Sweden has become cool again. You can’t walk the beach or ride the subway without seeing someone holding one of the books in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. Alexander Skarsgard is one of the small screen’s hottest leading men on HBO’s “True Blood”. Not to mention the ubiquitous style that IKEA has infused modern living spaces with. It only seems like there has to be a Swedish fragrance maker, right? Never fear there is one; Agonist Parfums second fragrance The Infidel has just become available in the US.

Agonist Parfums describe their philosophy of fragrance, on their website, as “Agonist creates pure fragrances inspired by the Nordic climate. Raw materials and product give form to the Swedish but even more Nordic clarity – fresh with a vigorous weight and beautiful low tones.” The other half of the Agonist Parfums experience is the beautiful glass creations by Asa Jungnelius of Kosta Boda glassworks. The original bottle for the first Agonist Parfums release, Kallocain, looked like an Erlenmeyer flask as realized by Salvador Dali as its bottom seemed to ooze out from underneath it. The bottle for The Infidel is less surreal but no less eye-catching as it looks like a greek amphora as imagined by IKEA full of clean sleek lines and dyed a crimson red. Both bottles come with a metal pin for dipping into the bottle and applying the perfume within to your skin.

The ideal of Agonist Parfums to create something that captures the melancholy of the Swedish culture matched with the richness of the Scandinavian surroundings. The Infidel does a most interesting job of creating a near somber mood while feeling as deep as a fragrance gets. The Infidel is a fragrance that is designed for those who like the unusual and if that describes your taste in fragrance it is worth seeking The Infidel out to try.

The opening of The Infidel is an unusual mix of bergamot and black currant over cumin that exhibits more spice than piquancy. The cumin in The Infidel is skillfully used and is the “cleanest” cumin I have perhaps experienced as it contains none of the sweaty character that cumin is known for. The currant and bergamot really help to pull out the spiciness. One might even say the cumin has become so melancholy it has failed to live up to its checkered reputation. The heart is the woody floral character of magnolia allied with tonka which first accentuates the woody aspect of magnolia before turning sweet enough to amplify the floral quality of the magnolia. The base is all deep brooding notes of amber and labdanum which feels appropriate to end The Infidel in resinous territory. Throughout the development of The Infidel it felt very European to me and the more I wore it the more I came to appreciate and like it.

The Infidel has excellent longevity and modest sillage.

Stieg Larsson’s literary heroine, Lisbeth Salander, is so interesting on the page because she makes the other characters accept her on her own terms. The Infidel does the same, as a fragrance, as it requires you to decide if the quirkiness of it is worth the effort it takes to come to know it. I found both Lisbeth and The Infidel well worth it.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample purchased from Luckyscent.

Art: Disappearing Bust of Voltaire by Salvador Dali (1941).

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor