NicheOnly

Continuing where I left with the VIII: Rococo - Immortelle review approx. a month ago, the upcoming reviews & statements will have a heavy emphasis on less-covered products as my sampling list includes various discontinued scents and premium launches. The coverage is still with British luxury brand Clive Christian, this time with their 2017 release Chasing the Dragon Hypnotic, a discontinued release in the Addictive Arts collection that I believe previously retailed at €720/75ml. I feel like the discontinuation of a fragrance is very much a case-by-case example as I've had massive hits like Single Malt London and moderate disappointments like Apple Brandy New York. With Chasing the Dragon Hypnotic, I find myself leaning more towards the latter than the former.

I feel fortunate that I came into this sampling session completely blind, because many of the reviews and statements are putting emphasis on aspects that I cannot relate to. For me, Chasing the Dragon Hypnotic opens coniferous-spicy-woody with light medicinal ambers. The complexity is unequivocally there and I'd place it somewhere between a very intensely resinous fragrance like Roja's Parfum de la Nuit 1 and less intense fragrance like Le Labo's Eucalyptus 20. In my draft, I did also write down Serge Lutens' Fille en aiguilles which is the number 1 fragrance in the coniferous genre.

Once I was able to contrast that opening experience to the actual notes, I felt like I had nailed it. You get a very prominent contrast between the resinous-spicy notes; i.e. the incense, labdanum, amber and maybe even elemi; and the woody-coniferous parts, mainly expressed through the fir balsam. There's very little development on-skin and the scent continues to sit in that resinous-spicy-woody scent class for a majority of the time that I had it on, both indoors and outdoors. And then, around ~2-2.5 hours into the dry-down, I feel like I started to notice the thing that others on here are mentioning: the cherry. And when I say notice, I truly mean there are trace amounts of the note in this wearing experience to the point where fruity is not an accord that I can associate with. I think that lack of a prevalent cherry limited interest in the product, pushing Clive Christian to discontinue the fragrance and later reintroduce it through a clearly superior twist, that being Jump Up and Kiss Me Hedonistic, a top 10 fragrance in the niche market as of early 2026.

There are many disappointing parts about Chasing the Dragon Hypnotic. The linearity leaves me underwhelmed as the brand subsequently had great success in building various layers into both Hedonistic and XXI: Art Deco - Blonde Amber. The performance is very much disappointing as the sillage is clearly below average (I have an official 2ml sample) while longevity is still up in the air as I write this review, albeit I am thinking it'll end up being around 8 hours (6/10). I'm not 100% certain on the retail price tag as I've seen contradictory information elsewhere (I believe I also saw €910/75ml), but even if I give it the benefit of the doubt at €720/75ml, I'd argue there's significantly better value both in the market overall and in this price class (a criticism that I also highlighted for all of the PDLNs from Roja).

To offer an analogy, Roja launched Parfum de la Nuit 2 after having released Enigma pour Homme Parfum and at the time people were comparing the two as a result of the original Enigma versions (the 100ml black paper plaque ones) selling more spicy-resinous in the base than the versions you can purchase today. By discontinuing PDLN2, Roja pushed people towards a more mainstream & cheaper product. It is very much the same with Chasing the Dragon Hypnotic: Clive Christian opted to release Jump Up and Kiss Me Hedonistic, a more mainstream & cheaper product, and to discontinue Hypnotic. Unlike PDLN2, Hypnotic's availability in the market is extremely scarce (esp. in Europe) and as a result I assume the demand will be there for a long time. When they do pop up, they typically trade in the €600-700 range and for that money, I find it a hard sale.

With the 2025 coverage retired and 2026 coverage not starting for at least a couple months, I'm going to dedicate some of my upcoming reviews to various less-covered products that I have samples for, starting with British luxury brand Clive Christian and their 2017 release VIII: Rococo - Immortelle. I typically go into the experience without having seen the comps or the notes, but I saw both Jubilation XXV Man and Epic Man at the top of the comps section before putting it on. And relative to those comps, lets just say that everything here isn't smooth sailing.

VIII: Rococo - Immortelle does open sweet-spicy with the same style of amber that reminds me of Jubilation XXV Man. Thereafter, the scent combines that sweet-spicy feel with a certain aromatic one, yet I'm not at all thinking of immortelle as I'm smelling the scent throughout the development. And as weird as it sounds, it's almost like I'm smelling nothing. On-skin, there is a light soapy musk that has perhaps a fruity tinge to it, with the style reminding me more of French niche house Fragrance du Bois, incl. products like Oud Rose Intense Parfum. Moderate soapiness, moderate musks, mild sweet spices and probably some touches of saffron in here as well, making me think a little bit of another Fragrance du Bois product, that being Secret Tryst (which I'd place adjacent to the Amouage).

There is some development in the on-skin profile: from the initial spicy-sweet & somewhat floral open, the DNA goes in a spicy-woody direction with light smokiness. I assume this is where the Epic Man comparison comes in, but the presence of that Fragrance du Bois style soapy musk is very much prominent alongside the spicy-woody aspects. At no point do I feel like immortelle is a key note in the structure and relative to Clive Christian's catalogue, VIII: Rococo - Immortelle is missing both wow factor and blending execution. The pricing at €565/50ml is obviously poor and the performance is somewhere around average with perhaps some potential longevity upside. All-in-all, not good and definitely not great.

The end of the road: after reviewing and/or writing statements for 90 of the products released in 2025, I've landed on the final product - the latest from British luxury niche brand Boadicea the Victorious, I present to you Lannosea.

Lannosea opens sweet-spicy-citrusy, initially smelling a lot like sugared lemon and those same notes/accords also dominate the initial on-skin experience. That is to say I predominantly smell lemon and sweetness (likely ambers). The fragrance that I'm primarily thinking of as a comparison is Floraiku's 2023 release Boyish which has some of that honey-lemon cough drop smell. Relative to a more recent release, I'd point to the latest from Kilian with Angels' Share on the Rocks where I also get some of that sweet lemon opposed by fresh touches. The execution of the fragrance follows a fairly linear path: the citrus-gourmand smell is more-so sweet & fresh spicy in the top prior to the scent dissipating into a more simple sweet musk with light feminine-smelling floral touches being added. To my nose, the floral touches are executed very well, offering a tropical-like touch to the base DNA.

The scent having a well-executed open alongside a more simple dry-down isn't exactly a criticism exclusive to Lannosea - I also highlighted this weakness for Arquiste's Tropical. However, unlike the Arquiste priced at €220/100ml, Boadicea is quoting €600 for 100ml. Performance is incredibly lackluster, esp. for what appears to be a gourmand fragrance, albeit this is basically the same performance I got from Floraiku's Boyish. I'd put longevity at around 3-4 hours and the sillage is basically dead beyond the opening. All-in-all, Lannosea features solid strengths with the profile and blending, yet also has significant downfalls with the performance and pricing. It's also not a significant enough improvement relative to the few comps that come to mind, so in the end I am placing it somewhere in the middle of my 2025 rankings (ranks 39 to 43), alongside several other products in the premium price class from brands like Xerjoff, Boadicea and Royal Crown.

In the penultimate review of my 2025 coverage, I am covering one of the recent additions to the Novelties collection from Italian luxury niche house Royal Crown. With the collection retailing anywhere between €970 and €3,720 per 100ml, the expectations are naturally high but also somewhat unclear for someone who is overwhelmingly (99%+) covering €150-600 product. In my Lady Macbeth review, I highlighted some of the story-telling around the product and how the product's outrageous complexity appeared to overlap with the vision the brand had in mind. With Lucifer, I feel like the story-telling is less relevant and the level of complexity achieved is toned down.

Depending on the audience, linearity in scent evolution can be either a negative or a positive. Given I had smelled and reviewed Lady Macbeth prior to smelling Lucifer, I was expecting equivalent complexity and sufficient differences from Lady Macbeth, but that's really not what you're getting here. Lucifer opens with the same style of oriental-smoky DNA, with leathery-woody notes surrounding it. The opening in particular has more of that leathery quality where it comes off a bit like boot/saddle leather, smoked ham, barbeque, something in that general direction. And the development here is more in that charred woods direction, so again featuring overlap with Lady Macbeth and even the main comp that I offered for those accords in the Lady MacBeth review, that comp being Clive Christian's Matsukita. The notes driving that smoky charred woods smell are the same ones as in Lady MacBeth, specifically the maté absolute and birch.

Relative to Lady Macbeth, I feel like the depth is significantly reduced with Lucifer. You don't get any animalic touches and the one-two of maté absolute and birch dominate from start to finish. While trying to find scent developments, I guess beyond the 3rd hour you can find some alternative notes on-skin: I would point to the aromatics and the woody notes, namely the coriander, the sandalwood, the Burmese oud, and maybe even the sage/cypress. However, relative to the rest of the structure, I feel like identifying specific notes is a struggle.

With Lady Macbeth, I felt like the way I rate fragrances was being challenged as the type of profile achieved had so much more to offer than anything I've smelled in niche. With Lucifer, I feel like the actual profile isn't that distant from being a mix of scents like Matsukita and Oud Stallion. Mind you, those 2 products I also mentioned in the Lady Macbeth review as I feel like the heart of the scent has that smoky charred woods scent (the Clive Christian) and the open has that aggressively masculine leather smell to it (the Crivelli). Performance appears to be about on-par with Lady MacBeth, i.e. in that 10 hour range for longevity with sillage mostly being average to slightly above. The retail price of €1,740 is worse value on Lucifer than it is on Lady Macbeth, primarily because the linearity and reduced depth mean there's little to justify the price relative to relevant niche alternatives like Matsukita. All-in-all, I'd say slightly underwhelmed with what I am getting here, but simultaneously I am happy to report that Royal Crown continues to launch product that justifies their placement as the #1 niche brand from a blending perspective.

Welcome back to my 2025 closing coverage where I wrap up the year with some of the most prestigious products released this year, 2 of them being from Italian premium niche house Royal Crown and their Novelties collection. I do only have samples for 2 of the 4 scents they added to the collection, but I think these 2 reviews will say a lot about where expectations should lie for a collection where 100ml retails anywhere between €970 and €3,720 (!). The review for Lucifer is still to come and the overlap in complexity is definitely there, but here I'm focusing on Lady Macbeth.

For those out of the loop, incl. myself (haven't read any books nor seen any movies referenced), here's some backstory. The original Lady Macbeth is a leading character from Shakespeare's shortest tragedy ever, a play written in the early 1600s called "The Tragedy of Macbeth". As one of its core themes, the play highlights how far some are willing to go to acquire power (physical violence, murder) and the guilt associated with seeing those decisions through. However, I believe the actual Lady Macbeth that inspired this fragrance is a slightly different one.

We move two-and-a-half centuries forward to the 1860s with Russian writer Nikolai Leskov and his novella "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District". While the overlap with Shakespeare's writing is significant, given the female main character participating in various murders, Leskov's main character Katarina Lvovna in a more abstract sense highlights the subordinate role of women in 19th-century Europe as Lvovna's dissatisfaction with her life and relationship leads her to adultery, i.e. cheating on her partner with another man. This takes us to Royal Crown's description of Lady Macbeth: scented brushstrokes of tuberose, roses and myrrh, clean, like cuts on a Fontana canvas, for a bewitching juice that recalls eroticism.

I've gone through the wearing experience twice for this review and the core DNA is a whole lot easier to describe than the opening. I don't think there's anything I can say to make the opening of this fragrance justice, because the level of complexity achieved by Royal Crown with Lady Macbeth is a lot closer to indie than it is to niche as there's SO MUCH (!) going on and the scent is, in many ways, bordering on unwearable for someone mostly exploring mainstream niche brands. The scent opens VERY DARK: I get a strong waft of medicinal ambers and deep smoky-oriental notes. There's a very intense smoky smell to the scent, I'm thinking of burning coals, burning leaves and branches in spring-fall, something akin to a campfire or a barbeque. Mind you, this is just the experience in the air as it opens. There's even more depth on-skin: leathery touches which are likely implied from the smokiness, a pissy-raunchy animalic smell that I'd typically allocate to civet or castoreum, light touches of indolic tuberose which are somewhat comparable to how Royal Crown executed the white floral notes in Oud Jasmin. The other parts are of course far more dominant, meaning the floral parts don't play a big role here.

And this raises the obvious question: why are the notes so vastly different from what I'm experiencing? Well, a big part of that comes down to how well you know notes. At the heart of Lady Macbeth lies the intense smoky, somewhat leathery and/or woody DNA that I firmly believe is a mixture of maté absolute and birch. We have a fragrance in niche that has some of this core DNA: that scent is Matsukita from British luxury brand Clive Christian. However, if you remove the jasmine from Matsukita, you would still have to amp up the depth of the notes several fold to get anywhere close to the intensity that Royal Crown was able to achieve with Lady Macbeth. And that makes me want to reiterate what I said in my previous paragraph: this smells more like indie than niche.

Given the complexity of the scent, I obviously wore it outdoors as well and in my opinion, the performance is somewhat disappointing. It has insignificant lift, offering arm's length radiation for several hours. The open would have you think that this is a 2-3 day fragrance for longevity, but the couple times I wore it, I felt like 8-10 hours was where it was settling most of the time (longevity rated 7.0/10). What I described as pissy-animalic touches are there for the first ~30 minutes, nothing beyond that. A lot of the depth featured in the top doesn't carry through into the dry-down as Lady Macbeth is centered on the aforementioned dense smokiness, coming (I believe) from the maté absolute and birch. Given the intense smell of smoke, the leathery accord is worthy of a mention too and that accord can land in a multitude of ways, from leather boot to smoked ham. Tuberose is present in the first hour as a mild-to-moderate side-note.

In the end, I have no idea how to rate this fragrance: how would you rate a cross-section of Oud Stallion, Matsukita and A City on Fire? There's not a single part of this fragrance that has a wearable feel to it which is why I don't see the point in comparing it to products like Absolute Aphrodisiac and Sadonaso. Within mainstream niche, I believe that the most complex product I've smelled is Amouage's Opus XIII - Silver Oud, a scent that I've rated a 6/10. Amouage subsequently released Opus XV - King Blue, a take of Silver Oud with more nuance which I appropriately rated slightly higher at a 6.5. Lady Macbeth features so much more than either of these Amouages and the lack of wearability is even more intense than it is on Silver Oud. I'm going to rate it 7.5, because I feel like the artistry featured in the product could have you place it anywhere on the scale (from 0 to 10). While the complexity makes it feel like an unwearable fragrance, the story-telling feels there and that's the reason why I'm approaching it from an artistic standpoint as I'm trying to visualize that 1860s environment in my head: the touches of barn smell, the leather boot/saddle, the smoked ham, the burning fireplace with hay.

Ultimately, much like I stated at the top of this review, it is bordering on impossible for me to do this fragrance justice in this review, but if you're used to mainstream product, the only thing this 2ml is good for is to spray on paper to scare your friends. I'm going to wrap this one up and the last two 2025 reviews will follow somewhat soon. All-in-all, my initial impression of the new additions to Royal Crown's Novelties line is a positive one. The retail price tag of €1,740/100ml comes with huge expectations and unlike some of the 4-figure Rojas and Boadiceas that I smelled this year, I feel like Royal Crown has done that price tier some justice. I'm not even entirely sure what I expected and even though the product isn't for me, I at least exit thinking that this has demand. I'm just not sure Royal Crown's customer base is the one with said demand.