From Screenplay to Scent: The Story of Toskovat

The world has stopped. The film industry is frozen. It's the pandemic, and in Bucharest, a young film student named David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi sits in front of a blank screen. The scripts he wanted to write will never be filmed. So he searches for a new medium for his stories.

He finds it in perfumery.

Two years later, he launches Toskovat with a handful of fragrances that do everything differently. No pretty floral bouquets, no crowd-pleasing fresh compositions. Instead: fragrances that smell like gasoline, blood, holy water, and dirty money. Features in Vogue and the Wall Street Journal follow. The niche fragrance scene takes notice.

What sets Toskovat apart from other young brands: David-Lev is self-taught. He has no classical perfumer training, and he sees that as a strength.

"I think that's actually one of our strongest points - we're not afraid to break the rules."

• David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi, founder and perfumer of Toskovat

What Does "Toskovat" Mean?

The brand name has Russian roots. David-Lev's family comes from Russia and Ukraine, and "toskovat" describes a deep, often causeless spiritual longing - the Russian concept of Toska. It's a feeling that's almost impossible to translate: a blend of melancholy, wanderlust, and existential ache that needs no specific trigger.

This feeling runs through every Toskovat fragrance. It's never about simply smelling good. It's about feeling something.

Extraits de Mémoire: Perfume as a Medium for Memory

Toskovat doesn't call its fragrances Extrait de Parfum but Extraits de Mémoire - memory extracts. The distinction is more than marketing. David-Lev understands scent as a narrative medium, a direct channel to emotions and memories.

His background as a screenwriter shapes every aspect of the brand. Each fragrance has a story, a narrative arc, characters. "Age of Innocence" tells of childhood and its end. "Inexcusable Evil" deals with war. "Génération Godard" is a homage to cinema.

"For me, the best screenplays were always the ones that made us feel deeply for their characters. It's the same with fragrances - I prefer to evoke emotions and memories rather than pleasantness."

• David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi, in Dazed

Sounds like concept art that doesn't work on skin? Luca Turin, one of the world's most influential fragrance critics, put it perfectly after testing six Toskovat fragrances: the scents have "shocking top notes and gothic ingredient lists, followed by well-behaved heart and base notes." The provocation lies in the concept - on skin, most Toskovats are surprisingly wearable.

How Toskovat Fragrances Are Created

David-Lev works differently from classical perfumers. He doesn't think in fragrance pyramids or accords but in stories. First comes the emotion, then the question: which molecules can carry this feeling?

He doesn't shy away from unusual materials. Natural oud from Thailand, synthetic blood accords, notes of gasoline and hot rubber. "Very few people know that even notes like strawberry or pineapple are things you have to study and construct," he explains. "They can be just as difficult as blood."

The concentration of most fragrances sits at a minimum of 20% (Extrait de Parfum), delivering impressive longevity and sillage. Some creations like Annacamento and Pornstar (Noyau Doux) are formulated as Eau de Parfum and slightly lighter in presence.

Five Toskovat Fragrances to Get You Started

The collection now includes over 20 fragrances, ranging from provocative to poetic. These five showcase the breadth of the brand.

Between Cult and Controversy

Toskovat polarises. That's intentional. Where other brands aim for mass appeal, David-Lev seeks the uncomfortable truth. "We don't want to be controversial on purpose," he says. "I think it's an inevitable result of staying true to yourself."

The brand has built a devoted following in remarkably little time. On Fragrantica and Basenotes, every single fragrance is passionately debated. What fascinates one person repels another. That's exactly how it's meant to be.

For perfumery, Toskovat represents this: there's still room for surprise. In an industry that David-Lev describes as follows: "When they find a formula that works, they make small variations of the same recipe because it's proven" - a 25-year-old from Bucharest has set out to prove the opposite.

Why Samples Are Especially Important with Toskovat

Toskovat fragrances can't be judged from a screen. The ingredient lists often sound daunting ("blood", "gunpowder", "dirty dollars"), but on skin they tell a different story. Skin chemistry plays an especially significant role with these conceptual fragrances.

That's why the sample box concept is ideal for Toskovat: test five different fragrances, observe the complex development over hours, and then decide which story suits you.