Shadow People

There’s an old, abandoned asylum that I visit sometimes, beautiful stonework fallen into ruin. One time I was brave enough to actually step down the hallway into one of the buildings, which was cold even though it was summer. This perfume smells EXACTLY like that. I don’t know how but it captures such a sense of space - cold, dark, stone, emptiness, and the edge of a pine forest. It smells vast. Genuinely an extremely creepy scent. One of my all time favourite things I have ever smelled, deeply haunting and slightly menacing, spacious and detached. When I sprayed it for the first time I sniffed it so many times I got dizzy.

Per usual, Fragrantica has no idea what the notes in this are. The moss comes through the most on my skin, with the geosmin closely following. This was a blind buy and I had been deciding between this and Spectral Grace. Landed on Shadow People because of the lack of a floral note, I have Nosferatu already and didn't want something too similar. Unlike in Nosferatu, petrichor is more of a top note. Really beautiful fragrance, makes me feel like I'm wandering an old church or Victorian mansion.

My favorite from Heretic’s Ghost discovery set and possibly my favorite from Heretic EVER! Green, sharp and vegetal. It smells like being on a water ride at night while it’s storming or like a paranormal swamp ghost? Definitely unnerving and unexplainable but also sooo sexy. This does lean a bit more masculine but I wear it anyway. I’m obsessed.

Fragrance Structure Top Notes (First Encounter): Cold Vapor, Icy Citrus, and Aromatic Air Heart Notes (Presence): Dark Florals and Muted Spice Base Notes (Residual Haunting): Oakmoss, Woods, Damp Earth (Geosmin/Petrichor), and Ambered Musk This is a dark and mysterious love 🫶🏼

Smells like running through a damp castle in a Jean Rollin vampire film. Très évocateur!

It makes me smell like an old, filthy rich person in the most predictable, boring way possible. It's very flat on me and there is an intense musk note that is not listed, which unfortunately overtakes the entire fragrance. Don't get me wrong, it smells extremely well made and it's obvious the ingredients are of fantastic quality, just did not meet my expectations nor personal taste. The muskiness was present but not as obnoxious or intense of my partner who tried it at the same time as me, which made the petrichor slightly more noticeable on them. However, Spectral Grace from Heretic was everything I had expected Shadow People to be so if you're looking for a beautiful petrichor scent I would recommend that one instead.