Fresh start – ‘Naked Dance’ Extrait de parfum by Oddity Fragrance, Hong Kong

Dear readers, it’s about time to count down before entering 2022, what is your new year’s resolution (or wish) this time? Since we were on the road of recovery from the pandemic and economic turmoil, what about something energizing, innovative with a bit of style? Be eccentric with a splash of freshness could possibly be a good start, which is the reason one should pick up a refreshing fragrance to wear at the beginning of the year! I came across a niche fragrance during my visit to a Christmas market, and meet the Founder and Creative Director, Mr. Kirill Runkov, who introduced me his fragrance brand, Oddity Fragrance, and his signature fine fragrance named ‘Naked Dance’; I was intrigued with his work therefore I decided to share with you all today.

As the Founder of his own design studio based in Hong Kong, Kirill discovered a way to express his creativity apart from managing his studio business (alongside with his wife, Ms. Alice Muru, who is the Creative Director of the studio), his passion about fragrance leads him to create his very first signature scent named ‘Naked Dance’. Produced in Grasse, the world capital of perfume in France, and designed in Hong Kong, ‘Naked Dance’ is an extrait perfume which produced in a small quantity, to manifest the theory of ‘quality over quantity’; collaborated with master perfumer, Mr. Mark Buxton, who also created some of the blockbuster fragrances for several world known fashion and fragrance brands (not to mention the signature fragrance ‘L’Air de Panache’ for the famed director Wes Anderson’s movie ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’), this signature fragrance by Oddity Fragrance takes the wearer to a private journey to explore the art of intimacy and modernity, “a contemporary niche perfume created to inspire”.

The first thing that impressed me is the sphere sculptural cap, with its unique craftsmanship that made from wood scraps and epoxy resin, the irregular shape inside forms a beautiful landscape-like pattern like looking into a crystal ball, the sphere cap of each bottle is identical which makes this fragrance a unique piece of art.

Coming to the fragrance itself, the citrus opening is obvious with the zest from Bergamot and a bit of orientalism derives from the green tea, as the top notes faded the woody and floral accord starts to emerge, the softness and powdery from Lily and Iris, with a hint of toasty smell which is from bread, then dries down to the energetic Sandalwood, Guaiac wood and white Musk.

To me, this fragrance has a rather Asian character and a bit of Nordic twist, the scent transition from the freshness of the top note (in particular the Bergamot) to the understated but solid woodiness of the base note is rather surreal, something in between the day time in a Nordic forest and the foggy morning in a secluded monastery deep in the mountain somewhere in Japan (perhaps near Kyoto), there’s a certain spiritual elements there but it doesn’t lack of modernity, perhaps it derives from the combination of the Sandalwood, white Musk and Incense oil that causes that ‘Zen’ feeling, this fragrance certainly gives the wearer a masculine cleanness, with a bit of warmth and euphoric feeling through the mix Asian and Nordic flair.

If your New Year’s resolution is to get a fresh start, I think you have an option here now.

Image courtesy of Oddity Fragrance Hong Kong

https://oddityfragrance.com/