Initio Parfums Privés Rehab Extrait de Parfum

What It Smells Like

Initio Rehab is a calm, creamy woody fragrance built on lavender, sandalwood and musk. It opens the Hedonist collection, a line the house presents as fragrances for wellbeing, and it is offered as an extrait de parfum, the most concentrated form of perfume.

The top is lavender and bergamot. The lavender is smooth and slightly sweet rather than sharp or medicinal, and the bergamot gives it a brief citrus lift. It smells clean in the way of good soap and fresh linen.

The heart is all wood: cedar, vetiver and patchouli, dry and quietly earthy. The base then softens everything with sandalwood, musk and guaiac wood. Sandalwood is the creamy, milky wood at the centre of the fragrance, and with the musk it produces a powdery, skin-like warmth that many people find instantly comforting.

Fragrantica's community ranks woody far ahead as the leading accord, with powdery, aromatic and lavender level behind it. It is rated 4.23 out of 5 from more than 5,000 votes.

Who Made It

Initio does not name the perfumers behind most of its fragrances, and neither Fragrantica nor Parfumo lists one for Rehab. 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

Rehab is for people who want to smell clean, calm and expensive without smelling of anything obvious. Fragrantica lists it for women and men.

If you like sandalwood, soft lavender and musk, it is very easy to love. If you want sweetness, fruit or drama, it will seem too quiet. In this collection it is the woodier, drier neighbour of Musk Therapy, and the two are often compared: Rehab is the one to choose if you prefer wood to citrus.

When to Wear It

The Fragrantica votes are spread across the year. Fall leads, winter and spring are close behind, and day is slightly ahead of night. Only midsummer scores low.

That makes it an excellent everyday fragrance. Wear it to the office, at weekends, or in the evening when you want something understated. As an extrait it sits close to the skin, and it wears smoothly rather than loudly.

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.