Initio
Initio
712 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Lavender and bergamot strike their classic barbershop chord before white sage adds an almost silvery, slightly camphorous greenness—then the plum detonates, all purple-red ripeness and syrupy skin, completely rewriting the aromatic script. The juxtaposition is startling: you're smelling both monastery herb garden and orchard at harvest, the pepper crackling at the edges like static electricity.
The palo santo emerges properly now, its woody-resinous smoke tempering the fruit's exuberance whilst the plum settles into a less jammy, more sophisticated stone-fruit sweetness. Black pepper maintains its presence as a prickle of heat, preventing the composition from becoming soporific, whilst the sandalwood begins its creamy expansion underneath, turning the whole affair increasingly velvety.
What remains is sandalwood's buttery smoothness infused with oud's darker whisper, a ghost of plum still sweetening the woods, and palo santo's incense trail providing just enough smoke to remind you this was never meant to be comfortable. The skin-scent is warm, slightly animalic in its creaminess, fruited wood with lingering spice—intimate but insistent.
Paragon opens a peculiar dialogue between contradictions—fougère discipline meets opulent fruit, monastery austerity flirts with boudoir excess. That lavender-bergamot-sage trinity arrives with the crispness you'd expect, aromatics sparkling with herbal clarity, but within moments the plum announces itself with almost absurd generosity. This isn't a demure stone fruit whisper; it's jammy, fleshy, nearly indecent in its sweetness, yet somehow the palo santo's resinous smoke and black pepper's bite prevent the whole affair from collapsing into gourmand territory. The tension is delicious—you're constantly aware of the push-pull between clean and carnal.
What emerges is a fragrance for those who find conventional masculines too predictable and typical fruity scents too frivolous. The sandalwood-oud base adds requisite gravitas, though the oud here reads more as woody warmth than barnyard funk, creating a creamy foundation that allows that extraordinary plum accord to shine without shame. There's something decidedly nocturnal about Paragon despite its bright opening—perhaps it's the way the palo santo's sacred smoke mingles with fruit that suggests rituals of a less spiritual nature. This is the scent of someone who wears tailoring to underground clubs, who understands that sophistication and hedonism needn't be enemies. The 'Initio' promise of primal allure delivers, but through unexpected means: not raw animalics, but the animal pleasure of giving in to sweetness whilst maintaining an edge of elegant restraint.
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3.7/5 (83)