05 Balobashāā

Quick profile

A bright, transparent green tea built around a green tea extract and a wall of clean white musk. Cool, breathable, modern; the kind of perfume that smells like first light on damp leaves.

This perfume is: Fresh matcha, green tea, white musk, green, transparent, clean, calm, modern

Opening and evolution

The opening is sharp and green, lemon oil over a quiet hum of cardamom absolute. Within a minute the green tea takes over. It sits in the middle of the formula at nearly ten percent, and you can feel it: dusty, vegetal, slightly bitter, exactly like the smell of opened tea tins. Around it, labrador tea adds a cool boreal lift, the kind of air that sits over wet pine forest after rain. As the heart settles, an osmanthus base brings a soft apricot warmth and a touch of orris and jasmine fleurs round the edges into something powdery and discreet. The base is where the perfume reveals its real identity. Six clean musks, layered into one wide chord, build a finish that is clean, slightly sweet, and very long. A whisper of oakmoss and cinnamyl alcohol gives the dry-down a balsamic, mossy depth without ever turning heavy.

Notes

Matcha green tea, labrador tea, osmanthus, white musk, cardamom, lemon, orris

The story

05 Balobashāā began with a single material, a supercritical extract that captures the smell of real tea leaves with almost no thermal damage. From there the formula was built outwards, every other ingredient tested against the same question: does this make the matcha clearer, or does it cover it.

Labrador tea and cardamom add freshness without pulling the green into something herbal. Labrador tea is not actually a tea: it is an essential oil from Ledum groenlandicum, a small shrub that grows in peat bogs and marshy places. The leaves carry a strong, almost intoxicating smell, green, marshy, bitter, the kind of scent that feels like an ancient elixir. In this formula it gives the matcha a cool, boreal edge.

The musk base, six clean musks layered into one chord, is what allows the matcha to keep speaking for hours instead of fading after thirty minutes. Iris and a tiny dose of jasmine fleurs sit underneath as a soft, almost invisible powder. Nothing in this perfume is loud. The point of 05 Balobashāā is presence, not volume.

How to wear: Two sprays on pulse points or directly on fabric. The musk and matcha base sits close to the skin and lasts well into the day. Works best in the morning, in warm but not hot weather, on quiet days. Each bottle is made by hand in Amsterdam.

Declared allergens (INCI)

Limonene, Linalool, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Benzyl Alcohol, Geraniol, Citral, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate

Stats

Fragrance materials: 32

Natural essentials, extracts and isolates: Green Tea, Labrador Tea (ledum groenlandicum) , Cardamom Absolute, Lemon Oil, Orris, Jasmin Fleurs, Styrax, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Limonene

Concentration: Eau de Parfum, ~20% concentrate