Most celebrity fragrances are a licence: a name goes on a bottle that already existed, or on a type oil chosen from a catalogue. HQ, Habib Qaderi's extrait de parfum, was built the other way round, and it is worth walking through what that means, because the choices show up in the notes, the concentration and the way it wears.
Composed around one person
Scent Room, the Sydney perfumery behind HQ, says every accord was composed around Habib Qaderi himself: his stage, his presence, the energy of a room when he arrives. In practice that means starting from a character brief rather than a market brief, then choosing materials that read that character on skin. For a performer, that pushes the composition towards projection in the opening and a long, warm base that is still there after the show.
The pyramid
The opening is Italian mandarin over aldehydes and sea notes: bright citrus given lift by the aldehydes and a saline, airy edge from the marine accord. The heart is black pepper and neroli on polished cedarwood, which is where the fragrance gets its spine: pepper for bite, neroli for a clean floral brightness, cedar for structure. The base is tonka bean, white musk and amber, a classic warm trio chosen for longevity and a soft, skin-close finish. Scent Room files it as fresh woody and unisex.
Why 30 per cent matters
HQ is an extrait de parfum at 30 per cent concentration. Concentration is not the same as loudness, but it is the biggest single lever on wear time and on how the base develops. Scent Room quotes 10 to 16 hours from one or two sprays, opening boldly and settling into a personal skin scent. At that strength the advice is to apply to pulse points, let it dry without rubbing, and go easy: two sprays is plenty.
How it is made
Scent Room builds each formula from individual aromachemicals rather than pre-made type oils, using GCMS reconstruction, the same analytical method the large houses use to understand a composition material by material. Materials are sourced from IFF, Givaudan and Firmenich. Every bottle is made by hand in Sydney. It is the difference between a fragrance that is designed and one that is decanted.
Storage and care
Extraits are stable if you keep them away from heat, light and temperature swings. A drawer or wardrobe shelf is ideal; a bathroom is not. Stored well, Scent Room says HQ will perform at full strength for three to five years.
The edition
HQ is a signed first edition in limited bottles, 100ml, A$69, sold only through Scent Room and shipped Australia-wide and worldwide by FedEx. The launch film, shot with Qaderi, is on Break News. If you want to smell what "composed around one man" actually means, the HQ extrait de parfum at Scent Room is the place to start.