Fugazzi

Fugazzi: Perfumes as "fake" as real life

"Fugazzi"? Sounds pretty Italian. And indeed, the term comes from the Italian-American slang of the 1970s and means something like "deception" or "fake". However, the creator of Fugazzi does not come from Bella Italia, but from the Netherlands: Bram Niessink. The entrepreneur and founder of the accessories label BYB Amsterdam launched the fragrance house Fugazzi in 2018.


Brand Portrait: Fugazzi

A hidden secret lies in the Fugazzi perfumes. They contain two signature ingredients that are almost impossible to detect with the nose: Black tea, Camellia sinensis, from Southeast Asia ... and the root of the mint herb Makandi Forskolin, Coleus forskohlii. Both ingredients, which have been widely used and highly valued in East Asian and Indian Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years, are largely odorless. And so they serve less olfactory purposes in the fragrance mixtures and more to increase the well-being of their wearers: added in the right mixing proportion, they have a pleasantly relaxing effect.

Fugazzi perfumes are also characterized by an extraordinarily long fragrance effect on the skin. No surprise: Depending on the scent, their perfume oil concentration is between 20 and an incredible 50 percent.

The inspiration for Fugazzi goes far back into antiquity: to the use of fragrant ointments and oils in ancient Egypt... and the legend of Cleopatra, who once seduced the mighty Emperor Caesar, among other things, with an extremely effective weapon - with the irresistible power of sensual scents.

Bram Niessink came across these themes on trips to Egypt with his grandfather. They inspired him to found a perfume label whose fragrances do honor to the pharaohs. And whose name may literally mean "fake" - but which could indeed hardly be more genuine and real.

And so it could well be that finally the only thing about the Dutch fragrance company that is "fake" is... just their name "Fugazzi" itself.