New Perfume Review: Bruno Fazzolari Room 237 + Behind The Green Door Draw

Shining jack nicholson  back ward forward

Jack Nicholson in a scene from The Shining  Directed By Stanley Kubrick as he looks in the mirror of the bathroom of Room 237

Do you ever experience moments in your life that appear normal at the outset, but then your body starts sending little warning signals up your spine or in the back of your throat?  A little twinge that your nervous system sparks you with to let you know that maybe, just maybe, now would be a good time to stop what you’re doing and walk away slowly?  I don’t recall any genre in perfumery known as Creepy Scents, but there needs to be one now, because San Francisco-based perfumer Bruno Fazzolari’s Room 237 has been giving me the yips ever since I first applied it.

bruno fazzolari creating perfume

Bruno Fazzolari

Çafleurebon readers should be well-acquainted with Bruno Fazzolari’s work.  He is a fine artist as well as a perfumer, and the stunning Au Dela Naricsse de Montagnes was featured in Behind Bottle series the in October 2014.  And Çafleurebon was also the first perfume blog to review his inaugral line of fragrances:  Lampblack, Five, Jimmy, Monserrat and Au Dela.

room237 dead body

Ick… the  decrepit woman who comes out of the bathtub in Room 237

Room 237 gets its title from the haunted hotel room in the Stanley Kubrick horror movie, The Shining (1980), and for those who have seen the film, there REALLY SHOULD NOT BE a perfume based on it.  NOTHING that went on in that room needs remembrance through scent, and yet Room 237, if you can scour your mind and bleach your eyeballs from any association with The Shining, is actually a great pick for a transitional Spring-into-Summer perfume.

the shining opening sequence

Opening Sequence The Shining

It’s a green scent with a difference.  Instead of dewiness and visions of bright, stemmy growing things, Room 237 is loaded with decay.  The main accord is a vinyl shower curtain that hasn’t seen a sponge in years.   This green scent takes the expected vibrant freshness and only offers it for a fleeting instant, before a slight dampness creeps in at the edges, with a hint of mold and warm soap.  My throat started to constrict a little as my body recognized the notes in this fragrance and what they might represent. I once had a roommate in San Francisco whose bathroom smelled like this.  It looked totally normal as long as you didn’t look up at the ceiling, which was completely covered in enormous, blooming black mold spores.

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The ghost behind the shower curtain in the Green Bathroom in Room 237

And yet, for all its disturbing qualities, Room 237 might be a fantastic scent for when summer gets here and the beaches start to fill up.  That icky shower curtain vinyl accord has a sea salt-like tang to it, and the warm soap vibe will settle in well on sunburnt skin.  After all, this fragrance could be seen as a kind of “clean scent” – it’s just a clean on its last legs, and the person it cleaned is still lying in wait in a mildewy clawfoot tub for some poor soul to open the locked door to Room 237.  Fortunately for the wearer, the sillage remains close to the skin, as all invasive bacterial growth should.  This fragrance is very quiet, eerily quiet, and the longevity is good for several hours.

room-237

My advice is to take Room 237 on its own terms and forego its inspiration.  It is a definitely unique scent, and one that provides an entirely shocking and unusual take on what we expect from green-tinged fragrances.  I can see the Etat Libre D’Orange crowd loving this, or any perfume addict who is drawn to the darker side of perfumery.  But for me, the movie source material is too vivid in my mind to have a scent like this on my skin for very long.

the girls in front of the door 237

Eerie GhostTwin Girls appear outside the door of Room 237

It’s a very unique and profoundly disturbing perfume and every bit the olfactory equal to the visceral images of Kubrick’s work as the director of The Shining.  Who knows – it might even make the best bedtime scent for horror movie fans.  But for now – I’m going to just pretend it’s an offbeat summer scent and leave it at that.  SHIVER.

Steve Johnson, Editor

Disclaimer:  I got my sample from Bruno Fazzolari Perfumes

Notes: Flea bane, Angelica, Oppoponax, Costus Root,   Peculiar Florals, Vinyl Shower Curtain

Editor's Note: Room 237 is also the title of a documentary by Rod Ascher in 2013, that explored the hidden meanings, symblism and theories behind Kubrick's The Shining. I did the art direction-Michelyn

 bruno Fazzolari room 237

We have a draw of a sample of Room 237 for a US reader. Bruno creates his fragrances in small batches and we squirreled away an extra 1.5 ml vial to share as it almost gone. To be eligible, please enter a comment below and tell us why you would like to win Room 237, if you saw the Shining or if you have a favorite horror movie, TV show or book. Draw closes May 5, 2015

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option

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14 comments

  • Patty P. says:

    I’d like to win Room 237 as it might be only chance to wear a scent with the vinyl shower curtain note. 🙂 I did see the Shining. I must have been too scared to remember the room number. US

  • Favorite movie, and it is destined to be my favorite scent! Can’t wait to try!

  • fazalcheema says:

    wow, i have not seen Shining but this review has really piqued my interest.in fact this review has convinced me The Shinning has a reputation for a reason. thanks so much for the draw. I guess I will be seeing The Shinning soon.. i am in the US

  • Love The Shining, best creepy movie ever made. I am a Horror Movie freak, yes I am and The Shining is one of the best to this day. Would love to sample Room 237.

  • I have a pin on my pinterest with #237! There was a remake based on this! I love the earthy smell of mold and the movie had a pretty big impact as I saw it as a child. I thin it is a fantastic interpretation of something very natural that occurs. I’m in the USA!

  • I saw The Shining with my roommate last year- we watched it on my bed in teh dark and she had to go out for the night at one point. We stopped the movie and she left me alone in the suite. I almost died. My favorite horror/suspense movie is The Silence of the Lambs. I’m in the US.

  • The Shining oh was that a keep my eyes closed most of the time movie and the scene with Jack Nicholson breaking down the door with an ax is classic. Scary. I love horror movies but The Shining By Steohen King was more terrifying because your imagination really is more powerful. Redrum.
    I am not sure what to make of a perfume with a shower curtain accord but I would love to try it!
    I have lampblack by Bruno and it is excellent.

  • Alexandra says:

    The Shining is actually one of my top 5 movies. I do not find it scary but rather meditative. I love the long opening shot more than almost any other take in film history. Seeing several of the props and costumes used in the film at the Stanley Kubrick exhibit at the LACMA was one of the highlights of 2013 for me! I am in New York.

  • rodelinda says:

    I’ve seen the movie, but to be honest, I thought the original Stephen King book was much scarier. It captures the feeling of claustrophobia and entrapment perfectly. Did you know there’s a sequel now? It’s called Dr. Sleep. I was a bit apprehensive, but it was actually almost as enjoyable as its predecessor. Some of the monsters from The Shining even make an appearance.

    I absolutely love horror movies and books, so Room 237 sounds fantastic! Who wouldn’t want to smell like vinyl shower curtains and vegetal rot? I’m in the US.

  • Valentine Girl says:

    I have not seen the movie adaptaption of The Shining, although I have read the book. I am intrigued by the flea bane and vinyl shower curtain notes in Room 237 (although I must admit that shower curtain will always be associated in my mind with Psycho). My favorite writer of the macabre is Edgar Allan Poe & even the circumstances surrounding his death are kind of murky (I think he would be great inspiration for a creepy scent). I haven’t watched many horror movies; though the Exorcist is probably the movie that scared me the most–movies with demons and evil children just freak me out and give me nightmares. USA resident.

  • This review made me laugh out loud. I will love to sniff it one day. I hope I win! My grandmother who was not a horror movie fan at all was obsessed with this movie. She was born in1915. I always think of her. I love all the conspiracy theories behind it and Kubrick. I am in the US. Thanks!

  • I would like to win Room 237 because of Steve’s use of words like “shocking” and “disturbing.” I have seen the Shining, and my favorite horror movie book is The Omen.

  • I saw The Shining. It disturbed me. This review disturbed me. It disturbed me to the point of, I really want to smell this! Shower curtain? Peculiar florals? I’m not even sure what the rest of the notes are. But I’d sure try them!
    My favorite horror movie had to be the original Night of the Living Dead. I was scared out of my mind. I watched it on a black and white TV and kept running to our back family room where my parents were. I had to pass the door/stairs to the basement and the door to the garage and I’d run REALLYFAST past them. I still remember how scared I was.
    I’m in the US, thanks for the draw!