Green Island

Green Island is the most structurally ambitious fragrance in the range because it joins two things that do not usually meet. The top is a straightforward bright citrus, grapefruit and mandarin together, tart and clean. The heart is where it turns: sea salt and bay leaf produce a mineral, briny, faintly herbal middle that reads more like coastline than like the generic blue-aquatic accord most fragrances reach for. Then the base does something genuinely unexpected for an aquatic, bringing in guaiac wood, tobacco and patchouli, which are smoky, dry and earthy respectively and have no business working under sea salt. They do work, mostly, and the result is a scent that starts as a holiday and ends somewhere considerably more sombre. Whether that transition is a feature or a fault depends on what you wanted from the opening. It performs solidly and the base has real staying power. Spring and summer suit the top; the drydown argues for autumn, which makes it an awkward fit for high summer despite reading as a warm-weather scent. Casual wear is where it makes most sense.