Initio Parfums Privés Paragon Extrait de Parfum

What It Smells Like

Initio Paragon is an aromatic woody fragrance built around palo santo and sage. It belongs to the Hedonist collection and is made at extrait de parfum strength. The house presents it as a scent of plenitude, inspired by two plants long used for cleansing rituals.

It opens with lavender, sage and bergamot, herbal and fresh. Sage has a dry, silvery, slightly camphor-like smell, and paired with lavender it gives the top a clean, aromatic clarity.

The heart is plum, palo santo and black pepper. Palo santo is a South American wood, traditionally burned as incense, that smells sweet, resinous and faintly citrusy with a hint of mint. The plum adds a soft, dark fruitiness that fills out the wood and makes the fragrance feel rounder than a typical aromatic.

The base is sandalwood and oud. The sandalwood is creamy, and the oud is used lightly, for depth rather than for smoke. Fragrantica's community ranks woody as the leading accord, followed by aromatic, fruity, fresh spicy and citrus, and rates it 4.24 out of 5 from about 4,300 votes.

Who Made It

Initio does not name the perfumers behind most of its fragrances, and neither Fragrantica nor Parfumo lists one for Paragon. We would rather leave the credit open than guess. The house presents its fragrances as the work of a collective, with the materials and their effect on mood placed ahead of any individual signature.

Who It's For

Paragon is for people who like woods and herbs and want something more unusual than cedar and lavender. Fragrantica lists it for women and men.

If you enjoy the smell of palo santo or incense but want it clean and wearable, this is the fragrance for you. Compared with Rehab it is more aromatic and fruitier, with more presence. If you want a sweet or gourmand scent, look elsewhere in the house.

When to Wear It

The Fragrantica votes are well balanced. Fall leads narrowly over spring and winter, and day and night are almost tied; only summer scores lower.

It works as an everyday signature, in the office and in the evening alike. Parfumo's community rates its longevity as above average, so at extrait strength two sprays are usually enough.

About the House

Initio Parfums Privés launched in Paris in 2015 with an unusual premise: that scent acts on mood and attraction before we consciously register it. The fragrances are built around materials chosen for that effect, such as musks, woods, resins and the jasmine-like molecule hedione, and they are grouped into collections with a stated purpose: The Absolutes, The Carnal Blends, The Black Gold Project, the Hedonist collection and Supercharged.

The bottles are heavy, square-shouldered flacons with a metal medallion on the front, and the compositions tend to be concentrated and long-lasting. Initio is a boutique-only house at Redolia. It is sold at our perfumery at 92 West Main Street in Somerville, New Jersey, and not through the website. Read how our boutique-only houses work, then come in and try it on skin before you decide.