BYREDO’s new Eleventh Hour fragrance might be its darkest one yet

It’s been a season of summery scents: there was Chanel’s new Les Eaux des Chanel unisex fragrances, each inspired by Coco Chanel’s favourite cities; and the the citrusy Prada Infusion de Mandarine, which calls to mind sizzling summer days and nights.

And then you have BYREDO’s new scent, the Eleventh Hour EDP, which completely flips the script on what we know about fragrances. The cult luxury Swedish brand has introduced a new perfume with a rather unconventional premise. The Eleventh Hour explores the idea ‘of things ending, a journey to the end of Time, and the last perfume on Earth’.

It’s quite unconventional for a fragrance, which traditionally is concocted to inspire anything but the bleak thought of the end. Though it’s anchored on a rather sombre backstory, it’s perhaps only rightfully so.

After all, the inspiration is rooted in real issues afflicting our environment: the idea of rising ocean levels, and how it will one day make the Earth’s once most hostile places possibly the only safe refuges on earth – essentially what things might feel like at the Eleventh Hour.

Notes

Top: ban timmur, bergamot

Heart: carrot seeds, rum, wild fig

Base: tonka beans, cashmere woods

The top notes in the scent are led by the peppery and citrusy accents of Ban Timmur, a plant native to the Nepali highlands. At its core is the wild fig, the first forbidden fruit, which is the heart note of Eleventh Hour. The sweet and alluring scent is both a symbol of desire and captures that smell of pending danger. There’s also warm tonka beans and energetic notes of the cashmere wood in the mix – which attempts to create the energy ‘released by our solar plexus when it opens wide’, according to its press release.

The concept is intriguing, as are all things BYREDO. And if you are curious as to what the end of the world might possibly smell like, it’s certainly worth a whiff.

The BYREDO Eleventh Hour EDP will be available at Escentials Paragon and escentials.com at SGD210 (50ml) and SGD310 (100ml) from 6 September onwards.

Sarah Khan

Photo: BYREDO

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