Dark Rum

Low-key mad at myself. For finding this only now. I fell for it so hard it actually stings. The annoying kind of love. The “if I’d met you earlier, I’d be a different person” kind. Time wasted. Years misused entertaining lesser liquids. And for what, ’cause it’s been around for, what, 10 years now? Lol. Love hurts. Love scars. 💔 The opening lands like running into someone incredible and realizing they’ve been living down the street all along. Bright, hot, almost shocking. Plum, bergamot, anise (right, anise). An absurd trio that looks like it should start a fight and instead takes over the room. The plum is ripe and jammy, but not sticky, not dessert-slutty. There’s a sour edge to it, a little snarl. The bergamot crashes in sharp and a tad twitchy, icing the sweetness before it can get ideas. Then the anise shows up cool, unmistakably licorice, straightening your spine on contact. Now, to the confused-but-yapping “Where’s the dark? Where’s the rum?” crowd. Please unclench. Malin+Goetz didn’t lead you on. You heard “rum” and blacked out. 😵 Fragrantica did what it does best and tripped over basic information, spreading more confusion. So yeah. Anise in the top. Vanilla in the middle. And the rum isn’t really rum. Dark Rum is “inspired by bay rum.” Not the drinking kind. Bay rum isn’t for sipping or playing pirate intellectual like you’re Hemingway. It’s an herbal skin tonic. The kind that burns on a fresh shave. Think old Caribbean sailors. “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum” days. Salt. Sweat. Raw alcohol. Weathered wood, rope burn, bay leaf and spice. Heritage, knuckles scraped. Definitely not a mojito. Definitely not a daiquiri. Definitely not whatever fruity Papa Doble, party-in-Havana BS you were expecting. Bless. 🙄 I love it most about half an hour in, when the sweetness calms down. The fruit pulls back, the anise softens, and the whole thing moves closer. Skin-close. Intimate. It’s perfect for cold weather, but still light enough that it doesn’t smother you or tug at your sleeve for attention. The leather note here is a personal favorite and the hill I will die on. This is NOT biker jacket. Not car interior. Not “masculine leather” nonsense. Anyone calling it that should book an ENT appointment before reviewing anything again. This leather is worn. Lived-in. Gently animal. Feminine-leaning, delicate even. The kind that feels like skin that’s already been touched. The progression itself is perfect seduction pacing. Loud at first, all brightness and attitude. Then it gets quieter. Slower. Warmer. Like a date that starts with witty cruelty and unnecessary theatrics, all electric flirting and showing off, then dissolves into wandering hands, lowered voices, bodies closer than planned. Less talking. More proximity. Breathing each other in. You didn’t plan on staying out this long. Too bad. I usually don’t trust sweet scents. They get clingy. This one doesn’t. It knows when to shut up. It could easily land in my top 10, though I don’t find it especially versatile. It reads as a colder-month pick, but frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it pulled summer too. Unlike heavier, barroom numbers such as Black Phantom, Dark Rum wears lighter and cleaner. Perfectly unisex, too. If a man I was seeing wore this, I’d steal spritzes without shame. And if he noticed, he’d be put horizontal and relieved of the bottle. I know exactly how obscene this would smell on him. Outright disgraceful. Carnally hot. No question. I bought a full size on the spot. If there were a 100 ml, I’d have gone bigger. This isn’t going anywhere. 🖤 4.5/5. Half a point denied purely out of spite for not finding me sooner. Some loves come late. This one showed up smirking, already sure it would get away with it.

I quite like that this fragrance isn't popular, because I don't really want anyone else to start wearing it! However, I do think it's a disservice to Dark Rum that there are only 3 reviews on here, so I'm going to add one. I own the small rollerball of perfume oil which set me back just under AUD $70, and I chose this option because the 100ml EDT is $198 and while I've tested that one too, at the moment I'm not totally sure it's worth this price because the scent is stunning but the longevity and projection are not. The perfume oil roller ball projects really well and lasts for a long time. I do love to spray my perfumes in my hair and as a mist over me when I wear them, so I do think at some point in the near future I'll purchase the EDT as well and carry the roller ball in my purse. Anyway, on to the scent. It's a bit of a tricky one to describe, because at times it very nearly leans masculine, but it's also fresh and fruity and delightfully feminine. It's one of those perfumes you really have to tell someone about in person so you can say "here, smell this". It makes me feel like I'm on vacation, I've spent all day at the beach, and now it's late afternoon so while the weather has cooled down a bit, it's still warm and balmy. It's that time between beach and dinner where I'm back in my hotel room to take a long, refreshing shower and shortly after migrate to a bar somewhere by the beach. The sun is setting, I have a delicious rum cocktail adorned by a miniature umbrella in hand and I'm wondering how I'll ever be able to say goodbye to this tropical paradise. Warm, sensuous, boozy, fresh. It just works. It makes me feel both refreshed and relaxed. For a while I barely detect anything rum-like but the essence is there and becomes more prominent when the top notes dissipate. Suitable for all seasons I think, despite my above description. It's winter here now and I'm loving it!

[DEC 2020] malin goetz leather: its been two years and they havent put it up on the site yet! i'll write this to make a point it exists. If one thought Dark Rum's too light with zero lasting power, M+G Leather is right there! It released 2018 but I only noticed how recent it was when I looked it up (around the same time as their Cannabis!) Leather almost makes a good affordable replacement for Hermesscence's Cuir d'Ange. Leather has this deliciously milky, boozy opening which recalls eggnog! Coincidentally it also recalls Dark Rum. What separates this from Cuir d'Ange and Dark Rum is Leather gets too specific and heavy on the leather than Cuir. It's also much stronger than Dark Rum ever gets (thankfully!) However, its not a bad thing. While Cuir smells of its soft buttery handbags, it can also be too soft for its own good. I love its delicate intricacies mid-scent, but Leather somehow bursts into leather after 15 minutes and I've never had a perfume "burst" so unabashedly before. Its leather smells more of those naturally cracked vintage leather bags via Burberry! (Yes, the ones with the particular aged leather stink.) But what really brought me back into finally buying this fragrance is the leather receeding back and there it is again! The leather steps back for the beautiful boozy milky smell and it just works together so well (oh! and plum has arrived.) If its stocked near you, please share your thoughts on M+G's Leather too. I think it was the added depth of the leather that warrants its already fair price and back into the land of (introductory) niche. This smells synthetic at first but these chemicals then morph into real and in general it smells quite good! [Sold at MECCA AU.]

i adore how this fragrance sleeps on the skin. i remember spending what felt like an eternity pacing around the vast selection of perfumes and colognes in nordstrom. i stumbled across a little stand with the malin+goetz line all over it, and i vividly recall testing all the edps--strawberry, vetiver, leather, cannabis, and others i don't really care for or remember--but dark rum was so striking to me that i just had to get it dark rum is the most intimate fragrance that malin+goetz has to offer. the scent of it envelops me into another world, filled with rich stories and a life i've never lived. it initially opens with a burst--an intense, almost suffocating fruity note where the skin of a freshly picked plum breaks and its nectar dances with the warmth of the evening sun. it demands your attention and feels both indulgent and overwhelming, but something about it is really alluring. the sweetness lingers, almost too much, as though the weight of it fills the air and wraps around you like a thick, plummy mist. as the fragrance unfolds, the notes of leather start to emerge, like sinking into a leather chair after you stumble back into the house, drunk from a night out with your friends. the rum accord is present but tender and soft, like a background conversation in the distance that whispers from the corner of the room i say that it’s very bold, but as it settles, it reveals itself as sweet, warm, deep, and complex. dark rum makes me want to stay a while longer and enjoy the moment

I had purchased a bottle of Dark Rum a few years ago when I had tested it on a trip to San Francisco. At the counter, it was delicious and lightly boozy, both on the light spritz on my wrist and on paper. After bringing it home, I wore it a few times and stopped reaching for it because it somehow didn't have the same appeal as when I had bought it. I reduced it down to a compulsive vacation expense, or even due to the weather being different between San Francisco and home. After sitting on my shelf for a couple of years unworn, I decided to revisit it today. KentB27's review totally nails what this fragrance is on my skin and helped define why I stopped wearing it. Plum notes are definitely amplified as the fragrance blooms, transforming into a sweet, jammy, lipstick accord. The amber and milk is really beautiful in Dark Rum, and the patchouli gives this some woody allure. I can't get past the rich jammy lipstick even though I have tried to imagine sweet, leathery plum skins instead. My mind won't give in to suggestion and my skin surrenders completely to the dark, syrupy fruit, which is incredibly tenacious as an EDT. I wish I could enjoy this as much as the other reviewers below. It's delicious, just not for me and will be passing my bottle on.