1984 Parfum 30ml

Forgive me for not disclosing how much oakmoss is in here. 

The Mongolian musk is from Sultan Qaboos’ collection, or more likely from his predecessors’. It’s a magical, ultra-rare beast of a fixative no perfumer I know of has the privilege of using. 1984’s entire carrier contains it.

There’s more Papuan oud in here than in all of the perfumes in history combined. If that trips up other ‘oud’ perfumes… let me just say I’m truly sorry.

Why didn’t you use jasmophore or methyl tuberate? Did you really have to go with proper tuberose absolute, the kind that costs more than some ouds? Or jasmine sambac that lets people smell like they’re walking toward a blooming jasmine garden at sunset while sniffing a swipe of Borneo 2000 on the way? Oh yes… Borneo 2000… that’s in here!

1984’s concentration is so dense, a spritz may leave a velvety trail of oil on your skin. Whoops. Next time I’ll water it down to the minimum amount required to qualify as an extrait de parfum, instead of exceeding the max. And this doesn’t take into account the carrier composed of SQ sandalwood and those sticky black Mongolian musk pods…

But then, would you prefer your perfume share its DNA with pretty much every other perfume?

Or… are you up for venturing outside the gated walls and experiencing what musk does to tuberose and what oud does to lily of the valley and how yuzu and chamomile ride the wave on top as the vintage musk and sandalwood shake them all up?

This is what a nonconformist perfume smells like. Fresh, but oh so decked-out. The bitter yuzu comes lined with the green of aged gyrinops, the buttery white flower sweetness of jonquil gently tinted with the purple pollen of rosemary and the herbaceous and ever-disputed grace of a fat dose of oakmoss – the Papuan oud and oakmoss alone is a crisp, herbaceous, foresty combo to die for. 

You might think that sandalwood is contra-fresh or that its calming golden tone is anti-green. But coupled with massoia bark and chamomile, the vintage SQ sandalwood + Mysore from the 70s imbues the green, summer-fresh tenor of 1984 with a delectable gourmand shade… which you (surprisingly!) smell mid-air as you spray. That sandalicious semi-dry buttery pitch moistened by the green bite that defines the zesty top notes jam together like reggae and dreads. Pineapple and bergamot.

But it’s the rich, potent animalic blast of those old, old Mongolian grains in which everything swims that marries these precious aromatics in such unorthodox fashion. Gives the fragrance its sexy pizzazz and lets it gush with loud projection.

The hefty dose of Borneo 2000 adds a trippy resinous Bornean glaze to the profile and jacks up the effect of the Papuan oud as they’re morphed by the vintage musk into a cooling, piercing gust of oud that surges through the entire performance.