Celestial Woods

When I was younger, say around 12 or 13, I had nothing else to do but drugs, and lots of them. Though I never liked pot, it made me too paranoid. I loved the laser light show of psychedelics, like acid and ecstasy, X, or XTC. It's called Molly now.

My friends and I would jump from house party to house party every Friday night, tripping on acid, drinking a lot more than we should have been. (When you're tripping, you can drink more alcohol than you normally would.)

And every Saturday night we would get drunk, hop in my best friend's red sports car, and take our capsule, rarely a tablet, of X on the way to the club. By the time we got to the clue, we were rolling our assess off, grinding our teeth, getting hypnotized by the light show, strobes, and fog machine. The pulsating music bounced in our heads and we just wanted to hug everyone we could.

Fast forward to the morning. At 7:30 am, it was time to leave the club and head home before our parents woke up.

I'd tiptoe it through the front door, make a quick left, and go down the hall to my room.   Once in my room, the door closed and locked shut, I'd change my clothes, boy, they stunk of cigarettes, and get into bed. 

The sunlight beamed through the vertical blinds. And I'd cover myself with a sacred perfume to hide the night before. It smelled of citrus and woods, and skin. I re-made it for you. It's called Celestial Woods.

Celestial Woods is not merely an oil-based scent, but a curated journey across cultures and centuries, an homage to weekends' most treasured traditions. It is composed as one might assemble a cabinet of rare curiosities: each material chosen for its lineage, rarity, and capacity to converse across sanity.

The opening citrus, bergamot, and lime echo the waiting period before the manmade chemicals kicked in, echoing the refined colognes of Renaissance Europe, when bergamot from Calabria became the jewel of Italian courts. Lime adds a sharper, greener brilliance. It used to be carried across oceans on spice routes, it lends both freshness and the romance of distant travel.

At the heart of the composition blooms a dialogue of florals. Jasmine Sambac, what I call the "masculine jasmine," prized in Indian gardens and immortalized in temple offerings, appears here, a note of narcotic clarity like the sharpness of the laserlight show or the beating of the techno music. It entwines with a big dose of osmanthus absolute, a rarity from the imperial gardens of China, long celebrated in poetry and autumn rituals. Its character, apricot, suede, and tea, embodies the opulence of rolling. Hugging whoever walked by. The pairing of jasmine and osmanthus is a meeting of two great floral civilizations, brought together in harmony.

The base is anchored in a rare, precious woods dancefloor, of Indonesian provenance: patchouli from 2017, sandalwood, eaglewood, and oud/agarwood oil. This quartet of sacred woods recalls the incense routes that bound Arabia to Asia, where oud was traded as dearly as gold and sandalwood formed the heart of Hindu and Buddhist ritual. Patchouli contributes its earthy gravity, our Converse sneakers firmly on the ground, while eaglewood and agarwood lend resinous smoke and sacred depth, echoing the hushed interior of temples and the meditative silence of incense ceremonies and psychedelic tripping.

Finally, the entire composition is veiled in musk. This rarity diffuses with a body-like aura, echoing osmanthus’ fruity sweetness while uniting the sacred woods and luminous florals into a seamless whole. A modern refinement of an ancient theme, it ensures the work's resonance, lingers as a soft halo around the wearer. And finally, I was able to fall asleep as my father made pancakes.

Note Pyramid

• Top Notes: Bergamot, Lime

• Heart Notes: Jasmine Sambac, Osmanthus Absolute

• Base Notes: Vintage patchouli, Sandalwood, Eaglewood, Oud/Agarwood Oil, and Musk

Celestial Woods is a work for the collector. It is an example of the sun through the blinds, the rustling of the house waking, and the slow grinding of my teeth as I watch the movie behind my eyelids.

1/gram 2.5 grams