A collaboration between Heretic Parfum x Robert Egger’s Nosferatu (2024) presented by Focus Features, Nosferatu Eau de Macabre imagines what the world of a vampire smells like. Part scent, part apparition, it’s an otherworldly fragrance, straddling a line between this world and the next.
To capture the olfactory universe of Nosferatu into one glass bottle is no mean feat. Heretic wanted to move beyond tropes like blood, roses, smoke or candle wax and explore a very different idea of this creature of the night. Cold, pale and pellucid, this fragrance evokes the uneasy chill of encountering an apparition. It opens with a clap of thunder and downpour of rain outside Count Orlok’s castle. Strikes of lightning fill the air with petrichor and electricity. The damp earth releases a fresh, clean, but ever so musty scent of plant oils and geosmin released from the Carpathian Mountains.
Tangled in the stones of the dark, wet heart chord you will find lilac in a vivid bouquet of cadaverous hues punctuated by inky violet absolute. We are immediately reminded of Nosferatu’s heroine Ellen Hutter. This floral accord of ether conjures memories of forgotten innocence and love everlasting, but in a flash and to our horror the purple beauty vanishes, only to appear once more as if back from the dead. The ionine, also known as “the disappearing molecule”, from her delicate leaves and stems is elusive and will be revived again and again in fleeting moments. Just then, another complex character drifts onto the scene in the form of vegan ambergris. A paradox to our senses, it reminds us of the salty oceans we long for, where a ship is waiting to take us home. Soft and velvety, the ambergris dances on the skin in a nostalgic waltz that is both delicate and hedonistic.
This fragrance makes us contemplate the primal instincts that are within us all, and the twilight zone between man and beast inhabited by the vampire – It’s a fragrance that will haunt you, but in the best possible way.
NOTES
Top: Lilac, Ambrette
Middle: Petrichor, Violet Absolute, Orris Concrete, Cypriol
Base: Vegan Ambergris, Oud, Labdanum
PERFUMER
Douglas Little
HOW IT WEARS
Nosferatu begins with the crisp, watery petrichor accord and lilac, like cold rain on a castle garden. As it wears, vegetal iris and earthy violets appear, quietly though, contributing just a whisper of floral sweetness to the fragrance, before the oud and cypriol add what could almost be interpreted as a smell of slight decay or mildew – not repulsive but just a little unnerving. The dry down is all about the vegan ambergris or ambroxan which lasts about 6 hours but sits close to the skin.
LORE LOVES
We love that Nosferatu isn’t a totally literal fragrance concept wise – it’s a really creative interpretation of the themes in the film. It feels distinctly cold and damp like a big empty castle, but in a delicate way, it’s not too overt, which makes for a bit of eerie suspense. We love Heretic’s use of lilac – a flower that appears over and over again in the film – most notably at the end (no spoilers!), and how it evokes beauty, melancholy, and when interacting with the other more dirty/earthy notes, a slight feeling of unease. In short, it’s genius.
Caitlyn Smith (verified owner) –
I don’t even have the words to do this fragrance justice. I’m obsessed with this in the same way Count Orlock is obsessed with Ellen. I’ve just purchased a second bottle because I already know I won’t be able to stand the heartbreak when I run out. It’s floral, it’s earthy, it’s dank and it’s so delicate. The initial impression when it’s first sprayed is almost shocking, like a sudden crack of thunder and lightning. As it settles you can smell the wet, mossy forest floor. As you start to get closer to the castle you catch whiffs of the rain saturated stone walls and the scent of wilted flowers drowned by the rain. That’s when it’s got you, you belong to this fragrance now.
Yara Kusmandari (verified owner) –
I don’t know how I’m going to live when they stop making this. “Hauntingly Beautiful” is the perfect way to describe it. I was expecting some unpleasantness but it’s so so pleasant. Going to buy another bottle next month so I have a back up bottle. Going to use it so sparingly. I don’t understand how they actually captured the vibe of the movie. I’m speechless.
gabriella.sharp (verified owner) –
This fragrance is hard to explain, but I’ll try my best.
I don’t love it and yet I can’t stop smelling it and I think that is because it’s so hard to place, and also reminds me of places and moments that are difficult to remember.
I’ll start off by saying this scent is less Nosferatu and more Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre (which isn’t a bad thing!) The first hour of this perfume is like damp overgrown grass and wet cement after a heavy downpour with a VERY slight floral presence barely fighting for attention. Soon after the scent dries down to what reminds me personally of an old folks’ home or my grandma’s house, again, this is not a bad thing; it’s just a very unique smell. It smells like a slightly musky, damp, like a cold air-conditioned room filled with bouquets. These flowers are not rotten, but they are definitely not fresh either, just slightly wilted and dull in colour. This is mixed with the powdery soaps, lotions and creams worn by older women, all of which compete with an underlying clinical smell.
I truly wish the florals came through stronger, and although I love the haunting Petrichor smell, it leaves little room for the lilacs and violets.
Although I don’t lust for this fragrance as much as Orlock lusts for Ellen it is still one of the most unique scents I have come across, and I’m happy to own it and wear it on a cold and rainy day to feel like a gothic heroine.
gemma.margaret.b (verified owner) –
Wow! This perfume starts out smelling moist, crisp and like wet soil and dries down to such lovely purple flowers and earthy fragrance. I was expecting it to be slightly offensive but, it is a really pleasant and layered skin scent. Fully encompasses the feel of the movie. I will be getting another bottle!
gabriellewood –
Smells like if a cucumber was a dominatrix. Love it.