Escentric Molecules Escentric 05

Cashmeran is dry, radiant, warm, and woody with an unexpected touch of pine resin, says Geza Schoen. That gave me the idea of creating a different kind of summer fragrance. I wanted to evoke what it was like to be by the sea, but not by using the usual marine notes, which I find too artificial. Instead, I wanted to recreate the experience of being on an island in the Mediterranean.

The top note of Escentric 05 is very simple: bergamot to keep things light, and orange, an ingredient which has an emotional tone to it, bright and happy. It reflects the orange groves that cover this island.

Laurel and rosemary are typical Mediterranean plants with a spicy freshness, juniper brings a herbal tonality, and cypress is a very dry, pungent wood.

The drydown has two classic Mediterranean ingredients, cistus labdanum and mastic. Mastic is a resin produced by a small tree that grows especially near the sea. It has the clean sharp scent of newly-cut branches. Cistus is a small plant that grows everywhere in the Med. It has a sweet, leathery, balsamic quality which I love. And of course, there is around 15% of cashmeran – which gives the fragrance its piney warmth.

I also introduced a subtle fig, both the bitterness of the leaves and the ripeness of the fruit. Figs had to be in there because there is a fig tree by our house on the island. Fig feels authentic to the place; it reminds me of the happiness of summer by the sea.