Binturong
Auphorie (2016)

What is a Binturong? Apparently, it's a species of bearcat native to Southeast Asia. Gee, I didn't know that. I must have slept through my Geography classes. Not that it matters, for surely the name is nothing but a marketing decision to align each release with Auphorie's Southeast Asian heritage.

On my skin, Binturong 'purrs' contentedly, a musky leathery oriental of impressive depth and ambition, featuring a barnyard-like almost fecal note that is perfectly tempered by the spices and smoky resins. Thankfully this animalistic aspect hugs the skin so you won't go around reeking of a petting zoo.

After Miyako, this is probably my next favorite from the house. The ingredient quality is topnotch and execution near flawless. I almost feel guilty wearing it when so many people have to make do with expensive yet harsh-smelling chemicals. Fans of Dior Leather Oud should get their nose on this cat before it goes extinct. Or am I already too late?

I delayed trying out Binturong for a long time, having caught a whiff on a strip of paper which suggested that it may be too challenging for even my adventurous nose. On paper this thing was all fur and backside, and I was unsure I wanted to smell like that all day.
However, my curiosity won me over as Auphorie has yet to release a perfume that doesn't take me places. And fortunately, on skin Binturong revealed that it is a many layered thing.
While the opening impression is of great density like a drone work where all the levels seem maxed out, it soon begins to unfurl. Its foundation seems to be that rich, gourmand, smoked coconut-rice custard accord that is the star of the line's Eau de Nyonya. Here it is the backdrop to an interplay of curious, contrasting notes. There's the furriness of the animalics (though the perfume uses no animal derived ingredients); gentle, made silky by the infusion of iris, with little evidence of the unwashed that I had smelled on paper. A deep roasted coffee note offers a touch of bitterness in the mix but it's deftly handled – one registers it and then it merges back into the blend. Dancing against these almost fudgy notes is a clear floral sweetness reminiscent of Shambala, another Auphorie perfume – I haven't a clue what it is and the notes don't make me any the wiser but this is what makes the perfume. It is clean, slender, almost glassy and it plays against the compacted swirl of the rest with great elegance.
And then some hours in something quite magical happens and the game of contrasts transforms into a union of great silkiness and delicacy, as the dense background begins to relax and lighten and the sheer floral accord settles like a drifting feather upon it. Now everything is compelling musky abstraction, a perfume inviting, warm yet cool, and soft as a kittens belly.
Projection is lovely – a couple of mini-sprays is enough to get that not too much not too little balance that truly satisfies.