The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Mahsam Raza built My Kind of New York as part of The Dua Brand's Inspired Expression collection. The reference here is Bond No. 9's My New York, a fragrance built around rose, spice, and wood. The Dua Brand is known for compositions that pull from familiar territory and reconstruct the bones with different materials, and this one sits squarely in that approach. It's a woody spicy with pink pepper, ginger, and elemi at the opening, papyrus and cashmeran in the middle pulling things toward smoke and dryness, and sandalwood, patchouli, and rose underneath doing the heavy lifting. The whole thing reads warm, a little smoky, grounded in texture rather than sweetness.
What makes this composition interesting is the weight balance. Pink pepper, ginger, and elemi bring a bright, almost peppery snap, but they're anchored immediately by papyrus and cashmeran, two materials that bring smoke and a dry, suede-like softness without tipping into leather territory. Sandalwood and patchouli do the lifting underneath, creamy against earthy, while rose threads through the middle to keep the whole thing from going too dark.
The evolution
The opening is sharp and quick, pink pepper and ginger arrive like a cold gust, and elemi adds a lemony brightness that doesn't linger. As the composition moves past its first phase, the papyrus starts pulling things down into something smokier, and the cashmeran introduces that dry, almost mineral softness, like fabric warmed by a radiator. Rose appears quietly in the middle, never as a floral statement, more as a thread that softens the wood. Eventually the sandalwood and patchouli take over fully, creamy, earthy, grounded. The drydown reveals the true character of the base, a quiet, woody warmth that clings close to the skin. The papyrus note in particular seems to outlast almost everything else, a faint, woody smoke that persists long after the other materials have faded.
Cultural impact
My Kind of New York sits inside The Dua Brand's Inspired Expression line, a collection that draws on recognizable compositions and reconstructs them with the house's own materials. The reference here is Bond No. 9's My New York, a fragrance that captured attention through its rose, spice, and wood architecture. Dua's version takes that territory and works within it, building a woody spicy that leans warm and textured, with pink pepper, ginger, and elemi opening into papyrus, cashmeran, and rose, before settling into sandalwood and patchouli at the base.
