Sideshow

 DARE TO WEAR 

For my birthday, my mum gifted me a sample pack of 1ml perfumes from Bloom Perfumery. It was the Halloween special: "Dare-To-Wear perfumes". 

"Just in time for Halloween, we have put together a selection of perfumes which are a bit of dare for a lot of noses. These perfumes might be too smoky, too chaotic, too sweet, too vulgar, too weird, and - let’s face it - too animalic (who wants to smell of horses?). Although the threshold of acceptable or pleasant is subjective, we relied on peoples’ reactions to the perfumes we selected for this edit. When presenting these fragrances in the shop, we continually witness people recoiling, having a very puzzled look, or implying a silent question as to why the perfumer decided to create something so surprising. However, why not give these formulas exploring the frontiers of possibility a chance in this spooky season?" 

With my interest in all things you can only dare to be curious about, it was the perfect pack for an evening of perfume immersion. 

 THE ROOM 

My Friend Naomi and I set the atmosphere by turning the main lights off, put on a playlist of 1960s reggae through the loudspeaker (cus that was the vibe) and turned on the fairy lights that were strung around the room. The blinking lights made it feel like we were in a club. We sat down opposite each other in big, comfy armchairs, and I laid the 9 1ml atomisers out on the floor in between us. We selected a perfume at random and used my phone's torch to see which bottles we picked up. 'Oh no', she sighed, 'I've got the vomit one'. 

 SIDESHOW by GRI GRI 

The brown tag wrapped around my 1ml perfume read: Bubblegum and leather whips.

The rule was that we read what Bloom Perfumery wrote about the selected perfume before we smelt it, not the brand's statement. 

"A pungent combination of a strawberry bubblegum accord with the aroma of worn leather stained with animal sweat. A 19th century, Wild West circus: kids crunching at their toffee apples as they watch a dusty clown stick his head into a toothless lion’s mouth."

The Top Notes: Strawberry

The Heart: Apple, Caramel / Cotton candy, Candy apple

The Base: Hyraceum, Leather, Tolu Balsam 

Now I'm writing and researching post-sniff, I found that each of Gri Gri's perfumes are inspired by a tattoo technique. Sideshow is based on vintage sailors tattoos and 19th century circuses. Gri Gri stated; "This parade of scents brings to mind carnival sweets and treats. Cotton candy and candy apple blend with the fantastical smell of hyraceum and leather, evoking the exoticism of the traveling circus. A freakishly attractive enchantment."

 PINK GREASE 

I spritzed it into my elbow. It was pungent at first. Hard to say what it was. I suppose it was the strawberry. I had to let it simmer down on my skin for a few seconds before I went in to smell again. 

Naomi nose deep in Sombre by Strangers Parfumerie: 'Oh God.... I'm washing that off'

Sideshow was a difficult perfume to place, but after a while there was some clarity. I could piece together two characteristics; sweet leather. Literally: a dusty, old, worn, greying leather, that has an aura of sticky, kitschy sweetness. Perhaps a fruity artificial sweet that melted into a culture of other sweet things spilt or unwittingly wiped onto something that has never been washed- say, the shabby sleeve of an old leather jacket worn by the circus' friendly punky clown who's been in the business for years and you know he fuuuucks. 

It must have been the strawberry that kicked off the unraveling Proustian moment. Sideshow was starting to smell like old pink glittery plastic girl's toys and kid's makeup. I'm talking about those plastic-moulded makeup kits you buy from Claire's or Primark for your 4-year-old niece. They have those greasy vibrant pink lipsticks in them, made of God knows what chemicals, but you discover the pink grease years later, still sticking Barbie's bouffant blonde hair to her perpetually smiling face. It's the dusty smell collecting on the pink grease. 

 OLD PLASTIC 

Sideshow was developing into a diptych of the Old and Young. The 'Old' smell was the dusty old worn leather and the 'Young' smell was the kitschy plastic sweetness. They were both simultaneously present, as strong as each other. It started to remind me of the walk-in wardrobe in mine and my sister's bedroom of our childhood house. Inside was a rail of my mother's 1970s clothes, and plastic storage boxes full of our old toys. Sideshow was taking me back to 2004. I remember decidedly not to going in there often because I was so small and it felt like an inter-dimensional portal full of musty clothes and mothballs and spiders. But if you didn't get sucked into whatever black hole was betwixt the rail of clothes, and instead turned left and walked two steps into the wardrobe, you'd find plastic storage boxes full of toys. Stuffed animals and old teddy bears, passé plastic figurines, retro Barbies and all her accompanying clothes. 

It's an extremely niche memory and aesthetic. One I would tie loosely to a John Walters vibe. Is this what a character from Pink Flamingos smells like? Like a Gummo-esque poor manifestation of whatever 'Camp' is but in olfactory form? Idk. It was only so far that Sideshow could take or interest me. 

So it was time to move onto my next perfume. 

I picked up the second atomiser and it said 'Orgy Hour 6'. 

Into my right elbow it goes!

Nez Lucinda