Cistus Vigil

The most literal name in the line. Cistus is the rockrose genus, and labdanum is the resin the rockrose gives. A vigil is a watch kept through the night. The two belong together for a practical reason as much as a devotional one: labdanum was historically gathered by combing it from the beards of goats that had been grazing the rockrose, which is work that waits rather than work that hurries.

The structure is the oldest one in perfumery, bright citrus laid directly over resin with very little between them. Bergamot and petitgrain open it, bitter rather than sweet. Labdanum and benzoin build the base, and ho wood bridges the gap between the two halves. Clary sage sits in the middle, herbaceous and faintly ambery, and it belongs here more than anywhere else on the bench.

The amber ended up framing the blend rather than being the subject of it, which is the better outcome. Poured by hand in Calumet into 7 ml black glass. Beeswax, tallow and jojoba have different melt points, which gives the balm its three-phase slow release.