You can just picture it.
“Wow, you smell divine.
What is that?”
“It’s called ‘Death and decay”.
“Er……….”
Simon Constantine’s floral provocation for the always intriguing Gorilla Perfumes is a glowing, creamy white hypnosis of soap and mothball lilies, not quite as indolic as I anticipated, given the scent’s premise of purposefully stretching the funeral palls’s cusp of rot and fullness to breaking point (though in truth I didn’t quite dare to spray it on the skin to find out) : effulgent, floating, and luminous.
Death And Decay smells like a woman in Pure Distance’s Opardu crying tears at a funeral parlour; a spray of convalescent lilies, an air-conditioned ambience, and freshly scrubbed undertaker’s hands. Beguiling if a touch creepy, this is a blend that draws me in ( up to a certain point), with its cool, pungent allure – if ultimately, in truth, I prefer warmer, more spiced lilies with an edge of pink and ylang such as Penhaligon’s delightful Lily & Spice, or for the seamless demure, Cartier’s Baiser Volé.
With a swift inhale of Dear John we are suddenly back to life, love, and a welcome dose of virility: a woody, coffee-laced vetivert and cedarwood that I immediately took to as I like all the notes : ( also clove and coriander) – a rugged, warm, garden shed salvation that I will probably go up to Tokyo again and buy next week.
To sum up : the conceptual is great – it brings forth images and words. It stimulates, makes me laugh. The wearable, though – a scent that flows naturally from the body, smells good, just simply makes me happy. .
The Black Narcissus 