Dark Rebel Rider

Lit headlights, the roar of motorbikes, and the heavy smell of worn leather clothing are vivid images, sounds and smells, and easily imagined together. In our fantasy, they can reflect the image of an urban cowboy, motorised on two wheels, totally masculine, and breaking any female heart, however prudish. Because this is a text about perfumes, the leathery scent that is associated with this image is particularly important. Of course, I'm not talking about our traditional perfumed cosmetic leather reference or the relatively odourless anonymity of duty-free leather goods. Instead, I'm imagining the scenario of a perfume that clings to a leather jacket that I wear daily along with my favourite jeans. The recipe to achieve this aromatic perfection is simple: I just have to wear that leather jacket wherever I go and for at least 2 years in a row. I also have to avoid showers, and sweat as much as possible. Important warning: I must never clean it! Never! I have to sleep with it, eat with it, drink with it, smoke with it, mess with my car and motorbike with it, go to rock concerts with it... In short, I have to do everything with this leather jacket all the time. Only once in a while, maybe, I can afford to use cheap patchouli to "mask" any unwanted smell it might acquire. In a couple of years, the smell of my leather jacket will finally approach the dark smell of a pure, hard biker's leather jacket. Fortunately, there are some perfumes that can conveniently and instantly solve these olfactory dilemmas without targeting a crowd of users. Dark Rebel Rider smells like the leather jackets worn by die-hard bikers, both in terms of its aroma as well as the visual appearance of the bottle. The opening is discreetly citrusy but somewhat unusual. The fleeting citrus notes are tempered with herbaceous and camphorous notes, opening a path to a singular floral accord composed of an intense, dark violet mixed with iris. Balsamic chords of smoke, resins and dark leather then invade our senses. We have reached the core of the fragrance. We feel a dark, dense atmosphere around us. The intensity of the scent totally captures our attention and that of those around us. I loved this perfume from the first moment I tried it, but I recognise that it is far from universally pleasing. It's one of those perfumes that you either love or hate. I really believe that this perfume, being real nectar for my nose, can be uncomfortable for other people. During drying, the pungency of the dark, resinous leather fades little by little, and some sweet nuances become more noticeable. This stage gains more general acceptance, although I prefer the pungency found in the dark, smoky and somewhat animalistic base. My only disappointment is its performance. I cannot even rate it as acceptable. A scent so heavenly to me should last another couple of hours as a minimum. My opinion: This is a perfume that I consider truly unique for those who are looking for a leathery, dark, balsamic and smoky scent. If that's the case for you, you shouldn't miss this fragrance by John Varvatos... in the style of James Dean or a young Marlon Brando wearing a leather biker jacket. Music: Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild

First, smell some marjoram. If you hate it then I wouldn't blind buy this one. If you love it and you like "dirty" fragrances, this is likely for you. Initially it's like some dried marjoram leaf was thrown into a vat with some industrial substances, but not unpleasant ones. Think of things like tar and motor oil. Other impressions (2 sprays to the chest about an hour ago): It's not like vintage M7 (I haven't tried later formulations), and I haven't tried TF's Tobacco Oud (the TF's I've tried have been a lot stronger than DRR). No aroma chemical overloads (I don't detect any iso e super). Nothing "barbershop," no detectable lavender. No detectable oud ("Western" or otherwise). "Bitter dark cocoa powder" never "came forward." Not in any way smoky, other than perhaps a "clean" musk, and not like TF's Extreme for Men. It does not smell like "cedar and birch tar," and I've worked with wood essential oils too. A touch of sweetness but not a sweet scent, though I am a gourmand fan. Not similar to what's in my vintage bottle of Dirty English. It is on the weak side, in terms of projection, so I probably do need to spray more, as others have said. There isn't much note separation/clarity here, and the base is weak. Layering with something like Molinard's Patchouli might be the way to go. The drydown is nice but smells like one accord (I do understand the comments that there's a touch of Shalimar here), the idea here seems to have been balance and discretion, but of course the name and bottle suggest otherwise. Verdict: I can't say I regret the blind buy, as I got the 125 ml tester for about $20.50 total. If I have to spray more than usual, that would be acceptable here. On the other hand, I would likely swap it and keep 10 ml for myself, if I could get something I knew would be more defined, stronger, but along these same lines. UPDATE: Over five hours after application I can still smell it clearly but the projection isn't good. I get more of the cocoa now, as the other notes have receded more, so it's a kind of "dirty" gourmand. I think it's worthy trying to layer in order to make it stronger, perhaps just a touch of vintage Leather Oud by Dior might be the answer! Further update: I went ahead with layering DRR with Leather Oud and I think this is a great combination, but I can't be sure because just a little of LO largely overwhelmed the DDR, though I can tinker with it and see if I can get it just right. Yet another update: After a few wearings, I think this is strong enough and definitely unique. However, I also find it quite pleasant; otherwise I don't wear a fragrance becausee it is "artistic." I think of it as one of the best inexpensive releases of the last decade or so.

Just like its brother Dark Rebel, this fragrance is a case of loving/hating a scent at the first sniff. Dark, dirty, smoky, boozy, dark cacau, black leather, rubbery vibes and some oud and tobacco although they are not on the listed notes; very manly scent... This fragrance will have a flanker called VERY DARK SUPER REBEL RIDER EDP INTENSE EXTREME that will double the current performance and it will be the best gents fragrance ever. Performance does not suck but it's average at the most, just a bit better than Dark Rebel. You get an enormous projection for 15 minutes and 6 feet sillage; then you get average projection with 3 feet sillage for one hour. After 2.5 hours you get a skin scent and with 3 or 4 inches sillage. It does not get much better if you apply on clothes, unless you apply it on your leather jacket. On leather the performance is 50% bigger in every aspect. Let's see the maths for John Varvatos Dark Rebel: - Scent: 9.5 (fantastic - my judgement) - Longevity: 6.5 (under average for the existing notes - less than 6 hours) - Sillage: 6.0 (6 feet at its peak with 3 sprays; projects for less than 2 hours) - Uniqueness: 9.0 (preetty unique, considering the existing fragrances that I am aware of; But you get strong vibes from other scents like Pure Leather or Parfums de Cuir) - Wearability: 7.0 (Winter of course but also colder Spring or Autumn days; with its mild sillage you could even try it in cold summer days but performance will become relly lowsy with hot weather. It's clearly - or should I say "darkly" - a night fragrance) - Versatility: 6.5 (everyhere where you can use a dark fragrance, but it's probably the best fragrance for clubbing while wearing jeans and a leather jacket); You may share it with your wife if she wheights more than 250 pounds, 6.2 feet high, wear a beard and has a hairy chest. - Quality: 9.0 (my judgement; it's not a 10 due to de mild performance) - Presentation: 10.0 (simple but very bautifull and effective) - Price: 10.0 (100 ml tester for 22 Euros + VAT) Average: 8.17 Will I buy it again?... yes - because the scent is fantastic. Turnarounds for the mild performance: 1st trick - 3 sprays above ears (yes, do wet your hair). 1 spray in the back and another in your chest. 2 sprays in your leather jacket. Result = 50% more performance. 2nd trick - Apply a bit of almond oil or vaseline on your skin (neck and chest) and then apply 4~5 sprays. No scent change and you almost double the performance.

Having never seen this on the shelf of a department store, I just blind-bought this at Marshall's. I looked up the notes on Fragrantica and figured, "I like leather, resins, and chocolate; for $20 I'll take a chance on it." Flores-Roux is an excellent perfumer so I had faith. Now that I've taken it out of the box and sprayed it onto my skin, I can tell you that I would've happily paid $120 for this. It opens with a clean citrus bite that quickly fades into a sweet, earthy black leather jacket accord and a smoked woodsy note in the background. I have Hawthorne's Woody and Leather and that's the only fragrance I've smelled that reminded me of this JV offering. My problem with Hawthorne's leather offering is it's devoid of sweetness; it's just strong animalistic leather and smoked wood throughout. It's not unpleasant, per se, but I just cannot imagine most folks would want to smell like that. This JV leather fragrance, by contrast, strikes a wonderful balance between the potent, masculine Russian leather note and the chocolate, vanilla, and citrus accords lurking in the background. The bottle's presentation is opulent; it is heavy glass sheathed in a leather "jacket" with two sturdy metal zippers. It's 70 degrees outside right now. While I acknowledge this will probably be more wearable in the cold winter months, this isn't so powerful that it registers to my nose as "cloying" right now. I give it a thumbs up for springtime, provided you're conservative with your sprays. Like several John Varvatos offerings, this stuff has a fairly soft sillage but it lasts about 6-8 hours. Overall this is a beautiful fragrance. Very nicely done, Flores-Roux. UPDATE: I've since added this to my top 5 list of fragrances. It's so beautifully blended. It's also the best leather-based scent I've ever had my nose on, including the Tom Ford offerings. It beats Tuscan Leather with its delicate balance of notes, and it decimates Ombre Leather in complexity and ease-of-wear. As a warning, I'll caution you that this is not a scent you wear to impress women; it's far too daring and intriguing and many girls will find the leather note off-putting. This is a scent you wear for yourself.

Danger. Danger. (My immediate thought after spraying Dark Rebel Rider for the first time.) I love this stuff, but you'll really have to watch where you wear it. What I said about MAC Velvet Teddy and then some; you could definitely attract the wrong sort of person(s) wearing this. Have a fabulous time, but it would be very wrong. There can be no excuse of innocence here, no naivete; wear this and you're signaling you're on the prowl. Undoubtedly, using the term on the prowl identifies me as very old, and I am. I'm also a woman, one who wears some mens scents. I'm sure I'm not the only woman who would consider wearing this, but no way is this unisex. it's definitely masculine. Perception is such a huge part of attracting perfume buyers, and the zippered leather bottle is certainly compelling. I keep wondering if you put Dark Rebel Rider juice in a more traditional bottle, say like the Chanel Coco Noir black bottle, called it a floral oriental or some such term, and hyped it as being edgy if women would buy it. Maybe; but I doubt it guys, I think you're safe here. Not from me though. I would never have seen this if I didn't read reviews on Fragrantica. But I saw saffron, black violet, Russian Leather, orris, olibanum, cacao, cedar, patchouli and gee, what's not to love. So I threw caution to the forewinds (its proper location) and headed for the very reasonable bottles on eBay. My bottle came today. I had been a little worried the bitter orange would muck up an otherwise dark and sexy fragrance, but fortunately I don't smell any of that. It's aldehydes and saffron right away, leading to heart notes rather quickly. And they're glorious; the sort of fragrance if properly advertised you'd drop $200 on without any guilt at all. The first two or three hours are pretty intense, and gradually it levels out to a warm, dark woody fragrance. So far it's lasted 6 hours. And in the words of the punch line to a 20+ year old joke (about how used up your body will be at the end of life if you have overdone everything), "wahoo, what I ride."