Maison Crivelli
Hibiscus Mahajád
The Story
Hibiscus Mahajád comes from a hibiscus Thibaud Crivelli met in Madagascar, and the invented name is his way of marking that it belongs to one encounter and not to a category. The flower is kept tart rather than sweetened into a generic red floral.
Floral
Petals in soft full bloom
The rounded, dewy scent of flowers in bloom, soft and slightly sweet with a powdery, nectar-like glow. It reads romantic and gentle, conjuring a garden in late spring and a feeling of lightness against the skin.
Sweet
Edible warmth on the skin
A rounded, sugary character that suggests caramel, honey, or spun candy without any single one dominating. It reads as comforting and indulgent, the gourmand pull that makes a fragrance feel soft, inviting, and almost good enough to taste.
Fruity
Ripe orchard flush of juice
The succulent sweetness of peach, pear, apple, or berry, soft and dewy with a nectar-like ripeness distinct from sharp citrus. It brings a playful, mouthwatering roundness that feels youthful, juicy, and lighthearted.
Blackcurrant
Tart cassis with a wild, animalic snarl
What it is
From Ribes nigrum, a small deciduous shrub grown across Europe, notably Burgundy. Perfumery rarely uses the berry; the prized material is cassis bud absolute, hexane-extracted from the resinous leaf buds, often supplemented by sulphur-containing aroma molecules that capture the fruit's pungent tartness.
How it smells
Sharply fruity and tart, the bud absolute carries a green, leafy, almost catty pungency with a sweat-like, sulphurous bite beneath the berry sweetness. The effect is wild and unmistakable: ripe blackcurrant fruit edged with green sap and a faintly animalic growl.
In perfumery
A top note delivering tart fruit and a bracing green realism that lifts a composition. It sharpens rose and adds bite to fruity-floral and chypre accords. Cassis is a classic chypre opening and a recurring jolt in modern fruity perfumes.
Good to know
The catty, sulphurous facet comes from trace thiols so potent they register at parts per trillion, the same molecule family behind the scent of cat spray and certain Sauvignon Blanc wines. A drop of cassis bud absolute goes a very long way.
Pomegranate
Tart ruby seeds, crisp and bittersweet
What it is
Pomegranate is the jewel-like seeded fruit of Punica granatum, a shrub of the Mediterranean and Middle East. Each ruby aril holds tart juice around a crunchy seed. No usable essential oil exists, so the perfumery note is a fantasy accord reconstructed from fruity and green aroma molecules.
How it smells
A bright, juicy tartness with a winey red-fruit edge, crisp and faintly astringent rather than sugary. There is a watery, almost metallic freshness up top, a cranberry-raspberry sharpness in the heart, and a dry, tannic bitterness that keeps the accord from turning cloying.
In perfumery
Pomegranate brings sparkling tartness to fruity-floral and chypre compositions, lifting rose, peony, and citrus while pairing with patchouli or musk beneath. It anchors dark, spicy-rose compositions where it sharpens the rose, and lends gemlike fruitiness across many modern fruity-rose scents.
Good to know
Real pomegranate is nearly odorless, so the note offers color and tartness more than literal smell. Its name traces to Latin for seeded apple. The fruit later lent its French name, grenade, to the weapon, which early soldiers thought resembled the round, seed-packed fruit.
Spearmint
A cold green rush that clears the head
What it is
Mint oils are steam-distilled from the leaves and flowering tops of Mentha herbs, chiefly peppermint (Mentha piperita) and spearmint (Mentha spicata), cultivated in the United States, India and Europe. The fresh or wilted herb is distilled, then peppermint oil is often partially dementholised to crystallise out excess menthol.
How it smells
Peppermint is piercing, cool and almost icy from its high menthol content, with a sharp camphor-medicinal edge. Spearmint is softer, sweeter and rounder, herbal and faintly fruity from carvone, without the cold bite. Both read green and watery before drying to a clean herbal hum.
In perfumery
A volatile top note used for freshness, coolness and a crisp herbal lift, mint flickers through fougeres, colognes and aromatic-fresh masculines. It pairs with lavender, basil, citrus and chocolate, and drives bracing minty openings in many sport-fresh blends.
Good to know
Menthol triggers the skin's cold-sensing TRPM8 receptors, so mint reads cold even when it is not, the same trick used in toothpaste and chewing gum. Most commercial menthol is now synthesised at industrial scale, notably by Takasago, rather than distilled from the plant.
Hibiscus
Tart crimson bloom turned cranberry-sour summer breeze
What it is
Hibiscus is a tropical flowering shrub of the mallow family with showy trumpet flowers. The dried red calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa, called roselle, supply the tart material used in food and drink. Ornamental blooms carry little scent, so perfumery hibiscus is mostly a reconstructed accord.
How it smells
Sharp and fruity-tart, recalling cranberry and red currant steeped in sour tea, edged with a faint rosy floral lift. It opens bright and acidic, near berry-jam, then settles into a dry, slightly woody-vegetal tang like a cooled roselle infusion.
In perfumery
A top-to-heart accent adding juicy red tartness that brightens florals and fruity-floral blends, pairing with rose, raspberry, peony and citrus. It anchors hibiscus soliflores and colors the heart of fruity floral and tropical-floral compositions.
Good to know
Roselle calyces brewed as karkade or agua de Jamaica give hibiscus its ruby tartness, drawn from natural fruit acids and anthocyanin pigments rather than aroma. Because the flowers themselves are nearly scentless, the perfume note is built from aroma molecules, not a true botanical extract.
Damask Rose Absolute
The empress of roses, distilled at dawn
What it is
Damask rose is Rosa damascena, a hardy hybrid shrub cultivated mainly in Bulgaria's Rose Valley, Turkey's Isparta region and Iran. Petals are hand-picked before sunrise, then either steam-distilled into rose otto or solvent-extracted into rose absolute, each capturing a different facet of the bloom.
How it smells
Deep, honeyed and unmistakably rosy, with a green, dewy freshness up top and a spicy, almost peppery warmth beneath. The otto leans clean and waxy with a clove-like edge; the absolute is darker, jammier and more fruity. The drydown holds a soft, lingering floral sweetness.
In perfumery
A central heart note prized for body and roundness. It blends with oud, patchouli, geranium, saffron and fruity notes, anchoring oriental and chypre builds. Dark, jammy rose compositions showcase its richness, while countless rose soliflores lean on damascones for their lift.
Good to know
Roughly three to four tonnes of petals yield a single kilogram of rose otto, placing it among the costliest naturals. The damascones and damascenones, isolated from rose in the 1970s, became landmark aroma molecules that read as rosy at vanishingly small concentrations.
Hibiscus Tea
Tart crimson bloom turned cranberry-sour summer breeze
What it is
Hibiscus is a tropical flowering shrub of the mallow family with showy trumpet flowers. The dried red calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa, called roselle, supply the tart material used in food and drink. Ornamental blooms carry little scent, so perfumery hibiscus is mostly a reconstructed accord.
How it smells
Sharp and fruity-tart, recalling cranberry and red currant steeped in sour tea, edged with a faint rosy floral lift. It opens bright and acidic, near berry-jam, then settles into a dry, slightly woody-vegetal tang like a cooled roselle infusion.
In perfumery
A top-to-heart accent adding juicy red tartness that brightens florals and fruity-floral blends, pairing with rose, raspberry, peony and citrus. It anchors hibiscus soliflores and colors the heart of fruity floral and tropical-floral compositions.
Good to know
Roselle calyces brewed as karkade or agua de Jamaica give hibiscus its ruby tartness, drawn from natural fruit acids and anthocyanin pigments rather than aroma. Because the flowers themselves are nearly scentless, the perfume note is built from aroma molecules, not a true botanical extract.
Cinnamon
Red bark warmth dusted with sweet fire
What it is
Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of evergreen Cinnamomum trees. True Ceylon cinnamon, C. verum, comes from Sri Lanka; the coarser, cheaper cassia from C. cassia is common in food. Bark strips are peeled, curled into quills, and steam-distilled into a bark oil rich in cinnamaldehyde.
How it smells
Warm, sweet and dry-spicy, with a glowing red-hot quality from cinnamaldehyde and a soft clove-like nuance from eugenol. Ceylon bark is rounder, faintly floral and refined; cassia is sharper and more biting. The dry-down feels woody, balsamic and faintly leathery.
In perfumery
A heart-note spice giving oriental and gourmand scents their cozy heat, it pairs with vanilla, amber, rose, apple and tobacco. Used sparingly, it adds glow without sting. It marks the classic spicy oriental and the spiced heart of many autumn fragrances.
Good to know
Cinnamaldehyde and related compounds are skin sensitizers, so IFRA strictly caps cinnamon bark oil in fragrance. Once worth more than its weight in gold, cinnamon helped drive Portuguese and later Dutch control of Ceylon; the Dutch even burned stockpiles to keep prices high.
Vanilla Absolute
Cured orchid pods rendered into dark sweet resin
What it is
A solvent extraction of cured pods from the climbing orchid Vanilla planifolia, native to Mexico and now grown mostly in Madagascar. Hand-pollinated flowers form green pods that are blanched, sun-dried and slowly sweated for months, then washed with ethanol to yield a thick dark resin.
How it smells
Deep, dark and balsamic rather than bakery-sweet, carrying boozy rum facets, dried prune, tobacco and faint smoke from the curing. It opens rounded and warm, then settles into a resinous, slightly leathery sweetness, far richer and more shadowed than synthetic vanillin alone.
In perfumery
A heart-to-base fixative prized for warmth and tenacity, softening sharp edges and binding compositions. It pairs with amber, tonka, sandalwood and oud, and anchors gourmand and oriental scents. It underpins classic balsamic orientals and lends body to many modern vanilla-forward fragrances.
Good to know
Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron, since each flower is pollinated by hand and the pods are cured for months. Roughly six hundred blossoms are needed for one kilo of cured pods, and Madagascar price swings ripple through the whole fragrance trade.
Ambrette Seed Absolute
Plant musk pressed from a mallow seed
What it is
Ambrette is the seed of Abelmoschus moschatus, a hibiscus-like mallow plant native to India and grown across tropical Africa, Asia and South America. The small, musky-smelling seeds are steam-distilled or CO2-extracted to yield an oil rich in ambrettolide, a macrocyclic musk lactone.
How it smells
Soft, warm and genuinely musky in a way no synthetic quite matches: powdery and skin-like, with a sweet, slightly nutty amber facet and a fruity pear-and-iris floralcy. It feels velvety and human, smoother and rounder than synthetic musks, blooming slowly into a clean, intimate warmth.
In perfumery
A base note and exalting fixative, the finest plant-derived musk available to perfumers. It lifts and rounds blends, adding skin-like sensuality to florals, iris and gourmands. Classic aldehydic florals and modern musk compositions use it to give natural muskiness without animal sources.
Good to know
Ambrette became vital after nitro-musks were restricted and animal musk fell from use, offering a rare botanical alternative whose ambrettolide is chemically akin to muscone. Yields are tiny, making it one of the costliest naturals and a quiet luxury hidden in many fine perfumes.
Leather
Tanned hide, smoke and animal warmth
What it is
Leather is an accord, not a single ingredient: there is no leather essential oil. Perfumers rebuild its scent from birch tar and cade (smoky distilled woods), styrax and labdanum resins, isobutyl quinoline and modern safraleine-type molecules, historically echoing the tannins and oils once used to cure hides.
How it smells
Smoky, dry and animalic, ranging from supple new suede to tarry old saddle. Birch-tar versions read sooty and phenolic, almost campfire and band-aid; softer suede accords turn powdery, floral and skin-warm. It can lean bitter-green, ashy or sweet depending on the supporting resins.
In perfumery
A base-note signature that gives depth, structure and a carnal edge, pairing with rose, violet, tobacco, oud and floral hearts. Iconic in the great Russian-leather and rugged dry-leather styles, each one a different facet of the accord.
Good to know
The genre was born in Russia, where book bindings and boots were treated with birch tar; the classic Russian-leather style recalls that scent. Real tanning oils were largely restricted on safety grounds, so today's leathers are almost entirely the work of clever synthetic reconstruction.
Vanilla Orchid
The warm sweet heart of comfort itself
What it is
Vanilla comes from the cured seed pods of Vanilla planifolia, a climbing orchid native to Mexico now grown mainly in Madagascar, Réunion and Tahiti. Green pods are picked unripe, then blanched, sweated in the sun and slow-dried over months until they darken and develop their aroma and vanillin.
How it smells
Sweet, warm and creamy, with a balsamic depth recalling custard, caramel and dried fruit, a faint smoky tobacco-like edge sitting underneath. It opens soft and gourmand, then dries into a powdery resinous warmth that clings close to skin and reads richer than synthetic vanillin alone.
In perfumery
A base note prized for richness and lasting warmth, vanilla rounds sharp edges and anchors oriental and gourmand compositions. It pairs naturally with tonka, amber, sandalwood and spice. Many of the most enduring oriental and tobacco fragrances build their core around it.
Good to know
Vanilla ranks among the costliest spices because each orchid flower opens for one day and must be hand-pollinated, a technique devised in 1841 by Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old enslaved boy on Réunion. Most commercial vanilla flavor now relies on synthetic vanillin.
Fragrance Character
The first minutes are vivid and high-pitched, the fruit acids bright and the mint almost medicinal before the hibiscus softens the edges. Cinnamon and rose absolute pull the composition inward and warmer through the heart, the floral turning almost jammy against the spice. On the skin it eventually becomes a close, skin-warmed presence of leather and dual vanillas anchored by the musk of ambrette, fading slowly and with real tenacity.
Longevity
how long it stays on skin
This gauge reads the expected wear time, how many hours the fragrance keeps speaking on skin before it fades. A marker near the low end means a few fleeting hours, while a marker pushed to the far end promises a scent still present from morning into night.
Sillage
the size of its scent trail
This reads how far the fragrance reaches beyond you and the trail it leaves behind. Low sits soft against the skin, an intimate whisper noticed only up close; high climbs through moderate and strong toward enormous, filling a room and lingering in the air after you have left it.
Experimental
For the bold and curious
Unconventional, boundary-pushing scents for someone who wants to provoke a reaction and stand apart. Suited to artistic, challenging compositions: inky tar, rubber, fermented fruit, metallic or animalic facets that defy easy liking. On this wheel a glowing coin means it rewards the adventurous nose, a dim one means it plays things safe.
Office
Polished but never overpowering
Close-quarters professional settings where a scent should be noticed only by those near you. Suited to restrained, clean compositions with modest projection: tidy citrus, soft musk, pale woods that read competent and considerate. On this wheel a glowing coin means it works in shared workspaces, a dim one means it carries too far.
Evening
After dark, turned up
Dinners, drinks, and nights out when a fragrance can deepen and project with confidence. Suited to richer, warmer compositions: ambers, resins, smoky woods, or plush florals that bloom under low light. On this wheel a glowing coin means the scent comes alive after sundown, a dim one means it stays better suited to daytime.
Romantic
Close enough to be felt
Intimate moments and date nights meant to draw someone nearer. Suited to warm, sensual compositions that hum against skin: creamy florals, vanilla, soft musk, a touch of spice or amber that invites closeness. On this wheel a glowing coin means it sets an alluring mood, a dim one means it leans more practical than seductive.
Formal
Refined for the occasion that matters
Weddings, ceremonies, galas, and dressed-up affairs that call for composure and elegance. Suited to polished, structured scents with quiet authority: smooth woods, refined florals, soft leather, nothing loud or playful. On this wheel a glowing coin means it carries the right gravitas, a dim one means it feels too casual for the room.
Casual
Easy comfort for unhurried days
Everyday wear with no agenda: errands, coffee, friends, a slow weekend. Suited to soft, approachable scents that feel clean and natural, like fresh citrus, light woods, or a gentle skin warmth. On this wheel a glowing coin means the fragrance fits these laid-back moments, a dim one means it asks for more.
Day to Night
where its mood naturally falls
This slider reads the hour the fragrance was made for. A marker to the left leans luminous and bright, easy in daylight and open air; slide it right and the character turns deeper and warmer, the kind of presence that belongs to evening and candlelit rooms.
Winter
Warmth that carries through cold air
Cold air mutes and slows a fragrance, so winter rewards the dense and the warm: resins, smoke, vanilla, leather, and ambered spice that radiate heat against the chill. The bar shows how strongly this particular scent holds up and glows in cold weather.
Spring
Fresh blooms in mild, rising warmth
Mild, humid air lifts lighter compositions beautifully, so spring favors dewy florals, green stems, soft powder, and transparent citrus that feel alive rather than heavy. The bar shows how well this particular scent matches that fresh, gently warming season.
Summer
Bright and airy in real heat
Heat amplifies and projects scent hard, so summer calls for cool, crisp, breathable things: sharp citrus, salty marine air, aromatic herbs, and watery freshness that refresh instead of cloy. The bar shows how comfortably this particular scent wears in real warmth.
Fall
Spiced warmth for cooling days
As temperatures drop, richer materials read clearly without smothering, so autumn suits dry woods, warm spice, tobacco, amber, and golden fruit that feel cozy and contemplative. The bar shows how naturally this particular scent settles into crisp, cooling days.
Best Worn
Made for cool-weather evenings and the kind of occasion that calls for something with presence and a faintly dangerous warmth; it suits someone who wears their fragrance as a deliberate statement rather than an afterthought.
Choose options
The Vibe
The Nose
Quentin Bisch
Perfumer
Givaudan perfumer based in Paris. He spent a year as an assistant perfumer at Robertet in Grasse under Michel Almairac, then trained at the Givaudan Perfumery School. His work includes Parfums de Marly Delina, Chloé Nomade, Ex Nihilo Fleur Narcotique and Mugler Angel Muse.
More by this noseGuidance 46Delina ExclusifValaya
The Maison
Maison Crivelli
Perfume as sensory flashback, best sprung from a small vial.
Maison Crivelli builds the way a memory ambushes you, all at once and out of nowhere. Each scent is anchored to a moment the founder actually lived, then pushed until it feels almost too vivid to be real. A bright fruit can crash straight into resin, or a cool herb can turn suddenly sultry.
- Origin
- Paris, France
- Founded
- 2018
- Known for
- Oud Maracujá, vivid contrasts
More from Maison Crivelli
You may also like
