off a cup of something hot. As the composition settles, the white florals ease back, the green notes retreating into something that reads more like crushed stems than garden. The base arrives quietly. Sandalwood brings its soft cream, patchouli grounds it without dirt, and labdanum and ambergris together create a warm ambered skin impression that carries through the rest of the wear. Through the middle hours the neroli stays present as a hum rather than a shout, that quiet neroli-skin-amber resonance that defines the drydown.
Cultural impact
Neroli 2024 sits in a quiet conversation about neroli being more than a top-note flourish. Where most compositions treat the flower as a clean opening that disappears by the heart, this one asks neroli to carry the whole arc from first contact to final hours on skin. It lands in a moment when aromatic florals are getting serious attention outside their usual frames, and the composition offers a version that keeps neroli's clarity without leaning on any single tradition. The result wears well for someone who wants the lift of neroli without the brisk, old-school read that usually comes with it.
The House
ProadProad is a Thai fragrance house that interprets human nature through scent, drawing inspiration from the Roman Catholic concept of the seven deadly sins. The brand creates perfumes that explore themes of desire, memory, and emotional states, translating abstract concepts into wearable compositions. Proad has released multiple notable scents including Cherry Syrup (2019), Taipei (2021), Kyoto by Night (2021), and Pure Chemical No Natural (2022), with recent releases such as Lust and Let the whispers of Mojito calm your soul arriving in 2025. The house positions itself as a niche player in the fragrance market, producing fragrances in collaboration with perfumers and drawing from diverse sources including travel, music, poetry, and personal recollection.
The Creator
Carlos BenaïmCarlos Benaim's signature style is immediately recognizable to those who know what to look for: confident masculinity rendered with surprising elegance, clean structures that reveal unexpected depth, and a mastery of aromatic and woody materials that few can match. His masculi…
