Perfumes Similar to Maksim Perfume Bestia Sacra

‘All the soarings of my mind begin in my blood’

Rainer Maria Rilke

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A perfumed celebration of saints and superstitions, centred around a fierce fenugreek absolute note lavished with singed pyrazines, sacrificial myrrh and mournful molten honey poured over everything like amber rain.  Meadow blooms, sticky dark resins, pungent balms and ashen clouds of iris swirl like dramatic weather.

A commanding scent that opens with a leathery lick of nargarmotha root and dark, aromatic patchouli leaf, with a hit of sharp makrut lime leaf. All of this sets the scene for the uncompromising raw green of vetiver root, while Somali frankincense and Moroccan Atlas cedarwood provide venerable ballast. Sensual, earthy, authoritative. This is the perfume that launched Ra:er.

The floriental baroquesque parfum St. Paul's embodies an adoration and admiration to the spectacular era of Baroque. This style in architecture, music, art, sculpture demonstrates exalted movements, clear details, intense light and dark shadows, emotional exuberance, richness, extravaganza, which distinct baroque from other style. 

The English baroque represents iconic St. Paul's Cathedral, which dome has long dominated the London skyline. 

The perfume opens with the precious orange flower and jasmine absolutes with a hint of dried and juicy fruits, contrasting with the darker woody and balsamic base. 

January 1618 A Japanese Galleon, the Pacific Ocean

Following a diplomatic mission to the West, a galleon carrying a delegation of samurai charges through dark ocean currents. Loaded with a rare and precious cargo, the ship’s hull is redolent of sweet-smelling tropical woods, heady Spanish leather, frankincense, fine black pepper and other exotic ground spices—the intoxicating spirit of a singular, extraordinary voyage of discovery.

A good perfume to visit if your are in a search for perfect true sandalwood,  smoky and a touch dirty. Arquiste carefully selected the companions for its sandal in this formula: tea and osmanthus, coffee, myrrh and stryrax and others to give it a dark, sensual depth.

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GQ US on Nanban:

"This is my signature scent. I wear it all the time. And let me tell you: I’ve never worn something that has gotten so many compliments—no sunglasses, no sneakers, no full-body rubber suit. People actually turn their heads and ask me what I'm wearing. And then they jot down the product name. Arquiste’s masterpiece introduces itself with Malabar black pepper and Persian saffron, gives way to coffee, sandalwood, myrrh, and Spanish leather, and embraces you all day with a blanket of frankincense, balsam, and cade juniper."

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Financial Times' resident perfume writer Victoria Frolova on Nanban:

"... approach coffee notes creatively. Instead of mimicking nature, a perfumer instead might fashion a blend that hints at coffee’s pleasing bitterness and heady richness. Such is Arquiste’s Nanban (£160 for 100ml EDP). The composition uses a plush backdrop of woods to frame the smoky, spicy notes of myrrh and incense, with an accent of coffee to lend the composition a dark, delicious twist. It teases with its smoky, nutty warmth, but keeps its presence mellow behind layers of sandalwood and leather."

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Perfumer: Sven Pritzkoleit

It's a dramatic animalic dry leather. Smell the artistic take on the hyraceum aroma (a larger than life fantasy) in this perfume and also if you visit us at Covent Garden, you can discover how natural hyraceum smells. We have a piece of this ancient fascinating material for educational purposes.

Sven used natural hyraceum as obtaining this material does not involve any animal cruelty (please see below). However, the perfumer purposeley enhanced most of the nuances of natural hyraceum to dramatic proportions: animalic, urinous, leathery, ambery and barnyard.

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What is hyraceum?

Hyraceum is the fossilized urine of hyraxes Bloom's specimen (available to smell at our Covent Garden store) came from a mountainous area in South Africa and was harvested by local tribesmen from a hyrax’s urinal area in an ancient cave (as communal animals they have a designated communal loo - latrine). Hyraceum is exclusively fossilized urine deposits (no feces). As many desert plants and animals have water saving habits – hyraxes’ urine is not a liquid. They excrete jelly-like urine that dries in the sun to a stone.

The specimen was procured with the expert assistance of The Rising Phoenix Perfumery and could be thousands of years old.

A place that is eternally cherished in the heart — its memory, the feeling. It may be hidden or obscured, but never erased. In this place, the wind carries myrrh, earth welcomes rain, and fire doesn’t burn but transforms. Outopia marries the ancient oils of myrrh, frankincense and opoponax with modern aromachemicals: the marine/anise of Naxolide and the woody/amber of Maderal. Cool, earthy, smouldering.

Perfumer: Cristiano Canali

“On a track through an unforgiving desert, starting point and destination are indistinguishable from one another. Terra-cotta hued dunes twist and writhe, their shapes ever shifting. Only the merciless sun and aloof constellations can be trusted to point the way. Weighed down by treasures; some tempting the eyes with their glittering sheen, others enticing with exotic aromas, the camel plods towards a far off marketplace. Water is but a dream now, the taste of sweet dates a distant memory. There is nothing but an endless ocean of sand.” - Zoologist.

Perfumer: Christian Carbonnel.

Frankincense. Bet you’re thinking dark, churchy dusty incense and smells of a dodgy pipe smoking priest’s frayed robes.

Fact is, frankincense can be fresh and fruity. Seriously.

What we do with this arcane and noble fragrance is close to a miracle. A true celebration of fun, fresh and fruit. You ‘eard. And not any creepy old clergy or a spooky gothic church in sight. Thank god.

An ancient ritual. The wonder of green, perfumed resin flowing from the tree. It is reminiscent of journeys along the perfume routes, of the magic of nocturnal ceremonies. Fresh, intense notes of Incense, Opoponax, Storax and Tolu.

An intense incense that shapeshifts between cold/smoky and warm/creamy. This dream belongs to the mythological Irish warrior poet Ossian, who inspired the Romantic literary movement across 18th century Europe. Rêve d'Ossian conjures misty midnight forests with smouldering notes of pine, frankincense and myrrh, before calling forth the benevolence of Celtic fairies with mellow tonka bean and vanillic benzoin.

Perfumer: Hugo Lambert