Encre Noire Sport Lalique 2013

I stumbled upon this community about a year ago. The hours spent browsing here have brought me closer to many dream scents that I might not have thought to test otherwise. Antaeus, Zino, Aigner No. 2, G-Man.

At some point, there comes a time when you are no longer interested in any scent and don’t want to test any that are available in the perfumery near you. You automatically start to become interested in other brands and thus fragrances. The so-called niche. From these usually more expensive luxury scents, I personally expect above all high-quality ingredients, exclusivity or at least a new fragrance experience, longevity, and sillage. Unfortunately, I keep finding that €150 fragrances do not automatically have to be better than €60-70 products. Of course, the ingredients are usually noble, pure, and high-quality. Still, it has to appeal to you first. And what good is a luxury scent if I can’t perceive it after five hours and during that time, not even a noticeable scent cloud has formed?

I was long on the lookout for more vetiver fragrances. Vetiver is one of those things that you either love or hate. I have yet to meet anyone who said, "Oh yes, vetiver. Not bad." And I love vetiver. After Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver and Guerlain's standard, I simply had to find a new one. And somehow I came across Encre Noire. Since it’s not available near me, I wanted to test it in the nearest larger city. The tester was still there. So I tested it. And wow, dark, gloomy, and soooo much vetiver. Unfortunately, it was no longer available. Next to it was the sport version. With such designations as Sport, Intense, Extreme, Nuit, etc., the seasoned perfume lover tends not to test. But since I was already there, I put it on my arm.....

.....and what can I say: WOW! A fantastically good combination of freshness and sweet-woody notes. The scent starts unusually fresh and cool. At the same time, this high-quality vetiver is wonderfully perceptible from the beginning. Still mystical and dark, but a bit softer due to the fresh citrus ingredients. This combination does not really develop much further for me throughout the entire scent progression. The vetiver is and remains always in the foreground. Everything here is so high-quality, pure, and recognizable. Nothing is diluted or synthetic. Towards the end, it becomes more woody than fresh, and after about eight to nine hours, the scent fades away.

For all who love vetiver like I do, this is an absolute insider tip.

Forget the strange designation "Sport." Complete nonsense. Unfortunately, Lalique is now also jumping on this flanker bandwagon. I’m curious how Encre Noire a l`extreme is. A black hole????

What remains is an excellent fragrance in the mid-price segment that shows other three times as expensive products how it’s done.

Best regards

Your Profumorist