Sanctuaria

Church smoke and dessert are not far apart.

Vanilla absolute is the last thing standing, refined and unhurried. Olibanum and Dominican amberwood take the weight beneath it. Copal smoke sits above that in a gilded veil, resinous, sticky where vanilla oleoresin runs into it. Black pepper and elemi go on first, dry and almost austere, which is not what the rest of it suggests.

Hidden stone chapels in the mountains of the Dominican Republic, remote, and full of smoke. Meditation by morning, magnetism by night, and it will answer to either.

La Boticá is a fragrance house rooted in Afro-Dominican heritage, working out of a Long Island City atelier where a small team handcrafts every release. Dawn Marie West founded it and composes the work, self-taught, arriving at fine fragrance after fifteen years in the arts, with a background as an art director and fine art photographer. Indigenous Dominican materials are the foundation: amyris, wild orange and cacao butter from the island, alongside palo santo gathered in Ecuador.

Seven eau de parfums, hand-poured candles, botanical body oils and incense make up the range, produced in small batches and in limited editions, and built to be layered. The fragrances are vegan and cruelty free, blended on USDA organic sugarcane alcohol and housed in Spanish glass from a Costa Brava maker, made with recycled content. A percentage of profits goes to The Dream Project, which runs education programs across twenty-seven Dominican communities.