Ex Nihilo
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The ginger hits like biting into fresh root—peppery, almost nose-tingling, with none of the sweetness you might expect. Bergamot weaves through it not as a counterpoint but as an accomplice, its green-citrus brightness making everything feel more electric, more insistent.
Akigalawood emerges as the true centrepiece, that peculiar ingredient bringing a creamy, almost lactonic quality that shouldn't work with cedar but somehow does, creating woods that feel polished rather than raw. The synthetic quality becomes more apparent here, a deliberate sleekness that keeps everything hovering just above the skin, present but never heavy.
What remains is surprisingly gentle—musk and tonka create a soft haze whilst the vetiver maintains a thread of green earthiness, preventing the base from turning too comfortable. The woods linger as memory rather than statement, a final whisper of that opening brightness now diffused into something calm, clean, resolving.
The Hedonist lives up to its name with an almost aggressive brightness, a fragrance that pulses with the kind of raw energy you'd expect from something bearing Jordi Fernández's signature. This is ginger stripped of any soft, biscuity associations—here it's nearly effervescent, a crackling, almost astringent bite that the bergamot doesn't so much soften as amplify, turning citrus and spice into a single luminous thrust. What saves this from being merely sharp is the cleverness of its heart: Akigalawood, that captolactone-rich ingredient that hovers somewhere between cedar and patchouli, brings an unexpected creaminess whilst maintaining a bone-dry woodiness that feels thoroughly modern. The construction is transparently synthetic in the best sense—no pretensions toward natural perfumery here—with musk and tonka creating not warmth but a kind of soft-focus glow that keeps the woods from turning austere. The vetiver, presumably of the cleaner Haitian variety rather than the smokier types, adds a rooty greenness that runs through the composition like a steel cable. This is for those who find traditional fresh fragrances too polite, too easy—The Hedonist demands attention without shouting, worn by people who've moved past aquatics and want their freshness with an edge. It suits hurried mornings and long afternoons when you need to feel awake, alert, slightly dangerous. There's nothing cosy here, nothing nostalgic. Just sharp intelligence and unapologetic modernity.
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3.5/5 (88)