Encre Noire

This may be THEE BEST "Cheapie" fragrance with actual "Niche Quality" Ive ever owned. Theres a reason Encre Noire sells for approximately $100 (Retail) on Lalique's website and while Im DEFINATELY NOT complaining, its almost a shame that this amazing scent has been relegated to the "Cheapis Category " bc "Cheap" Encre Noire is NOT thats for sure! Now the only issue I have with this TRUE masterpiece is that i seem to go extremely anosmic to it and I still get fooled into thinking that its "Too intimate" when its definitely NOT. That is, if I spray Encre Noir on my neck and upper torso near my nose, Ill smell it for a minute or two and then it just seems to completely dissapear, buuuut if I just do a couple spritzes on my forearm AWAY from my face for example, I'll catch constant the fantastic Dark/Etherial/Smokey/Rooty/Bright whiffs of it for hours upon hours bc Encre Noire lasts a very long time on skin (8 to 9hours), ESPECIALLY for an "EDT concentration" along with moderate, yet "Etherial" projection which is not heavy at all and acts super airy and unobtrusive creating a very whispy Scent trail/ Scent bubble. Now folks, when ya purchase Encre Noire you MUST spray some out and let it "Maturate" for a pretty long time if you want it to perform or even have much of a scent at all bc when Id initially recieved my bottle and sprayed it I couldn't believe how incredibly faint and short-lived it was, like I could BARELY smell anything at all even when Id sprayed it on my arm away from my face, so I'd put it away for a few months having given up on it, only to then pull it back out months later and be completely caught off guard at how much stronger it had become and how amazing it smelled. This isn't my first review but I was inspired to re-review it bc I got yet ANOTHER awesome compliment from a customer at work who'd ask what scent I was wearing bc quote: "There are very few fragrances that completely drive me crazy enough and find so beautiful that I have to ask a stranger what in the world are they wearing." The customer asked me where I got it and to show her a picture of the bottle so she could buy it as her husband's Father's day gift. I know this is YET ANOTHER long teview from me about Encre Noire, but there's just so much for me to share about this AMAZING FRAGRANCE! An easy 10 outta 10 in my book and a true masterpiece by Sorceress/Alchemist-Nathalie Lorson.. CHEERS!

This smells like the ET Adventure ride queue from Universal Studios to me. Basically, a synthetic, uncanny depiction of a wet forest at night. Let me state that I DO NOT feel this is photorealistic, which is why I mentioned a theme park's queue that imitates this wet foggy forest vibe instead of an actual, freshly rained forest predominantly consisting of pine trees I think it's mostly my relationship with vetiver being obvious here to blame, as you're not going to find a pine forest with this root that typically grows in certain tropical regions. Maybe you disagree with this and think I'm stupid for not being imaginative enough, but that's just my opinion. The vetiver they use here (Haitian?) gives a moist and more fresh green direction, which is appreciated. I typically struggle with vetiver despite loving it in isolation, and I think for the price range of this fragrance I'm thoroughly impressed. It reminds me alot of Guerlain Vetiver Parfum, but at a way more affordable price, and you can get this at a size less than 100ml- which was one of the only reasons I decided not to purchase VP, especially since I would not typically wear these fragrances as a daily driver but more for a cooler and/or darker time. This is also less 'sweet' and licorice-like to me compared to Guerlain VP, which is a plus. Also, don't really get the whole macabre and/or overtly fantastical descriptions for this scent, no offense. Not everything dark is synonymous with negative concepts. It would be more objective as a critique if you just said you thought it smelled like shit and you do not like it, rather than comparing this rather approachable niche fragrance to literal death. Longevity is relatively decent- not beastmode- frankly I do not need a heavy performer for night gatherings as they rarely exceed 5 hours in my book. I will consider this as a dark fragrance I can wear at nights/cooler days.

I had to update my review because this piece of art deserves it....Around 3 years of owning it i must say i dont reach for it too often,but when i do im always reminded how genius it is...It smells nice and has its own character,very dark/gothic/vampire vibe to me and i love it...You wear this for yourself,you probably wont get compliments but people will definetly notice you..I cant call it a hidden masterpiece here,because a billion people tried it,but its definetly very very niche and different than all the stuff todays npcs wear...If it had a pretentious name or a story,and a 300€ price tag,people would be eating this up even more...Even if Orto Parisi released something this simple it would sellout quick for 150-200€...The drydown especially on clothing is mesmerizing and addictive and lasts for days on clothes. First fragrance that got me into unusual/weird scents...People usually over exaggerate their reviews, but when they say that you need to imagine a mossy forest with an old church between the trees, and the smell of moss on the old bricks or rocks, yes, that's exactly what this smells like.You could also imagine a vampire or some ominous entity smelling like this.Its really versatile in my opinion,even in summer evenings...Bottle is incredible,very minimalistic but great quality...Even though this is not a crazy performer on skin,it stays on clothes for days...For me a must wear when im going to the forest with friends to chill.Pretty much a must have if you like exploring forests,old villages, abandoned buildings and overall love that whole vibe. Other 2 flankers are also incredible even thought they all lean in their own direction. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Holy mother Mary. Dear Lord upon high, praise the saints. This is the ultimate holy grail of fragrance for me. My favorite note of all time is cypress, but I've never been able to find a wonderful, dark, lush cypress note that lasts and isn't paired with vile citruses... I'd always seen this being reviewed on here, but I never decided to give it a chance...but after getting my last paycheck, I couldn't say no to a 3.4oz bottle for $30 on ebay. First impressions: The bottle is gorgeous. Statuesque. Minimalist. Dark. Geometric...and altogether aesthetically pleasing. It reminds me of luxurious dark-stained wood and obsidian stones. Then I sprayed it on...the sprayer is WONDROUS, because it gives a full, round, cloud of fragrance that goes onto the skin so well. This is everything I've been looking for, fragrance-wise. It's sharp, pungent, shadowy, dark, voluptuous, and altogether smoky and seductive. My skin brings out the astringent quality of cypress that I adore so much, but the smoky vetiver radiates quite well as well, and it even has a nice edge that reminds me of orange peels. To me, this is very reminiscent of a wooded forest at dawn, in mid-Autumn. Wet, herbal, and incredibly woodsy. Wet orange leaves peppering the forest floor, that is covered with moss and mushrooms. There's even an accord that reminds me of the rising fog at dawn. This is a gorgeous fragrance, and I do believe this has got to be one of my most favorite fragrances of all time. You CANNOT go wrong with this. For the price, the longevity, the power, and the design, there is nothing to lose because this is one of the few PERFECT FRAGRANCES in this world.

Alright, that will be a journey. You sit at home, watch a video about parfume reviews and every person recommends that one certain parfume. Encre noire by Lalique. And the best thing is, it is cheap. "You can get it for just as low as 20€". You feel happy, "finally i can afford a nishe perfume". Thats what i thought. Till i saw that the original website offers encre noire for 107€ and that moment my trust was gone because how the hell do grey markets and souks get the price so low? Its too good to be true, so i didn't buy it. Instead, a friend bought it for me to prove to me, that these markets are legitimate. They aren't. Anyhow, i got the scent and it was bad. Sharp cypress, fresh, almost minty with nothing else to show. I didn't like it. I thought this is just how it is to have a polarising scent. Until i got curious and ordered a sample at "TRYMEFRST" (not sponsored btw) and i was blown away. Because the real fragrance is a different world. Top: Definitelly smells like some sort of ink. You know when you fill out a big area with a ball point pen? Its like that, but not as uncomfortable. Heart: Now comes cypress. Actually balanced cypress. It is dry, dusty, like a memory of an old room kind of dusty. It feels nostalgic and a little bit like bittersweet memories. It doesn't smell bitter though. Base: i actually can't really say anything but that. Cashmere and musk glues the scent together and makes it harmonic. In that combination it is hard to differentiate these exact ingredients. I love it. Oh yeah, my friend also sent me a sample of Halston Z-14, that ones great. Try it out.

My favorite vetiver fragrance! This is dark, deep, and gloomy. To my nose, this fragrance has 4 phases. Even though the notes are simple, it really has complexity in it's evolution. Initial spray, you will get this green and cold, almost like fresh leaves which is definitely from cypress. It only lasts for a few seconds (15-30 secs) before it transition to it's next phase. 2nd phase has this woody smell along with that greeness but without the cold feeling that is already toned down. This stays for about a few mins (2-5 mins). 3rd phase I believe that it is the heart of this fragrance. It has this Inky dusty smell with some kind of slight gasoline texture. Beneath that, vetiver shows up slowly before the green freshness disappear completely. It is dark earthy, like warm earthiness. I imagine Hawas black earthiness but make it 10x darker. It's dry and smoky smells like old bricks and it lasts for like 1-2 hrs. The farthest dry down is just a simple woody fragrance and still maintaining that gasoline-like texture under the dusty inky smell. Overall, I think this is a scent for everyone that wears all black. Even though this is a heavy vetiver scent, anyone can wear this as long as you use it in colder days and nights while wearing all black. Final rating: Presentation: 10/10 minimalistic and presents exactly what it smells like Scent: 10/10 I just love it Projection: 6.5/10 It should not be a loud fragrance imo Longevity: 9/10 the base lasts long to my skin but is very faint.

The sky is a leaden blanket, pressing the mist into the valley until the world loses its edges. Every raindrop that falls feels like a deliberate brushstroke on a canvas of grey and black, turning the landscape into a living ink-wash painting. You aren't just walking through the woods; you are wading through a memory that has been left to soak in a shallow, cold pool. There is a profound weight to the stillness—a heavy, velvet silence that smells of things that have never known the sun, of deep, twisting roots clutching at the bedrock and the quiet, exhaled breath of the earth itself after a long, drenching storm. Inside the sanctuary of a stone study, the shadow of the window frame stretches across the floor like a skeletal finger, pointing toward a desk where the only light is the dull reflection of a well-used inkwell. The air is thick with the scent of ancient, damp timber and the sharp, clean bite of a cold morning that refuses to break. It is the aroma of a letter written and never sent, of words that have dried into the fibers of the paper until they are one and the same. Here, in the hollow heart of the day, there is no need for warmth—only the dark, beautiful clarity of the ink.

Imagine you're a little ink man, drawn on a piece of ancient paper. You look around, and all you see are ink lines, forming a dense forest around you, and dry paper skies. You wander deeper into the forest, slowly discovering that the ink humidified the paper a little. Now, instead of pure drought, you feel a distant dampness, like a rain that is about to come, but never will. This is how Encre Noire feels. Despite only four notes, it feels rich and complex, like a story you'd read for 2-3 days and still barely remember it after a decade. The cypress and vétiver give it that forest vibe. The smell is really dry at first, but gets a little more humid after about half an hour. Someone said here before that you need to pull away a little to get the "Encre Noire" part, the inkyness. That's absolutely right. If you can find a good petrichor to layer it with, consider yourself a winner because you have the perfect combination for a walk in a forest, or a rainy day in general. The sillage and longevity are both about moderate-strong. A safe blindbuy if you're into ultra niche scents. And overall, those 30$ are worth the risk

I can't quite understand why everyone calls this fragrance dark, it smells like the mountains for me which I wouldn't call necessarily dark. It's very earthy indeed but not as mysterious, evil, vampire-ish to me as many like to describe as well. I feel like if you live in the mountains long enough you might smell like this eventually, idk maybe that might be the case for vampires too but the smell feels too general to describe such specific cases. I like the perfume for its cypress heavy 'cool-tone' vibe tho which I think is different from many other wood base perfumes and also the main reason I bought this specific one as well. My main disdain with most wood base perfumes is the fact that they would ALWAYS put vanilla, chocolate or any other oily, sugary, caramel whatever yuck "warm" ingredients that I don't like. I really wish more wood base perfumes gave this sort of a more neutral approach and let the fragrance of wood shine the brightest, which I think this perfume does quite well.

The opening has a suede drenched cypress nip with a nice woody intensity. This is not what i expected based off reviews. I do not get the "black ink" scent accord. It smells very similar to Chanel Sycomore to me, just without the smoky spice vibe Encre Noire is much more linear compared to Sycomore. Its straight dark earthy woody vetiver with a bite from the cypress. Its not lively, its not fresh, not soapy, not smoky. Its moody, if i was to describe it as a colour, its "slate grey/charcoal." Dark but not overly dark, but certainly not bright or fresh. As it dries i get a musty old book feeling. Its flinty and earthy. A very dark feeling vetiver. To me Encre Noire took the flint from Terre D'hermes and the mood of Chanel Sycomore. Its an earthy broody vetiver with a flinty note. Its not as smoothly blended, but for the price point, Encre Noire is great. If you love chanel sycomore or vetiver in general, get this and save yourself a ton of money. Its about 80% similar.

This is a very interesting scent, I really enjoy this, but don't expect this to be the most wearable fragrance. I think people online exaggerate it so much when they say "you will smell like a cemetery" or that you will smell like a vampire. No. It is not unwearable, but it is not a "wearing" fragrance, it is more of a "feeling" fragrance in my opinion. The best I can describe the smell, is by saying: It smells like walking through a pine forest after a heavy rainfall. Fresh pine smell with earthy mud. I really love this, and the people I asked said quite the same. Noone said it was "bad", BUT be careful, as i can see this is NOT a mass appealing scent profile. Don't expect people around you to like it. I would only buy this for myself, not to please others. You can pretty much wear it in any weather, but summer. Best on cloudy days around 10-15 degrees celsius. Really cheap also, i blind bought it and it did not disappoint me, almost became my signature too.

People keep saying it's dark, I don't see it that way. It's extremely woody in a rain soaked wood kind of way but it's rain on a sunny day, not a cold damp day. There is an inky accord and ink looks dark but doesn't smell dark if that makes any sense. I really think this a year round scent, it's vetiver, and it's vetiver with little to no citrus accords, but it's infused with cashmere wood, sandal wood, and other similar style of woody perfume molecules. This also reminds me of the wood section in a store like Home Depot or Lowe's for people in the US who are familiar with these stores. It's a wet plank of wood just being cut by a circular saw kind of smell... the plank has to be wet. This also has layering potential, although I don't usually layer fragrance, if at all, but you can layer it under a blue fragrance (non-sweet blue fragrance) or a citrus fragrance. Needless to say, I really like it.

I purchased Encre Noir as a sort of first step into ‘niche’ perfumes. After reading a tonne of mixed reviews I thought I would just go for it and I’m so glad I did! For me, it’s not the dark gothic scent that a lot of reviews made it out to be however I do think it has a lot of whimsy. I get smokey burnt wood, inky puddles and forest floor when I initially spray it and then on the dry down I get a sharp citrusy/metallic note. I wear it often and really enjoy it on myself but it’s not one to receive a tonne of compliments on. Longevity isn’t the best, I do find it lasts longer on clothing than it does on skin. All in all I would recommend this as a starter into niche perfumes as it’s really affordable and the bottle looks really nice.

I happen to be among people who likes it. But I do not see myself wearing it in winter.I see nothing dark and mysterious neither.This parfum immediately transported me in the hot summer day, in my childhood, in the park with high cypresses in the both sides of the pass. The day is so hot that the cypress trees sap and oils linger in the air. The sun is strong , the grass is dry and yellow, and it crisps when you step on it. I almost can hear cicadas' songs. It's is strange how our brain works. I will definitely wear this parfum in summer and early autumn, and in any day I want to be transported in memories. EC Extremely long lasting, even with multiple showers. I guess I will not be using it on clothes.

Imagine it’s 6am, the sun is just getting ready to peak over the horizon, but you wouldn’t know, because it’s overcast and dreary. You walk to the edge of your yard, just as your property transitions to woods, and you see a mound of dirt and leaves and brush. From the brush, a hand breaks through the dirt. You see a woman with jet black hair, black leather dress, and black high heels crawl out of the dirt like a a vegetal Elvira. That’s Encre Noire. A masterpiece. It’s both very masculine and very feminine. It smells lilije woods and the office. Like dirt and sex. Classic and Modern. Like 1993 and 2026. Prehistoric and the Future. Classy and Dingy. Your wife and an escort. Basically, it’s good stuff.

My grandpa used to make a haunted house out of his garage every Halloween. It had like a 50' long plywood tunnel we assembled that stretched from the garage door out into the long driveway. Some years it rained. There were fog machines. There was a gas generator to keep the breaker box from exploding. There were rubber masks all over the place and fake gore heads and limbs got lit up by strobes and black lights. There were animatronic ghouls and horror movie killers with garbled voice boxes spinning around. Everyone got a king-sized candy bar if they made it through the ramshackle horrors my grandpa painstakingly assembled. Admission was free. That's what this perfume reminds me of.

This one surprised me. The opening reminds me of Oud noir by Versace and then quickly becomes this deep and dark earthy scent. It still has a freshness to it, I feel like this could be worn in the spring and summer in the right circumstances. It smells like a forest in the best way. It’s surprisingly complex in the progression, it starts with that fresh but earthy cypress and then the inky elements come in, the inky scent fades and it ends off with an earthy but slightly fresh scent. I’m very happy with it especially for a little over 20 dollars. I was skeptical of the ink at first but it’s done in a very nice way. Overall I’d give it an 8/10 for the scent

I blind bought this cologne after looking for more niche fragrances that wouldn’t hurt my pockets too badly and I found this. The cologne reminds me of plants outside after it rains and very specifically wet pine trees. Even though there are no rain notes it still has a rainy vibe to it. It’s not super loud but it’s not quiet either, I haven’t worn it out yet but when I tried it my mom could smell me and I only put about 2-3 sprays. It also last a good amount of time, for me it lasted just about maybe 5-7 hours. Overall I’d give this a 10/10 and if you like fresh plant/woody smelling scents this would be for you!

HONESTLY, not as bad as I thought it would be, I actually really like it. I ordered a bunch of frags and also got Hermès Parfum. This lowkey has some kind of resin that is also in that. It's way more aromatic than I expected it would be. The opening smells like "ashwagandha" or any kind of root, I guess, but in the mid, I'm getting tons of resin/aromatics and a dry woody scent. That may be what strong Vetiver or strong Cypress is, but I'll definitely buy a full bottle. Niche quality for sure, but very occasion-based, easier to wear than Interlude Man for sure. Dare I say it, I prefer this to Amouage Outlands!

Forest vetiver benchmark A dark green composition built around cypress shadow, inky depth, and dense root facets rather than citrus freshness or mineral dryness. Haitian and Bourbon vetiver deepen the impression of damp roots and forest floor, with a tone reminiscent of calligraphic ink, while musks and cashmere woods keep the structure fluid and quietly persistent. More immersive and balsamic than the polished Sycomore, it defines the modern forest-register vetiver and has shaped much of what followed. Still the undethroned reference of its kind: direct, atmospheric, and unmistakably original.