Mystique Myrrhe

What makes this composition work is the tension between two opposing forces. Myrrh is warm, resinous, and deeply balsamic, it slows you down. Coffee is sharp, bitter, and slightly chemical, it speeds you up. In most hands, these materials cancel each other out. In Ricord's formulation, they hold. The myrrh opens first, full and dark, then the coffee slides in through a crack in the door. Neither dominates. Neither retreats. The oud and iris add a dusty, powdery counterpoint that keeps the heart from becoming too heavy, while papyrus adds a dry, almost paper-like quality that ties everything back to the resinous origin of the piece.

The evolution

The first thirty minutes are all myrrh and smoke. The incense note isn't subtle, it announces itself with the kind of authority that either grabs you or sends you reaching for the nearest exit. If it grabs you, hold on. By the second hour, the coffee emerges properly, dark and roasted, cutting through the resin like a sharp line on a warm page. The vanilla appears in the third hour, sweet and buttery, smoothing the edges that the pepper left sharp. Then the leather comes. Not the polished leather of a new jacket, the worn leather of a jacket that's been somewhere. The cacao pods anchor the base, giving the drydown a bittersweet quality that lingers close to the skin for six to eight hours on most. On fabric, it lasts until the next wash. On paper, it haunts you for days.