Description
RUBY RED
Some scents are only made once. Ruby was one of them. Month after month I tried to get it back, and each time I failed because the oils on which it was built are no longer available. Not „rarely“. Not „hard to find“. Gone. So I started from the other side. I didn’t copy the bottle, but what it did. Its DNA, piece by piece, from raw materials strong enough to carry it.
What did come back was not quite the same stone. Dragon’s blood, red chamomilla, red mandarin, saffron, an old red carnation. The whole thing is tipped deeper into red. Darker, warmer, more blood than glass. To call it Ruby 2 would have been a lie.
Ruby was always a tribute to my childhood. To a very famous game in which you had to collect three stones before a gate opened that allowed you to travel through time. One from the forest, one from the water, one from the mountain of fire.
The ride.
Italian blood orange, bitter and bright. To this is added a little red mandarin, rounder, sweeter, almost candied. Before it becomes friendly, Persian saffron cuts in: leathery, metallic, like coins that have been held in the hand for too long. Ceylon cinnamon and clove buds ignite the flame. Driven by real ambergris.
Among them, Iris appears as a cool powder. Red garden carnation comes in spicy and bright notes, as carnations haven’t been smelled in decades. Red Champaka Absolue and Ylang-Ylang from Madagascar give the heart an exotic, almost indecent character. The Chinese tree vine winds between them and holds the flowers together before they fall apart.
From here on it gets precious. Mysore sandalwood from the Indian State Reserve, vintage 1991. My year of birth. A tribute to childhood, built on wood that is as old as I am. It’s no coincidence. Creamy, milky, slightly buttery on the edges, just like real Mysore sandalwood smells. It includes Ceylon sandalwood and Mysore absolute, so that the wood never stops. Somali myrrh and dragon’s blood add depth of red, fur and darkness. Ethiopian zibet and onyx give the blend a touch of edge. Ambergris. Not used in homeopathic traces but in quantities that most houses would not dare to use. Salted, animalic, luminous, mineral. Everything around it begins to shine. Vanilla absolute and rum CO2 round off the circle with a subtle sweetness.
Finally I have you back.
Some doors only open once. This one was opened a second time.