Xzotic Smells

It was interesting for me to follow the perfumery work of Stephan Humbert Lucas from the very beginning (one and two). Namely, from his debut French niche brand Nez A Nez, which at one time triumphantly appeared in the niche perfume world. The project turned out to be short-lived and was replaced by the oriental SoOud, created together with an Italian distributor, but it too slipped through the fingers.

Alkout was composed by John Stephens for Electimuss in celebration of National Kuwait Day and Kuwait Independence Day. First released in 2020 as a limited edition and now back for a short time again, the fragrance features no top or heart notes, only a dark, deep base and is described by the brand as “unashamedly animalic and intense”. The listed base notes for the fragrance are oud, ambergris, leather, civet, labdanum and musk.

Amongst the brands that exhibited for the first time at Esxence was the Honk-Kong-based perfume house Tobba, which gained a lot of attention judging by the fact that its booth was always crowded. The brand was conceived when its founder, artist Jasper Li, decided to expand his scope of art and express it with perfume. He felt that art is not bound by one dimension, so fragrances are his way of exploring it in another light.