Shiseido / 資生堂
Shiseido / 資生堂
77 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Lavender cuts through with herbaceous precision, flanked by bright citrus notes that feel almost lemony and green. Within moments, a dusty spice accord begins muscling through—clove-like, peppery—while the citrus fades as if deliberately suppressed.
Tobacco becomes the dominant character, dry and slightly burnt, settling into a base of leather that feels worked and aged rather than fresh. Spice transforms into something more complex and earthy, mingling with sandalwood's cool, almost antiseptic woody tones. The fragrance turns inward here, becoming more intimate and less effusive.
Leather and sandalwood become nearly synonymous, with amber adding barely-perceptible warmth to an increasingly austere composition. What remains is remarkably subtle—barely a whisper against the skin—making this fragrance feel like a secret only you possess by the end of the day.
Basala Basara arrives as a deliberately austere proposition—a fragrance that refuses to flatter or seduce in conventional ways. Dominique Preyssas has crafted something distinctly cerebral here, where lavender's herbaceous snap meets citrus brightness before immediately retreating into shadow. The genius lies in what happens next: tobacco and spice notes emerge with a burnt, almost medicinal quality, creating an effect rather like smouldering dried leaves caught between pages of old leather-bound books. There's a deliberate dryness throughout—these aren't generous, round spice notes but rather their astringent cousins, sharp enough to feel almost peppery against the skin.
The leather here isn't the glossy, polished variety. It's aged, slightly weathered, the kind you'd find in a vintage flight jacket or a scholar's well-worn satchel. Sandalwood and amber provide structure rather than warmth, grounding the composition in something earthy and slightly mineral. The overall effect is uncompromisingly masculine in character, though the fragrance's unisex classification feels deliberate—it's less about gender and more about rejecting softness altogether.
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4.2/5 (238)