Fugazzi Born to Stand Out Extrait de Parfum

What it smells like

Fugazzi's contribution to this 2024 collaboration is a smoky, peppery rose—the kind of fragrance that arrives with intention. Bergamot and geranium open the composition with brightness, but they're merely the prologue. The heart is where the drama unfolds: a substantial rose note, sharpened by pepper and deepened by akigalawood, creates something neither purely floral nor entirely austere. It's a rose that's been left out in the cold, dusted with spice.

The base settles into leather, tobacco, and cedar—a trinity that feels less like a conventional woody-amber finish and more like the interior of an old library where someone's been smoking. Amber provides warmth without sweetness. This is a composition that rewards patience; the opening's brightness gradually yields to a more introspective, almost melancholic character that lingers on skin for hours.

Who made it

Valerie Garnuch-Mentzel, the perfumer behind this composition, has created something deliberately complex—a fragrance that resists easy categorisation. Fugazzi, the Amsterdam-based niche house, initiated a creative exchange with BORNTOSTANDOUT, a Seoul niche house, resulting in two distinct releases in 2024. This is the Fugazzi interpretation: a provocation wrapped in an amber floral structure, built around the notion of a "second love"—something that arrives not as first infatuation but as knowing, deliberate choice.

The collaboration itself is a meeting of European and East Asian sensibilities. Whilst this Fugazzi release emphasises smoke, spice, and leather, its companion piece—Fugazzi by BORNTOSTANDOUT, crafted by perfumer Quentin Bisch—takes a different path entirely, leaning toward milky woods and softer abstraction. Together, they represent two houses thinking aloud about the same theme, arriving at entirely different conclusions.

Who it's for

This fragrance suits those who've moved beyond the need for immediate approval. It's for people who understand that a second love often carries more complexity than the first—more history, more texture, more shadow. If you gravitate toward rose fragrances that challenge rather than coddle, toward compositions where tobacco and leather feel as important as florals, this belongs in your collection.

It's unisex in the truest sense: not marketed toward any particular gender, but rather toward anyone willing to wear something that smells like considered choice rather than marketing category. The pepper and leather give it an edge that appeals equally to those who typically avoid florals and those who've grown tired of conventional rose fragrances. This is a rose for people who've read the rose's reviews and decided to form their own opinion.

When to wear it

Fugazzi reads as inherently autumnal and evening-leaning, though its opening brightness means it won't feel entirely out of place in cooler daylight hours. The bergamot and geranium provide enough luminosity for afternoon wear, but the composition's true character emerges as the day cools—when the pepper becomes more pronounced, when the tobacco and leather feel less like decoration and more like the fragrance's actual purpose.

This is a scent for introspection, for moments when you're dressing for yourself rather than for a room. It suits solitary evenings and conversations that matter. The longevity is substantial, making it an economical choice for those who prefer to apply once and let a fragrance develop across hours rather than reapplying throughout the day.

About the house

Fugazzi is an independent niche perfumery based in Amsterdam, operating in the tradition of European craft houses that prioritise composition over commercial formula. The house is known for fragrances that occupy unconventional territory—scents that resist easy categorisation and refuse to apologise for their complexity. Rather than chasing trends, Fugazzi commissions perfumers to explore specific themes and sensibilities, trusting the process to yield something distinctive.

The house's willingness to collaborate with BORNTOSTANDOUT reflects a broader philosophy: that interesting fragrance emerges from dialogue between different perspectives, different markets, different traditions. Fugazzi doesn't operate as though there's a single correct way to interpret a theme. Instead, they create space for multiple voices, multiple visions—which is precisely why this release and its companion piece coexist so productively at Redolia, each offering its own answer to the same creative question.

The collaboration. In 2024 Fugazzi and the Seoul house BORNTOSTANDOUT released a pair of companion fragrances. This is BORNTOSTANDOUT by FUGAZZI, the Fugazzi release composed by Valerie Garnuch-Mentzel. Its sister scent — BORNTOSTANDOUT’s own Fugazzi by BORNTOSTANDOUT Eau de Parfum (perfumer Quentin Bisch) — is also available at Redolia Perfumery.