My “Dirty” series is about taking classic, beautiful ingredients and putting a new spin on them - letting their hair down, smudging their lipstick and exploring new territory. I wanted to build a fragrance around the spontaneous and energetic aspects of lemons but wanted to bring something new and even a little naughty to lemons' squeaky clean nature. — Douglas Little, Heretic Parfums.
Dirty Lemon (listed notes include lemon, bergamot, petitgrain, juniper, lime, sandalwood, pink and black pepper, ylang-ylang and patchouli)
Dirty Lemon opens with the aromas of bergamot oil and sliced lemons (heavily peppered), but its head notes are more dense than sprightly or fizzy. Briefly, Dirty Lemon smells like an aperitivo made with lemons instead of oranges. There's a pleasant "green" scent in mid-development when petitgrain and juniper berry (and perhaps some lime) form an outdoorsy accord. Vague florals (pale white flowers mixing with ylang-ylang) appear as Dirty Lemon heads to its base where bleached, woody notes banish all memories of citrus or flowers and create a slightly musky, muted ending. Dirty Lemon is a contemporary take on 'dirty' (unlike Heretic's Hippie-Punk, earthy Dirty Ginger). If you're looking to Dirty Lemon for an overdose of bright lemons or citrus in general...look elsewhere — the lemon element is fleeting.
Dirty Mango (listed notes include mandarin, lemon, geranium, mango, sandalwood, cedar, agarwood, ambrette, Palo Santo, fir, vanilla, vetiver)
Dirty Mango's ad clip (you can watch it on Heretic's site) shows a juicy mango being spanked, whipped and fingered (that poor, abused mango). But if you think Dirty Mango will be a musky, sweaty, overripe mango scent for a dominatrix, you'd be wrong. WRONG!-BAD!-ON YOUR KNEES wrong (you IDIOT!) Dirty Mango is a baby-food gourmand-meets-chemical accident perfume.
Dirty Mango starts with a quickly disappearing mix of notes: something tangy/sappy (pine?) and peach-apricot scents mixing with citrus peel aromas. It's as if elements of mango are swirling in the air before they coalesce and attempt a mango landing. For a minute, I hoped Dirty Mango might be a Calyx for the 21st century. But, no. The discombobulated mango that emerges in mid-development is canned and full of preservatives — with Chernobyl on the side. Apart from the jarring mango monster, I smell notes that remind me of coconut milk, cheap floral candles, stale vanilla cookies, phony pineapple and $1 shampoo. Dirty Mango is a mess: unstable and jarring. Crazy Mango would have been a better name.
I waited a few days after wearing Dirty Mango and ate a delicious fresh mango, hoping to banish the memory of this fragrance. At least I know real mangoes weren't harmed in Dirty Mango's making, excepting the ones bruised in the video!
Dirty Lemon fades fast and, you guessed it, Dirty Mango never gives up. Each scent wears close to the body.
Heretic Parfums Dirty Lemon and Dirty Mango Eaux de Parfum are available in 15 ml ($65) and 50 ml ($165).
This picture made my day! The scent sounds nice, too.
NovemberRose: good!
Your Dirty Mango review is hilarious. I wouldn’t be able to wear that scent without the picture in my mind of the poor mangoes being tortured and killed, honestly! Money saved! I will enjoy more eating them! 😀
perfumelover67: I’ll keep searching for a great mango perfume…so far, no luck.
I wanted to explore more of this line after I fell in love with Dirty Ginger, which I really do want a large decant (or that small atomizer) of. But these 2 don’t sound promising.
I did mildly enjoy Scandalwood which I have a sample of – but I have so many ‘modern synthetic sandalwoods’ already in my Wardrobe I don’t need another.
And I just got a sample of Dirty Neroli. I haven’t smelled it yet.
Mike: neroli is one of my favorite notes…do report back after you smell it.
Thanks for the review, Kevin. I don’t really care for the presentation of this brand, and it’s nice to know I’m not really missing out. “Crazy Mango” made me laugh. Your description sounds like some people I’ve known, lol.
lillyjo: yikes!
Whatever Dirty Mango smells like, we should all thank it for inspiring such writing. I could not help reading your review outlaid, even to a non-fume.
Outloud, not outlaid.
Dilana: Ha! Thanks!
I’ve been underwhelmed by this house so far. It feels unfinished or not thought through carefully. A case of quantity over quality?
Gunmetal…there are of releases…Dirty Grass was the latest. My interest has disappeared.
Your review was hilarious 😂 I think they’re advertised as 100% natural, though? Do you not get that impression? Or is this similar to a booth of perfumes (Dandy) I saw recently at a crafts fair and when they told me they’re natural, I said “Too bad. I love my synthetics, haha!” They then said “any synthetics we use are safe and non toxic” 🙄
Elisa, that’s a great response!! There are certainly synthetics in Heretic.