Dark Ride

As strange and esoteric as it sounds, I have been searching for this exact scent for as long as I've been into perfumery. Many of my positive childhood memories took place at Disney World and other orlando tourist hell pits, and the most memorable aspects from these early trips are the smells (for some strange reason, the power of olfactive memory i guess). Specifically the sort of strange, old, musty, watery, stagnant aroma that certainly does not make sense out of the context of a ride like Pirates of the Caribbean. It makes me think of rubber, chlorine, strange musty chemicals and darkness. Totally not what one typically searches for in a personal fragrance. When I heard about this I almost couldn't believe it. Sort of the definition of Niche, there must be a remarkably small demographic for this. But if they are interested, and just so happen to stumble into this release, I can't imagine them being let down. This smells exactly like how I remember the interior of a dark ride smells. Chloriney, watery, stagnant, definitely mildewy, a little rubbery like a pool toy, and musty as all hell. If that sounds unappealing to you, stay far, far, far away from this. I don't think the intent here was to win over those doubtful of the lure of chlorine based perfumery...but If you are one of the few who have the olfactory associations, dive right in. It pretty much nails the smell... well, maybe its a little cleaner and more pleasant without the souring aroma of wet tourist, but you will not be let down. I purchased the spray but I will be purchasing the Extrait soon and I will wear it when I feel like wallowing in my nostalgia and giving every one around me a "f*ck-you-I-Like-It" migraine. Now if only they could bottle the aroma of the ET ride at Universal Studios...

+1 * Sweaty Aquatic -> [100/100] This is supposed to capture, photorealistically, a water park experience, at the start you can clearly make out the plasticky accords, mostly accompanied with an aquatic note, but not a clean one, a chlorine-bias one you’d exactly find in a water park, but urinous in only the sense that it was mostly neutralized with the chlorine. There’s a particular section that is mildewy, dank—it’s exactly something I was expecting from Mildew by Demeter, but never got, but it’s in its early stages, so it doesn’t smell terrible. I would even say it’s a unique kind of sweaty dirty, but again not off-putting. Even as the adventure is over, frankly, your slides caught a smell of that same mildew (it’s a camphor bias, but without overthinking it, I get that association, with a chlorine bias)—really, you smell like this. You kind of dig the smell, so you forego the obligatory shower. It vaguely reminds me of In The Belly of the Beast. In any case, it’s another banger by Killian Wells. FB worthy. P.S. The notes list is pretty incomplete--my take on this reflects the description on the website and decisions should be based on that instead. EDIT: If you want to intensify the dirtiness aspect of this, try layering it with Shutter by Xyrena (sounds weird, but it dries down to a purely camphor fragrance).

HOW I regret not buying this in the exhibition shop after I smelt it at the Somerset House Scent exhibit last year... at the time I was impressed by how evocative the scent was but not sure what I thought of it as a fragrance that one would actually wear, but in the weeks afterward I couldn't stop thinking about it and was desperate for another sniff. It's so special it almost doesn't feel gimmicky, just truly original and a real niche perfumer's imagination. Alas, I visited towards the end of the exhibit's run and Xyrena is really pricey with international shipping and the risk of duty charges factored in. They have a few scents I'm interested to try, though, so I might pay for the membership to try samples - as much as Dark Ride won me over I can't envisage getting through a bottle that quickly... unless I'm completely seduced and wind up wearing it as a signature, which I could honestly imagine happening.

Wow, this is a bleak fragrance. It really smells like the dark, slightly mildewy caverns of a theme park water ride. There is a harsh smell that people have called rubbery or chemical, which to me smells very mechanical, like the motor on a blender when its contents get stuck, and I think it suits the theme well. It also mellowed out a little bit over time on my skin and brought out the murky background. It's a strange one for sure, but honestly I think it's bizarrely wearable. It's not a "nice" smell like flowers or vanilla, but there's something distinctive and oddly comforting about it for me and I can totally see myself buying a full bottle and wearing it like anything else in my collection. It's definitely a masculine scent to my nose, but I don't think that means it has to be exclusively for men.

Very interesting, almost liminal. Reminds me of the backrooms/poolrooms a bit. Smells like a dark metallic room. Definitely has a sweet hint to it. definitely ozonic and I can smell a hint of water; even a background note of atmospheric mildew which I for sure don’t hate. Weirdly nostalgic, liminal, and all-in-all a cool experience.