Tiger Blue

The Story

Tiger Blue is an extrait de parfum from Bortnikoff, the Thailand-based house founded by Dmitry Bortnikoff, and the brand credits it as a collaboration between him and Christian Carbonnel. It sits in the Entry Level Collection, a citrus and ginger composition rather than the dense oud work the house is known for.

Main AccordsTap an accord to explore it

CitrusFresh SpicySweetPowderyFloralAmberVanilla

Accord

Citrus

First bright zest of morning

The juicy, rind-snapping brightness of lemon, bergamot, and orange peel, tart and effervescent with a clean bitter edge. It opens a scent with instant lift and sparkle, fresh and energizing, evaporating quickly like sunlight on water.

Accord

Fresh Spicy

Cool bite of cracked pepper

The crisp, tingling lift of pink pepper, cardamom, and ginger, peppery and almost effervescent rather than warm. It adds a bright, faceted sparkle and a clean prickle that feels modern, airy, and invigorating.

Accord

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.

Accord

Powdery

Soft hush of dressed skin

A velvety, slightly dry softness of iris root, violet, and fine talc, like face powder or clean linen warmed by skin. It feels intimate, refined, and nostalgic, blurring a fragrance into a gentle, cushioned haze.

Accord

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.

Accord

Amber

Golden resin glowing warm

A soft, resinous glow built from labdanum, benzoin, and vanilla, sweet but dusky, like sun-warmed tree sap with a hint of incense smoke. It radiates a cozy, golden heat that wraps close to the skin and lingers.

Accord

Vanilla

Creamy bean steeped in warmth

The soft, custardy sweetness of cured vanilla pods, rich and balsamic with a faint boozy, smoky depth beneath the cream. It feels comforting and skin-warm, a tender glow that smooths and rounds everything it touches.

Notes PyramidTap a note to explore it

Top Notes

GrapefruitLemonGinger

Heart Notes

VioletMagnoliaAmberLabdanum

Base Notes

AmbergrisMuskVanillaBenzoin

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Top note

Grapefruit

Bitter-bright citrus burst with a sulfurous tang

What it is

Grapefruit oil is cold-pressed from the peel of Citrus paradisi, a large subtropical citrus that arose as a natural hybrid of pomelo and sweet orange in the Caribbean. Mechanical expression ruptures oil glands in the rind, releasing a fragrant oil rich in limonene with trace nootkatone and sulfur compounds.

How it smells

Sharp, juicy and effervescent: tart citrus with a distinctive bitter rind edge and a faintly sweaty, sulfurous tang that reads as true grapefruit. It opens with a fizzy, mouth-watering brightness, then fades quickly, leaving a clean, slightly soapy and bitter-green impression behind.

In perfumery

A top note delivering an instant burst of freshness and a modern, slightly bitter sparkle, pairing with neroli, mint, vetiver and woody-amber bases. It is the bright opening of countless citrus-forward colognes, pomelo-themed eaux and many contemporary sport and unisex scents.

Good to know

Grapefruit's signature smell comes mostly from trace molecules: nootkatone and grapefruit mercaptan (1-p-menthene-8-thiol), the latter detectable at a fraction of a part per trillion. The oil is phototoxic from furocoumarins, so it is often used in furocoumarin-free form or capped under fragrance-safety guidelines.

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Top note

Lemon

Cold yellow zest snapping into bright sun

What it is

Lemon is the fruit of Citrus limon, a small evergreen tree grown around the Mediterranean, especially Sicily and Calabria, and in California. The aromatic oil sits in tiny glands in the colored peel and is cold-pressed mechanically from the rind, a squeezing and scraping rather than distillation.

How it smells

Sharp, juicy and instantly recognizable, a cold bright zest with sparkling sourness. The opening is tart, green and effervescent, driven by limonene and citral; beneath sits a faint sweet pith and a clean, slightly waxy peel facet. It is fleeting, fading within minutes.

In perfumery

A classic top note prized for lift, freshness and instant cleanliness, it powers the eau de cologne tradition alongside bergamot, neroli and petitgrain. Because it evaporates fast, it is often reinforced with citral. It defines the great classic colognes and the bright, sparkling opening of countless fresh fragrances.

Good to know

Cold-pressed lemon oil contains photosensitizing furocoumarins that can trigger sun-induced skin burns, so perfumers often use a furocoumarin-free version. It also oxidizes quickly, turning harsh and turpentine-like, which is why citrus fragrances are notoriously hard to keep stable in the bottle.

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Top note

Ginger

Fresh peppery zing with a fibrous warmth

What it is

Ginger is the underground rhizome of Zingiber officinale, a reed-like tropical herb cultivated in India, China and Nigeria. The knobby root is steam-distilled or CO2-extracted; distillation gives a fresh, sparkling oil, while the CO2 extract captures the warm, pungent gingerol of the fresh root more fully.

How it smells

Bright, dry and peppery, with a fizzy lemon-pine sparkle over earthy, fibrous warmth. The top is fresh and zesty, almost soapy-citrus; underneath sits a spicy heat without the sweetness of cooked ginger. CO2 extracts smell rounder, juicier and closer to the raw rhizome.

In perfumery

A top-to-heart spice that injects vitality and a clean, modern warmth, lifting citrus, sharpening woods and animating aquatic and fougere structures. Ginger drives the heart of crisp peppery masculines, the candied facets of bright floral colognes, and the watery spice of monsoon-inspired garden scents.

Good to know

Ginger has been a prized trade spice for over five thousand years, valued in Asian medicine long before it reached European kitchens. The plant rarely flowers in cultivation and is propagated entirely from rhizome cuttings, so harvested gingers are essentially clones of one another.

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Heart note

Violet

Powdery purple petals that vanish as you reach

What it is

The violet flower comes from Viola odorata, with the Victoria type favored historically alongside the Parma violets, which descend from Viola alba. Natural flower oil is extraordinarily rare and barely produced today, so the modern violet note is built largely from ionones, aroma-chemicals first synthesized in 1893 by Tiemann and Krüger from citral and acetone.

How it smells

Soft, powdery and cool, with a sweet, sugar-dusted candied facet and a faintly watery, green edge. Ionones lend a curious quality that seems to fade and return as the nose tires. It reads tender and nostalgic, recalling Parma violet sweets, face powder and crushed petals.

In perfumery

A heart note giving powdery softness and a retro, romantic character. It pairs with iris, rose, leather and almond, and tempers sweetness into restraint. It centers classic violet soliflores and the candied makeup-box theme of fragrances built around violet-sweet nostalgia.

Good to know

The flower note differs from violet leaf, a green, cucumber-and-hay absolute extracted from the leaves. Ionones quickly saturate the olfactory receptors, so the scent appears to disappear then return as the nose recovers, an effect often cited as a textbook case of olfactory fatigue.

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Heart note

Magnolia

Lemon-cream petals breathing over a southern garden

What it is

Magnolia is the bloom of trees in the genus Magnolia, among the oldest flowering plants on Earth. Perfumery draws on species like Magnolia grandiflora and Magnolia figo (champaca's relative); fresh petals yield a costly absolute by solvent extraction, though most commercial magnolia is rebuilt with aroma-chemicals.

How it smells

A creamy white-floral scent bridging lemon and tea rose, brighter and less heady than jasmine. It opens with a citric, almost effervescent lift, then softens into milky petal, green stem and a faint clove warmth before drying clean and slightly fruity.

In perfumery

Used in the heart to add a luminous, dewy freshness without the indolic weight of tuberose or gardenia. It pairs with citrus, peony, lily and soft musks in feminine and unisex blends. It scents airy garden-style florals and soft floral compositions.

Good to know

Magnolias predate bees by tens of millions of years, so their tough petals evolved to be pollinated by beetles. True magnolia absolute is rare and costly to extract, which is why the magnolia in most bottles is a clever aroma-chemical reconstruction rather than the natural oil.

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Heart note

Amber

A warm resinous glow built, not harvested

What it is

Amber is not one ingredient but a perfumer's accord, most often blending labdanum (a sticky resin from the Mediterranean rockrose shrub Cistus ladanifer), benzoin and vanilla, sometimes with tonka or Peru balsam. Despite the name, it has no link to fossilized tree amber, which stays odorless on skin.

How it smells

Warm, soft and balsamic, a powdery sweetness sitting over dry resin. It opens honeyed and faintly animalic from labdanum, then settles into rounded golden warmth recalling beeswax, tobacco and worn leather, threaded with a quiet smoky, incense-like undertone that lingers close to the skin.

In perfumery

A base note prized for warmth, depth and long persistence, anchoring oriental and amber compositions. It pairs naturally with vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood and spices. The sweet vanilla-amber template is a perfumery classic, while drier, resin-forward and herbal readings show its other face.

Good to know

The word once meant ambergris, the waxy intestinal secretion of sperm whales, fueling centuries of confusion among three unrelated things: fossil tree amber, whale ambergris and the resin accord. Modern amber bases are wholly plant and synthetic, leaning on molecules like Ambroxan rather than any animal source.

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Heart note

Labdanum

Sticky amber resin scraped from sun-baked rockrose

What it is

Labdanum is a dark, sticky resin from the rockrose shrub Cistus ladanifer, native to the western Mediterranean. The plant exudes a fragrant gum on its leaves and twigs in summer heat; branches are boiled or scraped to recover the crude resin, which is then solvent-extracted into absolute and resinoid.

How it smells

Deep, warm and balsamic with leathery, animalic and faintly sweet facets that read as soft amber. Dried-fruit, honey, smoke and pine undertones run through it. It opens resinous and almost ambergris-like, then dries into a brown tobacco-and-leather warmth that lingers for hours.

In perfumery

A foundational base note and the natural backbone of most amber accords, usually built with vanilla and benzoin. A strong fixative, it deepens chypres, orientals and leathers and pairs with rose, oakmoss and incense. It underpins many golden-age oriental classics and countless amber compositions.

Good to know

In antiquity labdanum was combed from the matted beards and thighs of goats and sheep that had browsed through cistus thickets, then raked off with a thong-fringed tool called a ladanisterion. It is one of the oldest aromatic materials, predating distillation by millennia.

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Base note

Ambergris

Sea-aged whale gold breathing warm salt air

What it is

Ambergris is a waxy substance formed in the gut of the sperm whale, thought to coat the indigestible squid beaks it swallows. Produced by perhaps one percent of whales, it is expelled and drifts for years at sea, oxidizing under sun and salt before washing ashore as lumps.

How it smells

Fresh ambergris is fecal and marine; aged, it turns sweet, animalic and softly mineral. The scent is warm and skin-like, with tobacco, dry seaweed, old wood and a salty, faintly sweet musk. It reads less as a sharp odor than as warmth, diffusion and breath.

In perfumery

A prized base note and fixative, it lends warmth, diffusion and a luminous skin effect while slowing evaporation of lighter materials. Its bulk constituent is the near-odorless triterpene ambrein, whose oxidation products ambroxide and ambrinol carry the scent. Most fragrances now use synthetics like Ambroxan; rare real tinctures appear in bespoke work and vintage chypre and oriental compositions.

Good to know

Though salvageable in some countries, ambergris is illegal to collect, possess or sell in the United States, protected as a sperm-whale product under marine-mammal and endangered-species law; India bans possession and sale as well, while Australia restricts only its commercial import and export. Single boulder-sized finds have sold elsewhere for hundreds of thousands of dollars, earning the nickname floating gold.

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Base note

Musk

One word for two entirely different materials

What it is

Musk names two different materials. Historically it was the dried glandular secretion of the male musk deer, genus Moschus, tinctured slowly in alcohol. Since all musk deer came under CITES protection in 1979, the word has almost always meant synthetic musk, families of lab molecules built to carry that warmth without the animal.

How it smells

Raw deer musk is animalic, urinous and barnyard, turning sweet, warm and radiantly skin-like once diluted to a whisper. Synthetic musks read cleaner: Galaxolide sweet and floral-woody, Habanolide metallic like hot-ironed linen, ethylene brassylate soft and powdery. Together they suggest fresh cotton and clean skin rather than fur.

In perfumery

Musk is the quiet backbone of a composition, a fixative that lends sillage, longevity and a second-skin glow. Synthetics divide into nitro, polycyclic and macrocyclic families, the old nitro musks largely restricted over persistence and toxicity concerns, the biodegradable macrocyclics favoured since. Genuine deer musk survives only in a handful of artisanal tinctures.

Good to know

A label that says only musk does not declare which of the two it holds, though deer musk is restricted and costly enough to appear mainly in small artisanal work. Specific anosmia complicates the reading further: many people cannot smell Galaxolide at all, so one wearer finds a scent radiant and another finds almost nothing.

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Base note

Vanilla

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 and Central America, now grown mainly in Madagascar and Indonesia; the vanilla of Tahiti is a different species, Vanilla x tahitensis. 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.

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Base note

Benzoin

Warm vanilla balsam wept from a tapped tree

What it is

Benzoin is a balsamic resin from Styrax trees of Southeast Asia. Siam benzoin comes from Styrax tonkinensis (Laos, Vietnam), Sumatra benzoin from Styrax benzoin (Indonesia). Incisions in the bark make the tree exude a gum that hardens over months into reddish tears, processed into resinoid and absolute.

How it smells

Sweet, warm and balsamic with a pronounced vanilla character and powdery, ambery, faintly cinnamic facets. Siam is rounder and more vanillic; Sumatra is smokier with a cinnamon-styrax edge. It opens soft and creamy, then dries into a cozy, resinous, almost caramelized sweetness.

In perfumery

A warm base note and gentle fixative lending sweetness, body and a vanillic glow to amber accords. It blends with labdanum, vanilla, tonka and incense, smoothing orientals and gourmands. Benzoin is a defining warmth in golden-age oriental classics and countless amber compositions.

Good to know

Benzoin gave its name to benzoic acid and, through it, to the chemical term benzene. The word itself traces to the Arabic luban jawi, "frankincense of Java." The resin never flows on its own; every tear is the tree healing an incision deliberately cut into its bark.

Fragrance Character

The opening is grapefruit and lemon over a sweet, almost candied ginger, and the ginger carries further than the citrus does. Violet and magnolia bring a powdery lift through the middle, amber and labdanum a smooth resinous warmth underneath. It settles vanillic and musky rather than woody, clean and sweet on skin.

Performance

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.

Performance

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.

Occasion

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.

Occasion

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.

Occasion

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.

Occasion

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.

Occasion

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.

Occasion

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.

Performance

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.

Season

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.

Season

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.

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.

Season

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

Spring and summer daytime, warm afternoons in particular. It works for the office, errands and casual weekends, and it suits anyone who wants citrus with some sweetness and weight behind it.