Coming of Sage — Discover the Viktor & Rolf Magic Sage Spell Eau de Parfum
If you’ve hung out with enough people who believe in the supernatural, then you’ve likely heard of someone burning sage in a dwelling to exorcise any evil spirits and eliminate all negative energy. If, like me, you’re Latina, then it’s likely one of your relatives, friends, colleagues, or neighbors has regaled you with stories about visits to the botánica, santería love spells, the Tarot of the Orishas, and espiritistas who perform coffee ground and tea leaf readings — not to mention more anecdotes about unexplainable phenomena to rival those in Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits. I wouldn’t consider myself a particularly superstitious person, but I’ve watched Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone and J.A. Bayona’s The Orphanage enough to know that, if anything starts going bump in the night, I’m reaching for some sage ASAP. As it turns out, I’m not alone. In fact, the inspiration behind the Viktor & Rolf Magic Sage Spell EDP ($220 at SaksFifthAvenue.com) — one of six fragrances in the new Magic Collection — is rooted in some dalliances with the paranormal.
According to Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, the masterminds behind Viktor & Rolf, there was a time when their Amsterdam offices seemed to be… well, haunted. Employees reported strange activity: they heard footsteps even when everyone was sitting down at their designated stations, and sometimes the phone would ring but there’d be no one on the other line. Instead of quitting (which, frankly, I would’ve strongly considered), these loyal employees just calmly asked Horsting and Snoeren to investigate the issue. The two wound up hiring a ghost whisperer who, in turn, walked around the premises burning sage. Eventually, all signs of creepy, trouble-making spirits disappeared, and everyone felt the headquarters’ energy had been cleansed.
But there was an unexpected side effect to the sage-burning ritual: Horsting and Snoeren came to love the herbal scent so much that it inspired them to create a sage-centric fragrance. The Viktor & Rolf Magic Sage Spell EDP, then, features a sage and absinthe heart with a hint of star anise. The herbaceous scent of the sage is balanced by the anise-heavy overtones of the absinthe note, and there’s a warmth to the sage note that’s balanced by the coolness of its absinthe partner. These two notes, both of which are steeped in supernatural history (lest we forget, absinthe was once believed to cause hallucinations), are then surrounded by pink grapefruit, peppermint, and pink pepper top notes that add a burst of citrus and a spicy kick. The base notes, meanwhile, add a sense of mystery to the concoction, as patchouli, labdanum, and green tea leaf create a woody trail for the lingering aromatic spell cast by the middle notes.
Not only do I love the aroma, but the packaging is sheer genius — particularly the tarot-like card inside the box, which illustrates the mystical qualities associated with sage.
I’ve tried three of the six unisex fragrances in the Viktor & Rolf Magic collection — this one, along with Dirty Trick and Liquid Diamonds — and Sage Spell is by far my favorite since it’s such a unique and enigmatic scent. I almost feel like an enchantress or wood nymph when I wear it. And, while I’m not particularly superstitious, I figure wearing a little sage can’t hurt in terms of warding off bad fortune, right?
