The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Enter the Void emerged from a collaboration between Moth and Rabbit and perfumer Mark Buxton. The brief was straightforward: create something that felt like the threshold between one state and another. Buxton worked with aldehydes and costus, two materials that rarely share top billing. The citrus and herbaceous opening was the bait. The animalic drydown was the point. The fragrance spent time under the Folie à Plusieurs label before the brand transition brought it fully under the Moth and Rabbit name. That backstory matters: the scent was designed to exist in multiple contexts, to shift depending on whose story it was telling. Under neon, it reads one way. Under afternoon light, it reads another.
What makes this composition unusual is the costus. Used sparingly in perfumery, it carries a warm, animalic quality that isn't hidden or balanced away. It's there from the heart forward, working alongside amyl salicylate to create a skin-adjacent warmth. The aldehydes amplify everything around them, turning what could be a straightforward citrus opening into something with more edges. Blackcurrant brings a tart depth that bridges the green top and the warm base. Immortelle adds a honeyed-herbaceous note that stops the composition from feeling too cold.
The evolution
The opening hits fast. Grapefruit, lime, herbaceous notes, immediate, clear, the kind of brightness that announces itself. You think you know where this is going. You don't. Within minutes the aldehydes arrive. That's the turn. The citrus doesn't disappear, it gets electrified, pushed into a higher register by a material that adds shimmer without sweetness. Some people find this phase unsettling. The heart holds costus and the skin accord. That's where the fragrance makes its actual argument. It's not a pleasant argument. It's warm and musky and a little too close. Blackcurrant adds tartness; amyl salicylate softens the edges into something powdery and almost floral. For the next several hours, you're wearing something that smells less like perfume and more like skin that happens to smell interesting. The base is where it settles. Musk, amber, sandalwood. These don't perform, they rest.
Cultural impact
Enter the Void was released in 2016. The aldehydic-costus combination is unusual, a pairing that doesn't appear often in mainstream perfumery. Those who encounter the fragrance tend to have divided responses, finding it either compelling or uncomfortable, with little middle ground. The aldehydes give the opening an electric quality, pushing citrus into a higher register that adds shimmer without sweetness. Costus anchors the heart with a warm, animalic presence that feels close and intentional. Whether it has achieved broader recognition is harder to pin down, but the composition itself remains striking.
