M/Mink by Byredo is the result of a collaboration between Paris-based graphic design firm M/M and Byredo, the perfume brand founded by Ben Gorham.

According to the Byredo website, “The scent is inspired by a block of solid ink purchased in Asia, a photograph showing a Japanese master practising his daily calligraphy, and a large utopian formula drawn on Korean traditional paper.”

M/Mink opens with sparkling, tingling aldehydes, leading to a cold blast of a fresh, salty, marine breeze. It’s from Adoxal, a modifier created by Givaudin. I can’t recall ever smelling an opening like this. Synthetic, yes, but so intriguing it calls to me. Adoxal has fresh, green, salty, aquatic, floral, aldehydic, and waxy qualities. I experience them all in that first whiff, and they become the backdrop for what’s to come. The freshness at the start morphs into the heady smell of ink that brings to mind the smell of ink toner that I have always found so enticing. As the Adoxal settles, a note of incense slinks forward. The incense used here is peppery and spicy, adding warmth and depth that counterbalances the cold at the opening. I also get undertones of green, terpenic pine that keep the freshness and headiness humming, while patchouli leaf, dank, camphourous underlines the smell of ink. Amber is here, too, sweet and animalic and gives M/Mink a quiet sensuality. Clover honey bolsters the amber with its gentle sweetness and animalic facet and echoes the subtle floral quality of the Adoxal.

The Adoxal is present throughout the fragrance but fades as it develops, allowing the other notes to shine and enhance it. What I notice most about it is that there’s no sign of dirtiness. It starts out heady, inky, and clean, then dries down warm, gently sweet, and quietly sensuous.

Notes: Adoxal, incense, patchouli leaf, amber, clover honey.