Jardins D’Écrivains Marlowe perfume was named for playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe. I know little about Mr. Marlowe, his life or work, but “his” perfume smells like a memorial: it’s antique, faded.

When I first read Marlowe’s listed ingredients, “opulent” osmanthus, “poisonous” tuberose, “tragic” dried flowers, myrrh, elemi, oak moss, labdanum, “tonkin” musk and leather, I expected a rich, syrupy brew, dense and enveloping. Not so! Marlowe smells like a waxy wooden armoire (stuffed with winter-weight wool, velvet and silk clothing, old leather boots and belts) that’s been opened after a hot summer…

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Inspired by William S. Burroughs‘ novel Junky, Jardins d’Écrivains describes its Junky* perfume as “unashamedly different and (it) invites originality and ‘factualism’ — to borrow the term used by Burroughs.” Gray-colored juice is certainly something you don’t see every day either.

Often, the name of a perfume and its advertising images do not match what’s inside the perfume bottle. With Junky, Jardins d’Écrivains has gone all out (factualism!) and Junky smells like a junky…an old-school junky to be precise.

On my skin, Junky begins with the scents of old cigarette/marijuana smoke absorbed into stale clothes…

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