Clive Christian — Vision in a Dream Psychedelic
Essence
Vision in a Dream Psychedelic is a 2017 masculine parfum (25%) from Clive Christian’s Addictive Arts collection, composed by perfumer Beverley Bayne. It’s the dense, “brown,” spicy-green-incense entry in the line - a woody-aromatic oriental built on a dry, ashy, clove-inflected cedar-and-resin base with a bitter-green opening of kaffir lime/armoise and a smoky papyrus-labdanum incense heart.
Scent Profile
A genuinely difficult-to-parse scent that even fans struggle to describe. The catalog’s listed top of artemisia and petitgrain expands in practice (per Clive Christian’s own and wearers note lists) to kaffir lime, almond, galbanum, apple skin and violet leaf - a wild, bitter greenery. The most vivid critic description (/ ClaireV): “a densely packed, spicy, ‘brown’ oriental. The phenomenally dry, ashy, clove-inflected cedar and resin base holding everything up - this smells dusty, woody, a bit animalic, but also boozy and intricately spiced, similar to Mona di Orio Vanille. She also picks up “a dark anise-clove-licorice stickiness that approaches the texture of jam, and most surprisingly, an accord that smells exactly like. Melon-flavored vodka” (attributed to the apple note). Others get “sweet bubblegum” up top, mastic, a “funky sour” facet, and a clove/anise combo praised as “sheer laboratory genius.
Performance
Polarized but trending above-average. Lists projection and longevity as above-average, and devotees report it being noticed by strangers in public (“a fragrance that people have asked me about. When they smelled it on the air”). One owner: “This projects only moderately, but it does project.
Wearing Context
A cool-weather, evening and contemplative scent - devotees invoke “holiday season, fireworks, some meditation, fresh forests, luxury cigar boxes. Strongly masculine-leaning per the catalog and reception, though its incense-green-spice character is wearable unisex by the adventurous. Best for occasions where a dark, unusual, cerebral fragrance is an asset - not a crowd-pleasing date or office scent, but a connoisseur’s signature. Social-perception skew: distinctive, mysterious, “so odd it’s good”; it signals fragrance obsession more than conventional attractiveness.
Comparisons & DNA
Within the house, its closest sibling is Vision in a Dream Mesmeric (2017, also Beverley Bayne) - the two share the green/bitter/aromatic spine, with Mesmeric adding almond and galbanum and Psychedelic distinguished by petitgrain; wearers similarity scores rate them very close. Critics reach outside the house for the base: Mona di Orio Vanille is the recurring touchstone for the dry, ashy, sandalwood-forward, boozy-spiced base. For the smoky-green/mastic-bubblegum opening, one user invokes Naomi Goodsir Nuit de Bakelite. The clove/anise-licorice-incense character also puts it loosely in conversation with dark, resinous orientals generally. No designer or clone alternative is documented - part of its appeal is that it’s hard to replicate (the house claims a patented process for the opening accord).
Reception
A small but devoted cult, with the central tension being craftsmanship vs. Believers call it a signature and rave about the blending - “you can’t deny the craftsmanship behind it. It is peculiar”; another: “this scent is my signature fragrance. It’s praised as a niche oddity worth owning. The price is the universal sticking point: owners openly wrestle with whether it’s worth “4 to 5 niche fragrances from other houses.
Versions & Reformulation
Single composition, no known reformulation. Status: discontinued (“the production was apparently discontinued,” per ). Sold in parfum concentration; common size 75ml (a 50ml also referenced).
Acquisition Notes
Ultra-premium and discontinued. While in production it carried a flagship Clive Christian price - wearers reference cites “$825. 00+tax” for 75ml (quoted for the closely related Mesmeric), and remaining retail/discounter listings (Jomashop, Nandansons) and eBay are the realistic channels now. Decant sites (DecantPlanet, Fragrances Line) sell authentic splits and are the sensible way to test before committing given the cost and discontinuation.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The Addictive Arts collection (2017) is Clive Christian’s literary-intoxication line, using the proprietary “AddictiveFusion” headspace technology and a “dark heart” the house attributes to wormwood, poppy and cacao leaves.
- The brand explicitly stated it used “actual plants (some of which are illegal drugs).
- Absinth, Coca leaf, Opium poppy“ in the Addictives line, though it’s unspecified which (if any) appear in Psychedelic - a marketing flourish that fuels the scent’s mystique.
- The “Vision in a Dream” name is drawn from Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream” (composed 1797, published 1816), the famous opium-dream fragment about the pleasure-dome of Xanadu - a fitting literary anchor for a collection themed on heightened, hallucinatory states.
- The house markets a patented, “cannot be copied” process for the collection, and one owner specifically credits the clove/anise opening as un-duplicatable.