Dark Rebel

Dark Rebel is a bold, strong, and dark fragrance. Its opening brings rum, sage, black leather, pepper, dark woods, and tobacco. The sugar cane described as an opening note is unnoticeable during the opening. Almost immediately the mid notes join the blend. The black leather found in the mid notes is very deep, dark, potent but not animalic or musky and it blends perfectly with the Castoreum found in the base which enhances the leather tone found in Dark Rebel. The tobacco note is also dark, similar to the scent of Cuban cigars. The initial projection is excellent, as the fragrance dries-down the performance drops quickly to good and then poor. As the fragrance reaches its dry-down, a faint sweet note develops, possibly the mix of the sugar cane and the vanilla that, once the main notes settle a bit, they have a chance to peek out. Same as almost all John Varvatos, the projection and longevity is very poor. From the opening to the dry-down, Dark Rebel’s projection drops very quickly. At its full dry-down, John Varvatos Dark Rebel can be summarized as very close to the skin dark wood, tobacco, and leather fragrance with some spicy touches and a hint of sweetness. As a dark fragrance, the blend is outstanding and it will please those looking for these types of tones. Unfortunately, the performance is disappointing. Batch reviewed: 2020 Wow Rating: 10/10. The opening of Dark Rebel will impress anyone. Dislike Rating: 7/10. Its dark notes are likely to offend some people. Uniqueness: 8/10. Relatively unique, dark fragrances are not that common in the designer domain, they are more commonly found in the niche domain. Mass Appeal: 2/10. Liking Dark Rebel Rider requires an appreciation for dark, tobacco, leathery and boozy notes, this is not a mass appeal fragrance. Projection: 1/10. Very low, once the fragrance has reached its dry-down, its performance is disappointing. Sillage: 0/10. Almost none. Application: Six atomizations, spray your clothes as well. Longevity: 3/10. About three hours. Longevity and projection are disappointing. Seasons: Fall, winter, and colder nights. Occasions: Outdoor gatherings and clubbing. Versatility: 2/10. Very limited. Gender: Masculine. Ages: 30 and above. Recommendation: If the performance would be at least moderate, Dark Rebel would be a gem. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Do not buy it. Blind-Buy: No, sample it first. Similar: There are lots of options to consider. Here are some examples. Valentino Uomo Intense EDP by Valentino, is good leather fragrance, but its longevity isn’t the best; Amouage Memoir Men EDP by Amouage is a great leather, spices, and incense fragrance with great performance; Amouage Epic Man – EDP by Amouage includes leather, spices, and green notes; Amouage Interlude Man EDP is the darkest of the house; Bvlgari Man In Black Men EDP by Bvlgari is one of the best designer’s leather fragrances, but lacks longevity; Carolina Herrera CH Prive EDT includes leather and whiskey but it is sweet; Giorgio Armani - Armani Code Profumo EDP, is a potent leather, and slightly fruity fragrance with strong sweet notes; Guerlain L'homme Ideal EDP by Guerlain features leather, bergamot, and vanilla; Montale Aoud Leather by Montale EDP is one of the best cost/value leather and oud fragrances but not completely dark; Mercedes-Benz Club Black Men EDT By Mercedes-Benz is an office-friendly incense, and leather fragrance. Summary: A fantastic dark leather, tobacco, boozy and woody fragrance. Its performance is disappointing.

DARK, DIRTY, SMOKY AND BOOZY A BADASS WITH A LEATHER JACKET This is a case of loving or hating a scent at the first sniff. Dark, dirty, smoky, boozy, wet tobacco, black leather, burnt rubber.......very manly. This scent promises to be the Katrina hurricane of scents, but the wind never blows very strong. You only get an early peak of the storm. It's a shame because I LOVE this scent for dark rebels. It is a must for smoky scent lovers. The opening rum note and the dark black leather heart are out of this world. The leather note is a little stubborn and blends very well with the bottom tobacco accord aide by a few drops of Castoreum. Unfortunately, somehow performance sucks. After two and a half hours you get little more than a skin scent with 2~4 inches of sillage. It doesn't get much better if you apply it on clothes. Somedays ago, I saw the "Run Away Bride" movie for the 10th time. My performance disappointment with the Dark Rebel performance was similar to what Ike / Richard Gere experienced at his wedding with Maggie / Julia Roberts. It also took me only 3 minutes to fall in love with this EDT. Let's see the math accounting for John Varvatos Dark Rebel: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ - Opening: 10.0 (the scent is just GREAT - overly manly with heavy notes of rum and leather) - Dry Down: 9.0 (less exquisite than the opening - the scent is still very good + very manly) - Longevity: 6.0 (under average for the existing notes - less than 6 hours with 3 sprays) - Sillage: 6.0 (4 feet at its peak with 3 sprays; projects for less than 1.5 hours) - Uniqueness: 9.5 (pretty unique, considering the existing smoky fragrances that I am aware of) - Wearability: 8.0 (all year round day or night, except in hot temperatures) - Versatility: 7.5 (yes to clubbing, socializing, events, restaurants, bars, dates, romancing, sex, office, picnics, weddings, movies, birthday gift to your best friend, work out.... as long as you stay less than 2 hours in any of those situations; Otherwise you will become scentless if you don't respray. Avoid hot weather activities) - Compliments: 8.5 (men like it! Ladies?... well many of them do!) - Quality: 8.5 (my judgement; It should be a 10.0 with decent performance) - Presentation: 10.0 (simple but very beautiful and effective) - Price: 9.0 (100 ml tester for 27 Euros + VAT + shipping; It was on sale at FragranceX) ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Overall rating: 8.36/10.00 between 7 and 8 =above average; between 8 and 9 = recommended; bigger than 9 = don't miss it; My opinion: Will I buy it again?... yes - because the scent is out of this world.... (it's dark, dirty, smoky, boozy!!!!) Recommended? Yes because I just love this fragrance very much. Blind buy worthy? Almost... Try it first. Turnarounds: 1st trick - This fragrance is the child that resulted from the marriage between A*Men Pure Malt and Encre Noir. I tried to layer it with Carven's Vetiver and it turned a little darker and doubled the performance. :-) 2nd trick - Apply a bit of almond oil on your skin and then apply 3~4 sprays. No scent change and you almost double the performance. Music: West Side Story - "Jet Song"

Update: Got a lovely compliment from a woman around my age and she really liked it. Unsolicited and put a solid determination this scent is just the right kind of sexy. I have to immediately say to anyone curious about this one. Definitely smell it. Then come back to it another day. I'll explain. So I bought this by accident from a blind buy at Marshall's. I was buying a toilette tree bag for my personals and this happened to be a clearance dark rebel kit in the bag. So I was like why not! So first impressions I'm like hmmm...not sure. I don't hate it but don't love it. But was very happy with the bag quality. So I go back to it and I'm like whoa this really is amazing. So I decided to wear it and that's where it's just amazing. Best advice someone on here said I remember reading. Definitely a give it a chance and come back to it scent. You might fall in love. Just badass is written all over this scent. Leathers, tabacco, vanilla, and warm spicy all over. This is a fall, winter scent for sure but I love it so much I wear it in the spring summer with no cares. It's definitely one of my signature scents. I love this one so much now I bought a back up bottle. It's definitely a scent for a mature range from 25-55ish. What it feels like. Should be a good night scent but this shines in the heat and I just can't stop smelling it. Girlfriend really likes this one too. Always compliments it and that's a major plus. So it'll work great with the ladies, you'll smell badass and feel as good as you smell. Highly recommended. Oh and the bottle is really awesome as well! Rack stores "may" have this. Have only seen it twice and bought it both times. One time was around $20 the other was $40. Big 4.2oz bottles.

First, allow me to preface this by saying that regardless of my review I absolutely love this fragrance. I really wish the House of John Varvatos would've raised the budget for the production of Dark Rebel. Had they done that Dark Rebel could have stood next to Tom Ford's Plum Japonais as its equally Dark & Mysterious, Smoky, Leathery brother. But alas, I have to be honest. For my personal taste Dark Rebel is painfully synthetic. So much so that I wouldn't call this a Leather. Its a Smoky "Pleather" fragrance with a dark fruit accord that smells more like Plum than it does Rum. I cant ignore the combination of the Rum, Leather, & Cardamom in Dark Rebel giving me a slight reminder of Tom Ford's Plum Japonais, with its use of Plum, Saffron, & Cinnamon. The Leather note in Dark Rebel comes off Plastic-like. Like the Neoprene Rubber that Extension Cords are made of. The Castoreum used also smells synthetic, & works to add depth to the Leather note, as well as a Smoky nuance to the overall composition. All combined, & when sniffed up close, it smells like a collection of GI-Joe Action Figures that just barely survived a House Fire. But in the air it smells badass. Like something you'd wear dressed in all black. That aside I do see Dark Rebels potential, & I really do believe it could've been a better fragrance had it been made with Naturals. I can also see Dark Rebel being quite the challenge for novice noses. Dark Rebel was discontinued. But hopefully the House of Varvatos will bring it back as a Niche offering made with quality ingredients. My review is of Batch 5jh1

This is a case of loving or hating a scent at the first sniff. Dark, dirty, smoky, boozy, wet tobacco, black leather, burnt rubber.......very manly... a real badass. This scent promises to be the Katrina hurricane of scents, but the wind never blows very strong. You only get an early peak of the storm. It's a shame because I REALLY LOVE this scent for dark rebels. The opening rum note and the dark black leather heart are out of this world. The leather note is a little stubborn and blends very well with the bottom tobacco accord with a few drops of Castoreum. Performance somehow sucks. After two and a half hours you get little more than a skin scent with 2~4 inches of sillage. It doesn't get much better when applied to clothing on clothes. Yesterday I saw the movie "Run Away Bride"for the 10th time and my disappointment with the Dark Rebel performance has been similar to what Ike / Richard Gere felt like in his weeding. IT also took me only 3 minutes to fall in love with this EDT. ____________________________________________________ My rating for this rebel without a cause: 8.36/10.00 Will I buy it again?... yes - because the scent is out of this world.... (it's dark, dirty, smoky, boozy!!!!) Recommended? Yes because I just love this fragrance very much. Blind buy worthy? Almost... Try it first. ____________________________________________________