The Index · Perfumer Profile
He Learned It At
His Father's Bench.
Maksim Bortnikoff.
Perfumery almost never passes from parent to child. This one did. The son of Dmitry Bortnikoff trained in the family lab, went to perfume school, then opened a house under his own name in Bangkok and filled it with thirteen fragrances in two years, blended by hand at ninety five to one hundred percent naturals. We carry all thirteen.
Perfumer Spotlight
There are almost no second generation perfumers. The trade runs on schools and corporate labs, and the handful of family names that do exist are usually a brand passed down rather than a craft. Maksim Bortnikoff is the rarer thing. He learned to compose next to his father, and then went somewhere else to do it.
His father is Dmitry Bortnikoff, whose house has spent a decade building a following on dense, natural, unapologetically heavy perfumery made in Thailand. The brand's own account of the son is brief and worth reading literally: he is the heir to that house, he trained at a perfume school, and he learned the work alongside his father at the bench. That is the whole published biography. No origin myth, no stated birth year, no career before this one.
What he did with the inheritance is the interesting part. Rather than take over the family name, he opened a separate house under his own, and the first fragrances arrived in 2024. Thirteen followed inside two years, which is a punishing rate for a one person operation and the kind of pace that usually signals corner cutting. It does not here, and the note lists are why.
Ninety five to one hundred percent natural, blended by hand in Bangkok, in small batches.
That is the standard the house gives its retailers, and it is an unusually specific promise to make in public. Most brands call themselves natural in the abstract precisely because a number is checkable. Four of the thirteen go further and publish a concentration, twenty five to thirty percent, which is extrait territory and almost nobody prints it.
The line also does the thing that makes those claims credible, which is to name its materials by origin rather than by category. Not oud but Hindi, Kinam, Cambodian, Trat, Prachin, Khazanah Malaysian, Burmese and Siam. Not frankincense but serrata and boswellia sacra. Ruh khus rather than vetiver, gurjun and copaiba and tolu rather than balsam, kopi luwak alongside Turkish coffee. The house names its sources too, Kinam agarwood from Hainan, musk from Yakutia, ambergris out of Ireland. A brand working from a corporate base library has no reason to make any of those distinctions, because they would not survive the formula.
Being in Bangkok is not incidental to that. It puts him inside the Southeast Asian agarwood trade rather than ordering from a catalogue, and across thirteen fragrances the range of oud here is wider than houses ten times the size manage. He also reaches well outside the usual palette, for shamama, the traditional Indian attar base distilled from dozens of herbs and spices that almost nobody west of the subcontinent builds with, and for a house made kombu tincture that puts actual seaweed in a fragrance instead of the synthetic sea air every aquatic has leaned on since the nineties.
He does not work entirely alone. Two compositions, Oud Indochine and Yeti, are co credited with Rajesh Balkrishnan, who is a professor of public health at the University of Virginia and, alongside that, a fixture of the artisanal end of this trade with his own house, Mallo. The detail worth noticing is that Balkrishnan had already composed for Bortnikoff senior, on Santa Sangre and Sayat Nova and Scheherazade, before he composed for the son. The collaborator came with the family.
The catalogue is organised the way the house organises it below, three numbered collections in release order, then the Signature Line, then the two collaborations. The Heritage Line is the house's phrase for the occasion fragrances, the dense ones. The Signature Line is the everyday counterpart, still built on real agarwood but scaled for a Tuesday. One more thing is worth knowing before you read on: the lineage goes back further than two generations. The house says Chypre de Grand was built from the colognes Maksim's great grandfather wore.
We carry all thirteen, each stocked both as a 2ml hand decant and as the full 50ml house bottle on the same page, so the whole line can be heard on skin before any bottle decision gets made. The decants are priced against the bottle they are drawn from, so the cheap way in and the expensive way in are the same order of difference at both sizes.
The First Collection
The house opened with three, and they are still the clearest statement of what it is for. An amber built from four separate balsams, a coffee built from two different coffees, and a musk that starts on lychee and ends in tobacco. All three publish a concentration of twenty five to thirty percent, which is the only part of the line where the house puts a number on the strength. If you want to understand the project in one sitting, these three are it.
Amber Balsam
2024 · 2ml $18.99 · 50ml $320Four balsams stacked, and a salt wind blowing through them. The house calls it an earthy vintage balsamic amber with a smoky oud edge. Calabrian bergamot, cardamom and clove leaf open bright and spiced, gurjun balsam takes the heart with cinnamon, ylang ylang, ruh khus and green tea, and copaiba, tolu and Peru balsam close it with ambergris tincture, Siam oud and labdanum. Building an amber from four balsams rather than one amber accord plus vanilla is why this has texture where the category is usually flat and sweet, and the gurjun saltiness keeps it from cloying. Still heavy enough to be too much in summer.
Calabrian Bergamot · Clove Leaf · Gurjun Balsam · Ruh Khus · Copaiba · Tolu · Peru Balsam · Oud Siam
Café Mystique
2024 · 2ml $18.99 · 50ml $320Kopi luwak coffee and frangipani, served with incense. The house line is wild coffee meeting tropical florals before it melts into warm woods. Bergamot, kopi luwak and black pepper open bright and bitter at once, frangipani takes the heart with cardamom, ylang ylang and labdanum, and vetiver, myrrh, frankincense, vanilla, Siam oud, Turkish coffee and beeswax build a base that is resinous and roasted in equal measure. Two different coffees doing two different jobs is the clever part, the kopi luwak reading almost fruity up top while the Turkish coffee grounds the base. Coffee turns sour on some skin as it dries, so test it.
Kopi Luwak Coffee · Black Pepper · Frangipani · Cardamom · Myrrh · Frankincense · Oud Siam · Turkish Coffee
Musk Couture
2024 · 2ml $18.99 · 50ml $320Lychee and raspberry walked into a tobacco bar. The house describes it as red velvet in low light, warm and wild and impossible to ignore, which is marketing but not inaccurate. Lychee, raspberry, a herbal green note and Roman chamomile open juicy and bright, ylang ylang, tobacco, guaiac wood and nagarmotha pull the middle somewhere much darker, and benzoin, cedarwood, Indian oud, a musk tincture, vanilla and oakmoss hold the base warm and woody. The jump from a fruity opening to a tobacco and smoked wood heart is abrupt in the best way, and it is the rare musk with actual structure rather than a pleasant hum. That same swing means what you smell at five minutes is not what you are wearing at an hour, so judge it late.
Lychee · Raspberry · Roman Chamomile · Ylang Ylang · Tobacco · Guaiac Wood · Nagarmotha · Indian Oud · OakmossThe Second Collection
A year on, and the reach gets longer. This is where shamama arrives, the Indian attar base that almost nobody outside the subcontinent builds with, and where a chypre gets rebuilt around Thai liquorice grown and distilled in the provinces up the road. It is also where the family line goes back a generation further than you expect, because the house says the chypre was drawn from the colognes Maksim's great grandfather wore.
Ambre de Noir
2025 · 2ml $18.99 · 50ml $320Shamama and tobacco in an amber that stays dark. The house calls it a night bazaar amber made for skin. A green accord, herbal notes and saffron open with a gentle bitterness, frangipani, magnolia, Indian shamama and tobacco build the heart, and an Indian amber accord, ambergris tincture, Indian sandalwood, tonka and Madagascar vanilla finish it velvety and faintly smoky. Shamama is a traditional attar base distilled from dozens of herbs and spices, and using it gives this a depth no western amber reaches. It is also genuinely odd, herbal and slightly medicinal, so it is not an easy first wear.
Saffron · Frangipani · Magnolia · Shamama · Tobacco · Indian Amber · Ambergris · Sandalwood · Tonka
Chypre de Grand
2025 · 2ml $18.99 · 50ml $320A chypre with the heaviness taken out of it. The house frames it as a tribute to classic chypre perfumery reworked with a modern hand, built from the colognes his great grandfather wore. Bergamot, lime and white grapefruit open bright and clean, beeswax, benzoin, guaiac wood, rose de mai, a musk tincture, styrax and Thai liquorice fill the heart with a sweet spiced edge, and Virginia cedarwood, labdanum, light patchouli and oakmoss close it in classic territory. The Thai liquorice is the detail that makes it, a sweet anise edge sitting where a traditional chypre would have put more moss. Anyone hunting the dense vintage version will find this too polite.
Bergamot · Lime · White Grapefruit · Beeswax · Rose de Mai · Styrax · Thai Liquorice · Labdanum · Oakmoss
Vanilla Oud
2025 · 2ml $20.99 · 50ml $350Three vanillas and two ouds, and neither side wins. The house calls it a cozy velvety oud wrapped in three natural vanillas, and says it is meant to show the softer side of real agarwood. Bergamot, jungle pepper and pink pepper open sparkling and hot before apricot and jasmine sambac turn it fleshy. Madagascar, New Guinea and red vanilla fill the heart alongside ylang ylang, and Cambodian and Trat oud close it over benzoin, birch tar, labdanum and Peru balsam. Using three vanillas instead of one gives it real dimension, and the birch tar stops the whole thing collapsing into dessert by the second hour the way most vanilla ouds do. It is also the most crowd pleasing thing here, which makes it the least distinctive. If you already own a good sweet oud this will feel familiar rather than new.
Jungle Pepper · Apricot · Jasmine Sambac · Vanilla Madagascar · Vanilla New Guinea · Cambodian Oud · Oud Trat · Birch TarThe Third Collection
Two bottles, and the most extreme pair in the catalogue. One is an animalic that reaches for castoreum and civet together, a combination most houses abandoned decades ago. The other puts real seaweed and a house made kombu tincture against Malaysian agarwood. Neither is a commercial decision. This is the collection that tells you the house would rather be interesting than safe.
Bestia Sacra
2025 · 2ml $14.99 · 50ml $250Incense and shadow, skin and smoke. The house builds it as a contrast between ritual and the body, temple calm opening into fur and leather. Italian bergamot and a pair of frankincenses, serrata and boswellia sacra, open resinous and searing, myrrh and opoponax build a molten resin core, then the animalic chorus arrives on a musk tincture, castoreum and civet with nagarmotha underneath, and sandalwood, oakmoss, benzoin and labdanum close it balsamic. Castoreum and civet together is something most houses stopped attempting decades ago, and the two frankincenses give the opening a sacred brightness that makes the filth underneath land harder. The least wearable thing here, deliberately. Go light.
Italian Bergamot · Frankincense Serrata · Boswellia Sacra · Myrrh · Opoponax · Castoreum · Civet · Oakmoss
L'Oud Marin
2025 · 2ml $20.99 · 50ml $350Seaweed and agarwood, which is not a pairing anyone asked for and should be. The house is explicit that this is a dark marine oud for night wear and not a beach fragrance. Atlantic brown algae and a house made kombu tincture open cold, salty and genuinely marine rather than the usual calone blue, amyris, styrax and nagarmotha build a storm washed woody heart, and Khazanah Malaysian oud closes it with ambergris, beeswax, vanilla, Virginia cedar and vetiver. Real seaweed and a hand made tincture put this in a different category from every aquatic built on synthetic sea air. Real seaweed also smells like real seaweed, briny and faintly low tide for the first ten minutes.
Atlantic Seaweed · Kombu Tincture · Amyris · Styrax · Nagarmotha · Khazanah Oud Malaysia · Ambergris · BeeswaxThe Signature Line
The house's own phrase for this line is everyday prestige, anchored in precious oud, and it is the smartest thing the brand has done commercially. The Heritage fragrances are occasion pieces that take a room hostage. These three keep the same materials and the same naturals standard and scale them for a working week, which is a much harder brief. Cologne d'Agar came first and is still the best entry point in the catalogue.
Cologne d'Agar
2025 · 2ml $12.99 · 50ml $200The house oud, scaled down to something you can wear on a Tuesday. The house describes it as stepping out of urban noise into a calm misty morning, where the light meets soft Burmese oud. Bergamot and Sichuan pepper open lucid and warm, rose draped in saffron fills the heart with frankincense rising through it, and Burmese agarwood closes it over sandalwood, vanilla, benzoin, labdanum and Virginia cedarwood. This is the entry point to the house and the smartest buy in the line, real agarwood built into something airy enough for daily wear. Scaling it down costs it drama, and anyone who wants the full weight ends up at Oud Indochine anyway.
Bergamot · Sichuan Pepper · Rose · Saffron · Frankincense · Burmese Oud · Sandalwood · Benzoin · Labdanum
Liquid Incense
2026 · 2ml $13.99 · 50ml $210Incense before the flame, not the smoke after it. The house is precise about that distinction, and sets the idea in the last golden light of Andalusia, where the Arab and European worlds met through architecture and ritual. Bergamot, pink pepper and white aldehydes open bright, dry and full of clarity, frankincense and elemi hold the heart as raw resin rather than anything burning, and cedarwood, Haitian vetiver and Trat oud build a dry architectural base with one final drop of darkness. Most incense fragrances reach for church smoke and this one refuses, giving you the resin itself, cold and almost citric, which is the harder effect to pull off. The short note list means it is close to linear and it sits quiet.
Bergamot · Pink Pepper · White Aldehydes · Frankincense · Elemi · Cedarwood · Vetiver Haiti · Oud Trat
Rock Salt
2026 · 2ml $12.99 · 50ml $190Warm limestone and salt, and nothing blue about it. The house calls it a mineral skin fragrance made for heat and says outright that it is neither aquatic nor sporty. The picture it paints is travellers reaching Hierapolis after crossing Anatolia, bare feet on white travertine, mineral water and salt drying on skin. Bergamot, petitgrain, green mandarin and elemi open like first light over stone, mastic resin, ambergris, beeswax absolute, orris butter, labdanum absolute and a salt accord build a mineral heart that reads closer to skin than to water, and sandalwood, amyris, Haitian vetiver and Siam benzoin warm the close. The orris and beeswax make it quieter and more expensive smelling than the price suggests, which also means it projects very little and will disappoint anyone who wants to be noticed. The cheapest bottle in the line, and the one most likely to get worn to death.
Bergamot · Petitgrain · Green Mandarin · Mastic Resin · Ambergris · Beeswax Absolute · Orris Butter · Salt Accord · AmyrisThe Collaborations
These two sit outside the numbered collections, and they are the two most expensive bottles the house makes. Both are co credited with Rajesh Balkrishnan, who had already written for Maksim's father before he wrote with Maksim. The house calls Yeti their second collaboration, which makes Oud Indochine the first and, at 2024, one of the earliest things the brand released. Put them side by side and you can hear a second hand in the structure, more narrative and less frontal than the solo work.
Oud Indochine
2024 · 2ml $23.99 · 50ml $400Three ouds, chocolate and tar, with Kinam at the centre. A tribute to French Indochina and the 1800s trade voyages out of ports like Saigon, and the copy reads like a ship's hold after dusk, spice in the air and cacao in the shadows. Cardamom and red saffron open bright and spiced before frankincense sacra, labdanum, myrrh, beeswax and guaiac wood build a resinous heart. The base stacks Hindi, Kinam and South Thai agarwood against ambergris tincture, chocolate, cocoa and a thread of tar. Kinam is the most expensive agarwood on earth and very few houses use it honestly, so building a composition around it at this price is doing something rather than charging for a word. The cocoa will read as a compromise to purists. Evening, cold weather, not a casual wear.
Cardamom · Red Saffron · Frankincense Sacra · Labdanum · Myrrh · Oud Hindi · Oud Kinam · Cocoa · Tar
Yeti
2026 · 2ml $23.99 · 50ml $400A Himalayan forest floor, cold air and resin and moss. The house files it as a modern coniferous fougère built on rare Himalayan materials, and frames it as a winter guardian coming down out of the altitude. Juniper berry, timur pepper and cardamom open sharp and aromatic against elemi and black pepper, oakmoss, Nepalese silver fir and douglas fir needles build a damp coniferous heart with black tea running through it, and the base turns balsamic and faintly animalic on sugandha kokila, sandalwood, Thai oud from Prachin, valerian root and guaiacwood. This smells like a forest rather than a candle version of one, and the valerian root is what makes it strange enough to be worth owning. Valerian is divisive, rooty and slightly sour, and reads as unwashed to some people, so sample before the bottle. Cold weather, where the resins have something to push against.
Juniper Berry · Timur Pepper · Elemi · Oakmoss · Nepalese Silver Fir · Black Tea · Sugandha Kokila · Oud Prachin · Valerian RootHow to hear a perfumer
- Start with Cologne d'Agar. It is the cheapest agarwood in the line and the clearest statement of what he does with the material. If this one does not land, the ouds above it will not either, and you have saved yourself four hundred dollars finding out.
- Then Oud Indochine, immediately after. The same material taken to the opposite extreme. One is agarwood made airy enough for a workday, the other is Kinam, Hindi and South Thai oil stacked against cocoa and tar. Hearing that gap on two wrists is the whole argument for buying a perfumer rather than a bottle.
- Bestia Sacra is the test. Castoreum and civet with two frankincenses over the top. If the animalic phase works on you, the Heritage Line opens up. If it does not, Liquid Incense gives you the same resin vocabulary with none of the fur.
- Follow the salt. It turns up three times and never the same way, as a mineral accord in Rock Salt, as real seaweed in L'Oud Marin, and as the maritime edge of gurjun balsam in Amber Balsam. Three wrists in a row is the fastest way to learn what a signature actually means.
- Know which line you are buying. Heritage is the occasion work and it is dense. Signature keeps the same materials and scales them for a normal day. Neither is a weaker version of the other, and the price gap between them is about materials, not strength.
- Give the naturals time. Compositions at this level move more in the first thirty minutes and settle closer to the skin than synthetic heavy fragrances do. Spray, then leave it alone for half an hour before you decide anything.
- Expect batch variation, and treat it as the price of admission. Natural agarwood, frankincense and ambergris are agricultural materials and they do not arrive identical twice. That is the same reason the originals are worth smelling at all.
- Decant first, bottle second. Every fragrance here is stocked as a 2ml KSI hand decant and as the full 50ml house bottle on the same product page. The decant is drawn from an authentic bottle into an atomizer so you can wear it properly before committing. All fragrance purchases are final sale.
- Questions before you order? Email info@kaleidoscopescentindex.com and we will tell you which one is actually yours.
The whole catalogue.
Two generations in.
Everything the house has released, in 2ml decants and in full bottles, on one page. If you only take three, take Cologne d'Agar, Bestia Sacra and Rock Salt.
Shop Maksim BortnikoffWhere confidence meets chemistry and every note compounds character