The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Maffia was Nina Lamaison's 2023 entry for MAFFIA, the Argentine fragrance industry's annual showcase. The name is a provocation by design. Mafia. The word itself carries weight: the code, the silence, the things left unsaid. In Italian, it also echoes the dessert tiramisu. Nina Lamaison used that double meaning, layering sweetness over something that wouldn't explain itself. The fragrance earned finalist recognition at the event, positioning the independent Argentine house as a creative force worth watching.
Tiramisu is not a common perfumery note. When it appears, it's usually an accord built from coffee, cocoa, and something creamy. Here it arrives alongside whiskey, creating an opening that reads like dessert and a night out at the same time. The blond tobacco is what keeps it from becoming saccharine. It cuts through the sweetness the way a dry finish cuts through a sip. Leather and oud do the deeper work underneath, giving the composition weight and smoke. The aniseed biscuit in the base is the detail that rewards attention. Not an obvious move. Licorice-adjacent, quiet, lingering close to the skin long after the opening has gone.
The evolution
The first twenty minutes are the reveal. Espresso-soaked tiramisu opens bright and immediate, whiskey warmth following close behind. Coffee and cream, but also that amber note of something boozy. Then the hand-off. The sweetness recedes and tobacco takes over, dry and authoritative. Leather emerges from underneath, growing darker as the whiskey fades. The oud arrives quietly. Not loud. It settles into the skin close and patient. Aniseed biscuit lingers like a secret whispered in the wrong ear. Not the kind of note that announces itself. The kind that stays.
Cultural impact
Maffia earned finalist recognition at the 2023 MAFFIA industry event, placing Nina Lamaison within a growing network of independent Latin American perfumers shaping a distinct regional voice in niche fragrance. Among gender-agnostic releases with similar coffee-tobacco weight, the composition carves a specific niche: dessert sweetness as entry point, leather and oud as the actual argument.


















