Kaigan

This is currently my go-to summer scent. I love the refreshing basil in the top notes. Such an easy-to-wear fresh fragrance, it gives meditation in a conifer forest by the seaside. Ideal longevity and projection, not overpowering, office friendly, too. It leans slightly more masculine to me, but I don't personally mind it.

Light, salty, and figgy, with a coppery undercurrent. Uplifting and dignified. Really a wonderful fragrance, better suited to slightly overcast urban days of freedom than to the Mediterranean sprezzatura fantasy the brief evokes. I’ve sampled all of Kintsugi and this one stood out and proved full bottle-worthy.

Fresh and bright. At first it’s citrusy fresh, then becomes fig with fresh salty sea air. Sea notes typically come across to me as more aquatic- sea water- but here it’s more like a sea breeze. After a while, the citrus and fig fade, and this becomes mostly sea breeze with a bit of cedar and musk. The civet never really shows up, which some will be fine with, but I think it would have been interesting. Complex and non-linear, but simultaneously a wearable, easy-reach summer scent.

High-quality, long-lasting fragrance. Citrusy fig opening, then saline ocean water evaporating in heat. A darker fig comes back, as if dipped in clean, salty sweat and mild animalics. Salty, musky cedar overtakes the drydown with reminders of fig here and there. On me, Kaigan becomes a dignified marine fig fragrance with a persistent underlying warmth like steam rising off of just-ironed canvas. Pleasant, original and lovable.

When I first got the sample for this I tried it on a tester and really enjoyed it. When i went to skin it was great for the first 1-2 hours. Then came the dry down. The "civet" note makes this smell like a wet dog and completely ruined the whole scent. If that was removed this would be a very high like. The figgy ocean vibe is genuinely good and the basil in the opening is super punchy. If you can get past that animalic smell you might like this but its not for me.