Launched in 1999 Tubéreuse Criminelle has gained mythical status over the years becoming one of the ‘great whites’ along with Carnal Flower and Fracas. And, like the other members of the great white trinity, Tubéreuse Criminelle is no gateway tuberose frag.

Its calling card is a unique and defining opening of camphor/menthol, like something you get off a magic marker. Wow! What an entrance! This camphor/menthol accord occurs naturally in tuberose but instead of restraining or refining it, perfumer Christopher Sheldrake just let it be. It’s a good thing too becasue it’s this accord that makes Tubéreuse Criminelle unique and potent.

As the top notes fade, the lush, fatty, creamy aspects of tuberose come forward, and stay centre stage, enriched by jasmine, orange blossom and hyacinth. The florals are warmed by nutmeg, clove and musk. The oriental base of styrax, musk and vanilla gives it a drydown that is mellow and gorgeous on the skin.

The buzz on Tubéreuse Criminelle is that it smells like death and decay. I suppose it’s the medicinal smell that puts some people in mind of formaldehyde, which when combined with the florals gives Tubéreuse Criminelle its association with death and funerals. I think that's reaching too far and I don’t experience it that way. I’m just taken with a gorgeous fragrance that lasts and lasts on me.

Notes: tuberose, jasmine, orange blossom, hyacinth, nutmeg, clove, styrax, musk, vanilla.