Weekly Scent Discussion #14: Strange notes, just a gimick?

There are just some really strange notes out there. Sometimes I'll see something listed in the note pyramid and I've got to ask "really? who wants to smell like that? Does that even have a smell?" Here are a few that really make me go "huh?"

Just to name a few off the top of my head:
Starfish (they have a smell?)
Sea Shells (?)
Goat Hair (what?!)
Skunk Cabbage (who wants to smell like that?)
Meat (umm?)
Bacon (I want it to eat not wear)
BBQ (no, just no)
Surf Wax (this is a note, isn't it just wax?)
Balsamic Vinegar (salad dressing? why?)

Then there are all the strange and obscure plant and woods that some perfumers claim to use and the endless list of strange sweet confectionaries. Oh, and all the really weird things listed by BPAL. But that's a post all on it's own (ghostly mist and sadness? wha?).

Do you think all these strange notes are neat and ground breaking or just gimmicks used to try and stand out but not actually offering anything interesting or wearable? Do you have some examples of an instance when something bizarre was noticeable and worked well? How about one where it was a train wreck?

Strange notes are nothing that I would want to wear, nor spend money on.

Bring it on. As recently as five years ago oud was a "strange" note. Rotted wood? You can't tell me that's not a weird concept yet now it's ubiquitous.

A good example of a strange note that's quite effective is the rubber (not listed but there nonetheless) in Bvlgari Black. Without it you'd have just another banal vanillic perfume.

The strangest note we have in the database is maybe the Eel-infected sea water in a Violette Market perfume ("Nagini's Curse").

But if you a are looking for strange notes you just need to scan through the Comme des Garçons fragrances. They deliberately make fragrances with synthetic smelling scent notes. I can confirm that the smell of Dusty light bulb is indeed in "Odeur 71".

And while numerous perfumes imitate leather, they have "Series 6 Synthetic: Skai". Skai is an artificial leather substitute or imitation with a strage chemical smell.

Bruno Fazzolari is creating innovative and very beautiful perfumes, with an artistic twist.
In Lampblack he has the accord of ink, but what it reminds us is the ancient smell of petrol lamps.
And in Room 237, there is a realistic note of shower curtain! Very very scaring but strangely inviting.

Another great topic BT

I like strange notes but it's also true that they are often only gimicks.

But even when they are minor notes they can add a nice little touch, like for example the (small) green pepper/paprika note in EldO Archives 69

LOL! I just bought a new one, I have to sniff it now

Give us your feed-back please

CdG has always been a little edgy, but in a positive way. The discontinued Synthetic series was probably a bit too avant garde for the average perfume lover, however.

Maybe "Room 237" is supposed to smell like the hotel room in "The Shining" where the ghost of the naked lady rose up out of the bathtub and tried to strangle the little boy? Brrr...

I'm always amused by notes that are obviously just a flight of fancy on the part of the perfumer -- Frost pattern, Pink molecules, Humid Stone, Colour, Month of May, Fairy Dust, etc. Not enough to buy the perfumes though.

Well, my plastic shower curtain is apparently made of PEVA (poly ethylene-vinyl acetate),
it smells of the plastic of an inflatable pool for small children. Do you smell that in Room 237 too?

I think it's a pleasant plastic smell and fairly neutral. It also reminds me of inflatable 'water wings' for small swimming kids. And slightly of inflatable boats, for kids too.

Yes, that was the inspiration for this perfume upon Bruno's words!
And I think he succeeded!

A bit so, yes, but the note is surrounded by a much more complex set of notes. I prefer to associate it to the smell of the Istambul Hamams

There are a few perfumes that have a °salt° note in: Calvin Klein's ~Reveal~ (both the °man° and °woman° versions), Bvlgari's ~Aqua Divina~, and, by far the preëminent example, Armani's ~Bleu Turquoise~. This last one is one ^seriously gorgeous^ 'fume to my perception; and it is partly by virtue of the °salt° note, which is a stroke of genius; and it was also by way of this 'fume that I was introduced to this weird note. I was sceptical; but immediately upon intraspiring of it I went "it really does smell of salt!". But then salt doesn't smell of anything; & yet, it ^is^ somehow the smell of salt! It just ^does^ smell of salt! It is indeed very weird; and I do find it very attractive as an aroma.

The ~Bleu Turquoise~ is high-end - £240 per standard flacon (100ml - I call that a 'standard flacon' anyway); but one way or another I would advise trying it in this one first, as it is extremely prominent in it, & ought therefore to be an introduction to it that will leave uw in no doubt that uw have smelten it. Uw ought then be able to recognise it easily in those other 'fumes mentioned - & yet others not mentioned -, in which it is used more subtilely.

... updating, sometime later ...
How cold I forget ~Arethusa~ by Tiziana Terenzi!? This is an adorable showcasing of the salt note.

Another forgetting! but asto the note this time. How could I forget the so-called °caviar° note in Diesel's ~Bad Intense~?! I love that 'fume precisely for its utter brazen vulgarity! Don't really know how that °caviar° note wreaketh (or indeed reeketh!) in it: but for one thing I would ^not^ say it smells of fish; & for another that it is one truly thundrous & radical 'fume!