Warm Bulb is an Oriental floral fragrance that launched in 2022 and was created by Laura Oberwetter. Warm, cozy, blanketing and dry, Warm Bulb is an olfactory impression of a hot lightbulb. It features top notes of burning dust, hot air and black pepper; middle notes of immortelle, paper and sparked tobacco; and base notes of sandalwood and amber-preserved vanilla. Clue Perfumery is a new independent perfumery based in Chicago that finds delight in unexpected sources and draws upon surprising references. Warm Bulb is an eau de parfum, edp.
Fragrantica: I love that she has given such an accurate scent to something that I know so well but at the same time I didn’t realize had a smell. It smells like the incandescent lightbulb used in your desk lamp that you’ve had forever in your childhood bedroom as you stay up late into the night reading a good book. It is as many others have said a surprisingly wearable sent. Some people see that as a negative, but I like that it’s experiential and wearable. From what I’ve read, Morel Map and With the Candlestick are the more experiential scents in her collection that you may want to sample to go on an olfactory adventure, but you may not want to purchase a full bottle of. This scent and The Point are both experiential but also verrryyy wearable. Definitely full bottle worthy.
Fragrantica: Deeply amused by this creation. It has a first impression reminiscent of a bulb that recently burnt out - you think you'd want to stay away from it but the warm electric smell is also coated with a syrupy and ambery vanilla. It is only lightly smokey to my nose. This is nostalgic, experiential, conceptual but (to me) also wearable - bravo!
Fragrantica: Incredibly cozy and wearable as others have said. By far my favorite from the sample set. The dust (when it settles) seems to fall into humid air—you can smell the upstairs-attic glue and vanilla of old books, but with the hint of something liquid underneath. Steam? Balsamic? I love it. Seasonally perfect for the end of August when you’re sick of summer and just want to curl up with a cup of tea and ignore everything.
Fragrantica: What kind of lonely and hermitic recluse creates a bizarre scent that’s akin to a musty, dusty lightbulb being extinguished? The same kind of genius, sick bastard that I want to befriend, that’s who. Bravo and touché, Clue. You want to know what this smells like? Can you envision yourself reading a book in a lonely room? Everyone else is asleep, and for some reason you’ve got insomnia…for the third time this week, and it’s only Tuesday. The room is dark and musty, save for a single yellow bulb that illuminates the dog-eared pages of your book. Moths circle the light bulb, as your eyes finally grow weary. Sleepily and cluelessly, you stand to your feet and turn off the light, which clinks and flutters, only too late realizing that you just Dumb-and-Dumber’d yourself into now fumbling through total darkness while the hot dust sears your nostrils. Goddamit, where’s the light switch? Warm Bulb is remarkable in its ability to capture that scent of yellow, heated dust. For that feat (which, by the way, no one asked for), it should be exalted and studied in laboratories by Nobel Prize scientists. Unfortunately, the mustiness pairs with the vanilla note to create something entirely unwearable and overpowering. This is a novelty. A piece of art. An oddball creative experiment. A why-on-earth-would-you-create-this, Frankenstein of a fragrance. Which is to say, I respect the hell out of it.
Fragrantica: Finding Clue Perfumery has been such a joy. This house does an incredible job capturing nostalgic moments through perfume creating something artful and ephemeral and nuanced without being pretentious. It’s beautiful work and highly inventive, especially from a new-on-the-scene brand. To focus on Warm Bulb specifically, this scent paints the picture of Sunday mornings at grandmother’s house- legs crossed on the crushed velvet sofa, slurping sweet cereal milk, and eyes locked on the colorful cartoons parading across the buzzing, staticky television set. The air is slightly stagnant with specks of dust, warmed on yellowing incandescent bulbs under a timeworn lampshade. For me, this scent captures the feeling of warmth, comfort, and home. It’s an extra-strength dose of nostalgia. I think it is no small feat that Clue Perfumery captured such a multi-faceted scent that also translates into a largely wearable perfume. This scent, to be sure, may not be for everyone, but I think that is exactly what makes it so special. The vanilla and sandalwood are a perfect, subtly sweet and grounding complement to the unique notes of toasty dust, incandescent bulb, and worn book pages. And yes, the reviews do not lie- this does smell like a warm lightbulb! I also love the slight dry, vintage quality that the immortelle brings to the mix. Overall, I highly recommend Warm Bulb if you are in the market for an unconventional sandalwood or vanilla perfume, and in general, try out all of Clue’s scents- Laura Oberwetter is a redefining what is capable in perfumery.
Fragrantica: I love the initial backhand of an entire medicine cabinet's contents at once. Gauze bandages and.... I want to say sorbolene.... no, germolene.... But that dies after a few minutes, then it's pure incandescence. Some have mentioned books and attics, but I don't completely sense that. Not yet, anyway. To me it lacks the heaviness often accompanying dusty or neglected spaces. It's exact—the smell of gently burning dust on a hot bulb. There's an unlikely sense of transportation when you consider that this scent has existed for as long as the lightbulb has, and reflect on the artists and writers and musicians who smelled this long before you. It's an unusual scent to link you to the older world we associate with lush chypres and fougeres, but nevertheless. I think this shares a sense of time and place with nuit de bakelite—lacquered, orange rotary dial telephones, green vinyl floors, and white, lined clocks with red hands. The two smell nothing alike, but both share a post-war, retro feel. There's a persistent sweetness I love that reminds me of tinned black olives.... I've only had my sample for a couple of days... It's so addictive. I might love this one, I can't focus on much else when I wear it. I want it because of how precise and masterful it is!
Fragrantica: This is so good I could scream. When I got my nose on this after applying one spritz from the 2ml sample in the discovery set I ordered I was immediately transported to such a warm and kind place that my serotonin boosted faster than any other fragrance has accomplished. I don't know how they did it, but the combination of the dust, steam and paper notes with the warmth of the vanilla and amber has put me under the warmest light in the coziest room...A candle lit tableside by my broken in couch, curled up in my favorite blanket, and reading a book that I've been meaning to start for weeks. A deep exhale, and a sense of immediate relief...Warm Bulb is a masterpiece!
Fragrantica: Warm and growing warmer, this is a really special one. Laura Oberwetter is insanely talented. Bottling such a specific experience like this is so far from anything else I’ve ever smelled. The memories of being in older places it brought back to me; the old paper note, this delicate balance between the dryness and a thin, fizzling stream of steam. Woah. The heat coming off of this, it’s not hot. It really is warm. The first blast from the spray had me genuinely awestruck, I couldn’t stop pulling my wrist to my nose over and over again. The feeling of homecoming to a place I forgot was home. Dry, buttery sweetness. Almost cloying to me but never getting there, like a warm room I’m somewhat cramped in but I’m comfortable, I’m happy here, in the moment I don’t want to be anywhere else. Such an accurate paper note. It’s been said but it can’t be overstated how accurate this scent is to its vision. Dry, paper, heat, an almost boozy (but not quite) thick vanilla, and warmth. Real warmth. Warmth of a room that you know and that knows you. Lingers on me somewhat softly, but has this gorgeous radiating effect. As my sample has aged, that intense and initial rush of paper has somewhat folded up a little, or started curling in around its edges. Great stuff though, and like with Morel Map I am tempted to grab a full bottle. I just don’t know if I would wear it enough for it to be justified.
Fragrantica: This is so beautiful, it reminds me of reading in an old dusty library beneath a bankers lamp, you get so engrossed in the stories of the dusty book that the heat of the lamp begins to warm the pages. It’s a smart and photo realistic portrait in a bottle. I really love it. The tobacco and vanilla are soft and creamy creating this beautiful aura to the already nostalgic and academic nature of this scent. I’d wear this probably every time I go out like a museum or even a date because there’s something kind of mysterious to this scent (nod to the name ‘Clue’) its smart, auric and nostalgic.
Fragrantica: Mesmerized by how they captured so well the concept of an actual warm bulb. This places me into a scenario where I walk up to an old, forgotten dusty attic, pulling on the ceiling light string that immediately chars the cobwebs that have been building up around it for many years. The light brightens the dark and musty space filled with old books and family photo albums. You settle in and get lost through the pages. So beautiful! I feel like the tobacco mutes the vanilla and tones it down a bit which is greatly appreciated for the vibe of the perfume as a whole, making it less gourmand and more papery. A very strange scent on my skin, can’t help but bring my nose to my wrist every 5 seconds.
