M. Micallef Desir Toxic Image via M. Micallef ©

Brooding, erotic, the moon watches the midnight world, shining through the silver mists above the trees. Nocturnal creatures quietly rustle the sweet grasses, gnawing the fallen summer fruits. Forgotten dreams, floating like ghosts among the ancient cedars, reveal disquieting stories of life as it could have been or perhaps, someday, will be. M. Micallef Desir Toxic evokes this haunting beauty, the dark desires of men and women, the humid, mysterious breath of moonlit forests and the cool sighs of lost souls. Desir Toxic is a sprawling gothic romance of a fragrance, calling forth and then conquering fears, instigating and then dispelling the greedy demons or strange creatures that could very well be lurking in the mind and heart.

M. Micallef Desir Toxic Painting and Photo Collage by Gail Gross ©

Of course, there is no doubt that fragrance can affect mood.  M. Micallef Desir Toxic is an example of a single perfume capable of suggesting the cold forebodings of fear and then replacing the same with warm life and courage. Created by Martine Micallef and Geoffrey Nejman, introduced at Esxence 2019, Toxic Desir features the finest quality ingredients in unfamiliar combinations, eliciting something akin to passionate hunger followed by a sense of well being and satiation.  The pairing of opposites, brilliant bravery residing in an intriguing, seductive darkness, is personified by the midnight blue of the heavy, opaque bottle, inscribed with magical, geometric patterns.

Desir Toxic Image via M. Micallef ©

 Translating any fragrance to text is a serious challenge.  M. Micallef Toxic Desir is exceptionally resistant to “words”, an olfactory experience that must be lived to be truly understood.  Opening with the marriage of bergamot and cardamom – the bright and sparkling spirit tempted by the sweet, woody and sultry  – Desir Toxic fascinates with forbidden expressions of very different styles of longing and loving.  I can’t help but think of the two fantastic characters of Ariel and Caliban from Shakespeare’s Tempest, their unconventional and ill fated relationship profiled in the Post Script to W.H. Auden’s The Sea and the Mirror –  “ Elegance, art, fascination, Fascinated by …mortality…” – the shining ethereal spirit pulled to the dark earth.

Image via M. Micallef ©

The heart of M. Micallef Desir Toxic beats with the cool, sweet, feral mysteries of black currant, soaked in the heady warmth of cannabis and spiced with cinnamon. The celebration of spirit continues with vanillic Tonka bean, resinous benzoin and oakmoss. As the perfume dries,  Desir Toxic is drawn down once again, this time to a rich, dirty, slightly rough patchouli. The contrast of light and darkness are bound together until the very end, finishing after at least twelve hours on skin as a single evaporating sigh of cardamom, cannabis and musk.

Notes: Bergamot, cardamom, lemon, black currant, cinnamon, tonka bean, cannabis, benzoin, oakmoss, musk and patchouli.

Disclaimer:  I would like to thank Parfums M. Micallef for the opportunity to experience their beautiful Desir Toxic.  My opinions are my own.

Gail Gross – Senior Editor

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Photo by Gail Gross ©

Thanks to Parfums M. Micallef we have one beautiful 100ml tester bottle of M. Micallef Desir Toxic for one registered reader anywhere in the world. Please be sure to register if you have not done so. To be eligible for the draw let us know what appeals to you about Desir Toxic based on Gail’s review and tell us where you live. You can also mention your favorite M. Micallef fragrance or a darkly romantic movie or novel that you love. Draw closes 9/5/2019

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