Toskovat: The House That Bottles Birthday Cake, Dirty Money and Gunpowder

A birthday cake gone cold in one bottle, dirty money walked into a confession booth in the next, gunpowder in a third. Toskovat is a small Romanian house that starts every perfume with a story and then dares you to wear it.

On 13 September 2026 every listing on toskovat.com was marked sold out, the house's own discovery set included, so a decant is the simplest way to smell Toskovat. Six of the seven we carry are in stock as decants, starting with Pornstar (Noyau Doux).

The gunpowder one, Inexcusable Evil, is sold out as a decant. Its cold, mineral cousin Domus Numeni is not.

What Toskovat is

Toskovat is the Romanian house of David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi. The name comes from toska, a word the house's manifesto describes, in Vladimir Nabokov's words, as "a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause". It files its perfumes as extraits de mémoire, memory extracts, or eaux de mémoire, and it marked its third anniversary with Domus Numeni.

Where to start: Pornstar (Noyau Doux)

Pitahaya and a slip of ice up top, body lotion and meringue underneath: it smells like skin already in the sun. A martini-cool thread keeps the sugar from going flat. Daytime, warm weather, for anyone who likes sweetness loud. 6 to 8 hours, moderate sillage. Noyau doux is French for soft core, and the double meaning is the point: what a camera is pointed at, and what is left when it stops. The full Pornstar story is its own article.

The second bottle: Last Birthday Cake

Last Birthday Cake is a birthday with something wrong in it: a fairground gone quiet after the sugar stands have shut. Bitter almond and instant cocoa open over Armagnac-soaked stollen. Then the base turns on an accord the house calls Chekhov's Gun, beside incense and papyrus. It smells of cold blued steel, machine oil, flint and a curl of sulfur. Evenings, cold months, anyone who wants sweetness with smoke under it. 8 to 10 hours, strong sillage. The deep dive is the cake that ends in smoke.

The one to buy third: Anarchist A♭

Anarchist A♭ is built on one provocation: anything can be sold to a willing buyer, from love and faith to forgiveness and distraction. It smells like a wallet left out in January sleet and then marched into a confession booth. Credit cards and whiskey open it cold; plastic bag and holy water close it. That thread of plastic is the detail to meet on your own skin. Buy it third: by then you know whether you like the house's cold side. Deep winter nights, 8 to 10 hours, strong sillage.

The collector's stop: Domus Numeni

Domus Numeni is a midnight mass fading to dust. Cold metal into candle wax and incense, birch tar underneath. It is a reworked version of the house's 2024 Take Me To Church, released as 300 bottles for the three-year anniversary, an elegy to a lost father figure with a single epitaph: Too much truth, Here Lies. The name is loose Latin, roughly the house of the divine; Toskovat itself never translates it. It is priced per ml above the rest of the shelf, which is why the 1 ml exists. Autumn and deep winter, after dark; 8 to 10 hours, strong sillage. It has a deep dive of its own.

For daylight: Silent at the Theme Park

Silent at the Theme Park is one of the perfumes Toskovat opened with in 2022, built from David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi's own memories: a theme park at five, his mother's sweater, a small lemon tart on his first flight, lilacs at the window. Lemon tart, lilac and linden blossom open it, lily of the valley and ylang ylang rest on accords of clean linens and a mother's sweater, and olibanum, fir balsam and oakmoss close it with a little vanilla. The house files it as an eau de mémoire, and with Pornstar it is the lighter side of the house: 6 to 8 hours, moderate sillage.

For an evening: Amaretto in the Melting Room

Amaretto in the Melting Room opens Toskovat's Betrayal Collection, a 2025 perfume about friends invited to the table whose eyes were on fool's gold all along. Orange peel and bitter peach stone sit over a sacramental bread accord, amaretto is whipped into sugar syrup foam with labdanum and candle wax, and it dries down to vanilla powder, tonka, honeycomb and tobacco. Evenings, cold months; 8 to 10 hours, strong sillage.

Inexcusable Evil: the honest word

We have written about Inexcusable Evil at length. Its decants are sold out; a 60 ml full bottle is made to order. David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi, who is of both Russian and Ukrainian descent, made it as a statement about modern warfare. The gunpowder and ozone opening is meant to repel, and the iodine that follows stands for treating the wound. If gunpowder and incense brought you here, the relative you can buy today is Domus Numeni.

The full shelf at a glance

Every Toskovat sample we pour is on the Toskovat decants shelf, the wider ultra-niche shelf is next door.

Start with the 2 ml of Pornstar (Noyau Doux) or Last Birthday Cake, and wear it for a full day before anything larger.

Frequently asked questions

What does Toskovat smell like?

There is no single house smell. Pornstar (Noyau Doux) is pitahaya, a martini and body lotion. Last Birthday Cake is bitter almond and Armagnac-soaked cake with a loaded-gun accord underneath. Anarchist A♭ is credit cards, whiskey and holy water. Domus Numeni is cold metal, candle wax and incense over birch tar. Silent at the Theme Park is lemon tart, lilac and clean linens. Amaretto in the Melting Room is amaretto, sacramental bread and candle wax. Inexcusable Evil is gunpowder, iodine and wet concrete. Each one starts as a story the house wants you to wear.

Which Toskovat should I try first?

Pornstar (Noyau Doux) if you want the easy one to wear: 6 to 8 hours, moderate sillage. Last Birthday Cake if you want sweetness with smoke under it. Buy Anarchist A♭ third, once you know you like the house's cold side.

Where can I buy Toskovat samples or decants?

Gouttes Rares pours 1 ml to 10 ml samples by hand from genuine bottles and ships worldwide by DHL: Pornstar (Noyau Doux), Last Birthday Cake, Anarchist A♭, Silent at the Theme Park and Amaretto in the Melting Room from 2 ml, Domus Numeni from 1 ml. Inexcusable Evil decants are sold out; a 60 ml full bottle is made to order.

How long does Toskovat last?

By the store's Longevity & Sillage Index, Inexcusable Evil, Last Birthday Cake, Anarchist A♭, Domus Numeni and Amaretto in the Melting Room sit in the 8 to 10 hour band with strong sillage. Pornstar (Noyau Doux) and Silent at the Theme Park are the lighter ones: 6 to 8 hours with moderate sillage.

What does Domus Numeni mean?

Toskovat does not translate the name. In plain Latin, domus is a house and numen a divine presence, so the nearest reading is the house of the divine. The house's own listing speaks to a lost father and promises to join him one day; the perfume is an elegy to a lost father figure, released as 300 bottles for Toskovat's third anniversary.