Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven starts in Pokhara, Nepal, at base camp beneath the Himalaya, before a long trek toward Annapurna. After days on foot, mythical passes and a last climb up endless stone steps in dense, cold rain, the travellers wake while it is still dark. Overnight, everything has been painted white, and then the summits light up one after another. The brand frames the journey as more than a simple voyage: an inner quest.

Cécile Zarokian renders that whiteness through eight white musks. The house describes a dual white: pure and immaculate, yet warming and enveloping. Aldehydes let in light at the opening, orris butter and heliotrope add softness, and red berries with creamy notes bring a light gourmand, fruity touch.

In the base, the musks are layered with vanilla, Ambroxan and olibanum incense. Dynamone, a natural extract from the leaves and stems of Cistus ladanifer, works here as a gunpowder-like impression, mineral and metallic, setting a hard-edged shadow into the snowy white.