Filippo Sorcinelli Decants and Samples

Filippo Sorcinelli builds fragrances the way a cathedral organist builds sound: slow, resinous, and unafraid of the dark. As the nose behind UNUM, he works in incense and smoke, in the hush of stone interiors and the weight of vestments, so his compositions feel less like a scent you spray and more like a room you step into. These are ceremonial, nocturnal perfumes for anyone drawn to the smoky and resinous end of the spectrum, and they are exactly the kind of house that rewards trying before you commit. A little goes a long way, and the mood is unmistakable, which is why sampling first makes so much sense here.

Every Filippo Sorcinelli decant at Gouttes Rares is poured from a bottle we bought at full retail directly in the spirit of the house, never from the grey market. We decant to order with lab-grade Socorex syringes into clean vials, offered in the real sizes you see here (commonly 1ml, 2ml, 5ml and 10ml), and each one is measured and sealed the day it ships. That means you get an honest, unhurried way to live with a fragrance for a few wears and decide whether it earns a full bottle, before you spend like it already has.

The Filippo Sorcinelli range

• LAVS. Opens on a charge of black pepper and cardamom, sharp and resinous, before jasmine, cloves and elemi pull it into deep incense territory and opoponax, oakmoss and rosewood settle into a dark woody smoke that lingers well past the first hour. From $12.
• Reliqvia. The interior of an ancient church stripped to its bones: pine resin and mastic crackling against clove, smoke rising through incense and guaiac wood, before the whole thing settles into a warm, tobacco-darkened embrace of sandalwood and black currant. From $12.

How to start

Start with a 2ml of whichever pulls you in first, most people meet this house through LAVS, and give it a couple of full wears in the evening when its incense and smoke have room to breathe. If you want to feel the range, build a small set with both and see which one you keep reaching for, then size up to a 5ml or 10ml of the one that becomes yours.

Shop the full Filippo Sorcinelli collection