In 2004, Comme des Garçons introduced their PARFUMS Series 6 Synthetic line composed of five scents: Tar, Garage, Dry Clean, Skai and Soda and each one is inspired by the smells of life in the city.

Tar opens with the smell of fumes from a gas pump and the smell of hot asphalt. As it settles, there are smells of plastic debris on the ground, new blacktop over freshly turned earth, cigarette butts and plants along the side of the road.

While Tar is built around ‘chemical’ smells, notes of fresh, citrusy bergamot and vibrant, spice-tinged laurel temper them. They give depth and dimension to Tar by adding organic notes that take the edge off the ‘industrial’ chemical notes so that Tar never smells acrid. Sandalwood at the base is creamy, woody, and warm. It offsets the cool aspect that chemical smells can have and makes Tar more accessible and wearable than it sounds.

Tar is the smell of gas fumes at the pump, the chemical smell just before a plane takes off, and the smell of new rubber tires, and I find it exciting to wear.

Notes: Bitumen, bergamot, laurel, sandalwood.