Pan’s Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth was born from patience, collaboration, and obsession with detail. The project began as a creative conversation between two people who live and breathe scent, myself and Rajesh Balkrishnan, a perfumer and fragrance storyteller whose eye for nuance helped shape every part of this composition. What started as an idea to capture the balance between mystery and softness, much like the film that inspired it, became a year-long process of building, discarding, and rebuilding. We created ten different versions before we reached the one that finally felt right.

At its core, Pan’s Labyrinth is a modern fougère, reinterpreted with warmth and depth. It holds the structure of the classic fougère, that interplay of lavender, moss, and coumarin, but reimagined through a sexier, powdery lens. The fragrance moves differently than traditional structures; instead of crisp freshness, it opens with an enveloping sweetness. 

The idea of powder became central to the identity of the scent. I wanted something that carried comfort and elegance without drifting into nostalgia or cosmetics. To achieve that, I spent two months developing a custom powder accord, blending, filtering, and balancing small trials until the right texture appeared: airy, slightly sweet, but dry enough to lift the heart of the fragrance. This accord became the key that tied the entire formula together. On its own, it’s subtle, but in the full composition, it gives everything a smooth surface, the rose is a bit softer, the lavender a bit smoother, and the wood base finds a velvet finish.

The top of Pan’s Labyrinth opens with bergamot, rose otto, bitter almond, and a touch of white ambergris. The bergamot gives an effervescent brightness, while the rose otto blends into the almond’s faint sweetness, creating a powdery lift right from the start. The powder accord sits beside them as a main player, ensuring that even the brightness of the opening has softness built into it. The ambergris adds diffusion, letting the top spread evenly before it settles.

As it moves into the heart, the fougère character comes alive. Lavender essential oil provides that traditional backbone. Coumarin gives it the recognizable fougère rhythm, that hint of warmth and balance between sweet and dry, while rose absolute, ylang ylang, and patchouli form the core texture. The florals are used carefully; they don’t dominate or make the scent lean floral. Instead, they sit beneath the lavender like layers of fabric, giving body and density to the middle phase. The patchouli gives just enough weight to hold the powder accord in place, so it doesn’t fade too quickly.

The base is where Pan’s Labyrinth takes its full form. The blend of Sri Lankan sandalwood, Siberian musk, and Malaysian oud gives the scent its warmth and dimension. Each material was chosen for tone, sandalwood for creaminess, musk for texture, and oud for depth. French oakmoss and pine tree moss connect the structure to its classical roots, while fir, labdanum, and bakhoor tincture add a resinous, slightly incensey base. The bakhoor tincture, in particular, gives a faint incense-like warmth that on its own has many fougere notes intertwined to it, connecting the sweetness of the powder accord to the depth of the wood and moss.

Nothing stands apart from the rest; each material is woven into the next. The first few minutes bring brightness and powder, then a soft floral heart, and finally a clean, woody base that stays for hours. It’s designed to move slowly, allowing the materials to breathe and reveal their character without clashing.

The collaboration with Rajesh is a story of shared passion. Every trial, every adjustment was deliberate. He brought an incredible ability to sense proportion, to know when a few drops too many could change the entire mood. His support went beyond the formula. Rajesh also helped subsidize each 30ml bottle, allowing us to keep the price at $325 despite the high concentration of naturals and the time that went into production. It was important to both of us that this fragrance remain accessible to collectors who value craftsmanship and authenticity.

We didn’t rush the process. The formula was left to rest and mature before bottling, letting the oils blend. When we revisited it months later, the scent had developed a softness that neither of us expected, the powder accord had melted into the lavender and sandalwood, creating a seamless line from top to base. That was the moment we knew it was complete.

After so many versions, what we ended up with feels simple: a smooth, powdery fougère with natural warmth and quiet complexity. Every element, from the bergamot and rose to the oakmoss and bakhoor, plays its part in service of that single idea; to create a fragrance that feels as detailed and deliberate as the world of Pan’s Labyrinth itself.

Top Notes 

Bergamot

Rose Otto

Powder Accord

Bitter Almond

White Ambergris

Heart Notes

Lavender EO

Coumarin

Rose Abs

Ylang Ylang

Patchouli

Base Notes

Sri Lankan Santal

Siberian Musk 

Malaysian Oud 

French Oakmoss

Pine tree Moss

Fir

Labdanum

Bakhoor tincture