Listening to scratchy 45’s on a record player turned up all the way ©Julia Gorton

Punk songs open with a blast – an abrupt, visceral sock of guitar and drum. Energy jolts through you from that first chord and wakes you out of complacency or ennui. It’s the music of my youth and it has staked its claim in my soul. Even in later years as I spent my days in swanky corporate offices in cold glass towers the soundtrack in my head was rebellious, loud and subversive. “The Man” couldn’t take that away from the teenager still living inside me.

Siouxsie and the Banshees live in London via tumblr 

Jusbox No Rules is a fragrance that delivers that punk shot of adrenaline on the first spray. It is bright and loud like an explosion of aldehydes and cold air. Lurking in the background is a slightly sickly sweet note that reminds me of nitrous oxide. It doesn’t last long but it’s there and adds to the adrenaline rush as I experience intense somatic memories of being in the dentist’s chair. The coldness lingers, taking on a metallic note like the squeaking and vibrations of electric guitar strings played hard and fast. This perfume is reaching right in to touch the teenager inside of me.

Punk Icons: Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, Richard Hell, Joe Strummer, Johnny Rotten collage by Marianne©

Jusbox has finally introduced its line of extraordinary fragrances in America. In 2016 the Italian brother and sister team of Andrea and Chiara Valdo launched Jusbox, pouring their love and knowledge of perfume and music into every bottle.

Chiara and Andrea Valdo of Jusbox photo Hernando ©

The brand name is even a clever play on the smash-up of perfume and music, “jus” and “jukebox”. The eleven fragrances in their line represent different genres of modern music from early folk rock to acid house music. The music motif is carried throughout the packaging, website and bottling. What easily could have gone gimmicky stays clever and well-designed in Jusbox’s hands. 

Photo by Hernando © December Bloomingdales 59th Street

The bottles come in one size, 78ml as a reference to 78 rpm records. The beautiful, heavy glass bottle is crowned with a mini LP (the silhouette is reminiscent of the square vintage Balmain bottles capped with a disc shape) and packaged in a box designed like a CD box set. My favorite feature on their website is that every fragrance has its own Spotify playlist (I’m listening to the Jusbox No Rules punk playlist as I write this review!). 

The Ramones in Liverpool, 1977 © Ian Dixon

As cool as all the trappings are, the real rockstars of the Jusbox line are the perfumes themselves. The Valdos’ parents were both in the luxury perfume business in Milan and the brother and sister grew up knowing the importance of quality. This is evidenced by the perfumers that have worked on the line such as Antoine Lie, Julien Rasquinet, and Dominique Ropion.  Antoine Lie signed Jusbox No Rules. When I smell it my nose tells my brain to remember a few of his creations like Etat Libre d’Orange Je Suis Un Homme, and both Ma Bete and Night Flower by Eris Parfums. M. Lie left his fragrant fingerprints for us to find, whorls of sparkly notes curling into birch, spice, and leather notes.

1970’s animal punk chic, NYC © Julia Gorton

The heart of Jusbox No Rules surprised me with well spiced lavender. It’s very English feeling and a little quirky coming on after the metallic sensations. Andrea Valdo explained to me that the lavender in No Rules is disrupted and deconstructed; he wanted to convey idea of something so properly English torn up a bit à la the Sex Pistols and Conservative Britain. While enjoying this lavender interlude a strange note emerged. What is it? It’s so familiar? Wow, it’s the smell of the paint on an old band T-shirt, the kind I’ve had for over twenty years and the acrylic paint of the design is cracking. How can that not put a smile on your face?

Debbie Harry of Blondie

Just as the energetic, raw punk era only lasted a few years before it mellowed into the melancholic, hypnotic era of post-punk Jusbox No Rules doesn’t end abruptly like an early punk song, but fades into a leathery, musky skin scent. No Rules comes on like the Buzzcocks but leaves you like the Psychedelic Furs. Notes: Aldehydic accord, Ether, Saffron, Lavender, Vinyl, Cinnamon, Leather, Birch bark, Musk

 

CBGB’s men’s room recreated for Metropolitan Museum of Art

Disclaimer: Jusbox kindly supplied a bottle of No Rules for review. The opinions are my own.

– Marianne Butler, Sr. Contributor

Follow us on Instagram: @cafleurebon  @spritzi_mcgillacutty  @jusboxperfumes  @official_europerfumes

Jusbox No Rules, 78ml bottle, now available at Bloomingdale’s

Thanks to the generosity of Europerfumes, the US distributor, we have a 78 ml bottle of Jusbox No Rules for a registered reader in the USA. To be eligible you must be a registered reader. Please tell us what you enjoyed about Marianne’s review of Jusbox No Rules and if  there is another  Jusbox perfume that might appeal to you. What is your favorite vinyl record or album?  Draw closes January 6. 2019

Editor's Note:Jusbox No Rules won a CaFleureBon award for the best perfume you never heard of. Now you have-M.C

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like ÇaFleureBon and use our Blog feed…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.