Pikovaya Dama 2018
The opening is a tight citrus chord—neroli, lemon, bergamot—laced with rose that reads more aromatic than floral.
The scent fingerprint
Weighted by intensity across 12 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.
- Sandalwood75
- Incense75
- Bergamot70
- Cedar65
- Lemon65
By the editors · 2 min readThe opening is a tight citrus chord—neroli, lemon, bergamot—laced with rose that reads more aromatic than floral. It's bright but not cheerful, with a subtle medicinal edge that keeps it from turning soapy. Within minutes, the incense arrives, trailing cedar and a dry iris that pulls the composition toward something introspective and slightly austere.
The heart settles into a hazy blend of nutmeg-spiced woods and resinous smoke, never heavy but persistent. Iris lends a cool, powdery quality that prevents the incense from becoming liturgical. By the drydown, sandalwood and vanilla round out the sharper elements, though the vanilla stays restrained—more woodshop than patisserie.
This is formal fragrance that maintains its composure. It suits someone who appreciates structure over exuberance, perhaps drawn to the Pushkin reference in the name. The Queen of Spades was a story of obsession and fate; the perfume shares that cool reserve, rarely raising its voice.
