Bathory

Darren Alan has been on my radar for several years. This is a stunner of a fragrance, a mastery which is grossly underappreciated. Highly pronounced, high quality Bulgarian Rose Otto is present from start to finish. The mechanics of its formulation, from growing, harvesting, plucking, and extracting, seem to echo the story being told here in Bathory: a centuries old, occulted process passed down from generation to generation... and it is absolutely stunning. Immediately out of the bottle and into the air one can easily discern the excellence of the rose being used here. On skin, it is a consistent performer, and remains detectable at 8+ hours, albeit more in the background. Delicious near-east spices present themselves after the first minute or so before mellowing as the heart opens up. A smoothy-sweetness becomes evident. The saffron really shines through within the heart and base, providing a necessary amount of both sweet and spice to both... it never dominates but rather imparts itself towards painting the picture (and telling the story) that is Bathory. Once warmed up on the skin, a pleasant and prominent nutmeg comes forward, and while I am not getting a whole heap of honey, I do get a beeswax candle that was freshly lit. And there it is.. a slight hint of smoke and a whiff of Sunday Mass incense billowing through an old European basilica. Vlad the Impaler stood there once, centuries ago, as did Ms. Bathory herself. Oh, there is a story here, for sure, and it is not a story akin to Bram Stoker's Dracula, it is much deeper than modern day vampire lore (despite personal enjoyment of such lore). The dry down is remarkable. A coherent transition where each accord blends quite seamlessly with the leathery, musky, resinous base. The beeswax and incense-smoke both amplify and subdue the leather-animalics. A nod to neo-noir vintage, indeed! Each note can be detected individually and vis-a-vis their neighbors. They never slap you in the face but they do make themselves known, appearing on their own at at particular moments and yet never diverging from their cohesive 'wholeness'. Bathory is not a true rose leather, at least not in a more modern sense, nor is it a modern-day 'animalic'. It is, however, a classically vintage rose-leather-animalic that remains poised and refined. A very much appreciated lack of filthy animal ass-crack, sorry to disappoint fans of 'accord le poo poo'. This is old school money, power, prestige. Understated luxury, hauntingly reminiscent of a quest for the divine and yet being subdued by worldly desires. It is not a tacky 'wear this if you want to smell like a vampire tee-hee!' fragrance, but rather speaks towards the very complexities of the human condition as a whole. Seductive although I cannot fathom wearing this with the intention of enticing a lover.. seductive, at least as it is being told here, is being comfortably raw, vulnerable, and naked with not only another person but with oneself. Hauntingly beautiful.

A honey rose fragrance with civet musk as the absolute main character, where the animalic musk appears quite clean. According to the official website, this is because Darren Alan did not use real animal musk, but instead created a custom accord. The civet musk runs through all three stages of the fragrance. The opening is rose burst, which then balances with the moist sweetness from honey. A hint of black currant adds a tangy, fruity note in the bottom of the scent. In the drydown, the fragrance transforms into a soft civet musk combined with delicate leather, while the sweet floral notes from the earlier stages linger, creating a smooth and gentle touch.

Rubbery rose onset, further offset by saffron. Quickly develops into a honied mildly animalic musk. Best part of the wear. Nice tinge of black currant but it's overridden by the tire-rubber top note that never really disappears completely. Big fan of rose, but not this one. Mediocre!

I purchased the discovery set. The fragrances are very different from each other, so there is lots to choose from. This starts off really heavy. Almost middle eastern in its treatment. The rose and saffron give a really earthy feel to the fragrance. The black current lends an almost animatic note to this. (In a lot of fragrances black current smells like piss to me. This did not have that. Maybe the honey. I never got that note.). I never got much in the way in any of the middle notes, though it felt ver Oud/saffron/rose mix to me. Final dry down still had the rose, leather and a small touch of the civet. Very light not very animatic. It did last a long time in me. Most fragrances don’t for me. So this definitely has longevity. I do like this