The Different Company
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bergamot and coriander burst forth with snappy clarity, a bright spark that immediately signals this won't be a cosy, gourmand affair. The fig arrives green and slightly tart, cutting through any potential sweetness before it can establish itself, establishing a composition that feels almost herbal-skincare adjacent in its clarity.
Shiso leaf emerges with surprising prominence, transforming the narrative entirely—suddenly you're no longer in citrus territory but something decidedly more savoury and Japanese-garden-leaning. Freesia's indolic sweetness and nutmeg's subtle peppery warmth play against the shiso's slightly anise-tinged character, creating a tension that keeps things perpetually interesting rather than allowing any note to dominate comfortably.
The composition turns increasingly woody and restrained, cedarwood taking on a dry, almost architectural quality as the musky base notes settle into a barely-there hum against skin. It becomes almost transparent, a whisper of green wood and faint spice that lingers near the neck rather than projecting outward—this is an intimate rather than declarative final act.
De Bachmakov is a fragrance that refuses sentimentality, instead offering the green clarity of someone who's just walked through a Japanese garden after rain. Céline Ellena constructs something deliberately restrained here—a composition where restraint becomes its own form of sophistication. The bergamot arrives bright and almost medicinal, immediately joined by coriander's peppery whisper and a fig note that reads less like the sweet Mediterranean fruit and more like a green, slightly astringent leaf. This opening establishes the fragrance's central tension: it's citrus-adjacent but fundamentally herbaceous, fresh but with an edge.
The heart is where Ellena's hand becomes most evident. Shiso leaf—that Japanese herb with its slightly anise-touched, savoury character—transforms the composition into something genuinely unusual. It plays against freesia's indolic sweetness with considerable friction, creating an almost saline quality that keeps the fragrance from becoming conventionally pretty. Nutmeg arrives not as a warming spice but as another green inflection, reinforcing the verdant character rather than introducing warmth. This is where De Bachmakov separates itself from softer alternatives: it's the scent for someone who finds standard florals too eager to please.
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