#heeley

Have you ever eaten ribbon candy? It's bulky, sharp-edged, painful to chew, and attracts a diabolical amount of dust if left to sit in an open candy dish. On the other hand, it comes in dozens of gorgeous jewel-tone colors, looks fantastic piled high in a glass jar (with lid, of course), and smells divine. It may be hard to justify a candy that exists only for appearance and aroma, rather than for eating. Yet ribbon candy seems so eager to please that it's difficult to hold a grudge against it-- and so it's one of my favorite things. Even today, the sight and smell of it seem to me like emissaries from my childhood.

Aside from the candy dish -- and that surprise encounter in the New Age boutique -- I never expected to stumble across that reminder anywhere else. Imagine my surprise, then, when almost two decades later, I opened a sample vial of "serious" perfume and found my childhood inside!

I'd been given to understand that James Heeley's Esprit du Tigre drew its inspiration directly from Tiger Balm, the Chinese traditional remedy famous for its quaintly attractive packaging. I happily use Tiger Balm liniment myself, so despite warnings about EdT's medicinal qualities, I went looking for its magic.

Did I find it? Without a doubt. Tiger Balm? Maybe just a touch. Ribbon candy?

Scads of it.

Remembering my last encounter with this beloved scent, the only thing to do was to fetch my bottle of pure basil oil and conduct a two-arm simultaneous scent test. The verdict: a stunning counterfeit of nature.

Esprit du Tigre contains no basil oil (and neither, incidentally, does Tiger Balm). The accord I interpret as basil is a hologram artfully constructed of everything but the real deal. Yet James Heeley has taken that girly-pink, confectionary accord far beyond its natural, linear limit. Esprit du Tigre tempers basil's piercing sweetness with hot, earthy spices, adds a touch of camphor to keep it sparkly, then grounds it with the earthy salt-musk tang of vetiver-- in essence, lifting it out of the candy dish and recreating it as a grownup pleasure.

Such differences may be subtle, but they are also significant. I welcome the chance to discover what new memories, connections, and illusions Esprit du Tigre will unlock for me.