The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Prin Lomros created Wicked John as an exclusive for Bloom Perfumery in London, released in 2019. The brief was direct: translate the energy of a character built entirely from focus, consequence, and violence into scent. No biographical details, no landscape inspiration. Just the feeling of someone who made a promise and refused to break it. The name says it all. The composition earns it.
The materials chosen for Wicked John work as a character study in contrasts. Lavender opens, civilized, even aristocratic, before gunpowder and metallic notes arrive to interrupt. The hot-metal accord, in particular, reads as deliberate provocation: it smells like spent cartridge cases, like the aftermath of a trigger pull. Leather and tobacco follow, earthy and dark. Damask rose adds unexpected softness. Orris root and elemi resin add complexity that rewards patience. The result isn't a fragrance that announces itself, it's one that reveals itself, layer by layer, the way you'd learn someone through repeated encounters.
The evolution
Lavender opens. Clean, almost soapy, a false sense of ease. Then the gunpowder arrives, metallic and sharp, cutting through like cold air on skin. The fougère structure asserts itself: ferny, green, grounding. Leather and tobacco emerge next, dark and warm, while soil tincture grounds the whole thing in something ancient and raw. Damask rose blooms unexpectedly, adding a softness that feels almost like a tell, the bleeding heart beneath the steel. The heart settles into a long middle passage where metal and earth coexist without resolving. Cedarwood takes over in the drydown, with orris root adding powdery depth. Hay absolute lingers. Tobacco softens, becomes almost warm skin rather than smoke. Wicked John doesn't simply fade, it evolves. The metallic note outlasts almost everything else, the last trace of the violence that preceded the calm. On fabric, it dries down quieter. On skin, it can pull 8-10 hours of presence that shifts from sharp to warm to intimate.
Cultural impact
Wicked John exists in a specific niche: the exclusive release made for a single retailer, targeting collectors who follow indie houses and seek out fragrances with strong conceptual backing. Created for Bloom Perfumery in London, it appeals to the independent-minded collector who treats fragrance as autobiography, someone drawn to bold concepts and meticulous blending over mass-market appeal. The John Wick inspiration gives it immediate cultural recognition, but the composition earns its place on merit rather than name alone. The gunpowder-and-metal combination puts it in conversation with other industrial-leaning fragrances, though its fougère structure and rose heart set it apart from purely brutalist interpretations.
