Pink Papua: Muana

This perfume has kind of been in the works for twenty years…

“Pink Papua” was one of the first attars I ever created. This was during the early Oriscent years, and it took me about fifteen years to re-release the attar again.

My philosophy is: If I can’t make it properly, better not make it. So, when a fragrance is built around a certain aromatic, you better make sure that you use the very best of that aromatic. 

That’s why it took me so long to release the attar again – I could never find the caliber pink lotus that went into the original.

With the likes of Mystical Lotus becoming a reality, you can imagine how the idea to one day compose a pink lotus perfume has been teasing me non-stop.

Not only is lotus one of the most narcotic scents you can smell, it’s also one that smells even more otherworldly when combined with the right oud. 

The difference between blue and pink lotus isn’t just in the name…

If you’re not familiar with the contrast you may think pink lotus is more akin to red champaka or tuberose than it is to its blue brother. It would take someone with experience to tell you that they’re both from lotus petals…

Unique as each is, if you study them long enough the familiarity comes out clearly. The creamy tone, that buttery glaze that makes you lick your lips, and the thickness of the smell.

It’s all these facets that make finding the right quality so difficult. [Relatively] cheap pink lotus smells as distant to what’s in this perfume as the cheap blue lotuses out there smell compared to what goes into a bottle of Mystical Lotus.

Differences aside… in a perfume, pink lotus is as delectable, as rich, as exalting an aromatic as blue nymphaea.

This perfume is all about showcasing that delectable floral-lick-your-lips-cream… drenched in muana.

I wish I could tell you there was a ‘pink’ oud, but I’m not aware of any. But here’s the secret: the scent of pink lotus isn’t pink. If you marinated tuberose and champaka and blue lotus you’d get its abstract pink. So, you don’t need ‘pink’ oud…

For this inaugural, limited edition of Pink Papua, I chose, and this may surprise you… a very special Bhutanese oud we distilled in 2012.

The finest Bhutan oud has this scent of exotic high-mountain wildflowers, lush, expansive, spicy, pollenesque, white chocolate vanillicious, injected with tuberose, frangipani, and freesia. It’s replete with Mysore’s smooth cream with the tenacity of forest honey. (In other words, your dream oud to use in a pink lotus perfume.)

It’s as if I’ve subconsciously been aging this distillation the past twelve years so that it could one day come together with its pink floral soulmate.

As I’ve said before, it’s my personal conviction that Bhutanese oud is a secret, if not forgotten chapter of Oud history. A passing flicker through the window as the Oud world instead remembered Pusong, Nha Trang, Malinau and Koh Kong.

That’s why the muana profile is so special. Why nobody has any. Why I’ve been letting the precious few distillations we ever did age quietly in the dark. (Do you even remember me selling any?)

Those who know will tell you how Muana drydowns are particularly lovely – which makes it a fantastic base note in a perfume. 

If you want the ultimate luxury floral-oud [unisex] perfume, I left nothing on the table to bring you exactly that. There may be a nice tuberose soliflore out there. A nice sandalwood spray. Pink lipstick stuff. Scattered facets of an aromatic you won’t find anywhere on display or at the heart of even the niche-est perfumes. 

Certainly, where would you have ever heard of that pink beauty relaxing in a pool of Bhutanese oud?

So, take a spritz and let that pink that’s not pink let you smell lotuliscious opulence to the max.