The Downward Spiral

A fragrance inspired by Nine Inch Nails

The biggest source of contention in The Downward Spiral is the title song - one that beautifully and hauntingly explores suicide, or the contemplation of suicide.

The Downward Spiral and its versions create an atmosphere of disquiet - particularly the Further Down the Spiral version (The Bottom), with its creepy distorted vocals and trippy instrumentation. I wanted to depict this song in an atmospheric, almost cinematic kind of fragrance. The lyric - “the deepest shade of mushroom blue” - was the starting point, and I began thinking about Lactarius indigo, commonly known as milky indigo cap mushrooms. Fresh specimens are obviously a deep blue color, but what is most interesting to me is the way this mushroom “bleeds” - all mushrooms in the genus Lactarius produce a milk or latex that oozes from cut or wounded tissue. The milk from L. indigo is a deep blue that oxidizes to green, and the image of blue ooze spilling from an injured mushroom circles back to the similar imagery of blood spilling from a head wound in this song.

What developed was the earthiest fragrance I have ever created, those bright blue mushrooms sprouting up out of a deciduous forest floor. Musty and mildewy, the mushroom scent note wafts its way through the ozonic top notes of green florals and aldehydes, into the middle notes of green tobacco and fir resin. The fragrance base is decidedly more ethereal with a woodland background of balsam and oakmoss. The end result is a quiet bedlam, a fragrance begging for calm and peace but cannot shake the uneasiness fermenting below the surface. 

Scent Profile

Top: aldehydes, green floral, mushroom, ozone

Middle: earth, eucalyptus, fir resin, green tobacco, moss, mushroom, sage

Base: balsam, cedar, musk, patchouli, sandalwood