Vi Et Armis is inspired by the Opium wars.
Exploring Britain’s complex relationships with other nations and its dominance of international sea trade across the centuries, this heady, narcotic scent challenges as much as it beguiles. Using the historical cargoes of British ships as its key notes,Vi Et Armis tells the story of the British ships as they smuggled Opium from India through to China. Beaufort London spent time researching the scent of fresh Opium to recreate the sweet, almost sticky aroma.
War ensued and this fragrance tells the tale of war at sea, a clashing of cargoes from the English Tea, to the Indian Opium to the Chinese spices. An explosion of scents!
This addictive fragrance recalls the words of George Bernard Shaw, “emotional excitement reaches men through Tea, Tobacco, Opium, Whiskey and religion.” Paradoxical and challenging, we imagine the roots of our island nation steeped in contradictions.
NOTES
Top: Cardamom, Black Pepper, Tea Leaf
Middle: Whiskey, Incense, Opium
Base: Tobacco, Birch, Oud
PERFUMER
Julie Marlowe
HOW IT WEARS
Vi Et Armis is an Eau de Parfum that will give you at least 8 hours worth of wear on the skin, if not…as with all Beaufort fragrances, much longer. Black tea is definitely the stand out note here, then all of the other spices come barging in and keep you guessing. This bold fragrance is an intense and unique wear that really has it all going on at once, from the opening and throughout its dry down it really packs a punch.
LORE LOVES
Rich, pungent aromatic black tea. We love the way Vi Et Armis captures the unmistakable essence of all its exotic ingredients and qualities. Like a battle waged above deck in an effort to protect the riches of earthly cargo it carries below. Vi Et Armis is powerfully rich in tannin fuelled potency and steeped in maritime history. Oh, but how we love the intense-i-tea!
ABOUT THE BRAND
Beaufort London is an incredibly unique English perfume house created by musician and writer Leo Crabtree. Inspired by Crabtree’s lifelong love of fragrance mixed with his fascination with the darker elements of British history, Beaufort London’s first collection of intense, and bold perfumes is titled “Come Hell or High Water”. Coming from a family history of seamen, Crabtree also references the sea throughout this collection. “The sea, its traditions, superstitions and way of life are ingrained in me. The brand’s name Beaufort London (derived from the 1805 wind force scale conjured up by Naval Officer Sir Francis Beaufort) represents a kind of framework within which we can understand ourselves. The wind in consistent, enduring, but ultimately changeable and potentially destructive.”
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