The Body Tale Hibiscus Crimson

Bunga Raya, Malaysia's national flower.

The flower is red, and the red is vivid and delicate at once, warm and weightless. Jasmine and rose share a soft solar glow with orris and geranium, polished and airy rather than dense, like red silk moving gently in warm air.

Roselle tea, brewed from a close cousin of the same flower, runs underneath with a delicate tartness. Vanilla and caramel bring a smooth, understated sweetness. Blackcurrant and lychee are tart and luminous, like red petals catching tropical light, and crisp apple shares the brightness.

The Body Tale makes fragrances in Indonesia out of familiar things. Roasted green tea made with milk. Chamomile with a slightly bitter almond. Sparkling lychee syrup. The walk out of a salon after a gentle blow-dry, and the moment after a bath when skin is soft and clean.

Tea and milk come back again and again: roasted, steeped with chamomile, or pressed from soybeans. So do the small rituals of looking after oneself, shampoo bubbles and something milky smoothed onto skin. Home is in it too, a childhood kitchen and a cup shared across generations, and so is Bunga Raya, the red hibiscus that is Malaysia's national flower. Every release is an extrait.