I used to paint a lot with India ink a few years back. I can't say this fragrance smells like ink exactly (I don't recall my paintings ever smelling like vetiver), but it's smooth and dark, satisfying in the same way those glistening brushstrokes were. There's a bit of a piney quality to the top notes, veering on the edge of soap— this semi-soap quality is I think the most reminiscent of ink. If you're just here for the vetiver, don't worry. That comes in early, and stays late, well after all the soapiness is gone.
There's a lot of hyperbole about this fragrance. People call it "gothic", "vampiric", "unwearable". It's none of those things, but it's pretty damn good and deserves all the nice things people say about it. Mainly it's vetiver. Which does have its dark elements to it, yes, but also a warm woodiness to it. Encre Noire might be wearing black lipstick on a rainy day, but it's smiling the whole time.
