XerJoff
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The pepper-cardamom-ginger trinity detonates immediately, all three spices jostling for dominance whilst the elemi resin provides an unexpected green, almost turpentine-like edge that keeps the heat from becoming monolithic. It's sharp enough to make your eyes water slightly, the olfactory equivalent of biting into a green peppercorn still on the vine.
Frankincense and myrrh emerge as co-conspirators, their honeyed, balsamic richness absorbing the opening's aggression and transforming it into something ceremonial and hypnotic. The rose becomes visible only as a reddish tint within the resinous smoke, whilst mimosa adds an unexpected powdery softness that suggests skin beneath incense-soaked robes.
Benzoin and labdanum merge into an amber-resinous skin that feels almost sticky with sweetness, the patchouli lending earthy, slightly funky depth whilst cedarwood's pencil-shaving dryness prevents complete descent into gourmand territory. What remains is a smoky, vanillic resin haze that clings with surprising tenacity.
Groove Xcape is a spice merchant's fever dream rendered in resinous opacity. Karine Vinchon-Spehner has orchestrated an incense-forward composition where the sacred and the sensual collide with almost confrontational intensity. The opening triumvirate of pepper, cardamom, and ginger doesn't merely announce itself—it crackles with electric heat that the elemi resin immediately begins to temper with its citric, pine-like brightness. This is no polite aromatic whisper; it's a full-throated proclamation that spice can be as architectural as it is ephemeral.
What distinguishes this from the glut of oriental-spicy releases is the frankincense-myrrh heart, which refuses to play the supporting role. These aren't decorative wisps of church smoke but dense, honeyed resins that create an almost narcotic thickness in the air. The rose and mimosa feel less like florals and more like botanical offerings consumed by holy smoke, their sweetness caramelised by the heat of the opening spices still radiating beneath. There's a fascinating tension here—the mimosa's powdery, hay-like qualities fighting against the rose's jammy depth, both losing gracefully to the resinous fog.
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3.9/5 (196)