Love Toxin

When I first read the description of Love Toxin on the Calaj Perfumes website, I imagined a perfume meant to embody destructive love. In reality, Love Toxin is much more than that. Each stage of Love Toxin is like a stage of love. The opening of this fragrance is a rubbery, almost diesel-like note commingled with fruity rose. As it develops, notes of tuberose and leather become perceptible. This is the first stage of love: heat and infatuation laced with the edge of danger. It is two lovers roaring down an open road on a motorcycle pressed pelvis to pelvis, the wind in their hair as the sharpness of asphalt mixes with the sweet perfume of an innocent young woman clinging to the leather jacket of her boyfriend. Still, the lush heart of Love Toxin is where it truly gets sexy. Vanilla, jasmine and iris radiate out and underneath it all is that rubbery note, but this time softer, less like tires and more like latex. This is no longer the naif on the bike, but a powerful woman in her prime. Interestingly, as beautiful as the heart of Love Toxin is, it is the dry-down that must be appreciated. The heavy sweetness of the middle notes settle into something a bit more sour and woody. The ever-present synthetic note is still here but far fainter. It has progressed from tires to latex to the smell of the inside of a makeup bag. It took me back to being a child, rifling through my mom's makeup bag and uncapping her lipsticks as I watched her get dressed. What astounds me the most about Love Toxin is that for a perfume that starts out so unconventionally, it closes with the sophistication of an expensive vintage perfume. The final stage of love for Love Toxin is not scary or suffocating. To me this is the scent of enduring love. It is a mature woman moving with the confidence of one who is well-loved. And that's why ultimately for me, this perfume is less about toxic love and much more a representation of *intoxicating* love. 5 stars

It is a remarkable scent, so the creators painted it’s background with the myth of the philosopher’s stone, and surprisingly associated with the legend of love potion. This is non other than the LOVE TOXIN. Paracelsus, the father of toxicology said his famous words: „Everything is a poison, even if it is not by itself. Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison.” This love-bringer potion is guarranteed to charm everyone. We only need to watch for the dosage, because the secret herbal infusions and oily elixirs inside are wickedly enchanting. The bearer of the perfume could be capable of seducing more people than imagined. The slightly sour bubble of flavoury fruits is pierced and snapped by the poisonously narcotic scent of wild tuberoses. Even more striking is the odour of the coconut and rusty metal rose petals, which gives a staggeringly modern and unique meaning to this beautiful flower. Naturally, the iris is also inevitable, paired with aroma of strawberry. Vanilla rose petals sweeten the final impression, and opening copletely new dimensions. The dry-off of the scent is very intense too. The toxic effect will not be silent, not for a moment, behind the dry sweetness, there are the snarling animalistic toxins of the castor. Fortunatelly, we should not be afraid, because the transformation of LOVE TOXIN has a happy ending, a truly special love potion on our skin. It is beyond words how this wild animal with tuberoses are tamed by soft and honeyed resin. These are highly addictive moments, or even hours. This flowery, balsamic and sweet vanilla scent will shine on us for long hours, and our tawny skin will give it a real attitude.

A 2020 Miguel Matos creation for the Romanian house Calaj, Love Toxin really is a perfume appropriate for the nocturnal playground... what a tagline, eh! The top notes you see listed will all make an appearance to create a gourmand-fruity overture that’s juicy yet edgy... and the edginess mainly comes from some of the mid et base notes that already transpire in the opening - namely, tuberose and castoreum. Love Toxin's heart is a bouquet of flowers: what I predominantly smell is a tuberose somehow sweetened by iris and spiced up by cumin. As it dries down, things get more shady... castoreum and leather with a peachy accent become predominant as the florals fade. Vanilla keeps things a bit sweeter, with the same elegance of a seasoned maitresse. Performance is absurdly fit for purpose. 8+ hours on skin, much longer on clothes. Good scent bubble for its whole duration, which will naturally fade. It won't fill a room, but the people in your vicinity will most likely react to that tuberose and castoreum combo. With Love Toxin, Matos demonstrates again his expertise in creating unisex or even androgynous fragrances that are the opposite of subtle - see also "Jungle Jezebel | Sarah Baker Perfumes", which unfortunately I find too wild for my taste. Fantastic work, strangely enough also very much appreciated by my wife.

As soon as you spray Love Toxin on your skin, the blood red colour of the juice makes it look like you’ve just slashed your arm. At least if you didn’t like the fragrance it would work great for Halloween costumes. I usually despise strawberry accords in perfume, they almost always come across far too plasticky and synthetically sweet, but this here is incredible. Of course the strawberry accord is synthetic, there is no other way around it, and while it has elements of that sweet plastic feel, the quality of everything else balances it beautifully. A heady dose of bubblegummy tuberose, fecal castoreum and hints of juicy peach and plum contrast the strawberry with brutal strength. This then rests on a thick leathery base and soft powdery florals as the fruits and tuberose persist. There are no words which can accurately describe this scent well enough, it’s truly one of the more unique scents I’ve ever tried. Personally it’s not something I’d wear, but that doesn’t take away from the ingenuity of this perfume.

I fully agree with the review below. This is literally sex in a bottle. It's extremely sensual and every time you lean to smell it, you want more, and more. There's no stop to this craving, and the performance is outstanding; it will stick to you and won't let you go for at least several hours. The floral and fruity notes will be the most prominent ones at the late stage of the drydown but before it comes to that you will be enveloped with an extremely seductive combination of fruits and floral notes. This is the rare example of a synthetic strawberry that will not bother you at all, thanks to the plum, which blends it almost too perfectly. The reception is way smoother than with Transilvania, as nothing is too overpowering; everything dances in a perfect symphony, and nothing stands out more than the rest. Miguel Matos has truly outdone himself with Love Toxin.