The Library Collection Opus X

By the editors · 2 min readA study in contrasts, Opus X opens with two roses—Turkish and May—each rendering the other starker, more vivid. There's no softness here, no garden reverie. The leather arrives almost immediately, not smooth or supple but raw and slightly acrid, as if the roses were pressed between tanned hides still warm from the tannery.

What follows isn't a traditional rose-leather accord but something more unsettling: the ylang-ylang underneath lends a faintly narcotic sweetness that never quite resolves the tension. The effect is both austere and vaguely indolic, like finding expensive lipstick stains on a leather jacket.

This is fragrance for those who find conventional florientals too accommodating, who want their roses served with an edge. Polarizing, uncompromising, and strangely compelling in its refusal to charm.