Seductive

Seductive is the night-time entry in Being's debut four, and it is built on a much shorter note list than its siblings. Fig opens it, green and milky rather than jammy, with cardamom adding a dry spice lift that keeps the first ten minutes from feeling sleepy. The heart is the interesting part: orris brings a cool, powdery, faintly makeup-like quality, and sandalwood underneath it turns that powder creamy instead of austere. A thread of ylang-ylang runs through the middle too, and it is what gives the composition its floral heat. The base is straightforward and effective, amber and tonka bean wrapped tightly around the skin, sweet without tipping into dessert. The overall effect is soft, warm and quite intimate, which fits the brief but does mean it is not a fragrance that announces itself. Projection is modest from the outset and it becomes a personal scent fairly quickly, so apply more generously than you would with Joyful or Radiant. Autumn and winter suit it best, and it works far better in the evening than across a working day. The lane is affordable cosy amber, aimed squarely at the date-night slot, and at around forty pounds for 100ml it is a low-risk way into that territory. Anyone who finds fig-and-orris compositions soapy should test before committing.