The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Christèle Jacquemin built Underworld from a moment of leaving. After seventeen years in Barcelona, she returned to France to study and live fragrance, to confront the doubts and fears that had accumulated. The fragrance is that confrontation made tangible: the shadows, the demons, the uncertainty that crashes down. And then the light that follows. Underworld is not about darkness for its own sake. It's about going through it.
The note structure is where Underworld earns its name. Cumin leads, that animal warmth, the kind that splits people immediately. But Christèle doesn't leave it there. Carrot seed brings an aromatic earthiness that bridges the sharp opening to the soft heart. Then mimosa and tuberose arrive: powdery, sweet, unexpected in a fragrance called Underworld. The incense doesn't burn, it settles, grounding everything that came before. The combination of warm spice with yellow florals and incense is unusual in contemporary perfumery, where florals often lead and spices support. Here, the spices are the point.
The evolution
The opening hits immediately, cumin and black pepper arriving together, cardamom adding a green undertone. There's an edge to it, something that doesn't apologize. But within minutes, the carrot seed arrives, softening the spice into something more aromatic, more wearable. The vetiver and patchouli begin to emerge, adding earthiness and a quiet woodiness. This middle phase is where Underworld earns its complexity, it's not just spice, it's spice that breathes. Then mimosa and tuberose bloom, powdery and sweet, threading through the vetiver. The incense arrives last, not as a smoke bomb but as a quiet settling. It stays close to the skin for hours, intimate rather than projecting. On fabric, the drydown lasts into the next day, that incense-mimosa combination lingers like a decision already made.
Cultural impact
Underworld has found its audience among those who seek something beyond the mainstream, spice that confronts rather than flatters, who appreciate the unusual combination of cumin with powdery florals and incense. In the landscape of contemporary niche perfumery, it occupies a specific space: artisanal, gender-neutral, and unafraid of the animalic.
