WAN CHAI 灣仔

Hong Kong, 1989. A wild ride in a red taxi takes you to the Po San club. It’s 3am, it’s raining and everyone inside is smoking. The music inside the club pounds your head, and you glance around in the dark…she’s over there. Touching up her lipstick, she sees you and flicks her hand at you and smiles. You blush in the dark. The spotlight catches her ruby-red sequins as she strolls across the stage towards you.

‘Hey Baby, I thought you wouldn’t make it in time to see my show.’ You grin… ‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world’.

WAN CHAI 灣仔… the hottest night of your life.

This year’s batch contains styrax absolute instead of benzoin, the result of which offers a more lush floralcy to the amber base. Much much more expensive, and it utterly shows me why. A deep leathery floral layer intertwines with the labdanum here. I’ve also doubled the Taif rose, Vietnamese oud, and boosted the star anise to better reference the ever-present 5-spice bouquet that suffuses all of Hong Kong. I was much too timid the first time i created Wan Chai. This gal tells it like I always wished it to be. A spicy, smoky, sexy red light. More complex, more lavish, more bold. More beautiful.

Featured notes include my original Smoke accord, Saffron, Aniseed, Cinnamon, Cardamon, Taif Rose, TR Amber accord, Vietnamese and Hindi oudh.