Nephilim

Trung Vu made this one to explore lust.

Rose has always been the clearest expression of sensuality, so it sits at the core here, doubled as Bulgarian rose and French rose. The brief was raw, provocative and exposed. The animalic undertone comes from a long love of older work, and the hint of discomfort sitting under the skin is a trace of that.

Born of angels and human women, the fallen ones are beings of immense size and strength, their presence tied to corruption and the great flood. Later tales link them to the Watchers, angels who broke divine law, and their name echoes a Hebrew root meaning to fall.

For a rose wearer who has run out of patience with pretty ones.

Grimoire Parfums is the work of one person. Trung Vu spent a decade in luxury retail and cosmetics, trained as a dancer before that and worked as a makeup artist, and the craft itself is self-taught. Every formula is created and compounded by hand in a Melbourne studio. The label artwork, the cap specification and the outer packaging are designed in-house, with components produced to exact specification.

The name comes from Old French for a book of magic or spells, and the house is built on narrative, folklore and gothic themes. The first collection ran to five volumes, each drawn from a different region's dark storytelling, and a sixth has since followed. The reference point is the golden era, from the 1920s through the late nineties, when work carried a distinct point of view and moved independently of trend.