Encre Noire pour Elle Lalique 2009

Although I do not believe that Lalique ENCRE NOIRE POUR ELLE is a bad fragrance, I also do not find it all that memorable. Part of the disappointment may derive from what I regard as the house's mistake of naming this creation as a flanker to the male version, ENCRE NOIRE, which does have a unique personality and develops through very distinct stages (whether one happens to like them or not...). In contrast, POUR ELLE seems a bit vague and linear, yet another somewhat thin, lightly woody floriental among hundreds. I find this composition wearable but inoffensive to the point of being forgettable.

While the original ENCRE NOIRE prominently features Iso Super E, the female version is said to contain Kephalis, a synthetic molecule whose acquaintance I have not made elsewhere (at least to my knowledge...). I wish that this composition contained more ambrette, which I do not detect at all. Instead, this seems to me like a somewhat generic, ever-so-slightly soapy (in the drydown) lightly woody rose.

Even the formerly beautiful bottle of the original ENCRE NOIRE has been marred by the over-the-top wedding invitation script used on this flanker. Kind of a sad metaphor on Adam's rib: an afterthought.