Disco Elysium Character's Signature Perfume (Part 1/2)
Disclaimer: All these perfumes were chosen based on the official descriptions, various reviews and my personal experience and taste. It's also a kind of personal character study (spoiler alert!), by perfume freak for perfume freak!
Part 2
Harrier Du Bois - Baraonda by Nasomatto
It's a no-brainer to pick a fragrance with strong liquor accords for Harrier, and Baraonda by Nasomatto might as well be the booziest, most realistic whiskey-like perfume you can find. It opens sharp and heavy like the first burn of hard liquor, but gradually turns into a warm, cosy scent that engulfs you like a small bubble (or perhaps a hug from someone who just drank a lot?). Some people catch a sweetness from it, one that is similar to dark chocolate and woody vanilla. A hint of silky rose elevated the fragrance once the liquor settled down, giving the perfume a surprisingly sensual and charming heart. You're sitting in a bar in late autumn, where they serves whiskey from the barrels; the strong sodium light above make you feel a little bit warm under your jacket. And there's your old man Harry with high Psy stats, "the expression" and the beard included.
Kim Kitsuragi - Greymist by Pineward
For Kim, pine needle accord is non-negotiable, and it must also be the heart of the perfume. At the same time, the fragrance can't be too linear; it should transform gradually as Kim does the more Harrier gets to know him. Greymist by Pineward opens with a really strong and spicy scent of pine and fir, which gives it an initial masculine edge. But later, settles into a gentler and more grounding blend, with a sweet touch from the citrus and tobacco flower. If you wonder, tobacco flower doesn't actually smell like tobacco smoke, but has a sensual white floral scent. Once dried down, Greymist gives a very put-together, non-offensive and gender neutral vibe. It's someone that you may overlook in a crowd, but can make you feel inexplicably calm and nostalgic at an intimate distance - like a child looking up a Christmas tree. It's a morning in early spring, when the snow hasn't fully melted yet, but you can feel it in the air that it's getting warmer.
Jean Vicquemare - Absent Presence by Beaufort London
For Jean, I was deliberately looking for a vetiver fragrance that smells like walking depression, a husk, or a ghost. Absent Presence is unlike any other fragrance from Beaufort, which are often bold, loud, and with strong association with fantasy images like smoky battlefield or rusty medieval dungeon. This perfume is like a blank canvas in comparison to its predecessors, but like its name, there is an ominous feeling of being in a limbo, and having something stripped away. The galbanum and bergamot in the opening smells almost like a herbaceous citrus candy, like a flash of a mocking grin, inviting you in. In the next phase, it turns into a peppery floral, with a slightest touch of ozonic coldness. At the base, the smoky sandalwood blends seemlessly with bitter vetiver, giving an sombre, melancholic vibe. It's an enigmatic figure who seems to match the mannerism of whomever he's speaking to, but something is missing…
Dora Ingerlund - Dalissime by Salvador Dali
Obviously, the quest is to find an apricot perfume where that note is the first thing you smell and the last thing you remember 6 years after the break up that changed the trajectory of your life forever. Dalissime by Salvador Dali is the one and only; I think it represents Dora and she can also actually wear it, at the time she and Harry fell in love with each other. The apricot accord in Dalissime comes up strong, candy-like and synthetic. Some people might get put off by it, but this gives the impression of a cheerful young girl from the 90s, dressing hippy and having fun at a summer party. It's straight-forwardly sweet, powdery and feminine, guaranteed to haunt you in your dream and the narrative.
Dolores Dei - Pink Molécule 090-09 by Zarkoperfume
My intention for this pick is actually not a fragrance that represent Dolores Dei the Innocence, but Dolores Dei as the sanctified ghost of Dora in Harry's mind. With this idea, I went for "molecule fragrances", which are often a minimalist composition of synthetic fragrant molecules. Unlike the natural counterparts, these synthetic aroma-molecules can be perceived differently to different people, depending on the wearer's skin chemistry and olfactory system. Some would smell the perfume more strongly, some smell nothing at all. I think that would suit the nature of a controversial religious figure like Dolores Dei. Aside from that, the apricot is there, not sweet and cheerful like in Dalissime, but more elegant and mature, being elevated by the mild elderflowers. It's sparkling and heavenly like a glass of champagne, or the vast blue sky above a church. A soft, feminine and pleasing scent. But is she even human?
