Heeley
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The yuzu hits with mouth-puckering tartness, backed by a bright lemon-mandarin chorus that feels almost effervescent against the skin. There's an immediate greenness underneath, slightly bitter, like citrus pith crushed between your fingers, with just a whisper of that characteristic yuzu floral quality peeking through the acid.
As the initial brightness settles, the sea salt emerges and transforms everything—suddenly the citrus reads less fruity, more saline and mineral. The interaction creates an almost savoury quality, reminiscent of yuzu kosho, that green-white space where citrus and salt meet. It's cleaner now, more linear, but with an addictive skin-salinity that keeps drawing you back.
The Haitian vetiver finally makes itself known, providing a pale green-grey backdrop that's more whisper than statement. The white musk blends seamlessly with skin chemistry, leaving just a trace of clean, slightly salty warmth with the faintest citrus memory hovering above. It's subtle enough that you'll find yourself pressing your wrist to your nose, searching for what remains.
Note de Yuzu is James Heeley's exercise in restraint, a study of citrus that refuses to shout. The opening bursts with the tart, almost pithy brightness of yuzu—more astringent than lemon, more complex than mandarin, with that characteristic bitter-floral edge that sets Japanese citrus apart from its Mediterranean cousins. Heeley doesn't layer this with vanilla or amber to make it comfortable; instead, he introduces sea salt at the heart, a mineral sharpness that amplifies the citrus's natural salinity and creates an unexpected umami quality. It's not "marine" in that synthetic, calone-heavy way—there's no melon, no aquatic screech. Rather, it's the salt you taste on your lips after swimming, the slight mineral tang that lingers on sun-warmed skin.
The vetiver in the base is crucial here, chosen specifically for its cleaner, greener character rather than the smoky earthiness of Bourbon or Java varieties. It provides a subtle, almost imperceptible grass-like foundation that keeps the citrus from floating away into abstraction. The white musk is whisper-quiet, more texture than scent, giving the composition just enough skin-like warmth to feel lived-in rather than ozonic.
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3.8/5 (218)