Vio Volta

Call me crazy; I LOVE IT. I get a slight astringent note, which I think might be the cat piss smell people are picking up on. But much like another reviewer mentioned, I can't stop sniffing it. I get a full-bodied earthy green violet and find it's paired perfectly with the more synthetic mineral notes of electricity. It feels like walking through the damp, mossy forests in British Columbia in a cozy fleece sweater.

Honestly, I don’t care what anyone says; I love this so much. Like chewing on Parma violets next to an electrical fire.

If you hate this perfume you’re boring. Sorry I don’t make the rules.

Have I entered a parallel universe? Is this fragrance going to dramatically transform on contact with my skin and become this gross abomination that pretty much every review here agrees that it is? Now this is hasty and premature of me to offer a proper review without doing so, spraying it on a card as I have done. Let me go massively against the grain here and say that this is reminiscent of Christian Dior Fahrenheit but with drier more overt IES tones and parched ionones which mutate into a modern leather and faint diesel fume accord. This is par for the Durga course for me, uncompromising yet trendy and modern. I get the tartness of rhubarb in the opening and I think that pairs well with violet. I will update this review when I’ve warn this one but I thought it was pretty good, not earth shattering, but not quite derivative either.

I sort of get why this scent elicits such strong reactions, but I think it has its merits. It's even wearable in its way. I imagine that this is what the fictional "devil's plant" tannis root from Rosemary's Baby would smell like. Vio Volta is vegetal in a way that teeters on ugly - bitter, earthy, peppery, intense, sharp, maybe slightly evil. The fact that it smells like a pungent, unknown herb is responsible for its uncanny, somewhat disturbing quality. Is it edible? Poisonous? Something to ward off vampires? Who can say? All this is to say that it's disconcertingly unfamiliar, but it's not a bad scent. I don't get cat urine at all; to my nose this is all vegetable and mineral, no animal. It's just an idiosyncratic Day of the Triffids-eqsque alien-plant.

Electric is right. Like others have mentioned, this does smell like asphalt or tar. And yet! And yet, I'm not turned off by it. In fact, I keep sniffing it. I don't even know why. It's so unusual, synthetic (but not in a bad way), so zingy and strange that the sum of its parts amount to an offbeat charm. It feels like accidentally brushing against someone and being stung a bit by static. You can't help but laugh. The oddest rendition of violet I have come across. But I really like that it's not powdery and it doesn't smell sickeningly sweet.

First impressions from a tester strip: fruity violet with incense and musk. Extremely unique, and the impression of 'electricity in the air' is very well done. But only a person with a very alternative personality might be able to pull off that one. Still, might be decant worthy, for the art.

This is a strange fragrance. Not bad but definitely not pleasant. The violet gives off this “static electricity”/ozone smell. I think it’s the Patchouli and Amberwood combo that gives off some generic form of aerosol cleaner. Maybe a brake cleaner and gasoline mix? The incense is not smokey but more of the acrid smell from an extinguished plastic fire. THIS IS NOT AN AMBER FRAGRANCE! Amberwood is not traditionally an amber like smell. Amberwood is the definition of a synthetic molecule and it’s used to the full extent in this fragrance. This is the epitome of a hipster fragrance. It’s not necessarily disagreeable but you definitely get the feeling people who like it are pretending to like it more than they actually do in order to “seem” different. This fragrance is best suited for 30 year old baristas, graffiti artists, and liberal arts college graduates.

This perfume very literally caused an instant asthma attack. Holy moly chemical musk! And a neon green bug juice note, like an aphid that had been gorging on black currants and then was squashed. You are wearing its guts on your skin. It actually reminds me very much of Enchanted Forest, not because they smell the same, but because so many reviewers say that Enchanted Forest smells like the Russian woods, like the currant bushes. Well if *that's* what you are into, this has it in spades. The whole bush, fruit and leaves; and not only the dirt in which the bushes are growing, but also the minerals being sucked through the xylem (vascular system) of the bush. Somewhere mixed in is a really nice violet hard candy. I think it's kind of a genius pairing. These currant fragrances smell like B.O. on me, a bummer, so I can't wear them. On the right person, it will be really gorgeous. It's a DS&Durga fragrance that I admire from a distance. (Edit: Sorry, I know I keep saying "currants" when it's supposedly rhubarb, but honestly it smells like like currants to me).

Disclaimer: I received a sample of this as a random freebie included in a recent order. This is really throwing me for a loop. I get an impression of tar...or creosote..? Something's definitely petroleum-based and "burning." I'm not sure exactly what I'm smelling, but I'm hard-pressed to locate anything floral or fruity in this acrid and disturbing funk. Something's also reminding me of a novelty/peculiar scratch 'n' sniff sticker from the early '80s; I think it was supposed to smell like gasoline (or skunk?). The drydown reveals a wallop of (what I'm guessing is) Iso-E Super, a personal fragrance nemesis. Nothing "tender" about this scent at all, IMHO. ETA: It's now about 4 hours later and I've tried my best to scrub this, to no avail. It's one of the most tenacious fragrances I've ever had the misfortune of putting on my skin. If you've got a sensitive nose and/or stomach, BEWARE. For some, this could very well be gag- or panic-inducing.

In full disclosure, I'm a big fan of DS & Durga's line—I rotate through Debaser, Radio Bombay, Bowmakers, and Coriander depending on the season. Given the notes in this, I was excited to try it. Unfortunately I had a very similar reaction to the other reviewers here. It starts out interesting—prickly both from the sourness of the rhubarb and the synthetic electricity, the dirty green violet stem in the base. But something about the synthetic note here is really nagging. As time wore on, the patchouli really came out for me, earthy and cloying. I sampled this on a hot day, and all I wanted to do was wash it off. Unfortunately, that didn't help... it really does stay on forever.

I love violet scents, except this one is a harsh raw violet. Too green, fresh out of the soil violet. Reminds me of Kerbside Violet by Lush, which also doesn't work for me. Thankfully I only had a sample. Definitely would not recommend blind buying.

On my skin, I'm getting cat urine and marijuana, but mostly cat urine. Thankfully, this was just a l'il ol' sample! Definitely agree with the encouragement to NOT blind buy this one!

Violets + electricity + grease + tar = thanks, but no thanks

A cat pissed onto the violet. Disgusting!

A complete synthetic disaster that smells unfortunately revolting. I usually like DSD creations but sniffing a sample of this, I have to scratch my head in complete disbelief. An attempt to make an electric violet, this deeply disturbing and nausea inducing concoction needs to be seriously under consideration for immediate market withdrawal. I am not alone in my assessment of this (see reviews below). Finally, ELDO Secretions Magnifiques has very serious competition.

Sure, it's unique. For my nose, it's unpleasant. I see it as sold out on the D.S and Durga store...why? Could the price tag and brand presense be a factor? I don't know. What I DO know, is that this combination of iris and dirtiness as one reviewer insinuated is not my cup of tea.

This smells like straight up gasoline and plastic on my skin. Where are the violets, rhubarb, incense, and cedar that sounded great? I love a lot from this house, but this is a pass for me.

I'm glad this is discontinued. David should have called it Violence-Volta. This was indeed panic-inducing/revolting. Maybe this was a joke?

voltaic (adj.) 1813, designating electricity produced by chemical action, formed in recognition of Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), who perfected a chemical process used in electrical batteries, + -ic. "Odors, when sweet violets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken." Percy Bysshe Shelley revolting (adj.) 1590s, "rebellious, that revolts, given to revolt," present-participle adjective from revolt (v.). The sense of "repulsive" is from 1749 (implied in revoltingness), from the verb in a sense of "cause to turn away in abhorrence or disgust" (also "rise in repugnance" against, "turn in loathing" from), a sense developed by mid-18c.