Tabu
Tabu opens with a burst of brightness—neroli and citrus that quickly give way to something darker and more insistent.
The scent fingerprint
Weighted by intensity across 16 accords.
Every perfume in Sillage is represented as a distribution across canonical accord slugs — a lingua franca for scent. Two fragrances with overlapping fingerprints are scent-twins, even if they share no literal note.
- Mossy85
- Floral80
- Woody75
- Musky
The note pyramid
- Neroli
- Neroli
- Orange
- Orange
- Bergamot
- Bergamot
- Jasmine
By the editors · 2 min readTabu opens with a burst of brightness—neroli and citrus that quickly give way to something darker and more insistent. The florals are bold and unapologetic: jasmine and ylang-ylang bloom heavily, supported by narcissus and rose that feel rich rather than delicate. There's an herbal twist from tarragon that keeps the sweetness from becoming cloying, but this is unmistakably a perfume that wants to be noticed.
The base is where its 1930s character fully emerges. Oakmoss and patchouli provide a green, earthy foundation, while civet adds an animalic warmth that modern reformulations have softened but not entirely erased. Benzoin and vanilla round the edges without taming the composition's inherent boldness. Sandalwood and musk linger close to the skin, grounding what remains a forthright, unambiguous scent.
This is perfume as statement rather than suggestion—made for an era when fragrance was meant to announce presence, not whisper it. It suits those who appreciate vintage sensibilities and aren't looking for subtlety.
Scent twins
Factual metadata (name, house, year, notes) is seeded from public datasets. The editorial reading and scent fingerprint are written by Claude against our house style — none of it is scraped prose. Read our methodology.
