Sweet Morphine was launched in 2015 by Ex Nihilo, the Parisian niche line founded in 2013 by Olivier Royère, Sylvie Loday and Benoît Verdie and headquartered on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.

Part of their ‘Les Interdites’ collection, which was based on the theme of forbidden pleasures. I suppose it’s called ‘Sweet Morphine’ because it’s totally addictive. I speak from experience.

Bergamot starts Sweet Morphine off. Green and tart, it sets up a note of lilac. It’s the rich smell of lilac – lovely, soft and a little powdery on me – and it just melts into my skin. Iris soon appears adding the woody-floral smell of violets to the lilac. The combination is tender but potent. On my skin the violet smell and the lilac intertwine but separate at times so that one whiff will be iris-forward and the next the lilac dominates. The flowers are boosted at the base by a patchouli/vetiver woody accord that is sweetened by vanilla so that what had melted into my skin before now radiates from it. I. WANT. MORE.

The drydown is soft, floral-fresh and woody. Beware, skin chemistry plays a huge role in the development of this fragrance, which is why it’s perfectly unisex.

Notes: Lilac, iris, wood accord, vanilla.