221B: The Story of the Flat at 221B Baker Street

How was 221B made?

221B is dedicated to a fictional character Rei holds especially dear: Sherlock Holmes. 221B Baker Street is where Sherlock Holmes lived. 221B shows another side of Holmes, beyond his pipe and his leather gloves: sharp and resolute, yet full of passion, fighting for the truth with everything he has. This is a scent for reckless souls who know how to dream.

What does 221B smell like?

221B

Eau de Parfum – 50 ml

Top notes: green mandarin, lemon, blackcurrant

Middles: osmanthus absolute, geranium, rose

Base: Birch tar, ambrette seed, leather, Peru balsam, tobacco

221B’s key note: Damascenone

Damascenone, an important constituent of rose, shines through 221B from beginning to end. One of the most expensive materials in perfumery, it carries both the refinement of a rose effect and a faint, lingering trace of tobacco. In the blend it balances the leather facet and makes the whole accord rounder and more mellow.

Sherlock is given to reflection. Yet he is not at all the kind of man who drifts off easily or loses himself in passing fancies. His thoughts arrive at first like fog on a London street, then slowly clear as he links one thing to the next and applies his method.

The birch tar note in 221B has no smoky or gloomy cast. Instead it lays a faint, hazy mist over the leather and balsam that dominate the base on your skin.

221B – The story of the flat at 221B Baker Street

No. 221 Baker Street, London, England, never existed in real life. Yet such is the affection for Sherlock Holmes that England has given him a museum of his own, at the number 221B so familiar to readers. If Rei Nguyen’s next trip takes her to London, it is one place she will certainly visit.

The celebrated detective Sherlock Holmes — always on the side of justice, unbending yet every bit a romantic — has long been Rei Nguyen’s hero, and in the end became the inspiration for 221B.

“221B is not the scent I imagine Sherlock would wear. It is how I understand him, in the language of scent. A cool head. A warm heart. Rule and exception. Order and chaos. Rigid yet gentle. Aloof yet passionate.

“Above all, Sherlock cares deeply about people. You see it in the way he gave his whole life to seeking justice for the defenceless, helping them to be treated fairly again.” — Rei Nguyen