Dark Matter: The Darkest Fragrances and Candles for Late Autumn
Text: Ksenia Golovanova
Today is Halloween, and if you spent your weekend at a party, they have already removed their make-up from the face and returned to their usual appearance, Monday is not a reason to say goodbye to mystical chic. We offer to polish the festive sensations with the darkest fragrances that perfume critic Ksenia Golovanova gathered for us.
Elvira's Vamp perfume
Demeter Fragrance Library, 1 500 rubles
Elvira's Vamp is dedicated to the immortal comedy "Elvira: Mistress of Darkness", which has been pleasing us for almost 30 years. In the film, the main character repulses the sinister Prince of Darkness with the help of a poodle, an old cookbook and a killer decollete, here with a belladonna shell, tobacco flowers and an orchid of the Dracula genus (in any case, they are declared in the composition). What actually happened was: the darkest one, straight from the grave mound of tuberose and gardenia with the tone of raw earth characteristic of it. Lovely scent for a Halloween party.
Charogne perfume
Etat Libre d'Orange, 7 500 rubles
Life, as Engels phased out, is the form of the existence of protein bodies, and proteins are chains of amino acids. One of the most important is tryptophan, a substance that is part of all living organisms. When it decays, it turns out indole - an ingredient that in perfume is blown away for unobvious aromas of rot, decomposition and feces. In a word, by itself it is never a delicacy, but it informs the natural smells of jasmine, narcissus or lily, the depth and warmth of the interior, due to which they are often called intoxicants. In Charogne, whose name translates from French as "carrion", the indole is very noticeable: lily and jasmine are mature and earthy here, as in a funeral home, and imaginary fur coats are shifted with lavender and mothballs. A strange, sad, beautiful aroma is a real "Tropetskys' manor".
Edgar Allan Poe Candle
Paddywax, 2 000 rubles
The smell of “Edgar Allan Poe” is quite gloomy, but not hopeless - as if the house of Usher did not fall, but just went under the hammer to the new owners. They aired it well and, as they could, put it in order: on the ground floor instead of "cold, heavy and hopeless despondency" the cardamom scent settled, with which the young mistress fills her morning coffee, massive wooden furniture was rubbed with walnuts, and dried in dusty cabinets. wormwood - dodge rats and mice.
Devil's Nightcap Perfume
Lush, £ 44
Devil's Nightcap is a popular nickname for a huge, ancient and moderately famous stone that inexplicably landed in the middle of the heather heath in the south of England. It translates as "Satan's nightcap," but the word nightcap has another meaning - "a glass of something strong for the night." The second scent fits better: it is a very drunk and bitter green chypre, aged in an oak barrel, something that the druids could have warmed up during the October night ritual. Alas, the fragrance of Lush Russians has disappeared (only the eponymous and very good, albeit not cheap, soap remains), but it can still be ordered on the English website of the brand.
Rose Infernale Perfume
Terry de Gunzburg, 15 555 rubles
The best fragrance Terry de Gunzburg is a smoky gothic rose in a cloud of incense. This is the perfect unisex: Dean Corso, the second-hand dealer in the Ninth Gate of Polanski, who sells rare folios, and the green-eyed Babylonian harlot from the same film, could have worn it. The rose here is honey, the incense is cold, and the tree is old and dark, like in a library where stolen incunabula is stored.
Apocalyptic Candle
Byredo, 4,387 rubles
The meteorite fell in an impassable taiga: it smells of red-hot iron, smoldering peat and melted stone, sizzle and "shoot" resin flows on the spruce bark, smoked damp branches.
Perfume Black Tourmaline
Olivier Durbano, 11 800 rubles
Black Tourmaline, as reported by Magic Stone and other sites touched by the occult beetle's paw, is a favorite mineral of witches and sorcerers. In the past, so-called mourning jewelry was made of it: the flourishing of this genre of jewelry, along with posthumous photography and morbid ghost stories, took place in the Victorian era. It is clear that in translation into perfumery language tourmaline can not sound sunny and fun - waiting for concentrated darkness and mystical horror. The latter is filled with voluminous and dense, like scenic smoke, incense, and smoked, fat, charred skin - the sacrificial beast in the autumn bonfire - is responsible for dark colors.
Coven perfume
Andrea Maack, on request
The Sabbath is simple, but effective as a recipe for a folk remedy: take five pieces of dry earth, three alder cones and two thyme, mint and chaga each, let it brew and wave half a cup immediately after sunset. The green, bitter and mineral mixture takes a quick and disturbs a little - the loose soil smells like that of a fresh burrow deep in the darkest thicket.
Moonshine Candle
Broad Street, 2 500 rubles
Moonshine (again double translation - not that "moonlight", not that "moonshine") retells the autumn evening in the smugglers' den: it smells of strong cherry tobacco, homemade whiskey and leather boots left to dry by the fire.
Photo: Demeter, Parfum Palace, Сandlesbox (1, 2), Lush, Agent Parfumer, Barneys, Fragrantica, Lucky scent