Neroli is often sold as brightness. On skin it is stranger than that: orange blossom, a little bitterness, and a clean line that either vanishes or becomes part of the collar.
We are interested in the third hour. The first is advertisement. The third is the person.
The third hour
A cologne that is only sharp at the opening is a greeting, not a perfume. The one we kept had a soft powder under the citrus, enough to survive a wool coat and a warm room. It did not fill a corridor. It stayed where it was put.
Apply less than you think. Citrus punishes a heavy hand, and the edit is meant to be reread, not announced from across a room.
