DS & Durga Release “Clue” Themed Murder Mystery Fragrance Set

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Who stole that? Heart notes of the fragrance “I Don't Know What”? It could be anyone…in any combination…but you'll have to put together your own solution with DS & Durga's new Murder Mystery Layering Set. Was it the fruity Madam Currant? Or maybe the royal Prince Amber? Or was it the sneakily hot Pat Von Chouli?

Many fragrance brands like Olfactory and Scent Lab now allow one Choose your own adventure –Style that allows you to combine your favorite notes into the signature scent of your dreams. But no one has made it as playfully scary as DS & Durga Notice-inspired kit ($275), which gives you a range of six different mini perfume bottles (the “suspects”) that you can combine to create your own “Murder Mystery Formula.”

“I've wanted to make a layering set that actually works for years. “It’s very important to me to involve customers in their own creative process,” writes brand co-founder David Seth Moltz on the website. “As you solve the mystery of who stole the heart of I Don't Know What, you can honestly make your own perfume and play endlessly with these six scents. I believe that scents can live on the level of literature. This set is a world that you can enter and build through your nose.”

The backstory to the kit is titled “The Case of the Stolen Heart Notes,” accompanied by an animated story about DS & Durga that puts co-founders David and Kavi Ahuja Moltz at the center of the mystery. After falling unconscious in his workshop one night, “the formula of [David’s] The latest, most valuable creation had a violent tear ripped out of the side. The heart section was stolen. Without his heart, the scent was dead – murdered! Who would do something like that? The desk was littered with patches of rare incense and flower dust. Were these the materials he worked with? Or did the perpetrator leave evidence behind?”

Each of the five characters in the story corresponds to a different scent layer in the set: the shady waiter Pat Von Chouli (spicy-earthy patchouli), the horticulturist Professor Rose (dewy, fresh rose with a sandalwood base), the high-society prince Amber aka Francis Incenz (fine incense and amber), the socialite Madam Currant (dark fruits and moss) and the antiquarian Dr. Newman Hay (newly mown hay and meadows). The box includes a booklet with more backstory on each character (and their potential motives), as well as space for you to write down the formula for your personal spray combinations.

As you search for the scent combinations that make the perfect final scent, the bigger question might be: Who exactly stole the heart? Now all you have to do is line up the suspects and decide for yourself by grabbing the Murder Mystery Layering Set, available now at DSandDurga.com. The large bottles of each individual scent often cost the same price as the entire box set, so it's actually a pretty good scent steal.