A pungent floral medical opening that actually settles into something wearable.

You’re at the Panorama bar in Berghain and decide to go for a meander on the way back from the bathroom. You go down too many stairs and find yourself accidentally in the basement’s lab.oratory. Your jaw is on the floor and your feet are stuck to the ground in shock. A big bear has noticed the pretty little doe trapped in the headlights and comes towards you speaking German. His eyes then smile kindly as he says in English, “You’re not meant to be here, this isn’t for you” and gently escorts you to a place to help you find your way back.

The opening of Pornosé is like that. It isn’t for me. Walter Maiorano and Andres Marcoccia were intentional in creating a hedonistic, raw and provocative perfume with notes like saliva, cannabis, coccaine, human sweat, lipstick and latex. But truthfully, to my nose, this is more a Petals and Poppers affair than a Secretions Magnifiques.

There’s prettiness there underneath the sharp medicinal, clinical and phenolic opening.

The cacao note is actually really gorgeous when your nose finds it and as it mixes with the creamy sandalwood and sweet and bright violet, raspberry, iris and rose it creates a delicious violet and rose dark chocolate creams accord.

But these violet and rose creams have been dipped and marinated in TCP antiseptic. It’s bold, bright, sweet, carnal, present, pungent and persistent.

I find my nose is utterly addicted as it fires of my olfactory system and amygdala. Memories of hospital visits, and my favourite chocolates.

A thousand miles away from the industrial Berlin nightclub, I ask the other half for his thoughts. “Yuck!”. I need more than that. Is it sexy or provocative.? - “No. It smells like you’ve falling off your bike and covered your grazes in TCP”.. not just me then.

As it dries down the TCP smells starts to dissipate and the orris, leathery labdanum and oud join in with the lipstick and chocolate concoction. And after about two hours it settles as a mainly ambery lipstick accord with deep and slightly smoky orris butter nuances, a hint of vanilla but the remnants of the medical TCP still drying on your skin.

I was also brave enough to go for a family dinner wearing this once it settled as it felt wearable and I wanted to gather some secondary, at arm’s length feedback. The general consensus was that is was a nice, rich lipstick scent.

So did Walter and Andrea achieve a deeply provocative and animalistic scent? It would certainly get the wearer noticed. I can only say that I personally had my nose drawn to my skin all day because I find the clinical, medicinal TCP smell addictive, it brought me back to the vivid childhood memories that likely led to my profession today.

So, I think I’m going to give this one another few wears while I try and figure it out a bit more. It kept my brain and nose busy, if nothing else.