Aegean (2007)
by Neil Morris Fragrances

Opening: Light and airy, the opening is dominated by a citrus – mandarin – with an even lighter touch of the basil flower. Unless I haven’t been paying attention, the use of the basil flower in fragrance is new to me. I’ve always admired the smell of basil flowers but never thought they were solid enough for a fragrance – I’ve misjudged. The opening is sheer and subtle and extremely appealing. The middle notes are very different from the opening ones. Where the opening is citrus and slightly floral, the middle takes on a modern neutral texture with a highly modified lavender accord, and very gradually the quince claims its part in this lavender accord, causing the lavender to slowly lose its neutrality to take on the beautifully refined quince note. The middle accord is almost as transparent as the opening – beautifully refined and compulsively sniffable. I had to wait a long time for the base to show up. The base is very gentle and quite pleasant, but perhaps not as unique as the top levels, which is exactly what I would expect in a fragrance this light and delicate. It’s a very good drydown and lasts quite long for a fragrance like this. Aegean is a totally impressive fragrance – thumbs way up.