Silent Films opens with an aromatic burst of old-world lavender and mint, and settles to reveal a hypnotic and cool heart of vanilla and black spicy earth; before the night is gone, it gives way to a smoldering, powdery, and purely addictive drydown of seductive leathers, musks, and smoke. Dark, cool, and narcotic, this animal is cast in polar absolutes: no fruit; no flowers; no noise. This perfume is not as a warm and rosy body itself, but like an uncanny image of the body, a mercurial impersonation--almost as if in a mirror, or projected on a screen…where black is very black indeed, and white shines out like silver. With notes of vetiver, vanilla, leather and smoke. Silent Films is an eau de toilette, edt.
GOEST SILENT FILMS REVIEWS
Fragrantica: Antonioni's blow up, a severe modern anti-gourmand. Beneath vetiver and suede there is undoubtedly the sweet, chemical vanilla smell of stop bath chemicals used in the processing of silver gelatin film. Gives me visceral flashbacks to working as a lab tech in my college's student darkroom. Closest analog is perhaps Clue's Warm Bulb, inasmuch as a typical vanillic notes are transfigured into analog artifacts - smudged photographs, unstirred dust, warm projector lights. I reach for this constantly because no other perfume has ever been able to replicate this extremely specific and off-putting smell. I almost wish they had just zeroed in on trying to replicate that scent alone instead of placing it within a larger fougère composition, but they have to sell bottles to people other than me.
Fragrantica: Obsessed. Smells like a porcelain doll left in a dusty chest in the attic for 100 years. Dusty, dirty, plasticy, kind of gross. I've never gone through a full size bottle of something so fast
Fragrantica: Anyone who has spent time in a dark room probably recalls the smell of the vanilla-scented stop bath while developing photographs. This isn't a dead ringer for that chemical combination, but it would be hard to ignore the gesture when it's called "Silent Films" and is a hybrid of synthetics and warm vanilla notes. The lavender and mint are somewhat lost on my skin, where the powdery vanilla note takes the lead. The top notes do have a synthetic quality, but not in a way I find grating. It's subtle. Beneath that, there is a musk that helps carry the scent. The chemical quality gives it a slight edge of renewed interest. This one has grown on me. It's familiar, but divergent enough where it continues to pique interest. Additionally, like Goest's other scents I've tried, I find this very gender neutral and versatile. I wouldn't necessarily pick up a full bottle, but I could see myself investing in a mini-flacon of Silent Films.
Fragrantica: My first thought after putting this on was that it smelled very much like the Pirates of the Caribbean water ride at Disney World. Specifically, the warm, aged, synthetic machine scent of the animatronic dolls. Initially I assumed that I didn't like it, because the connection was somewhat off putting. However, I found myself sniffing my wrists constantly throughout the day. There's something about its warm, synthetic essence that I found addictive. (I'm no perfume expert and don't know how synthetic this fragrance actually is - that's just how it smells to me.) I'd be most likely to wear this on a cool fall day, maybe when I'm out running errands instead of socializing. I doubt other people would enjoy smelling this on me, but I like it for what it is.
