Admission: I was a clandestine gasoline sniffer. As a child, whenever I filled the gas tank of the lawn mower or outboard motor, I’d save, and sniff, the cotton rags I’d use to mop up the gas can; those gasoline-drenched rags smelled heavenly to me. Enter: Histoires de Parfums Pétroleum (by perfumer Gerald Ghislain). In the Pétroleum PR materials, reference is made to “Black Gold”…and I’m not sure if that’s describing oud or petroleum (both would qualify for that title, I guess, and both aromas are present in Pétroleum).
Pétroleum includes fragrance notes of oud, bergamot, orange, aldehydes, rose, amber, civet absolute, leather, patchouli and white musk; the fragrance opens with strong aldehydes tinged with orange and smooth, almost powdery, leather. As this rather “lush” opening subsides, I detect the “petrol” aspect of the fragrance.
As I said in my Top 10 Spring Fragrances post, Pétroleum reminds me of lawnmower fumes wafting over a summer garden. These fumes are far from harsh; they are “balmy”…as if you’d dabbed some gasoline “cologne” onto your skin and let it dry in the sun (not recommended!) as you sat next to a rose bed in full bloom. After this petroleum phase (a masterful oud ‘arrangement’), Pétroleum provides warm, subdued aromas of patchouli and gentle amber-leather-oud with a hint of muskiness (civet more prominent than white musk at first, but just by a ‘spark’). Rose is certainly present in Pétroleum but not in the hackneyed rose-oud formulation we’ve all grown tired of in the last five years; Pétroleum’s rose is dense, but well blended into the other notes.
I do have one complaint: why include cheap-smelling white musk in Pétroleum? White musk, often smelling cloyingly sweet (like cotton candy), laundry-esque, and “dumb” has ruined some recent fragrances for me. In Pétroleum it’s not so obnoxious as in other fragrances I’ve tried (Le Labo Santal 33 for one) but I wish it had been left out completely. Pétroleum’s white mush (I mean “musk!”) arrives after four hours on my skin and I destroy it by simply reapplying Pétroleum at the point I begin to smell white musk. Thankfully, the white musk in Pétroleum stays very close to the skin.
As I let others try this scent, I noticed men found it “funny,” “cool” and “awesome,” while women were not thrilled. I certainly think Pétroleum is unisex but it veers towards masculine perfume territory.
Pétroleum has very good lasting power and sillage, and for those of us who love the smell of gasoline, sniffing Pétroleum is safer, and healthier, than lingering at the gas pump.
Histoires de Parfums Pétroleum is $175 for 60 ml Absolu de Parfum; for buying information see the listing for Histoires de Parfums under Perfume Houses.
Note: top image [altered] via Wikimedia Commons.
This one does sound very interesting indeed. I may have to get my hands on a sample.
Michael: yep, a nice change of pace.
Another clandestine gas sniffer here, Kevin. I was absolutely digging your description of this until the white musk popped up. I’m hard pressed to believe there’s much overlap between the gasoline-sniffing and dryer-sheet-sniffing populations.
Emily. SO true!
I’ve met so many people who confess (and they do “confess”–in hushed embarrassed tones) to liking the smell of gasoline that I think this is great. And also very funny, with the connection between oud/Middle East/oil, though I can’t tell if that’s intentional.
Alyssa: I know … it would be nice if it were on purpose.
“White musk, often smelling cloyingly sweet (like cotton candy), laundry-esque, and “dumb” has ruined some recent fragrances for me.”
DO I HEAR AN AMEN!?! I couldn’t agree more (I *loathe* white musk), and this is the first time I remember ever seeing this expressed in a review. Obviously, this is a scent I will pass on.
Btw, have you ever tried Breath of God? That one was very much warm lawn mower in a hot garage (including grass clippings) on my skin.
R. No, I’ll have to try it
You must be talking about synthetic musk. I think real musk is sublime and not at all cloying. I would happily marinate in it If only they weren’t so expensive and considered unethical!
Lady M: white musk is certainly an ‘engineered’ aroma…I hope its days are numbered. And there are certainly fine synthetic musks out there that don’t smell like fabric softener.
Perfect description of Breath of God! Need to break it out in our current very sunny weather.
Kevin – that’s a great true confession, and I totally understand. I grew up in South America and some of the gas stations there had very old style gas pumps where the gasoline is pumped up into a glass jar or holding tank and then flows down through a hose into the car. Gas not only smelled good to me as a kid…it looked cool. The sunlight on the glass holding the gas made the gas itself look unbelievably beautiful…I don’t know how to explain it. Of course, that was dangerous as you can imagine because a single stray spark and KaBoom…all over. I felt cheated when they insisted on vapor recovery system for all gas pumps in California because it cut the smell by about 90%. I also love the smell of gin…no jokes, please. I don’t drink it that much.
VM. I remember…and loved those heavy visible fumes too! Ha!
That sounds fascinating! I wonder if one could find those glass tanks in architectural salvage yards?
Lady M: I know…I’m trying to find a photo of one!
This sounds wonderful, except for the white musk. I really like another one from Histoires de Parfums, 1804 (with the pineapple note) but after a couple of hours it does the same thing. I reapply that one to get rid of the “laundry” scent too.
Janice. That damned white musk must be stopped!
I liked all three from this series, especially Rosam, which I have.
C: it was a good “Trio”
This sounds very interesting, Kevin. I’ll have to see if I get the cheap smelling white musk. I have a penchant for turpentine, which is basically petroleum. I love the smell and openly revel in the smell of painters’ studios and garages. Much to my annoyance, I had to replace terpentine with water when I started using water based oil colours during pregnancy. Thank God, I’m done with that phase of life!
Lady M: YES…turpentine…even kerosine smell great (headaches, be damned!)
Amazing how tastes differ: I can’t imagine anything worse than smelling (let alone smelling of) gasoline! Now I’ve also figured why I can’t bear Breath of God either. As Robin would say: money saved
As a chemist in a refinery laboratory, I cannot imagine spending money to smell like gasoline either. I get very tired of the smell of hydrocarbons, and in any case, if I want to smell gasoline, I can do it any day at work.
…thus, your name “FIFTY Roses!”
Ida: many people I let smell this said they felt “dirty”…so there is that connection for some
Ida I don’t think of gasoline when I smell Breath of God, not saying its not there but I didn’t notice it.
… “it’s not there” …
Ohhh ! Very exciting , one of my first fragrance loves was Donna Karen Fuel back in the 90’s , it had that whole gasoline / grease vibe to it , but this one sounds more realistic than implied ! I loved it when my dad would fill up the Vallient at the pump and the hot steamy petrol fumes would spill in through the window!! I would buy this in a second as I love all the notes listed , especially rose ( a recent discovery ) thanks Kevin for sharing your little secrets today ,
Sinnerman: seems there’s a gasoline-sniffing contingent out there
How’s the amber in DK Fuel? Would like to try it but I can’t abide amber which is in the list of notes …
Lys: if memory serves (I reviewed it ages ago here at NST) Fuel for Men was not super ambery
Also want to know about Donna Karan Unleaded (no this is not a joke). It must be less gasoline-y than Fuel, right? Anyone tried it?
Fuel, unleaded and fuel for men are all the same fragrance I think! I had the original which I think was called unleaded, but on the other hand it could have been a flanker ? It has been redone in a classic series for Donna Karen, as for the amber it’s quite heavy, I only rediscovered this old fave recently in the collection as mentioned and I didn’t much care for it any more ! It’s very fizzy . Try Caos , it’s similar but different , hope that helps
Yes, that does help. Thank you Sinnerman and Kevin for the intel on Fuel and Unleaded respectively. Fun post, Kevin.
SinnerM: Unleaded was a flanker to DK Men (which became Fuel for Men!) HA! Why all this confusion, Donna? (Or Estee I should say) Chaos was nice.
Lys: Unleaded is long gone but someone sent me a sample of it…it didn’t smell of gasoline to me…different from Fuel for Men…more spicy if I remember correctly.
Tubéreuse Criminelle is my signature scent. Nuff said. LOL!
Bela…well there IS that whiff of strong wintergreen at first spritz (I hope it’s still there…)
I smell kerosene. It’s still there, but I wonder whether anyone else detects a very very slight ‘smoky bacon’ note too in the Export version?
Another gas huffed here- always loved going to gas station with my dad and breathing in all the heavy vapours of ‘regular’ gas. Especially fab the dog days of summer when it mixed with hot leather car seats and steamy Tarmac. Mmmm…. I will definitely have to check this out. Wonder if it would layer with Black for the full-on garage feel?
FW” I think it would layer nicely with ouds and rose scents
So … did you buy a bottle?
As I’m writing this I realized the 1/2-size HdP bottle looks unitentionally a bit like a quart of Valvoline which is funny b/c I get the smell of motor-oily rags from HdP Petroleum rather than the more volatile smell of gasoline, at least on my skin. So I wish it was a little less dense. That having been said, it does do a great job of exploring the petroleum side to oud. Will have to try it more fully sometime soon.
Lys: nope…I rarely buy anything these days…a week-long test-run of a scent is sufficient usually!
My 13-year-old son (the one who likes scent) often comments that he loves the smell of gasoline and diesel fuel. I might have to find him at least a sample of this…
mals: yes, get him a sample and for a bit of “tar”…maybe a Fahrenheit sample too….
In real life, I recoil from gasoline, propane fumes, and tar smells… but in perfume life, the same scents (plus those of motor oil, butane, and charcoal briquettes) perversely entrance me. Bulgari Black, Fahrenheit, Lonestar Memories… now this one, which may turn out to be more than I can resist.
Olenska: we can have an arsenal of these scents it seems