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Dark Lord opens up with a fairly dense and intense aroma. Bergamot gives it a bit of bright citrus up top, but this is offset by peppery and smoky rum, and a rather dirty-ish leather that permeates through the entire wear.
The booziness of the rum is there, but it isn’t a completely soaked feeling during the wear.
Jasmine, however, may be the strongest player in the opening stage of Dark Lord. It sits right in the middle flanked by the other notes, giving Dark Lord an early floral scent.
For me, the spiciness, is really only in the opening act. From there, it takes on an earthier and woodier quality for the rest of the wear. Kilian says that the pepper is one of the key notes, but on my skin at least, that’s not the case.
In fact, I get a lot more vetiver, cedar, and other general woods than I ever do the pepper.
As we move forward, the jasmine will start to lose its position within the composition. The leather and vetiver become pretty strong here and I’m still getting the smokiness sans the spice.
Dark, earthy, and has an herbal or medicinal sort of finish to it.
The latter stage is leather, cypress, vetiver and the faded remnants of cedar and jasmine. Cypress really climbs the ladder and contributes towards the tail end. It really doesn’t do all that much for me early in the wear, then, it’s basically the same weighting as the leather.
The booziness of the rum is there, but it isn’t a completely soaked feeling during the wear.
Jasmine, however, may be the strongest player in the opening stage of Dark Lord. It sits right in the middle flanked by the other notes, giving Dark Lord an early floral scent.
For me, the spiciness, is really only in the opening act. From there, it takes on an earthier and woodier quality for the rest of the wear. Kilian says that the pepper is one of the key notes, but on my skin at least, that’s not the case.
In fact, I get a lot more vetiver, cedar, and other general woods than I ever do the pepper.
As we move forward, the jasmine will start to lose its position within the composition. The leather and vetiver become pretty strong here and I’m still getting the smokiness sans the spice.
Dark, earthy, and has an herbal or medicinal sort of finish to it.
The latter stage is leather, cypress, vetiver and the faded remnants of cedar and jasmine. Cypress really climbs the ladder and contributes towards the tail end. It really doesn’t do all that much for me early in the wear, then, it’s basically the same weighting as the leather.
1 Comment
Pretty strong
The opening of Cologne Intense is like a citrus based soap with a mix of green and herbal aromas. The mate tea not gives it that herbal feeling and kind of levels out the citrus notes and doesn’t allow them to become too acidic.
The petitgrain is pretty strong at first and definitely give this Houbigant cologne, it’s green sort of element.
After a few minutes, the tarragon note starts to emerge as one of the most dominant notes in this fragrance. It adds a bit of spiciness to the scent to go along with the citrus/soapy/herbal feel that has already been established.
The spiciness never feels all that ‘intense’ to me (nor does the cologne in general) and I think it gets tempered a bit by the lavender.
It does have a dryness to its scent, especially in the latter stages. Dry, greenish, spice, with like a post-shower soapy clean scent on skin, versus a rich lather.
The petitgrain is pretty strong at first and definitely give this Houbigant cologne, it’s green sort of element.
After a few minutes, the tarragon note starts to emerge as one of the most dominant notes in this fragrance. It adds a bit of spiciness to the scent to go along with the citrus/soapy/herbal feel that has already been established.
The spiciness never feels all that ‘intense’ to me (nor does the cologne in general) and I think it gets tempered a bit by the lavender.
It does have a dryness to its scent, especially in the latter stages. Dry, greenish, spice, with like a post-shower soapy clean scent on skin, versus a rich lather.
A very powerful perfume
As Maison Kurkdjian describes the saffron note: “Its very powerful perfume is bitter and slightly metallic, blowing hot and cold on the rest of the composition with also a leathery, tarred facet.”
Saffron gives it a bit of spiciness yet it’s all very smooth. I smell a pinch of salt in this mix. The impression of faded cotton candy, like walking along a boardwalk where they’re selling that fluffy pink stuff. Like it was made earlier in the day, just remnants hanging in the air.
The next phase comes across as more watery and sweet. Very clean with jasmine taking the reigns and feeling closer to the original Baccarat Rouge. The opening almond fades mostly away on my skin.
The musk, woods, and ambergris play the supporting role to the jasmine note for the rest of the way. It’s mostly about the floral with a very fresh and musky cedar coming in second. This is more of a unisex fragrance than what I get from the original.
Saffron gives it a bit of spiciness yet it’s all very smooth. I smell a pinch of salt in this mix. The impression of faded cotton candy, like walking along a boardwalk where they’re selling that fluffy pink stuff. Like it was made earlier in the day, just remnants hanging in the air.
The next phase comes across as more watery and sweet. Very clean with jasmine taking the reigns and feeling closer to the original Baccarat Rouge. The opening almond fades mostly away on my skin.
The musk, woods, and ambergris play the supporting role to the jasmine note for the rest of the way. It’s mostly about the floral with a very fresh and musky cedar coming in second. This is more of a unisex fragrance than what I get from the original.
BR 540
BR 540 starts off with its saffron and jasmine notes up top. The hedione (jasmine) actually has a bit of a lemony tinge to it. Clean, sweetish (maybe more bittersweet with the saffron?), with a very unique smelling mix of resin and woods.
There is a little spice here in the opening stage, nothing extreme, just a bit of a bite.
The ambroxan note, plays a pretty big role here. Amberwood, ambroxan, etc. Different names for basically the same chemical molecule.
This one does seem to have more of a mineral/metallic kind of smell than some of the others that I’ve come across, which again, is probably heightened by the saffron.
Once the hedione has settled down, this one starts to get more resinous and woody. It’s a very dry fragrance with a potent freshness to it, through the back half of the wear.
Yet, it does come across to me as being a ‘fluffy’ smelling perfume, rather than the usual woody fare. That’s one reason Baccarat Rouge so often gets compared to Cloud by Ariana Grande.
This is better, but that overlap is indeed present.
Towards the end, this mainly becomes a cedar and ambroxan mix on my skin. That cedar note, can feel pretty sharp, it’s probably my least favorite in this composition. The resinous quality is still there, probably a blend of the fir and a few amber-like ingredients in the mix.
The jasmine is basically gone and there isn’t much saffron left, for me at least.
There is a little spice here in the opening stage, nothing extreme, just a bit of a bite.
The ambroxan note, plays a pretty big role here. Amberwood, ambroxan, etc. Different names for basically the same chemical molecule.
This one does seem to have more of a mineral/metallic kind of smell than some of the others that I’ve come across, which again, is probably heightened by the saffron.
Once the hedione has settled down, this one starts to get more resinous and woody. It’s a very dry fragrance with a potent freshness to it, through the back half of the wear.
Yet, it does come across to me as being a ‘fluffy’ smelling perfume, rather than the usual woody fare. That’s one reason Baccarat Rouge so often gets compared to Cloud by Ariana Grande.
This is better, but that overlap is indeed present.
Towards the end, this mainly becomes a cedar and ambroxan mix on my skin. That cedar note, can feel pretty sharp, it’s probably my least favorite in this composition. The resinous quality is still there, probably a blend of the fir and a few amber-like ingredients in the mix.
The jasmine is basically gone and there isn’t much saffron left, for me at least.
Lovely
Athalia is quite lovely. There is a light incense note, at the top, which gets a bit smokier as the wear moves on (but never too much). However, what I mainly pick up at the start of this is orange blossom, orange, and some rose.
The iris powdery quality is hanging in the background, with a clean aroma, but it is secondary at this point.
After about 10 minutes, Athalia begins to shift more into becoming an iris-led floral perfume. The rose is not really that powerful to my nose, I mostly get the iris and orange blossom, with some of the smoky quality of the incense.
Athalia gets warmer, as it moves along, but I wish that orange bitter note still hung around. I really enjoyed that, in the opening act of this fragrance. Nonetheless, this perfume moves forward, with a surprisingly nice blend of iris, amber, and vetiver.
There is still some orange blossom and vanilla, but those two notes flank, these main three. That’s about what you get for the rest of the wear.
The longevity is really quite good, as well. It seems to sit somewhere in the 8-10 hour range, on my skin.
The iris powdery quality is hanging in the background, with a clean aroma, but it is secondary at this point.
After about 10 minutes, Athalia begins to shift more into becoming an iris-led floral perfume. The rose is not really that powerful to my nose, I mostly get the iris and orange blossom, with some of the smoky quality of the incense.
Athalia gets warmer, as it moves along, but I wish that orange bitter note still hung around. I really enjoyed that, in the opening act of this fragrance. Nonetheless, this perfume moves forward, with a surprisingly nice blend of iris, amber, and vetiver.
There is still some orange blossom and vanilla, but those two notes flank, these main three. That’s about what you get for the rest of the wear.
The longevity is really quite good, as well. It seems to sit somewhere in the 8-10 hour range, on my skin.
