Encre Noire Lalique 2006 Eau de Toilette

This Eau de Toilette is evidently an ideal canvas for various sensations: for example, it smells "evil," "like death," "cold," "like a coniferous forest," and so on and so forth. A poem by Ludwig Uhland that I really like comes to mind with this scent:

Spring Rest

O do not lay me in the dark grave
Not beneath the green earth
If I am to be buried,
let me lie in the deep grass
In grass and flowers I like to lie
when a flute sounds from afar
and when high above
the bright spring clouds drift by

EN is not a scent for the carefree, who flutter from flower to flower like colorful butterflies and want to savor life with all its pleasures. EN radiates a calm seriousness, but I do not perceive it as "evil" at all. Its lack of emotion is interpreted as coldness, but it fits perfectly with centered and determined individuals who want to focus on the essentials, which ultimately cannot be found in worldly pleasures. It does not smell of a fir forest, but rather of thuja and slightly of cedar, reminding me a bit of "Féminité du Bois" by Serge Lutens, albeit very distantly. Dark green, spicy, earthy, and at the same time fresh, EN embodies a somehow "aesthetic death." Suffering and torment, the smell of illness, decay, and decomposition, yes, even grief are over. Now eternity begins and deep peace. Last but not least, the evergreens in the cemetery embody the hope of eternal life. The supposedly "evil" aspect likely comes from the toxic scent of thuja, but otherwise, deadly poisons also hold the chance for healing. Thuja is anti-inflammatory for rheumatism, yew (another evergreen) is often used in cancer treatments.

For me, EN is not a typical men's fragrance, but explicitly wearable by all genders, as it lacks aggressive masculinity as well as delicate femininity (or vice versa, to avoid falling into any clichés ;)

Conclusion: A fragrance that "transcends the ordinary" and is simply incredibly cool!