5 fragrances with unsettling stories From Filippo Sorcinelli and Spiritica to the unmissable Toskovat

Not every perfume has to smell like clean skin, honey, freshly picked flowers or a seaside holiday. Some are created to tell stories through olfactory accords that evoke a range of sensations, from pleasant to downright disturbing. That's the beauty of niche perfumery: not every fragrance is designed to be worn. Some are more interested in conjuring images and sensations. These five perfumes do just that, drawing on stories and imagery that are seriously unsettling.

5 fragrances with unsettling backstories for Halloween 2026

Jeffrey by Spiritica

Jeffrey by Spiritica is inspired by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, one of the most notorious figures in American criminal history, who murdered seventeen men between 1978 and 1991. This fragrance is certainly not trying to be pleasant. Instead, it translates his story into a decidedly unconventional olfactory composition designed to evoke a cold, unpleasant and disturbing atmosphere. It opens with ice-cold beer, white orange, live yeast, acidic aldehydes and a poppers accord, before moving into a heart of dirty carpet, carnation, coagulated blood, human sweat and a sharp blade. The base brings together melted plastic, a damp cellar, amber, birch and vetiver.

But Not Today by Filippo Sorcinelli

But Not Today by Filippo Sorcinelli celebrates the unusual relationship between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. The fragrance takes its name from a line in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), when Hannibal reveals that he can recognise Clarice's habits even through the perfume she wears, noticing that she hasn't worn it that day. Hence the name, "But Not Today". The fragrance opens with bergamot, mugwort, lavender and lemon, before moving into a heart of styrax, cascarilla, rosemary and calamus. The base combines angelica, sandalwood, oakmoss, galbanum resin, amber and musk.

Leonarda by Spiritica

Leonarda by Spiritica is inspired by Leonarda Cianciulli, known as the Correggio soap-maker, who murdered three women between 1939 and 1940 and attempted to dispose of their bodies by turning them into soap and sweets. One of the most macabre cases in Italian criminal history, it is translated by the brand into a fragrance that pairs familiar household smells with far more disturbing notes. It opens with homemade soap, blood orange, caustic soda, black pepper and blood, before moving into a heart of Chantilly cream, homemade biscuits, raspberry syrup and metallic notes. The base brings together oud, sulphur, dark chocolate and ambergris.

Mare Goticum by Bale Perfumes

Mare Goticum by Bale Perfumes takes inspiration from the Baltic Sea coastline, a cold, untamed stretch of water. Think of those videos you find yourself watching at three in the morning, with container ships battling enormous waves to the soundtrack of the usual eerie music. It opens with seaweed, violet leaf and pine, before moving into a heart of mazut, a heavy fuel oil that lends the fragrance an industrial, metallic edge, alongside amber oil and patchouli. The base features accords of a diving suit, driftwood, salt and mazut.

My Past Self Flowers by Toskovat'

My Past Self Flowers by Toskovat starts with a rather macabre image: flowers growing out of a decomposing body. It opens with mangosteen, tropical fruits, genmaicha tea, white tobacco, ginseng, bromeliads and grape seeds, before moving into a heart of opium, hojicha tea, azalea, peony, orchid, red nettle and earthy notes. The base combines natural oud, nag champa, incense, dragon's blood resin, woods and resins.