Ebony Fume

#1010 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I'm surprised that people are still surprised that these clones can be made for so little money. You should watch the BBC documentary "Perfume's Dark Secret." Just search. It's free to watch. You will learn that even the most expensive fragrances on the market have on average around $10 worth of perfume oils. Packaging, marketing, Johnny Depp endorsements aside, the actual contents of the bottles costs very little. There can be differences in quality, the use of synthetics. But look how often you see "bergamot" listed, not "Sicilian Bergamot" or "Calabrian Bergamot" (because the EU adopted a rule that those labels cold only be advertised for the real thing). "Bergamot" is always one of 350+ available synthetic oils on the market, and some, like the one used by Lataffa, are kinda screechy and cheap smelling, and some not, but they don't smell like the real thing. Nevertheless you see the synthetic in some pricey scents. So back to this scent. It's a solid note-for-note dupe of Tom Ford "Ebene Fume", but there is a slight difference in the resins that if you have the real thing or have experienced the real thing you will probably notice in the opening. If you've never had Ebene Fume, then don't worry about it. In a half hour I don't really notice it so much. In the opening it reminded me of a non-edible version of flax oil, linseed oil, that we mixed with turpenes to paint wood slat houses. I loved the smell first thing in a cool summer morning, but after mixing it and painting with it all day in the blazing hot sun I was very much over it. And I would suggest this isn't a warm weather scent. But used conservatively in winter it shouldn't offend anyone in any setting, and at this price point it's a brilliant blind buy.

Picked this up about a week ago, initially I was a little off put by the STRONG incense. I don't know what was up but after the first couple sprays that day the incense mellowed out so I could actually smell anything else for the first 30 minutes. Let's go to my impression: First spray: palo santo and incense straight up yum. I get a little of the pepper (thought I may be spelling the resins more, comes across peppery. The floral note is very mild and is definitely coming from the mids. 15 minutes later: that incense has mellowed more and you get that almost citrus from the palo santo, still very woody and spicy from the resin and pepper, little leather coming in the bass. 1 hour later: given way to wood and pepper, some mild white but kind of earthy floral warm, round soft. 4 hours later: pretty much glued to smelling my shirt at this point, resinous wood, almost want to look around the room incase someone is burning a lovely piece of palo santo, I get that smell throughout imo the development for me is the incense changing from a sultry smoke into a background warmth mixed with the wood and resin spice. Overall love this as it won't seem to change too much throughout wearing. Longevity is great, it'll get faint after 6-8 hours but if you tilt your nose towards where you sprayed it'll come back out, spray this on an undershirt and let it seep out. I will also say that I layered this with a "blue" dna scent and loved that it added the extra wood and smoke, this would be good to layer with something missing that warmth.

IDK about the "Repellent thing" bc I get ZERO "Repellant." I just know that this smells freakin' AMAZING! Plus every time I wear Ebony Fume someone comments on how great I smell, and I mean (EVERY TIME). After having it for around 4 months Its become a certified beastmode, super long-lasting woody, incense l dream. Im getting like 8 to 9 hours on skin and its still detectable as a soft skin-scent beyond that, so unless folks just need to let this "Maturate" a bit, I am ultra confused about folks claiming this has "Moserate Longevity." Oh and this stays days clothes. Absolutely excellent 9 outta 10 minus one point for lack of versitilty bc I cant emagine wearing this in high heat. I just know this thing SLLLAPS! I must be honest and say that I have yet to smell the OG Ebene Fume, but if ya like deep, woody, incensy fragrances that smell "Expensive", do tourself a favor and DO NOT pass Ebony Fume up!.. Trust 💯

I have to admit, I’m one of the believers in maceration with middle eastern fragrances. Of the many I own, this may be the one least in need of rest in a dark room. Right out of the box, this one is great. Now, to compare it to the inspiration fragrance by TF... I’m having a hard time finding differences. A former coworker would wear EF in the office all the time, and that’s how I became familiar with this particular profile. I tried for a few hours after spraying the back of my hand to spot a difference in the quality of aroma, overall fragrance accuracy, and performance (to my best recollection). I cannot seem to nail even one down. It smells wonderful. If deep, very wood-forward, and almost dark fragrances are your style, this is not going to disappoint. I washed that hand half a dozen times at least, and I could easily smell it even still. I’m very pleased. 10/10 at its price.

I will preface this by saying this is not a perfect match for Tom Ford's èbéne fumé. But it also isn't 300 dollars for a bottle. I got my bottle of ebony fume because Tom Ford's is 300 dollars. And this is darn close. Some of the notes don't last as long as Tom's do, and some notes are more prevelant and visa versa. But all in all it's a nice way to get that scent whenever you want and not feel guilty for spraying it every day. Beautiful peppery, smokey, woody, resinous fragrance that has an intimate bubble around you for those who do get in close. It's not going to last all day but I don't expect it to, Tom Ford's doesn't either. If you want something you can travel with to get the same vibe for a fraction of the cost you can't really beat ebony fume.