“We only offer perfumes that we, so to say, believe in.”
Aivaras Stanevicius, co-founder
On Hyskenstræde, a small street in Copenhagen, Denmark, Crime Passionnel is a niche perfume shop bringing together the work of several fragrance houses. With brands including Nasomatto, Marc-Antoine Barrois and Naomi Goodsir, it offers a way to explore different creators’ expressions in a single shop.
It began with one enthusiast’s experience of having to travel to buy the perfumes he wanted. Choosing fragrances and bringing them to the shelves, and making time for customers to discover them with their own noses: the shop’s history offers a way to look at both kinds of work.
Essential Information
- Name: Crime Passionnel
- Established: 2014, according to the shop’s official company profile
- Co-founders: Aivaras Stanevicius and Domas Monkevičius, also introduced as Domas Monk
- Main physical shop: Copenhagen, Denmark
- Address: Hyskenstræde 14, 1207 København, Denmark
- Business: A multi-brand niche perfume specialist, also operating an official online shop
- Official website: Crime Passionnel
How Two Friends Came to Open a Perfume Shop in Copenhagen
Collecting a Gift and Finding a Bottle of His Own
A gift for a friend was what first drew Aivaras to niche perfume. He went to a perfume shop to collect something and came home with a bottle for himself as well. That chance encounter began a life of seeking out fragrances.
He and Domas had been friends before entering the perfume industry. They had worked together organizing parties, concerts and cultural events. After finishing their studies, Domas continued traveling, while Aivaras ran several businesses in Norway.
Turning the Difficulty of Shopping in Norway into a Reason to Open a Store
While living in Norway, Aivaras found it difficult to buy the niche fragrances he wanted in Scandinavia. Each search for something interesting required a trip elsewhere. Moving to Copenhagen did not change that impression. Creating the perfume specialist they wanted in a city of fashion became the motivation for opening their shop.
Crime Passionnel, which gives 2014 as its founding year, developed its identity at Hyskenstræde 14. In March 2015, Danish publication XQ28 introduced Aivaras and Domas as the two people behind the shop and visited it at that address.
Turning the Name into a Setting from a Crime Film
The French name refers to a crime committed in the grip of passion. In its early days, the shop played with the idea of inviting customers into an investigation. XQ28 described a space combining rough textures with functionality, suggestive of a perfume laboratory. Buying a bottle was given a slightly theatrical entrance.
The official company profile likewise describes an interior conceived as a film-noir scene, using traces of red lipstick, details suggestive of bloodstains and flowing drapery. Connecting the name, visual staging and experience of perfume is part of the shop’s concept.
Crime Passionnel: A Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2014 | Founding year given in the official company profile. |
| 2015 | In March, XQ28 introduces the two founders and the shop on Hyskenstræde. |
| 2016 | In August, Naomi Goodsir features the shop, Aivaras and Domas on its official website. |
| 2018 | In February, a window display is devoted to Naomi Goodsir’s Nuit de Bakélite. |
| 2019 | In July, Puredistance reports on a presentation at the shop. |
| 2026 | The physical shop at the same address and the online shop are listed in the official information. |
Selection Means Meeting the Makers and Choosing for Themselves
Visiting Exhibitions and Fragrance Houses
“All the perfumes were chosen personally.”
Aivaras Stanevicius
Trusting their own senses, the two have sought out fragrances by visiting exhibitions and perfume houses. The selection on the shelves is not simply an accumulation of unusual names; it reflects repeated decisions about which perfumes they can stand behind.
Those relationships also appear in the brands’ own records. Naomi Goodsir introduced the two founders and their shop in 2016, then shared its Nuit de Bakélite window display in 2018. The shop was not only a place to buy and stock a perfume, but also a setting in which an individual work could be presented to the street.
In its record of a July 2019 presentation, Puredistance published photographs of Aivaras and Domas. At the time, Crime Passionnel was the brand’s only authorized retailer in Denmark. The account shows how visits from the people behind a brand created opportunities to explain the background to its perfumes.
From Nasomatto to Marc-Antoine Barrois
The official catalog in October 2026 includes sales pages for specific fragrances such as Nasomatto’s Black Afgano and Baraonda, and Marc-Antoine Barrois’s Ganymede, Encelade and Tilia. Rather than merely displaying the names of prominent niche brands, the shop carries a number of their individual works.
Other names include Francesca Bianchi, Parfum d’Empire, Profumum Roma, Orto Parisi and Naomi Goodsir. Exploring finished perfumes from multiple brands is central to the experience of visiting the shop.
The breadth of its selection is also reflected in how it presents information about scent. Its introduction to Nasomatto explains the perfumer’s decision not to disclose ingredients and to value each wearer’s own interpretation. Its introduction to Marc-Antoine Barrois, meanwhile, describes the meeting between the designer and perfumer Quentin Bisch. Different ways into each creator’s work are left open.
Service and Sampling Continue After Leaving the Shop
Moving On from a Perfume Worn for Twenty Years
A customer’s story in the November 2022 issue of the trade magazine Fagbladet Kosmetik offers a concrete example of the owner’s work. Having worn the same perfume for 20 years, the customer came in to find a new scent. Aivaras let her explore freely, and she went home with two fragrances on her wrists and additional scented blotters.
The following day, the customer returned and said she had experienced the smell of the park differently from before. Rather than a scene in which a bottle was chosen immediately, it was an example of an encounter with perfume prompting someone to pay closer attention to smells outside the shop.
“We use smell when eating, socializing and communicating.”
Aivaras Stanevicius (translated from Danish)
These words came in the context of increasing opportunities to speak with customers who had experienced a loss or alteration of their sense of smell after the pandemic. Consultations in the shop went beyond classifying preferences to consider the role of scent in everyday life.
“If we dare follow our nose, it gives us many new experiences.”
Aivaras Stanevicius (translated from Danish)
Giving Time to Fragrances That Do Not Make Sense Immediately
In 2023, Danish beauty publication Pudderdåserne recommended allowing plenty of time for a visit. If the nose becomes tired, one can go to a nearby café and wait while the fragrance develops on the skin. The writer herself described coming to understand a scent only hours, or even days, after first encountering it.
This account, which praises Aivaras’s knowledge, guidance and perfume stories, closely echoes the customer encounter in the trade magazine. Listening to an explanation, then stepping away from it to discover one’s own response: having time for both offers a clue to understanding how perfume is tried here.
The Copenhagen Shop You Can Visit Today
As of October 15, 2026, the main physical shop listed in the official visiting information is at Hyskenstræde 14 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Its current location is Copenhagen, not Norway, where Aivaras lived previously.
The official hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, with the shop closed on Sundays. The latest details are available on the official boutique page. The online shop also offers perfumes and discovery sets, with 2 ml sample options for fragrances such as Black Afgano. It is a specialist that offers both time to explore scents with the owner in person and a way to try small amounts at home.
References
- Crime-passionnel: Aivaras Stanevicius Q&A — The Olfactive
- Boutique: Current shop, address, opening hours and brands — Crime Passionnel
- Official company profile: Founding year and interior concept — Crime Passionnel
- Crime Passionnel — Daniel J. Delove, XQ28 (March 26, 2015)
- Behind the Doors of … Crime Passionnel, Copenhagen — Naomi Goodsir (August 31, 2016)
- A Window in Copenhagen, Denmark — Naomi Goodsir (February 19, 2018)
- Puredistance Presentation at Crime Passionnel in the Heart of Copenhagen — Puredistance (July 6, 2019)
- Nasomatto: Brand introduction and current selection — Crime Passionnel
- Marc-Antoine Barrois: Brand introduction and current selection — Crime Passionnel
- Fragrance report — Anne Jydby Absalonsen, Fagbladet Kosmetik (November 2022 issue; published online January 10, 2023)
- Friday Favorite: Crime Passionnel — Pudderdåserne (January 20, 2023)
- Black Afgano: Current product, sample options and bottle image — Crime Passionnel
