Lemongrass, at the edge of the morning

Lemongrass smells like the beginning of things.

It is the scent in the air at markets before the heat of the day settles in — that particular quality of clean, green brightness that cuts through the tropical morning before anything else does. If frangipani is the scent of Singapore's afternoons and ylang ylang is the scent of its evenings, lemongrass is its mornings.

The aroma is sharp at first — citrus-leaning, lemon in name and nature — and then it softens. The initial brightness passes and what remains is something warmer: a green, slightly herbal depth that feels less like a perfume note and more like a place.

Lemongrass — botanically Cymbopogon citratus — is a tall, fast-growing grass native to tropical and subtropical Asia. It grows abundantly in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, appearing in kitchens, in gardens, in the wild margins of farmland, and in the market stalls where its crushed stalks release the scent that anyone who has cooked Southeast Asian food will recognise immediately.

In perfumery, lemongrass is classified as a top note — one of the first things you smell, and one of the fastest to evolve. The raw material contains a high concentration of citral, a volatile aromatic compound responsible for the sharp, lemony brightness. That citral content is why lemongrass opens so clearly and so immediately. It is also why it evolves quickly — the top note softens over minutes, giving way to the greener, warmer middle of the grass itself.

In body care, this evolution is an advantage. A lemongrass fragrance that opens sharp and settles warm is the ideal morning companion: present when you want alertness, and quiet when you want to carry it through the day without the scent becoming intrusive. We pair ours with pandan — the Southeast Asian leaf with its warm, slightly sweet, faintly vanilla-green character — and the two together create a fragrance that behaves exactly this way: bright opening, warm mid, and a subtle tropical depth that lasts.

A note on why lemongrass is different in Southeast Asia.

Lemongrass is not a new ingredient in body care — it appears in products from brands across Europe and North America, usually as an essential oil used in small quantities for its bright, clean character. In most Western body care, it is a supporting note: something that lifts a fragrance without anchoring it.

In Southeast Asia, lemongrass is not a supporting note. It is a protagonist. The ingredient is embedded in the food culture, the traditional medicine practice, and the everyday sensory landscape of the region in a way that gives it a different kind of meaning — not exotic, not imported, but native. The scent of lemongrass in a Singaporean context carries the full weight of that history: the market, the kitchen, the garden, the land.

This is why we use it as one of three primary fragrances. It is not being applied as a trend ingredient or as a botanical claim. It is being used as a material that belongs here, that the people who live here recognise, and that brings the brand’s Southeast Asian identity into the body care ritual directly.

The Lemongrass & Pandan fragrance is crafted to carry lemongrass at its most characteristic — the bright citral quality that makes it instantly recognisable, arriving clearly, settling warmly, lasting genuinely.

The Lemongrass & Pandan Cleanser is the entry into the fragrance. The 250ml is enough for two to three months of daily use — long enough for the fragrance to become a morning habit, and to discover whether this is the scent you return to or the one you move on from. (Most people return.)

The Duet — a 400ml Cleanser and a 250ml Lotion — extends the ritual from the wash to the close.