Defender is the magnificent incarnation of the enduring biography of Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni and the potent reference for our brand. Defender, new for 2024, opens with a rebellious shout of zesty ginger, grapefruit and unexpected swirls of dark liquorice, honeyed cognac mingled with a fascinating of red berry compote and hints of kirsch. Solar orange blossom is suffused with the sensuality of hot skin, announcing the arrival of Defender’s all-important heart of Night Blooming Jasmine, an intoxicating flower with heady, licentious imaginings, the perfect centrepiece of this narcotic centrifuge. The background for the jasmine is an alluring blend of mournful myrrh, its earthy smoke and balsamic mood mixed with a note of hay absolute used to suggest Boadicea’s childhood, farming wheat and barley with her family. The other main note is a Verdigris leather accord, created using Leather Fusion, a patented technology and a seductive homage to the tactile nature of natural skins and hides. In Defender this green leather note counterbalances the floral and fruity notes, and it could be suggested, evokes the hand-crafted leather armour worn by Boadicea and the malleable chariot reins and whiff of horses as she rode into battle. The ground of Defender radiates upwards with glazed ambers and musks, smouldering birch tar, guaiac wood and the earthiness of a handsome patchouli. Peru balsam imparts a rich sweet ambiance, with vanillic and cinnamic facets. This sensual base is decorated with a filigree mood of rum-tinted dried fruits. Clary sage and labdanum exalt the leather with a herbaceous dose of salted honey. Defender is a clarion call of considered materials that enchants from start to finish, demonstrating how echoes of the past have relevance today as we adorn our skin in such complex scented protection.