Nasomatto perfumes is a perfume shop out of Amsterdam. Allesandro Gualtieri (the nose for all perfumes in the line) and Arturetto are the founders of Nasomatto (both from Italy), which first launched five perfumes in 2008.

The perfumes that made up the line at launch were - Absinth, Hindu Grass, Narcotic Venus, Duro and Silver Musk.  In a departure from the norm, Nasomatto issued no notes with their perfumes, wanting us to experience them instead of dissecting them.  Perfumistas like lists of notes, it helps orient them.  We aren't big fans of blindly sniffing and guessing.

Allesandro's philosophy on perfume creation - ""I begin to make something but at a certain point, it starts making choices by itself. It is the process that interests and guides me. I like the feeling of loosing (sic) control and I’m not the one making the choices. My involvement is to create something that is alive and will be able to say new things. I want my perfumes to have an intelligence of their own, not just be slaves to my meaning." 

Nasomatto Black Afgano was their niche perfume that broke through the niche perfume-buying public's perception.  Inspired by the smell of hashish, it was intended to invoke that blissed-out effect.  You know, I don't know one way or the other, but whatever it was, people couldn't get enough of it. The small company couldn't produce enough to keep up with demand due to the expense and sourcing of the raw materials, so there was a lot of people buying up all of Barneys' stock (yes, I know this, I was in Las Vegas and asked, and they told me someone had bought out all their bottles the week before), holding onto it for themselves or selling it on eBay for an inflated price.  The inflated price led to more price inflation and demand, they'd get another batch made, it would disappear, rinse repeat.  The $185 normal price tag for Black Afgano shot up to over $300 at one point.

It appears that Black Afgano is now it decent supply and pricing is normal, but it was that fragrance that put Nasomatto on the niche perfume map.

They have gone on to make Nasomatto Nuda - a gorgeous, skanky, indolicious jasmine - and Nasomatto Pardon - magnolia, chocolate and oud - as well as China White.  China White was a little controversial as well. Released in 2008, it was billed as the smell of your smack habit. Well, those are my words. Again, I really have no idea. I may admit to being somewhat familiar with the hashish smell from my misspent youth, but I've never even seen China White  (powder, not the fragrance, which I have seen), much less smelled it.

Try a Nasomatto Black Afgano sample to experience for yourself what all the fuss was about.  Try a Nasomatto Nuda sample for a ride abord the skanky jasmine train.  You may hate it?  You may love it.  But you do want to find out.