With this new Carolina Herrera scent for men, lightning in a bottle has never smelled so good

It’s a cool perfume bottle, no doubt, but don’t think it’s just purely aesthetic. Bad Boy, the new fragrance from Carolina Herrera presented as lightning in a bottle, is an allegory of the Bad Boy persona: unpredictable, unusual, seductive, captivating, and unique. And since there are no two identical lightnings, Bad Boy celebrates the multi-faceted masculinity: strong and sensitive, powerful and empathetic, heroic and vulnerable.

“I have been thinking about this project for a while. I wanted to design a fragrance that would capture new masculinity,” Carolina Herrera de Baez, creative director of fragrances at Carolina Herrera, said in a statement. “The idea was to craft an exquisite perfume based on a groundbreaking formula, built around contrast and rich ingredients. It had to be contained in an impressive flacon which would feature an iconic symbol. The image had to be not only creative but also committed.”

To underline further the far-from-average status that the fragrance wishes to convey, it comes branded with the tagline “It’s so good to be bad.”

All the aromatic notes that make up Bad Boy represented by the bottle

Eau de Toilette Bad Boy, created by perfumers Quentin Bisch and Louise Turner, is a fragrance in which opposites attract and mix together: The bright notes of sage, black and white pepper, and bergamot balance the sensual darkness of tonka bean, cacao, and amber wood. The result is a masculine scent that seduces the senses more than overwhelms, both wild and intimate at the same time. “[Bad Boy is] also an homage to Eau de Parfum Good Girl, which also includes roasted tonka beans and cocoa,” explained Herrera de Báez.

Carolina Herrera eau de parfums Good Girl and Bad Boy

As for that lightning-shaped bottle, it takes after a traditional symbol of heroism and strength, found in Greek, Nordic, and Indian cultures. Balancing its audacious and striking shape is an elegant midnight blue color, which also evokes the famous Good Girl stiletto-shaped bottle.