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Remember #thedress that some saw as white and gold and others saw as blue and black? Noyz Unmute is literally that in perfume form.
I'll rewind... We’re some big Noyz stans in the GLAMOUR office. The brand’s Sh**ty Day scent, in particular, is a smash-hit thanks to the uplifting fig, ocean air and clary sage notes, that help us feel cleansed come the 3pm crash. So, when sister scent, Unmute, hit my desk, I made sure to pass it round the team for everyone to have a sniff. But then… the weirdest thing happened.
While I was detecting tough, masculine leathery notes on my wrist, backed up with a scratchy cosiness (like a wool jumper or toasted popcorn), from across the room our web director, Ali, declared the scent “so sweet!”
Come again? The room divided into “team sweet” and “team smoky” but: we were wearing the same perfume. When Ali presented me with her arm to get a whiff of what she was smelling, she was right. On her, the scent was all soft, sweet, silky petals with a hazy candyfloss halo. Same story on Em, our associate social media manager. Sophie, our senior affiliate writer, returned from a meeting, having spritzed the scent on before leaving, and announced she loved the creamy freshness of the perfume (she could detect cucumber). Meanwhile, Ben, our senior creative designer, could smell smoky ouds and the same leathery notes as me. Everyone who sniffed us confirmed it smelt totally different on us.
We know, of course, about pheromones and how different scents can play out individually across our body chemistries, but never has a scent kicked up such olfactory opposites. The Spanish ciste (an ambery resinous note) was loud on me, but quiet on some of the others, while the juicy black plum and creamy Madagascan vanilla played out soft and sweet on most of my team mates.
The thing is, everyone agreed, both renditions are good – whether you get soft pink petals, or dark, smoky cosiness. (Although, I’ll be honest, I liked the sweet version best, blasted pheromones.) But whatever way you sniff it, they got the name right. Noyz Unmute got us talking, and it unleashed a melody of notes – just at crazy different volumes.
For more from GLAMOUR's Senior Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk
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