Not A Perfume
Not A Perfume strips fragrance to its barest element: a single molecule of Cetalox, typically used as a fixative or ambergris substitute.
The scent fingerprint
Weighted by intensity across 6 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.
- Musky55
- Woody15
- Amber12
- Marine
By the editors · 2 min readNot A Perfume strips fragrance to its barest element: a single molecule of Cetalox, typically used as a fixative or ambergris substitute. On skin, it hovers close, weightless and almost subliminal. Some describe clean musk, others catch soft woods or a faint marine breath. The effect depends entirely on body chemistry, which explains the polarized reactions—on certain wearers it nearly disappears, while on others it blooms into something recognizably warm.
This minimalism appeals to those exhausted by conventional perfumery or seeking a discreet signature. It layers invisibly under bolder scents or stands alone as a skin-but-better veil. The lack of traditional structure means no opening, no heart, no base—just a steady, barely-there presence that either fascinates or frustrates. For the converted, it's the ultimate personal scent, perceived differently by everyone who encounters it.
Scent twins
In this family
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.
