Unum

_but not today_ Filippo Sorcinelli 2018

See Prices

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

See Prices

7.2 / 10 133 Ratings

A perfume by Filippo Sorcinelli for women and men, released in 2018. The scent is animal-floral. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Alter Duo.

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Animal

Floral

Spicy

Green

Synthetic

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Artemisia

Lavender

Lemon

Bergamot

Heart Notes

Styrax

Calamus

Cascarilla

Rosemary

Base Notes

Angelica

Amber

Galbanum

Musk

Oakmoss

Sandalwood

Ratings

Scent

7.2133 Ratings

Longevity

8.4110 Ratings

Sillage

7.8113 Ratings

Bottle

8.5114 Ratings

Value for money

6.570 Ratings

Submitted by ExUser, last update on 07/09/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the "Unum" collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Opus X

Burning Barbershop

Sécrétions Magnifiques

Reviews

9 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/28/2022

10
Pricing 10
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

EnCuirNoir
6 Reviews

EnCuirNoir

Helpful Review 5

The feast

It has a unique accord that smells like getting uppercut with a mouthful of blood. As a fighter I vouch it's as accurate as it could be. The whole perfume smells like biting through a predatory animal's flesh and tasting its blood through the dirty animalic musk and smokiness of fur. The blood finally dries out and only tinge of metallics remain of it so that the animalic leather can show its full beauty. Beautiful leather made by castoreum animalics, styrax smokiness and defined by florals (spanish-esque). The texture of the leather is not a floral though (none of the usual iris, violet or saffron), the texture is an aroma-chemical (isobutyl quinoline) that is used in modern faux leather perfumes, but again for the use of three scent aspects of genuine leather it doesn't feel chemical at all. After another three hours the florals start to take over the spot light for yet another unique stage to finish this madness, I'm not the expert of the floral notes here to describe them more than the overall types and names so I'll leave it at that.

To whom do I recommend? Are you crazy, are you bored with everyday life, does your food taste like ash or the grass seem grey? Do you secretly enjoy a good wound? (Or better yet openly adore one) did you think there's no perfume for you, weirdo? Well here it is. You gotta love animalic leather and metallic blood.

I told you what it resembles in my mind, being the predator of a predatory animal! The bite, the feast and a nap in the garden afterwards. Who do I imagine wearing this? Someone crazy! In a dangerous intelligent way, a sophisticated brawler, two faced, inflicting pain and attending aftercare, a dominatrix/dom and an artist. In short: Marquis de Sade or Elizabeth Bathory.

The accord pyramid according to my nose is simple: blood on top, animalic leather in the middle and florals deep in the base. It starts loud transits into next level each two~three hours while the projection lowers to moderate and then an inch above skin for the floral final act.

Personal: I love it, there are many strange perfumes that are truly niche (appealing only to a small group of people) but this one is mine. It's not particularly well made, but the taste is what makes it unforgettable, it's the only blood available for a lifelong thirsty Dracula, of course it tastes delicious. My favorite from Unum, I don't wear it as much as "Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino il Volto", but I feel alive everytime I do. A big big big love.

06/13/2025

ClaireV
774 Reviews

ClaireV

4

Original and unsettling

But Not Today by UNUM is, as you'd expect from Filippo Sorcinelli, pretty much all high concept. The man can't launch a perfume without immersing his audience in a full body experience involving dimmed lights, a concert, an art installation, and a little light whipping/bondage (I'm joking about the last part. I think).

The inspiration for But Not Today is surprisingly pop culture in origin: The Silence of the Lambs movie. I am a huge Hannibal Lecter fan, and especially of the newer Hannibal series on NBC featuring my secret husband, Mads Mikkelsen, so to say I was hooked on the premise well in advance of smelling it is an understatement. Anything Hannibal-related is rich in olfactory and culinary references, an untrammeled joy for fragrance aficionados. There are numerous references to perfume in Hannibal (Jar, for example), but the direct inspiration for But Not Today comes from a pivotal scene in The Silence of the Lambs, when Hannibal is demonstrating his preternatural powers of observation to Clarice Starling in their first meeting. He smells the air around her and tells her, in that sibilant, sinister softness of voice, "You use Evian skin cream, and sometimes you wear L'Air du Temps, but not today".

But Not Today smells startling. It is wholly original, and therefore difficult to describe. You end up mashing together two separate narratives: it smells metallic and bloody (because Hannibal) but also spicy and carnationy (because L'Air du Temps). Yet I'm not sure it captures the entire scope of the perfume.

But Not Today doesn't smell entirely pleasant. Imagine, if you will, Hannibal marinating steaks taken from the inner thigh of one of his victims in pepper, bay leaf, oregano, and a range of exotic, dried esoterica from his spice rack. The kitchen is ripe with the milky-meaty decay of lilies, but there is also the unmistakably metallic, watery scent of blood running off the steak as the spices in the marinade wick moisture to the surface. You can smell the hot metal of the carving knife, the cheesy taint of indolic flowers, raw meat, and blood, but also, strangely, a waft of savory fruit, like kumquats preserved in salt. Someone like Hannibal would have preserved kumquats in his kitchen. It is a strange smell, both intensely perfumey and intensely not - more working kitchen than perfume.

But Not Today evolves into a castoreum leather that mines the same dusty-wet thematic vein as Vierges et Toreros by Etat Libre d'Orange. Vierges et Toreros is one of those rare perfumes that give me a clear vision of a scene every time I smell it. The second I inhale, I am a gladiator in Rome, slain by a sudden jab of the sword to my side, and as I breathe my last breath into the red-brown dust, I am intensely aware of the smells around me: my own blood - warm and metallic the dust, the cracked leather hide of my scabbard, sweat, and the sickly sweetness of white flowers on the turn. Truly an unpleasant, jolting experience. But imaginative. Original.

Carnation does much to boost the dustiness quotient of any perfume, but joining it to the overblown, green wetness of lily pushes the stomach-churning to the next level. In the drydown of But Not Today, the castoreum additionally throws in a tobacco-ish or chocolate tonality that highlights the soft, dusty matte texture of the leather. I'm not sure what's creating the very strong scent of aromatic soap, though. Maybe it's Hannibal himself, his freshly-shaven face suddenly too close for comfort, or the lingering whiff of Will's Old Spice.

I wouldn't wear But Not Today any more than I'd wear Vierges et Toreros. But I admit that it is a thoroughly unusual, artistic fragrance that pushes the boat out even further than the lines suggested by the concept itself. This is a good example of a perfume, therefore, that over-delivers on a concept.

06/20/2025

7
Pricing 10
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 9
Scent

pierrotboy
13 Reviews

pierrotboy

2

An Unsettling Sweetness

But Not Today is full of wild, vibrant and contradicting notes that confuse and shock the nose at first. I don't understand the people who say they get anything bloody from this at all; maybe the blood of a fantasy creature but definitely not human blood. There is a slight sterile, metallic-like smell that could maybe slightly remind someone of blood, but it's nothing like real blood. It's more like a sterile environment full of cold, clean, metal surfaces; like a professional kitchen. It smells like I'm sitting at a metal dining table, that's just been thoroughly cleaned with some sort of antibacterial soap. Someone has just placed a bowl of fruit, which is a day or two overripe as the centerpiece. It's sterile, cold, slightly spiced, astringent, and has this sickly sweetness to it. The sweetness is most interesting to me because it's reminiscent of the first stages of decomposition, when a body gives off that pungent sweet smell that sticks inside your sinuses so much you taste it. I'm curious as to whether that aspect is an intentional nod or not. Overall, it's certainly not as unwearable as people make it out to be, it's actually quite pleasant if you smell it with no outside influence. I think if I let someone smell it without telling them what it was inspired by they would just think its an interesting, complex, fruity floral. When it dries down after sometime it has this soft powdery quality that actually makes it quite comforting.

09/06/2024

8
Pricing 8
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

MagicMeiko
13 Reviews

MagicMeiko

1

I love this perfume so much

At first, I was very intrigued because of the supposed bloody smell. After trying it, I personally don't feel it. But there's something weird going on and it's very hard to describe. Something sour, metallic, but also very floral lavender-ish. It's a gorgeous scent and I am totally enamoured by it.
Longevity varies, sometimes it stays on very very well, other times it vanishes quickly and loses it's bite quite fast. The floral notes stay for hours on end, though.

04/10/2025

Dullrain
3 Reviews

Dullrain

1

Bloody Mary

The first words that came to my mind were, inexplicably, ‘Crock Pot’. I knew that wasn’t right so I sat with this one for a bit. The metallic notes are nicely done, pretty standard florals, but there was a kitchen note around the edges that I was having difficulty identifying. I then started reading reviews on another site and saw someone comparing this to taco seasoning and that’s when it suddenly clicked into place: this smells like V8. And now I’m even picking up a celery note. By ‘blood’ did they mean Bloody Mary? Probably not, but that’s what I’m getting. Not what I want to smell like but this was a very entertaining ride so kudos for creativity.

More reviews