The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
More Beauty Than Beast is a spicy floral amber from Joseph DeLapp, also known as JK DeLapp, and it announces its character right away. The grapefruit opening is a wink, not a softener. It cuts through with a tart, slightly bitter freshness that prickles at the nose rather than offering a polite welcome. This is citrus behaving as accent, not as overture. What follows is a layered heart where ylang-ylang, jasmine, and rose meet clove, nutmeg, and cassia. The ylang brings a dense, almost buttery tropical sweetness, while the jasmine adds creamy indole depth. Rose threads through both, lending a dewy lift. Clove and nutmeg push warmth into the floral mix, and cassia tightens the edges with a sharper, almost woody heat.
The interesting decision here is the spice-to-floral ratio. More Beauty Than Beast holds the balance in the heart, where ylang and jasmine don't get buried under clove and cassia. Instead, the spices act as seasoning, not main course. The May rose adds a dewy lift that keeps the ylang from turning syrupy. The rosewood and sandalwood in the base provide woody glue that connects the spicy heart to the resinous drydown. There's a deliberate architecture at work. Each note has its place in the structure, from the bright citrus top to the dense, resinous floor.
The evolution
The opening is bright and almost candy-like. Pink grapefruit and red grapefruit spike with allspice, giving the first ten minutes a fizzy, almost effervescent quality, like an orange-flavored tablet dissolving in water. There's a powdery edge to it too, from the spice. The grapefruit reads juicy at first, then sharper, with a pithy bitterness that keeps it from leaning too sweet. Allspice wraps around the citrus like a warm hand, adding a peppery, almost clove-like hum. By the thirty-minute mark, the citrus retreats and the heart takes over. Ylang-ylang comes through buttery and dense, with clove warming it from underneath. Jasmine sambac and May rose add a creamy floral depth, while cassia and nutmeg layer in more heat. The ylang here smells tropical and lush, almost like ripe fruit just past the edge of ripeness.
Cultural impact
More Beauty Than Beast sits comfortably in the spicy oriental floral category, and it does so with a confidence that recalls older traditions. The composition relies on classical structure, vintage raw materials, and a willingness to include animalic notes like civet that many contemporary releases avoid. That civet at the base isn't decorative. It does real work, keeping the sweetness of benzoin and vanilla from drifting into something too clean, too polite. The grapefruit opening is another nod to a bygone approach to perfumery, where citrus wasn't just a freshening top note but a statement of intent.
