Bortnikoff: Why His Name Sits in the Notes of a Summer Cologne

In 2013 Dmitry Bortnikoff co-founded Feel-Oud, a company that distils agarwood and sandalwood oil. The perfume house that carries his name did not exist for another five years.

The ouds on his note lists are named for where the wood came from, and on the note list at bortnikoff.com one of them carries a credit in brackets: Oud from Sri Lanka (by Bortnikoff). You would look for a line like that in the darkest bottle he makes. It is in a summer cologne.

He was in the oil business first

Dmitry Bortnikoff is an architect by profession and a perfumer by vocation. Oud is the oil distilled from agarwood, a resinous wood, and he had years in that business behind him before there was a perfume house to put the oils into. The house arrived in 2018, in Thailand, and it kept the distilling: many of the oils in the perfumes are made in-house. Releases come in numbered waves, and Amber Cologne, Musk Cologne, Musk Khabib and Oud Monarch belong to the 3rd Collection.

The cologne with the credit in it

It starts the way citrus does at the end of a hot day. Bergamot and lemon first, then white and pink grapefruit, wet and juicy. Cardamom gives the whole thing a dry lift, and frangipani comes in early and creamy. Jasmine sambac keeps the middle airy, and by mid-wear sandalwood has given it a milky weight it holds to the end. Underneath runs a salty warmth, like skin that has been in the sun. Spring and summer, morning into early evening.

It is called a cologne and made at Eau de Parfum strength, and there are two ouds underneath, Bouya Oud beside the credited one, kept behind the sandalwood where you have to go looking for them. The one oil credited to Bortnikoff by name sits under grapefruit, in the base of a summer cologne.

Musk where a cologne has nothing

Musk Cologne takes the oldest structure in perfumery, the citrus cologne, and puts musk in the base, where a cologne would normally have almost nothing. Tangerine, sweet orange and bergamot open it exactly as you expect. Green tea and magnolia cool the middle, and the drydown settles into creamy sandalwood and the faint smokiness of guaiac wood. It is the everyday one.

Musk Khabib does it from the other end. The top is kept to bergamot, cardamom and nutmeg so nothing competes with what sits underneath, ylang-ylang and cedarwood carry the middle, and the base is warm and low, sitting close to the skin. It still leaves a bold trail.

The oud that opens on frangipani

Oud Monarch is built on oud as the courts of kings once used it, and it opens on magnolia and frangipani, creamy and tropical, wrapped around the oud. Rose de Mai and Himalayan rose warm the middle over cinnamon and tobacco.

Then the base. Oud Merauke and Oud co Chang sit under cacao, and the co Chang oil carries a bracket of its own, crediting Feel-oud, the company he co-founded. The cacao is dusty and dry, closer to bitter chocolate than to anything sweet, and it is what keeps both ouds smooth. Late in the wear a warm animalic edge comes up close to the skin. Autumn and winter, from late afternoon onward, and it holds an entire evening.

Two bottles carry a second name

Sayat Nova is named for the 18th-century Armenian poet and troubadour, and it is one of three scents created by Dmitry Bortnikoff and Rajesh Balkrishnan.

It opens on apricot so thick it reads as dried fruit and syrup, with narcissus adding something green and faintly animal so the fruit never turns into sweets. Rum comes up through it as barrel spirit rather than sugar, and the vanilla folded in is balsamic and a little smoky. Three ouds close it, from Laos, Bengal and Trat, smoky and medicinal, held in check by that vanilla, with oakmoss keeping the drydown dry and earthy. It projects hard from the first spray. The juice is dark, so keep it off pale fabric.

Tiger Blue carries the other second name, Christian Carbonnel. It sits in the Entry Level Collection and is an extrait. Grapefruit and lemon open it sharp, and ginger comes up fast behind them, sweet and almost candied, and the ginger outlasts the citrus. Violet and magnolia give the middle a powdery lift, and amber and labdanum hold it in place underneath. It settles vanillic and musky, a clean sweetness for a warm afternoon.

Twenty-three notes, then one last line

Oud Maximus is where the stockroom goes onto the bench. The note list runs to twenty-three entries. Four of them are ouds: Indian Oud, Oud Roots Trat, Oud Purple co Chang and Oud from Sri Lanka, the last two credited to Feel-oud. Against them sit four rose oils, from India, the Himalayas, Indonesia and France.

On skin, citrus and pepper up top, then the roses take over, jammy and honeyed and layered many ways. Clove threads a resinous darkness through them while magnolia and frangipani lift them. Underneath, the ouds run thick and animalic with birch tar, and tolu balsam and vanilla pull the drydown warm. It is built for cold weather and long evenings, and it is loud.

Dmitry Bortnikoff made this extrait, and dedicated it to his son, Maxim. It is the only one here that ends on a person.

What the refund policy admits

Each perfume is between 95 and 100 percent natural. The refund policy puts the consequence in writing: because the perfumes are made from natural raw materials, scent, colour or appearance may vary over time or between batches, and that variation is not a defect. A later bottle can sit a shade darker, or smell a touch different from the one before it.

All seven come as 2 ml, 5 ml and 10 ml decants in the Bortnikoff decants collection at Gouttes Rares. The colognes belong to a summer afternoon and the ouds to a cold evening.

Frequently asked questions

Who makes Bortnikoff perfume?

Dmitry Bortnikoff, an architect by profession and a perfumer by vocation. He co-founded Feel-Oud, a company that distils agarwood and sandalwood oil, and founded the perfume house in Thailand in 2018. Many of the oils in the perfumes are made in-house.

What does Bortnikoff smell like?

It runs between two poles. The colognes are citrus with something warm underneath: grapefruit and frangipani over creamy sandalwood in Amber Cologne, tangerine and green tea over musk in Musk Cologne. The ouds are built for cold evenings, with cacao in Oud Monarch, apricot and rum in Sayat Nova, and four rose oils over four ouds in Oud Maximus.

What does (by Bortnikoff) mean on the Amber Cologne note list?

It is a credit on the oil itself. On the note list at bortnikoff.com, the base of Amber Cologne names Oud from Sri Lanka (by Bortnikoff). Oud Monarch and Oud Maximus carry the same kind of bracket, crediting Feel-oud, the company he co-founded. No other perfume in the house's shop carries the (by Bortnikoff) credit.

Is Bortnikoff perfume natural?

Almost entirely. The perfumes are made from natural raw materials and many of the oils are distilled in-house. One consequence is written into the refund policy: scent, colour and appearance can vary over time or between batches, and that is not a defect.

Where can I try Bortnikoff decants?

Gouttes Rares carries all seven of these perfumes as 2 ml, 5 ml and 10 ml decants. Full 50 ml bottles are made to order.