Neil Morris Fragrances The Void is Watching

Neil Morris Fragrances The Void is Watching AI image via the brand

“A journey beyond the familiar, where beauty and darkness exist together and you begin to wonder whether you are looking into the Void…or whether the Void is looking into you.”  ~ Neil Morris’ thoughts on his new perfume The Void is Watching

Neil Morris of Neil Morris Fragrances

Artisanal perfumer Neil Morris has amassed an astonishing array of talents: he grasps new languages and concepts with ease, and is possessed of endless curiosity. His travels (an extension of his limitless quest for knowledge) have led him from Finland to India. As an autodidact perfumer, Neil works in a constant state of forward movement, eager to experiment with new olfactive materials and test the boundaries of what it means to be beautiful. A life-altering event a few years ago quickened his insight and inspired him to reflect his gratitude with increasingly evolved work. This natural progression waxes ever more nuanced, while his fragrances continue to maintain the quality upon which his clients and customers have come to rely.

Darkness is dawn not yet born. ~Kahlil Gibran

We came together this past week and Neil arrived with samples for me to explore. He kindly included the ones which Sandi has so beautifully reviewed: Shimmering, Dancing With Light, and Suspended in Glass, and something new: The Void is Watching. Neil prefaced my sniffing with this caveat: “I don’t know if you’re going to like this – and it’s okay if you don’t.” A challenge! This one time, he had miscalculated: The Void is Watching immediately compelled me like a drug, and I’ve been wearing it ever since (if you know me, then you know that this isn’t my go-to response). I felt it as a second scented skin, one which I harbored no desire to shed.

Neil Morris Fragrances The Void is Watching

Neil has contemplated an embryonic vision of this fragrance for years: the exploration of that liminal space which hovers furtively between the familiar and the unknown. In his description of The Void Is Watching, Neil asserts: “I wanted it to feel elemental, ancient, and somehow alive, as though you weren’t wearing a perfume but crossing a threshold into something you couldn’t quite explain. When I first smelled the finished composition, two words came to mind: disturbing and magnificent.” His observation is irrefutable and accurate. The Void is Watching sent all my senses into high alert; nonetheless, I felt profoundly comforted by its otherworldly elegance and aromatic juxtapositions. The perfume felt like home to me, with its vying of opposing forces: illumination and shadow.

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”  ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.

Nietzsche cautions us to be aware lest we bring misfortune upon ourselves. He speaks of the abyss, but an abyss and a void are not synonymous. The abyss is unfathomable and bottomless, and a void refers to a completely empty space which contains absolutely nothing. If we reflect nothingness, what are we? Does the emptiness inhabit us, then? Neil Morris’ epiphany of the watchful void resembles Winston Churchill’s well-known witticism: “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” He employs a host of seemingly discordant aromachemicals laced with potent, smoky naturals (ruh kus, a vetiver-based attar – and choya loban, frankincense resin which is charred inside a sealed clay vessel). The initial impact may prove startling to some noses, because so much is going on at once – but The Void is Watching’s drydown is sublime and worth the wait. It’s a glorious symphonic cacophony which interweaves elements of powdery/fatty/woody iris with the honeyed, boozy Mahua flower; the bitter, somewhat verdant aroma of darkest cocoa; softest suede, a celestial hyacinth, a vibrant cinnamon-inflected, ambery vetiver; a bright snappy green pea note. One of the wonders of modern science contributes a creamy, powdery radiance reminiscent of wood: Orbitone® T Neo, which makes The Void is Watching sing. Throughout this perfume, we experience a metallic silver shiver which feels modern and almost jarringly exciting. I think it adds to the complexity overall: a different aromatic dimension. The key here is how a miraculous, tenuous balance is created and maintained by the perfumer’s judicious use of restraint. The Void is Watching is no ham-fisted, confused mélange – it is a wearable work of art, completely original. It is as Francis Bacon noted in his essay On Beauty in 1612: “There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion”. The Void is Watching is among my favorite fragrance releases of 2026.

Notes: Mahua flower, green notes, bitter cocoa, Indian vetiver (ruh khus), hyacinth, labdanum, orris root, suede, amber, smoke (choya loban)

 Sample kindly provided by the perfumer – many thanks! I adore it. My nose is my own…

~ Ida Meister, Deputy and Natural Perfumery Editor

Thanks to the generosity of Neil Morris Fragrances, we have a 30ml bottle of The Void Is Watching for one lucky reader in the USA. You must register for your entry to count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Ida’s review. Draw closes 10/12/2026

Please read Ida’s review of Arcane Knowledge a collaboration with Akuura Kulak of Aroma Sanctum, Two Souls Touching, Neil Morris Fragrances The 3 You Should Be Wearing, Forever Friends, Voices in Water and Sandi’s reviews of Shimmering, Dancing With Light, and Suspended in Glass.

Neil Morris was Michelyn’s recipient of Best of Scent Hall of Fame 2020 

I Will Bring You Flowers is one of four bespoke perfumes created for CaFleureBon’s 10th Anniversary

Neil was featured in ÇaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery and Perfumers Workshop Creating Bespoke Perfumes.

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