Nishane
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The cypress strikes first—green, sharp, almost medicinal—before lavender unfurls with geranium adding a minty, slightly metallic edge. There's an aromatic freshness here that's more Alpine forest than bathroom cabinet, the herbaceousness crisp and unapologetic against skin.
As the composition settles, cashmere wood emerges like soft focus on a camera lens, its musky sweetness enveloping the traditional triumvirate of sandalwood, cedarwood, and patchouli. The woods maintain their individual identities—cedar's dryness, sandalwood's lactonic smoothness, patchouli's earthy shadows—but they're bound together by that contemporary cashmere note, creating depth without density.
What remains is the fougère skeleton: oakmoss providing its distinctive bitter-green foundation, tonka bean lending vanillic warmth without sweetness, and musk creating an intimate skin-scent halo. The lavender hasn't entirely disappeared but has been absorbed into the mossy-musky base, a ghost of its former brightness haunting the periphery.
B-612 is Nishane's love letter to the fougère tradition, built around the holy trinity of lavender, oakmoss, and coumarin-rich tonka, yet elevated by Christian Carbonnel's deft hand with contemporary woody textures. The opening is a masterclass in restraint: cypress and geranium flank the lavender, their green-spicy sharpness preventing any descent into soapy blandness. This isn't lavender as linen spray; it's lavender as architectural element, metallic and aromatic with a resinous bite from the cypress that suggests Mediterranean scrubland rather than Provençal fields.
What distinguishes B-612 from countless other modern fougères is its mid-section, where cashmere wood wraps itself around traditional sandalwood and cedarwood like a soft jumper over starched collar. The patchouli here reads as earth rather than incense, grounding the woods without adding hippie heft. There's genuine texture to this phase—the woods don't simply blend into beige abstraction but maintain their distinct characters, the cedar's pencil-shaving dryness playing against sandalwood's creamy sweetness.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.8/5 (551)