We all know that the world of perfume usually features familiar notes and popular fragrance families. Woody and floral notes dominate the market. After all, how many times have you spotted a fragrance featuring lavender, sandalwood, or rose? Too many times to count, of course, but every once in a while, a brand comes along and flips the script. These are the rebels and rule-breakers that challenge what we think a perfume should be. Today, we’re covering a few of the weirdest fragrance notes featured in perfumes around the globe.
Let’s talk about anti-fragrances, also known as anti-perfumes. For the most part, they’re not really here to make you smell “nice.” In fact, “nice” might be the last thing on their agenda. Anti-fragrances question what we think scent should do or be. Forget familiar notes like vanilla and birchwood. These fragrances stray far from the popular and dive headfirst into the bizarre, the unsettling, and sometimes, the downright grotesque.
Take Toskovat, for example. Founded in Romania in 2022 by David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi, Toskovat doesn’t usually play by the rules. One of their perfumes features a blood fragrance note. Yes, a blood perfume. Metallic, sharp, and strangely primal, it’s a note that grabs your attention, whether you want it to or not. Another one of their creations includes a popped balloon note. Can you imagine that faint burnt-rubber smell when you snap a piece of latex? Now imagine wearing it. Then there’s the notes of Pining Dew 2, featuring salty tears, tonka beans, fermented pineapple, and a hangover. Spoiler alert: it’s not the lemon water and Advil version. No, this one reeks of stale alcohol and regret, the kind of scent that clings to your skin after a rough night out. Instead of a fresh-out-of-the-shower kind of hangover, picture the sweaty, stale vodka, and regret-soaked kind. And for a touch of the divine? One of Toskovat’s perfumes features a holy water fragrance note, which somehow manages to capture the crisp, sanctified scent of a church baptism. Other bizarre notes from Toskovat’s fragrance collection include “plastic bag”, “old cinema”, and even “popcorn stuck in your teeth.” None of these fragrance notes are designed to make you feel pretty; they’re about coming together with other notes to take you to specific moments, including some that you might rather forget.
Over in Canada, Zoologist Perfumes takes a slightly different approach. Their fragrances are inspired by animals, which sounds innocent enough until you dive into the details. One of their standout creations, Squid, features a black ink accord. Yes, ink, as in the defensive spray a squid releases when it’s trying to flee. Dark, briny, and mysterious, it’s a scent that feels more like a deep-sea expedition than a fresh spurt of perfume. Then there’s Tyrannosaurus Rex. As you’d expect, this dinosaur perfume smells raw, smoky, and prehistoric, like a long-extinct forest fire brought back to life. And let’s not forget Harvest Mouse, which includes notes of hay bales and beer extract. Adorable? Possibly. Wearable, though…? That’s up for debate.
If we’re going to talk about the pioneers of the weird, Comme des Garçons has to be in the conversation. Rei Kawakubo, the mastermind behind this Parisian brand, practically invented the anti-fragrance category. In 1998, the brand launched Odeur 53, a scent made to smell like almost nothing recognizable. Notes include “flash of metal” and “freshness of oxygen”—concepts, really, more than scents. The follow-up, Odeur 71, is even stranger. It features perfume notes like “dust on a hot lightbulb,” “fountain pen ink,” and “fresh pencil shavings.”
And then there’s Xyrena, the Austin-based perfumery that leans into cinema for inspiration. Their Texas Chainsaw Massacre perfume, one of their standout horror movie scents, smells exactly as you’d expect: chainsaw exhaust, dusty dirt roads, and worn leather. It’s not for the faint of heart. They also have a fragrance called Dark Ride, and its scent mimics the experience of a theme park water ride. Chlorinated water, mildew, pyrotechnics—it’s all there. If Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride had a signature scent, this would be it. Xyrena even has a perfume for the snack lovers, Cinemaniac. This movie theater perfume smells like hot buttered popcorn, fizzy cola, soft pretzels, and red licorice. It’s pure movie-theater nostalgia.
So, why do people wear these fragrances? Not everyone wants to smell like a blooming garden or a sunny citrus grove. For some, perfume is less about being “pleasant” and more about storytelling, no matter how unconventional. Love them or hate them, these scents remind us that perfumery is an art. The power of perfume lies in its ability to make us feel.
