Venenum is one of the six eaux de parfum L’Artisan Parfumeur gathered under the name Natura Fabularis in 2016. Daphné Bugey set three memories of India inside it: a spiced masala tea, steamed rice, a creamy sandalwood. The Latin name announces poison; the house speaks of a venom that makes the mouth water.
Thomas Dunckley sees a Mumbai station there — sticky rice, masala tea, heated wood — and is surprised by how light and milky the result turns out.
Olfastory’s review
The Candy Perfume Boy — Thomas Dunckley, 13 March 2017
Favourable. He places Venenum alongside Les Voyages Exotiques, the old series of olfactory journeys from the house, which the fragrance could easily have joined. The stop he describes is a busy Mumbai station: the air hot and thick, street food stalls, sticky rice, masala tea, great wooden columns radiating heat.
All of that might well be crushing, he notes, and the opposite happens: the fragrance stays light, with a milky softness he finds lovely. His verdict comes down to one word, fascinating.