The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Jimmy Bodin called this one Tonkin Tonka for a reason, though the reason lives in the formulation rather than any folk etymology. The fragrance is built around Tonkin musk, a rare animalic material pulled from deer musk, paired with tonka bean tincture that Bodin reportedly made at home. Together these two anchors give the composition its unusual weight. Launched in 2023 through The Unleashed Apothecary, the juice also leans on rhubarb, steering away from the vanilla-heavy path tonka usually walks in commercial perfumery. The result reads less like a confection and more like something with fur stitched into it, creamy and rough at once.
Tonkin musk carries a texture you don't get from white musks. It has weight, almost warmth, an animalic density that sits close to the skin and refuses to behave like a clean laundry note. Pairing it with tonka bean pulls the composition toward skin-scent territory, while rhubarb's tartness prevents the whole thing from collapsing into sweetness. Frangipani and benzoin add to the creamy density, balsam fir and Chinese toon bring an unexpected greenery that cuts the dessert-leaning base, and tobacco grounds the drydown with a dry, slightly ash-edged finish.
The evolution
The opening is loud. Rhubarb and tonka collide up front, the tart stem cutting through the bean's warmth in a way that smells almost edible. It reads initially like a fruit pastry, bright and stem-sour, before the richer notes start to assert themselves. Frangipani blooms into the cream, benzoin sweetens the edges, and the Tonkin musk pushes everything closer to skin, adding that leathery warmth white musks never replicate. As the composition settles, the rhubarb steps back and the perfume reads as creamy fur, a soft warmth with tobacco caught underneath. Later in the wear, fir and Chinese toon resurface through the sweetness, and the base finishes on a powdery tonka trace that clings to fabric long after the sillage has gone quiet.
Cultural impact
Tonkin Tonka 2 draws a specific kind of wearer, the sort drawn to materials with texture rather than to crowd-pleasing sweetness. Tonkin musk, tonka beans tincture, tobacco, these are the building blocks that pull people in, ingredients that carry their own weight rather than disappearing into a generic gourmand cloud. The rhubarb note divides opinion sharply, which is itself a marker of a fragrance that doesn't try to please everyone. You either want that tart green stem cutting through your tonka, or you don't. There's not much middle ground, and the people who land on the positive side tend to stay loyal to the bottle.
