Chypre Shot

SEPIA is the collection Olfactive Studio presented as its first steps into haute parfumerie, and it began with a trilogy of extraits de parfum. Chypre Shot is one of them. The perfumer is Bertrand Duchaufour, who also composed the brand's Woody Mood, and each of the three was inspired by photographs by Martin Hill, the English-born environmental artist, sculptor and photographer.

The fragrance is described as dark and primal. A powerful chypre built on a reinterpreted oakmoss accord forms its axis, with patchouli, peony, black pepper and coffee layered over it in a playful pairing. Into the damp moss of Macedonian oakmoss and the dark resin of labdanum come the roasted bitterness of coffee, the astringency of black tea and the sharpness of pepper, while a sheer peony accord slips a floral presence between them. The opening of cardamom, saffron and bergamot lets light into this heavy frame.