XerJoff
XerJoff
274 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The honey-caramel pairing hits with viscous intensity, thick as artisan toffee, before bergamot slices through with its sharp green-citrus blade. It's almost disorienting, this oscillation between pastry case and cologne, until the two settle into an uneasy truce that smells like amber beginning to heat.
Benzoin's vanilla-tinged resin emerges alongside jasmine's white floral heft, whilst osmanthus contributes its peculiar leather-apricot duality. The ouds start their slow infiltration here, medicinal whispers beneath the sweetness, adding a smoky, animalic complexity that transforms what could have been dessert into something decidedly carnal.
Bourbon vanilla and amber dominate, but the ouds persist as woody, slightly funky anchors that prevent total confectionery collapse. What remains is a skin-close emanation of expensive resins and woods, sweet but shadowed, like honey drizzled over agarwood chips still smouldering in a censer.
Mamluk doesn't whisper—it announces itself with the throaty purr of honeyed opulence, a baroque confection that teeters between patisserie and perfume counter with remarkable dexterity. The opening marriage of honey and caramel should collapse into cloying sweetness, yet the bergamot's citric bite provides just enough tension, like a squeeze of lemon cutting through crème brûlée. This is XerJoff flexing its technical prowess, layering Benzoin Siam and not one but two oud varieties into what reads as molten amber on the skin.
The jasmine and osmanthus pairing in the heart deserves particular attention—the former's indolic punch collides with osmanthus's suede-and-apricot character, creating an animalic undertow that prevents this from reading as simply 'sweet'. It's that 64% animalic accord doing the heavy lifting, adding a feral warmth that suggests expensive leather handbags and heated skin rather than petting zoo. The twin ouds (Laotian's medicinal depth, white's cleaner woody facets) weave through the bourbon vanilla base, never overtaking but always present, like oud played in a minor key.
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4.1/5 (380)