TOUS Vetrarian Lalique - Encre Noire Eau De Toilette Spray, aromatic fragrance, Multi color, 3.4 Fl Oz

Perfume perfeito

This was a blind buy; yet to my surprise it has drawn compliments—not just from friends, but even from baristas and strangers at coffee shops. But you have to be open minded to enjoy this. You have to be open to experiences not familiar to you. The scent doesn’t pretend to be a realistic forest—there’s no honest soil, no moss dripping with life. Instead, it feels more like the ghost of nature, something left behind. Imagine the brittle skeleton of a wooden house, abandoned long ago, eaten hollow by termites, the air still holding the faint sweetness of rot. It’s not green in the way of fresh leaves, but green in the way of cut grass left to wilt in the rain, half-alive and half-decaying. There’s a gothic aura here, like a storm-washed cathedral of scent. The rain doesn’t revive it, but instead softens it, blurring edges until what's left is strange and spectral. That's the beauty: it doesn’t smell like forest, and yet it captures something rare, a mood you don’t often find in fragrances made for crowds. I usually pair it with others.

Let me start by saying I wasn't sure what I was expecting as it was a bit of a blind buy. I read about it on a comment on a reddit thread of all places about scents that reminded them of the roaring twenties. I was looking for something woody/subtle for the colder and darker days. From the reddit comment, I read that Encre Noire was woody, almost like walking through a damp forest on a rainy day. That description intrigued me enough to try it out. I bought it on Amazon almost right after without ever having smelled it before. Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised by Encre Noire. From the first spray on my wrist I knew it was the type of scent I've been looking for to round up my meager collection. Straight away Lullaby by The Cure came to my mind from the first whiff, and I don't mean that in the stereotypical way, as if to say this scent is only for goths, something to wear at a deathsday party, or at a funeral. It's just that it's subdued and moody in its profile and that intrigues me more. It does have the rain forest smell, but I'd say it's a bit smokey as well. I feel like it's a scent that I could wear everyday and not feel like a walking fragrance shop. It's clean, moody, and quite unique. I don't think I've ever smelled anything like it before on anyone. Anyway, the true kicker in all this is that it's relatively cheap. There's not much to lose in trying it out. If you don't like it, then it's not like you blew through a hundred, or hundreds, of dollars on some scent. I spent around $30 for my bottle. However, I'm quite happy with it and I see myself buying it again once I finish the bottle.

As others have stated this is a vetiver heavy scent. I would compare it to Red Vetiver or Terre D’hermes in that regard. However, while those two fragrances lean citrus this leans green due to the cypress and musk. Noir, despite its name, doesn’t strike me as a very dark or dank scent - that would be reserved for ELO’s Ombré which smells like the moments after rain stops outside of an old castle. Both silage and longevity are acceptable and the dry down a few hours in is a sweet wood skin scent. Given the lower price point you can reapply it if you feel that it has faded too much. Personally I use 2-3 full sprays for the day and call it good. This lasts approximately 4-6 hours in total. If you enjoy YSL, BDC, Sauvage, Wanted, (insert popular frag here) you will be disappointed. If you’re expecting “this is something goth Dracula would wear!” like some have stated on fragrance review sites you may also be disappointed. It's not that deep. If you’re curious and are considering a blind buy I'd suggest going for it. This scent isn't as decisive as people say online. Worse case scenario you can wear it in the fall and the bottle will easily last for a few seasons.

Unless there was any doubt "Black Ink" is dark, dark, dark. As an absolute vetiver bomb this fragrance is probably one of the most obviously potentially polarizing I've ever had in my collection. I could see people either absolutely loving this or hating it without many in between. It's nearly all base note and murky - and the notes lean towards recalling a musty basement. However, I'm actually one that likes this intensely but it is awful for projection, longevity and I'm not really sure yet on silage. It definitely evolves very quickly to a skin scent and there isn't anything really up top to really accent the opening. And so while I do like it - I feel like I'll end up using this mostly as a scent for layering. Worth the purchase though if you like vetiver scents and musky dark scents. Edit: I have tried Encre Noir now with a few other frags to work on seeing how it works for layering and one in particular really meshes well. I have a bottle of Toro pour Homme from Alhambra which is a TdH dupe and I find it a bit thin and a tad boring - but decent enough -- it combines beautifully with this frag because they both give each other a bit of a boost. The Toro gives the EN a little more top and friendly character while the EN gives Toro a bit more base and rounds out the scent profile. Just a thought. -- Happy layering out there! ha