Naxos

Naxos is a study in contrasts, where the bright, herbaceous snap of lavender meets the viscous, almost medicinal depth of raw honey in a collision that feels both inevitable and surprising. Chris Maurice has crafted something that defies easy categorisation: this isn't your grandmother's lavender water, nor is it a syrupy gourmand. Instead, the Provençal lavender—earthy, camphorous, slightly minty—acts as a counterweight to the thick, beeswax-laden honey that dominates from the first spray. The tobacco here isn't smoky or leathery; it's honeyed leaf, golden and slightly stemmy, reinforced by the nutty lactonic sweetness of tonka bean. Cinnamon weaves through the composition like a heated wire, its dry spiciness preventing the honey from becoming cloying whilst the twin jasmines add an indolic richness that borders on animalic. The citrus opening of lemon and bergamot barely registers before being swallowed whole by this amber-hued tidal wave. This is the scent of someone who appreciates the baroque, who finds comfort in complexity rather than minimalism. It suits late autumn evenings and the kind of person who owns well-worn leather-bound books. Naxos demands your skin chemistry engage with it—on some, it purrs; on others, it roars. The cashmeran adds a musky, almost cashmere-soft woody quality that prevents this from veering into purely edible territory, keeping one foot firmly in the realm of proper perfumery whilst the other luxuriates in unabashed sweetness.