I came up with this question a couple of weeks ago when I told you about the gasoline accord in Parfumes Quartana Ierofante. But it was right before Valentine’s Day, so chocolate seemed like a better idea. And then I forgot.
Saturday Question #154:
What Are The Strangest Notes In Perfume You Encountered?
It can be a note in the perfume pyramid you own or tried. Or something you read about. Or a weird note you smelled in perfume even though it wasn’t listed.
My Answer
If I were to sift through my database, I could find more strange notes. But that would have been cheating: most of my readers do not have a database to check. So, I’m going with the note I remembered without looking: Instant film accord in Vogue 125 by Comme des Garcons.
I didn’t read notes before trying it for the first time, so this note surprised me. I didn’t recognize what it was. It reminded me of acetone, and I wondered what it was. But when I read about that note, it fit just perfectly matched what I smelled. And it has the ink note, which also isn’t the most common or expected. I don’t want to wear it, so a small sample is all I have. But it was interesting to smell.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
The butter note in January Scent Project’s Selpurniku, The first time I smelled it my nose got rancid butter and apricots and it made me queasy. However subsequent wearings the fragrance started to grow on me.
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And I tend to not shy away from oddball notes. Secretions Magnifique smells phenomenal on my skin… it’s the scent of the Atlantic Ocean of my childhood with a touch of cream.
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The note list of Secretions Magnifiques contains “blood”. That’s also pretty strange. I am sure Tyrannosaurus Rex also has un unpleasant metallic blood note, but that is not listed.
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Haha yeah, I know. Oddly it smells aquatic with a milky undertone on my skin. I even had family members sniff my wrist and they said it smells good. I will tell you when I tested it the person who sent it to me sent it unlabeled and told me to wear it a few times before she revealed what it was.
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I liked that, too. I’m glad to finally hear of someone else who did. In addition to butter, this perfume contains a note of freshly vomited apricot yogurt. One has to be a parent to fully appreciate Selperniku.
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As a parent I do lol
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Which reminds me, Queen of Hearts by Alkemia lists sour cream among the notes. I haven’t smelled that one myself.
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Interesting ;)
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I think I didn’t like that butter note the first time I smelled it, so I didn’t give it a chance to “grow” :)
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I had to wear it about five or six times before I understood its appeal.
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The vinyl in Quartana’s Hemlock smells like the LPs I once owned. Also had a sample of the brand’s Bloodflower which had a blood note, not pleasant. Passed that one along quickly. Although the strangest is perhaps the burning meat smell I got from Zoologist Tyrannosaurus Rex – fortunately had not sprayed that sample on skin. I’m sure all of these smell great on someone, just not me!!
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Yes, and many of Filippo Sorcinelli’s perfumes smell unpleasantly barbecuish to me, with fatty, meaty smoke. But of course, it’s not listed.
Did you know, there was a Burger King line of perfumes? They smelled officially of grilled meat.
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I think Demeter also made a Pizza Hut fragrance if I am not mistaken.
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Definitely Byredo M/Mink has a very weird note. Also Trudon Revolution’s gunpowder note was pretty odd & interesting.
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Popcorn note in ELDO’s Le Fin du Monde. Oil note in some rose perfumes. I forget which one Rubber note in Bvlgari Black.
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Vero Onda EdP all I could smell was mould, dank cellar. Gross!
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I’d say the same instant film note in Vogue 125.
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I guess many niche houses clamor for attention with unusual note lists. There once was a perfume that had rice paper, savoy cabbage, onions and glass noodles (Dragonflies by Fyrinnae). That’ll be hard to better.
Closer to home, among the perfumes that I have tried myself, it gets no stranger than homely goat hair in Häxan (Parfum Prissana).
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It certainly seems to be one way for niche houses to get attention!
Shifting from perfumery to olfactory art, David Seth Moltz (of D.S. and Durga) had an exhibit at Olfactory Art Keller last summer called Religious Vegetables, in which some scents showcased onion, spinach, or parsnip. I didn’t go to that one so don’t know how accurate they were.
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The “pool toy” note in Vacation by Vacation® comes to mind.
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I actually like some vinyl notes as they remind me of the smell of a doll, collecting fashion dolls being my other hobby, in addition to perfume. That smell of a new doll when you open the package, mmmmm!
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I can imagine that! Are they Barbies or other fashion dolls? The Barbie Expo in Montreal is a large exhibit of every kind of Barbie through the decades of fashion—something you might like!
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I have a few Silkstone Barbies and some of the original Barbies from the 1960’s. All the others are Fashion Royalty dolls designed originally by now famous designer Jason Wu. They have lots of fabulous fashions.
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I get “doll’s head note” from Gres Cabaret, Rochas Tocade & Lush Rose Jam. Guessing it’s created by certain rose & vanilla molecules. It’s not unpleasant but smells adjacent to Sam Smith’s body suit at the Brits!
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Blood in that range of perfumes based on different blood groups, then those magnificent secretions of course, and printer toner! I also thought I detected embalming fluid in Dioressence, or how I imagine it to smell. Then there are the burning tyres of Creed’s Love in Black, and as others have mentioned, lighter fuel – in Tauer Lonestar Memories, for example.
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Love these strange notes. Perfumery at its most inventive. Comme des Garcons did a whole range around them in Series 6 Synthetic.
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Speaking of barbecue, the, I think, birch tar in HG Hyde made it one of the most memorable, strange perfumes I’ve sampled. I found it a realistic barbecue “morning after” smell, burnt fat and ash. I was too confused to further sample it to see what it would do next, but I will. A pleasant example was ink in Miller Harris Tender, which also has tulip listed. After I saw Tender’s notes, I did see how the faint, appealing scent of tulips is ink-like.
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