Most perfumes start with a note or a trend. A marketing brief. A color. A celebrity. Ours start with a story — and that's what makes a Dark Tales gothic perfume different.
Every Dark Tales gothic perfume is built around a dark tale — a haunted cathedral, a cursed abbey, a witch in the forest, a queen haunted by her past, a carnival where the clowns are still watching. The scent is written to tell that story on your skin, like a short story you wear instead of read. Here's how a gothic perfume comes to life in our studio, from the first dark idea to the illustrated bottle in your hands.
Every Gothic Perfume Starts With a Story
Before any material is chosen, there's a story. Each gothic perfume has its own short tale, written to set the scene and the mood. The perfume is then composed to match it: not as a list of nice notes, but as a place, a moment and a feeling. We ask: what does this place smell like? What's in the air? What happened here?
Our stories come from many dark corners.
Bloody Mary
From history. Queen Mary I sits alone with her blood-soaked crown, withered roses in her hair, haunted by the faces of those lost in her reign.
Yaga
From folklore. Baba Yaga, the witch of Slavic legend, waits deep in the forest in her hut on chicken legs.
NSFRTÅ
From gothic horror. Named after Nosferatu, its story unfolds in an abandoned abbey where travelers vanish.
Gothika
From a haunted place. An abandoned cathedral where a phantom bell tolls on stormy nights.
Old Library
From a forbidden book. A monastery library with a hidden, sinister tome that swallows the scholar who reads it.
King's Jester
From music. An homage to a punk band, told through a jester lurking in the corridors of an ancient castle.
Black Pearl
From the sea. A legendary pirate ship with black sails, feared across the oceans.
And many more — from Haunted Mansion to Black Waters and the Swedish witch folklore of Blåkulla.
Translating a Dark Story Into Gothic Perfume
The challenge is to make a story smellable. A haunted cathedral needs stone, dust, candle wax and incense. A dance of skeletons in a ruined ballroom, as in Macabre, needs the powder of old gowns, the spice of clove and the earth beneath the floor. A sunken kingdom needs salt, seaweed and smoke from the deep.
That's why our gothic perfumes often include notes you won't find elsewhere:
- Dried blood in NSFRTÅ
- Century dust and gothic powder in Gothika
- Powdery rubber, theater makeup and a fog machine in Haunted Circus
- Powdered papers and aged leather in Old Library
- Roasted seashells and seaweed in Black Waters
- Candle wax in Gothika, Floating Candles and King's Jester
- Gunpowder and cold stone in Ondskan
Notes like these are built as accords, small blends of naturals and aroma molecules that together create one new impression — like an artist mixing a color that doesn't come in a tube. Read more about how aroma molecules make these notes possible, and explore them in gunpowder, metal and stone and the blood note in perfumery.
The Craft Behind Each Gothic Perfume
Our perfumes are composed by me, Arina Franzén, in our studio in Uppsala, Sweden, at a perfumer's organ holding more than 400 raw materials. They're made with organic essential oils, absolutes and CO2 extracts alongside aroma molecules, so they have both the depth of naturals and the precision and longevity of modern perfumery. Read more about that balance in naturals vs. synthetics.
A perfume isn't finished when it first works. Some of our perfumes have been reformulated over the years as we've found better materials and new ways to tell their story. Old Library, first released in 2019, was refined in 2022 and again in 2024. Yaga began life as Baba Yaga in 2020, was reformulated in 2022 and took its current name in 2025. Stories evolve, and so do perfumes.
Every main-line Dark Tales gothic perfume is a 30 ml unisex extrait de parfum. Because they're made largely with natural materials, their color can vary slightly between batches, and a little natural sediment may appear — a sign of real materials, not a flaw. All of them are compliant with the IFRA Standards, cosmetic certified and not tested on animals, and each is clearly labeled vegan or non-vegan.
The Art of a Gothic Perfume
A dark tale needs a face. Our perfumes are illustrated by artist Umar Setiawan, whose artwork brings their stories to life in the same spirit as the scent — so the box tells the tale before you've even opened it. Supporting creative people matters to us, and alongside our illustrator we're proud to work with artists, visual designers, photographers, musicians and other creatives.
Even the caps are part of the craft. Each one is made from resin with its own unique marble pattern, so no two bottles look exactly alike. Your bottle is, quite literally, one of a kind.
Stories From Our Community
Some of our stories come from you. Haunted Circus began as a story written by Madeline Waring for one of our community contests: a woman walking into the autumn woods, a whiff of salted caramel popcorn, and a dilapidated carnival waiting behind the trees. It became a full gothic perfume.
We still invite you to share your own dark tales and perfume ideas, and the best ones may become limited editions.
Limited Editions and Seasonal Tales
Some stories only appear once a year. Our All Hallows' Eve returns every autumn with its burnt pumpkin and incense. Our Walpurgis Night 2026 limited edition explored Swedish witch folklore through Valborg, Häxeld and Blåkulla. Read more in witch perfumes and the Halloween perfume guide.
Find Your Gothic Perfume
Not sure where to start? Read what is gothic perfume? and where to start with dark, alternative perfume, or try the whole collection with the Complete Discovery Set.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a perfume a gothic perfume?
A gothic perfume tells a dark, atmospheric story through scent — often with incense, dark roses, leather, smoke, moss, candle wax or unusual notes like stone and dust.
Who makes Dark Tales perfumes?
They're composed by Arina Franzén in the Dark Tales studio in Uppsala, Sweden.
What inspires Dark Tales perfumes?
History, literature, folklore, music and dark storytelling. Every perfume begins with its own story.
Who illustrates the Dark Tales boxes?
Our perfumes are illustrated by artist Umar Setiawan.
Are Dark Tales perfumes natural?
The main line combines organic essential oils, absolutes and CO2 extracts with aroma molecules.
Can I suggest a story for a perfume?
Yes. We regularly invite our community to share dark tales and perfume ideas, and the best may become limited editions.
Final Thoughts
A Dark Tales gothic perfume is a story you can wear. It begins with an idea, takes shape at the perfumer's organ, gets its face from an illustrator and finally comes alive on your skin, where it becomes, in a small way, your story too.
