LAVS

LAVS conjures the sensory theatre of High Mass in a medieval cathedral—all billowing thurible smoke and beeswax tapers guttering in stone alcoves. This is Sorcinelli channelling his liturgical obsessions into liquid form, and it's gloriously uncompromising. The opening detonates with black pepper and cardamom that crackle like frankincense hitting hot charcoal, whilst jasmine weaves through the spice haze like pale smoke curling towards vaulted ceilings. But this isn't delicate or devotional in any precious sense; there's a muscular, almost feral quality to how the resinous heart unfolds. Elemi and labdanum create a sticky, amber-dark core that smells of ancient wood and accumulated incense residue, whilst clove and coriander add a medicinal sharpness that keeps everything from collapsing into sweetness. The base is where LAVS truly reveals its character—opoponax brings an almost animalic warmth, like skin heated by layers of wool and proximity to flame, whilst oakmoss provides a crucial green-grey foundation that prevents the amber and tonka from becoming cloying. This is for those who want their fragrance to announce a presence, who understand that sacred spaces smell of smoke and wax and centuries of ritual, not antiseptic cleanliness. Wear this when you want to feel like you're carrying your own atmosphere, a personal fog of resinous intensity that makes modernist aquatics seem laughably insubstantial by comparison.