Opium, Cocaine, Narcotico: Fragrances That Shouldn't Be Pronounced Aloud

Sex and scandal are the main engines of commerce. It doesn't matter if you do music, advertising or perfumery. A fog of innuendo, ambiguous hints, fantasies on the topic and names on the forehead - all this was, is and will be reflected in varying degrees of permissiveness. The prohibition of something does not mean a desire to try it at all, it is enough just to dream up on a given topic and seduce the consumer.

Perfumers, like customers, are enthusiastic people: they play with jasmine, then with hemp, watch Avatar and Trainspotting. Such a sensitive topic is generally not uncommon in perfumery - the word "narcotic", the phenomenon of some kind of addiction, intoxication, the impossibility of opposition is very often used in describing floral or oriental scents.

Of the many flowers, tuberose has gained particular fame - all thanks to its all-pervading, rich and dizzying scent. Just because a fragrance is named after a prohibited drug doesn't mean that the composition distantly resembles its smell, effect, or anything like that. Everything here is designed for your impressionability, because there is no stronger and more dangerous drug than the smell and abilities of your body. At one time, Tom Ford, who then worked for Gucci and released the fragrance Rush(in slang - the pleasure of taking drugs), said: "You put the scent on your naked body, why not show it then?" The paradox is that a shocking name or a shocking, but veiled source of inspiration does not affect the scent in any way. Perfumes are often said to have a provocative scent, but in reality this is not at all the case. The shock should not be the smell (you buy / sell it), but the legend with which it appears in sight.

In the late 70s, Yves Saint Laurent openly offered to try Opium. Despite the provocative name, advertising campaign and a bottle resembling a Japanese poppy tear box, the fragrance stayed afloat. The misadventures that fell to his lot arose only because of the name. The scent itself did not cause complaints even among the most complete prudes, it is still recognizable and sells very well, despite the formula adapted to the conditions of modern perfumery (read also: Legendary and daring: Opium from Yves Saint Laurent).

Extremely dangerous fentanyl, which began its sad history with doping at horse races and became entrenched in the underground consciousness with the slang name "white Chinese" in the 80s, became the starting point in the creation of the fantasy fragrance ChinWhite from Nasomatto. Cracked porcelain, pungent greens, a distinct smell of medical bandages in the train and awkward kisses of white robots from Bjork's All Is Full Of Love video. With all the obvious synthetic component of the fragrance, it nevertheless, through mounds of white powder, grows into quite lively outlandish flowers and exacerbates the subtle smell of the skin of an unconscious would-be fatalist.

The Methaldone spelling game hints at the insidious methadone that dates back to World War II. Then the supply of opium was completely stopped, as a result of which the dependent Nazis, including the Head of the elite division of the Luwtwaffe and Hitler's successor Hermann Goering, remained in captivity of their intolerable breakdowns. In response, German pharmaceuticals created a synthetic opiate, which, as it turned out, instead of helping, further exacerbated the situation. Methaldone synthetic scent(the composition is based on the molecules Dynamone, Ambermax, Silvanone, Boisiris and Rosyrane) according to medical parameters it is absolutely safe, which does not prevent him from playing with our imagination to the fullest. As conceived by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux, it should resemble the abstract scent of a galaxy bursting into the open doors of a spaceship.

Three thousand years before the birth of Christ, the ancient Incas in the Andes chewed coca leaves to live normally in the thin mountain air. The indigenous Peruvians chewed them strictly during religious ceremonies. The taboo was broken after the invasion of Spanish soldiers in 1532: Indians who were forced to work in the silver mines were supplied with coca not of their own free will, but in order to control and enslave them. There was a time when cocaine, at the suggestion of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, was even considered a tonic for fighting depression, and entrepreneur John Pemberton included coca leaves in the new CocCola soft drink. Silent movie stars Thomas Edison and Sarah Bernhardt have become cocaine ambassadors of sorts. The use of cocaine in society increased and the threats posed by the drug gradually became visible. In 1903, public pressure forced the Coca-Cola Company to remove cocaine from its drink, and by 1920 it was successfully banned at the official and criminal level. It is not in the aroma either Cocaine, which will not stop him from becoming your secret object of desire.

Sicily is not just a part of Italy, but like a whole country with its own memory, traditions and history from the depths of centuries. The young Meo Fusciuni brand is the name of the founder's great-grandfather, plus the designation of a source flowing out of nowhere. Chemist, pharmacist and herbalist Giuseppe Imprezzabile is an expert in experimenting. The provocative scent invites you to step on the once white steps of the temple, in the middle of a neglected garden, with the face of a fallen angel covered with moss and patina. A cacophony of notes as echoes of hundreds of thousands of people who passed through the door of the temple and left their emotions, passions, pain and joy there. There is something personal, reflective and very deep in him. Despite its name, Narcotico follows the path of "Opium" - noisy but harmless.

At one time, Moroccan Tangier became a center of attraction for European musicians, smugglers, spies, writers, travelers, artists and all kinds of swindlers. Conquered by the assortment of available drugs, the Rolling Stones uncovered their musical instruments here, William Burroughs pounded on the keys of a typewriter, Henri Matisse painted his paintings. After the mass exodus of Europeans, the port city calmed down, but did not lose its atmosphere of creative research. All this made Tangier more than a backdrop for Jim Jarmusch's film "Only Lovers Left Alive" ─ with noisy medina and quiet Kasbah, the smell of sea and mint, silent figures along the street mazes, always ready to offer the sophisticated buyer a handful of pleasure.

The city of Muscat is built around a bay, over which towering two fortresses, Mirani and Jelali. Once in the center of the Omani capital, an important business awaits you - a bazaar - asking the price for silver daggers "khanjar", rattling copper utensils, throwing your hands in scattering incense and rolling rolls of decorative fabrics in all directions. After bargaining enough, do not deny yourself the pleasure of dropping heavy bales of purchases and hiding in the damp twilight of the hookah bar. For many centuries, hookah smoke has been mentioned in oriental prose, poetry, poems and painting. It has become an indispensable part of the local lifestyle, a source of relaxation, an escape from the sweltering heat, talking for life and playing chess. It seems that even the white dishdasha, in which all the men around, are dressed, is soaked through with lacy smoke with the aroma of herbs, spices and dried fruits.

French perfumer Pierre Guillaume is known in professional circles as a handsome man, an innovator and a daredevil. In his works, he tries, if not to invent something new, then at least to look in a new way at familiar things. One of the processes he uses to create fragrances is “photo-refining”. In simple words, it is the smoothing of the composition with ultraviolet radiation. In the scent he calls "Cozy" (you can't argue!), he managed to combine dark in nature (ebony, chocolate, sticky vanilla pods) and a bit dangerous in our minds (Indian marijuana seed oil, also known as hashish). Parfumerie Generale has exclusive rights to use this ingredient, and it poses no danger here, except for the dependence on the warmth and comfort that it will give to its owner.

Another “safe” marijuana experience is offered by IL PROFVMO. Brand founder Silvana Casoli loves to go against the rules in the use of raw materials. For example, when everyone is working with the underground part of the vetiver (rhizome), it brings on fresh leaves and stems of the plant. With hemp, instead of "weed" from a matchbox and pellets in bags, she liked the green leaves and inflorescences. Well, the provocation was a success, and cautious questions from the environment will also be asked to you.

The composition of the Luxury Overdose scent plays on the theme of hallucinations from excessive consumption of absinthe. The creator of the brand, Pascal Rolland, instantly came up with a scent, barely finding himself at the Oper restaurant in Saint-Tropez, where Philippe Shangti's provocative photo exhibition about satiety and the extremes of luxury was taking place. The leading note of the fragrance - wormwood - is considered a controversial ingredient with a "bitter smell of oblivion and loneliness", which does not prevent it from being an aphrodisiac and an ephemeral sign of luxury. Naturally, almost a lethal dose.

Nadia Benemar, the woman behind the Initio brand, is known for her regular desire to recreate provocative effects without harming her health. Everyone knows that many of her fragrances contain obscene concentrations of hedione. It is famous for activating the areas of the brain responsible for sexual libido. In Psychodelic Lovewent even further and added heliotropin to hedione. The latter is isolated from a poisonous plant heliotrope marginal. It smells like a cross between vanilla and almonds, is a part of LSD and mimics a psychotropic effect close to orgasm. Don't worry, gelitorpin in the fragrance is synthetically synthesized, it is officially approved for external use in permissible concentrations and has nothing to do with its dangerous natural counterpart. Well, the effect of the application depends entirely on your impressionability.