The best bit about being a niche perfumery is how immersed we are in the weird and wonderful world of fragrance. The more out-there a fragrance is, the more we love it! Experimental blends, weird notes, peculiar stories, odd bottles – this is our bread and butter.
That’s why we love niche brands so much – they have the freedom to do the things big commercial designer houses can’t. Commercial brands have board members that need to see numbers, celebrities who need payment for endorsements, and to appeal to as many consumers as they can. Niche brands however have the ability to focus on the art of perfume.
So, we thoroughly celebrate the ethos of niche fragrance. The freedom to be who you want to be, create what you want to create, and to make no apologies for it. Whether it’s loved or hated, it will always be memorable.
On that note, here are some of our favourite weird and wonderful scents at Lore:
Hexensalbe, also known as witches’ flying ointment, was a hallucinogenic salve used in witchcraft in the middle ages. It was a mixture of extremely poisonous ingredients. It wears as a bouquet of weird and wild herbs and florals , bound together with magic string, hanging upside down in a witch’s apothecary.
Top: Wormwood, Salty Liquorice
Middle: Tuberose, Angelica, Rosemary, Belladonna
Base: Black Hemlock, Patchouli, Lichen
Our all-time bestselling fragrance at Lore Perfumery (cos you all love the weird and wonderful as much as us), Nosferatu is the result of Heretic Parfum’s collaboration with Focus Features for the release of Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024). Both delicate and hedonistic, it smells like encounter with an apparition in the cold, damp caves of Count Orlok’s castle.
Top: Lilac, Ambrette
Middle: Petrichor, Violet Absolute, Orris Concrete, Cypriol
Base: Vegan Ambergris, Oud, Labdanum
This fragrance is certainly not for the faint of heart. Bull’s Blood is somehow simultaneously brutal and elegant, raw yet refined. It has a kind of old-world feel to it we can’t quite put our finger on, and that blood accord… wow. It’s thick, viscous, deep and earthy.
Geranium
Spanish Rose
Patchouli
Black Musk
Tobacco
Sandalwood
Bull’s Blood
We can safely say we’ve never experienced a fragrance like Dead Air before. It’s so experimental, and even though we’ve highlighted the notes we can pick up above, it has this kind of hazy feeling to it, where everything appears vaguely and in a blur – every time you smell it you pick up something slightly different. It definitely smells like a dug up root system, but also like a wooden shack by the sea, salted and dried by the sun.
Top: Violet leaf Absolute, Davana, Freesia
Middle: Narcisse Absolute, Lovage, Cist Absolute, Salt Accord
Base: Dates, Oakwood, Opoponax Resin, Vetiver, Patchouli, Cedar Atlas
A subversive, disturbing perfume. It’s love or hate at first sight. With almost a cult of love or hate, Sécrétions Magnifiques shook up the perfume world when it was launched, and it still does. A work of conceptual perfumery designed to speak to all the senses at once. One rule: attraction and repulsion.
Top: Marine Accord, Salt Accord, Aldehyde
Middle: Blood Accord, Milk Accord, Adrenaline Accord
Base: Sandalwood, Iris, Opoponax
A more macabre fragrance most definitely not for everyone, Funeral Home is the cold and clean scent of white floral funeral wreaths, combined with fresh cut mahogany.Some people even detect a hint of formaldehyde – or is it just the scent association talking?
Notes:
Lilies, carnations, gladiolus, chrysanthemums with stems and leaves, mahogany
Pho Breakfast captures the experience of savouring beef pho, Vietnam’s national dish. This fragrance mirrors the dish’s core ingredients, echoes the warmth of spice blend, and weaves in hints of fresh herbs like basil and cilantro.
Fresh Basil, Star Anise, Charred Ginger, Cilantro, Mandarin
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A divisive fragrance, but we love that at Lore! The gas accord is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before and that excites us! Despite how it may sound however, this fragrance is actually really wearable. Understated. Posthuman.
Lime
Gas
Orange
Metallic
Rhubarb
Warm amber
Heliotrope
Vanilla
Woody notes
Completely unique and compelling, the Heart of Ecstasy is a narcotic, hypnotic, almost hallucinogenic fragrance. With a symphony of carnal florals combined with herbal notes and a totally unique sumac accord, this is the ultimate subversive floral scent.
Notes:
Top: Shiso Leaf Accord, Neroli Oil, Basil Oil
Middle: Narcissus Absolute France, Jasmine Absolute, Broom Absolute, Orris Butter
Base: Sumac Accord, Pipe Tobacco Accord, Cistus Absolute, Australian Sandalwood
Ethereal, elegant and haunting, Spectral Grace lingers between glamour and decay, like the atmosphere of an abandoned Hollywood soundstage. Spectral Grace answers the question…what would the ghost of Grace Kelly smell like?
FIRST ENCOUNTER: Ivory Air. White florals flicker through chilled air like a presence passing unseen.
HEART: Apparition. Jasmine and rose glow faintly beneath layers of shadow and silence.
RESIDUAL HAUNTING: Pale Velvet. Ambergris, worn sandalwood, and pale musks remain like perfume left on forgotten fabric.
There's More!
And they’re just some of the more unique scents we have, but there are tons more!
Or come in store to experience them for yourself!
