NEESH

NEESH traces its start to 1904, when F. Chand, a jeweller in India, came by ambergris through a client. He tried more than 150 blends with wild vetiver and Mysore sandalwood and called the result Vergis. In 1905 he gave a bottle to the royal family of Punjab with their gold jewellery order, and they asked him for scents of their own. For four generations the jewellery house made perfumes only for royal clients.

In 2014 a fifth-generation family member, back from Australia to run the family business, revived the perfumes with international perfumers. The first two were Haute Tobacco and Luxe Hayat. The company, NEESH Perfumes Private Limited, is based in Ambala, Haryana. Every scent is an extrait de parfum, and the bottle is cut like an emerald, after the house's jewels.

To smell it in Mumbai, its own store list names two stockists: Broadway on Hill Road in Bandra West, and CDC Experience by Crepdog Crew in Khar. In New Delhi it lists Broadway at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, and CDC Experience by Crepdog Crew on Westend Marg. In Ambala itself the list includes Fateh Chand Bansi Lal Jewellers on Nicholson Road in Ambala Cantt. A 50 ml bottle of Palace of Illusions costs Rs 7,500 on its site. Try Milky Way first: it was the last scent of the late perfumer Remco De Meijere, brought back on the same formula.