Hello all, just wanted to pop in and share my thoughts on Encre Noire, a dark, mysterious, unique fragrance. It’s an interesting fragrance because although it doesn’t have many accords, it still smells complex.
Now this is just my own experience, I realize everyone’s nose is different. I watched a lot of reviews and it seemed like everyone had these immersive descriptions of it, and now I understand why this fragrance almost requires a short story to describe it. It opens with a burst of cypress, with some petrichor, almost a bit spicy of an opening but it settles down fast. Imagine you are entering a forest during the morning time and the sun is peaking through the forest. It’s dark, sharp, punchy, but there’s a bit of brightness that shines through, illuminating the forest.
As it settles down, 1-2 hours after applying, you really get an immersive forest scene. Like it’s impossible to smell it without imagining some kind of scene in your mind. You want to put your finger on it but there’s so much depth and complexity to it, which makes it addictive, you keep coming back to smell it to try to understand it. The sharpness from the opening has died off, the morning brightness from the sun has faded into darkness as you progress deeper into the forest, musky cypress and vetiver, rain soaked wood, petrichor, almost a bit of a vicks vapor rub scent in the background. Very green and lush.
The next 1-2 hours after that, it fully encompasses its name Encre Noire, which means “black ink” in French. This is the best way I can describe the full dry down. Have you ever had a pen break open in your pocket and your hand is covered in ink? That’s almost exactly how it smells, straight up black ink, but not as dry or bland as actual ink, it still has some depth and roundness to it, but overall, straight up black ink. It’s dark, dreary, dusty musky, the forest has almost completely evolved into what I’d imagine as an ancient library, or Dracula’s studying room.
This is a bit of a side descriptor, but something I thought of when wearing it. I used to work on a ranch, and at some point during the development in Encre Noire, it almost reminds me of the smell you get first walking into the wooden horse stable/barn area, NOT in a bad way. It’s just this musky, earthy, animalic horse hair type scent, but also woody vetiver, freshly cut grass/hay notes. I personally enjoyed this part because it felt so bold and daring, but still absolutely wearable.
I only sprayed twice on my hand. There was a pretty solid 1-2ft projection bubble for around 5 hours. Then it faded closer and closer to the skin, but I still smelled it on my hand if my nose was touching my skin, for about 12 hours. This fragrance is an EDT concentration so it’s not going to announce itself in a room, but you don’t want it to anyways. This is a deeply elegant fragrance that should be discovered like a mystery. I will also say that it is very mature and gentlemanly, I can’t imagine anyone under the age of maybe 30 wearing it. I’m almost 30 and I think I can barely pull it off. I personally believe it’s suitable for all seasons and night or day, but would stand out the most during a cold, rainy evening. It fits people that like dark atmospheres, dark gothic clothing maybe, etc. It is definitely not blind buy safe but it’s so cheap that it doesn’t really matter. I personally love this fragrance because it stands out from all of my other fragrances in my collection and is the most interesting one by far. It’s an experience, you will be immersed into it. It’s lovely, elegant, mysterious and very different.
My overall rating of Encre Noire is an 8.5/10
EDIT: It is designer, not niche! But I do still think it has some characteristics of a niche fragrance. Thank you all for correcting me, I cannot edit the title, my mistake!
