Phaedon
Phaedon
100 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Galbanum's bright, almost sharp green burst collides with mastic's resinous coolness, creating an immediate sense of aromatic intensity. Within moments, subtle spice emerges—cardamom-adjacent notes that prevent the opening from becoming purely herbal.
The mastic absolute softens the initial brightness, deepening into a creamy-dry resinousness whilst labdanum adds an almost tobacco-like earthiness beneath persistent woody notes. The composition becomes increasingly contemplative, less sparkling and more introspective, with dry woods creating a austere, weathered character.
Vetiver and cedar establish a mineral, slightly smoky foundation as the fragrance becomes predominantly woody and earthy. Musk and ambergris provide a subtle warmth rather than sweetness, leaving a trace of refined stoniness and dried herbs that lingers closer to skin.
Lentisque Spanish Bush is an austere meditation on mastic—that piney, slightly bitter resin that anchors Mediterranean landscapes. Rather than pursuing comfort, Phaedon has crafted something deliberately austere and contemplative, a fragrance that demands your attention rather than whispers pleasantries.
The galbanum arrives first with its characteristic green-yellow sharpness, but it's the mastic that dominates the narrative. This isn't the soft, anise-tinged mastic of some fragrances; here it's rendered as a dry, almost medicinal resin with subtle spice threading through. The heart deepens this further with a mastic absolute that feels almost chalky in its density, layered beneath dry woods that read more as driftwood than furniture polish—weathered, stripped of sentimentality.
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4.3/5 (150)