# FANTASTIC
## A Soliflore Interpretation of Durian Blossom
A fragrance that captures the scent of durian blossom before the famous fruit comes into being.
Not the smell of ripe durian flesh, but the atmosphere of a durian orchard while its flowers are still in bloom.
# Before It Becomes a Fruit
When people think of durian, they usually imagine the distinctive aroma of its ripe fruit: intense, sweet and rich.
But before becoming the fruit everyone recognises, durian begins as a flower that most people have never seen or smelled.
Durian blossom has a scent that is unusual, complex and surprising.
Within a single flower, we may encounter greenness, gentle acidity, creaminess and multiple floral impressions unfolding at the same time.
At moments, it feels familiar. Yet it remains difficult to compare directly with any other flower.
This ambiguity and sense of surprise became the starting point for FANTASTIC.
**Before the fruit, there was a flower.**
# A Flower Few Have Encountered
Durian blossom does not smell like ripe durian fruit, despite what many people might expect.
Its scent brings together greenness, subtle acidity, humidity and several different floral qualities.
These impressions do not appear separately. They overlap and merge, creating a character unlike that of any familiar flower.
FANTASTIC does not attempt to answer the question:
“What does ripe durian smell like?”
Instead, it returns to an earlier moment.
A time before the fruit existed, when the durian orchard was still filled with flowers.
# A Durian Blossom Soliflore
FANTASTIC can be described as a soliflore interpretation of durian blossom.
In perfumery, a soliflore is a fragrance created primarily to express the character of a single flower.
However, creating the impression of one flower does not mean using only one floral ingredient.
FANTASTIC brings together a variety of flowers and aromatic elements to construct the most complete interpretation of Durian Blossom.
The flowers do not compete for attention. Each one becomes a different part of the same durian blossom.
**Many flowers, composed as one.**
# Not the Smell of Ripe Durian
FANTASTIC does not recreate the smell of ripe durian flesh, nor was it designed as a fruity fragrance.
Instead, it takes the wearer back to a moment before the fruit begins to form.
A time when the orchard is filled with flowers, green foliage, humidity and a subtle fermented quality drifting through the air.
Clusters of durian blossoms remain attached to the trees.
Fallen flowers begin to fade on the ground.
The scents of flowers, leaves, earth and moisture mingle in the air.
What FANTASTIC seeks to preserve is not the smell of durian fruit.
It is the atmosphere of something coming into being.
**Not the fruit everyone knows, but the flower few have encountered.**
# The Scent Journey
FANTASTIC moves through three distinct stages.
It begins with a softly fermented impression that is tart and green.
It develops into the density of layered florals.
Finally, it settles into a base of woods, earth and musk.
## The Fermented Opening
### Durian Blossom, Yogurt
FANTASTIC opens with the intention of creating an image of durian blossom without moving towards the sweet, rich and intense character of ripe durian flesh.
Yogurt Accord introduces a gentle fermented acidity, recalling cultured milk, yeast and a creaminess that feels alive.
This element is not intended to reproduce the smell of food. It helps express the natural strangeness of durian blossom.
When this creamy acidity meets the green facets of Durian Blossom, the opening exists somewhere between flower, leaf and subtle fermentation.
It feels strangely familiar, yet remains difficult to explain at first encounter.
## Many Flowers, One Blossom
### Champaca, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Mimusops Flower, Water Jasmine, Magnolia, Gardenia
FANTASTIC uses several flowers to reconstruct the impression of durian blossom. Each brings a different quality to a single imagined flower.
Champaca adds warmth and depth.
Ylang Ylang brings sweetness, richness and creaminess.
Jasmine and Gardenia create the density of white florals.
Magnolia introduces airiness and freshness.
Mimusops Flower and Water Jasmine add greenness and humidity.
All these flowers gradually overlap and dissolve into one another until no single floral note can be clearly identified.
What emerges is not a bouquet of separate flowers, but one Durian Blossom that feels complex, unusual and alive.
This is why FANTASTIC remains a soliflore, even though it is composed of many flowers.
## The Promise of Fruit
### Sugarcane, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Musk
Sugarcane introduces greenness with a light, juicy and translucent sweetness.
It acts as the first suggestion of a fruit beginning to form, without developing into the recognisable scent of ripe durian.
Sandalwood extends the softness and creaminess of the floral composition.
Vetiver draws the fragrance down towards roots, earth and the orchard floor.
Musk brings every element together, allowing the atmosphere of the durian orchard to settle onto the skin and become a fragrance that can be worn.
The scent gradually moves from tart greenness through dense white florals before resting on a warm base of woods, earth and musk.
# Walking Through a Durian Orchard
FANTASTIC captures the sensation of entering a durian orchard while the flowers are still in bloom.
The air is filled with humid greenness, white florals and a faint fermented acidity.
We may not be able to identify which scent comes from which tree or determine exactly which flower we are smelling.
Yet we can sense the entire orchard alive around us.
FANTASTIC is not simply a portrait of a single flower.
It is the complete atmosphere surrounding it.
**Not a portrait of one flower, but the atmosphere surrounding it.**
# Before the Familiar, There Was Something Fantastic
FANTASTIC is a soliflore interpretation of durian blossom.
A fragrance created from many different flowers, yet devoted to the story of only one.
It does not describe what durian smells like when ripe.
Instead, it captures a moment when the orchard is still filled with flowers, before the famous fruit comes into being.
**Before the fruit, there was a flower.
Before the familiar, there was something Fantastic.**
# Frequently Asked Questions
## Does FANTASTIC smell like ripe durian flesh?
No.
FANTASTIC does not recreate the smell of ripe durian flesh and was not designed as a fruity fragrance.
It captures the character of durian blossom and the atmosphere of the orchard before the fruit begins to form.
## What does the opening smell like?
The opening is green, tart and gently fermented, shaped by Durian Blossom and Yogurt Accord.
This acidity is not intended to smell literally like food. It gives the flower an unusual, vibrant and living quality.
## Why are so many flowers used if FANTASTIC is a soliflore?
A soliflore is a fragrance designed primarily to express the character of one flower. It does not have to be composed from only one floral ingredient.
The many flowers within FANTASTIC act as different parts of a single Durian Blossom.
## Can FANTASTIC be worn every day?
Yes.
Although the fragrance begins with an unusual and unfamiliar concept, its woods, earthy notes and musk allow it to settle naturally onto the skin as a wearable Eau de Parfum.
