Cirebon

Cirebon is Paul Schutze's citrus: a night on the island of Java by the edge of a lake, with a gamelan orchestra drifting across the water. The London artist and self-taught perfumer imagined music as scent, and the result is built around a single, thick and potent orange. It opens with bitter orange, bergamot and petitgrain, a dark, deep citrus that wearers say smells like the peel on your fingers. Dry cedar shoots up beside the citrus right from the start, so the usual top-note fade never quite arrives. Tunisian orange blossom and magnolia soften and sweeten the bitterness, with a hint of vetiver and sandalwood underneath and a trace of cyclamen. The notes are listed together rather than split into stages. Longevity and projection are moderate, so it suits a few sprays. It wears best in spring and summer, and is an easy choice for leisure, daily and business wear; winter is its weakest season. Opinion is split between those who find it a natural, meditative orange and those who find the start sour or a little too realistic. It sits closer to a spiced, woody citrus than to a bright cologne, and wearers read it as unisex. Sold in 50 ml, it is worth a sample first, because the realism is the whole idea.