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.

I think this is the best Malin+Goetz perfume and the best rum perfume known to me. It's non-offensive smooth leather, slightly sweet and very delicate. When I smell it, I am immediately transported in a hall of a classy hotel with brown leather couches, glass coffee tables with potpourri on them and the chaos of different guests arriving and leaving. It's lively and the anticipation of adventure which is about to start is making me happy. The scent is familiar, comforting, even though the environment is probably new. In the evening, I might go to the hotel's bar. In the morning, there's a cosy coffee shop right next door. There might be people in business suits having meetings or families with kids, coming for a ski trip (I see this hotel somewhere in snowy mountains but it doesn't have to be). It's relaxing because I don't have to be a part of any of this, I am just an observer, having my own adventure, taking in the present moment. This is how Dark Rum smells to me. As a bonus it has a decent longevity, moderate sillage and is perfectly unisex. Truly a gem in Malin+Goetz collection.

A gorgeous boozy, leathery, plum fragrance. I don't get much of the dark rum vibe, but it's lovely. The rum/leather combination makes it more than suitable for men, but the soft fruity plum/bergamot makes it equally appropriate for a woman. It's a smooth, sensual, fruity leather scent. Perfect for any season, in my opinion. But probably best for spring, fall, and cool summer days. It's chilly and rainy here in Saint Paul today, and this is perfect! Performance is decent. Longevity is quite good on me. projection and sillage are soft to moderate, and it's pretty original. I've not smelled anything like it before. Someone mentioned a similarity to Jazz Club by MMM Replica and I don't get that really. I like Dark Rum so much more. I just used up the last of my decant today, so I might be looking to replace it or buy a full bottle soon. If I can help it at all, I always want this in my collection. A sleeper rather than a classic. One of those fragrances that will always be underestimated and underrated. Flies under the radar. Solid, near perfect fragrance for me. 9.5/10

There is absolutely nothing like this on the market. I've smelled A LOT of designer perfumes, niche perfumes and even niche fragrance from all over the world, and I've never smelled something like this. The plum note is rarely one that you see, and this one is done so well. Imagine biting into a ripe, cool dark plum--that scent in your nose as you do that is exactly what this top note is. It's juicy, fresh tart and sweet--just like a really good fruit. Interestingly, I can pick out the milk note first when it starts drying down. It's delicious and makes you want to keep sniffing your wrist. Finally, the bulk of this fragrance is the leather--but this is not a masculine leather but fruity (thanks to the plum) so that it kind of smells a bit like fruity tobacco. It's absolutely stunning and is spot-on unisex. Overall, my favorite perfume and I'm currently wearing it now (I'm a girl in college). I absolutely hate florals, so this scent is perfect for me. Even if you don't like it based on the notes, I'd say this one is worth a sniff.

Big time fan of this fragrance. It was literally love at first sniff . It's so unique and very versatile. You get that dark plum, bergamot and molasses scent that turns into deep dark brown sugar, aged rum and dark leather . At the end it all sinks into a light amber and slight milky scent . The strongest notes once it's totally settled are dark aged rum, leather and amber. It is definitely a sweet fragrance so that may not be everyone's cup of tea. This fragrance always makes me think of a Caribbean island or a tiki bar . It's super versatile and can be worn all year day or night. Maybe not to something too nice or formal but I feel it works for everything else . It is a fragrance that sticks on you but nothing that people will smell from 5 feet away . Value , it smells great and it's something I will buy again. So I don't mind paying the $90 . But I know it's not the cheapest for some .. Scent- 10.0 Complexity -8.0 Quality - 8.0 Performance -7.0 Bottle - 3.0 ( cheap)

Omg! A lot of negative reviews for this one with very differing views. I personally LOVE it. Mouthwatering plum dances with some patchouli on a slightly lactonic base. The leather just peeps in to keep it from being cloying. I think it’s a true unisex- very much a personality based fragrance. It’s a fun, casual, tropical vibe even though it’s quite nuanced. ‘Tally me banana’ song playing. Big fan of malin+goetz fragrances so far though I hope the lasting power improves eventually. Revisiting and I actually do detect the dryer sheets but not enough to interfere with my love for it. I think the biggest thing to note with this is the lightness! Fresh candy like plum musk, not as boozy and dark as implied by the name. It’s like an edgy freshy. My hubby said it reminded him of hookah or Spencer’s gifts lol. Someone mentioned cereal milk and I get that (after fruity pebs probably) Such a mysterious lil fragrance. Weather drastically affects which notes shine in this.

A Plum Bomb! I have been debating about getting this fragrance for about 2 years.. I finally did and I’m glad I did! I was hoping for a darker more boozy scent.. the opening is very bright and a tad soapy.. Thhe plum note is very very dominant which is very nice.. I get a touch of leather once it settles down.. The one note I was hoping for was the rum but it’s very minimal.. Not saying there isn’t a boozy quality to this, there is it’s just not very noticeable.. One reviewer questioned if this wasn’t meant to be called Dark Plum.. The milky accord is there doesn’t come off weird or anything.. I would buy a full bottle, since this is a decant that I own.. I find this to be unisex right down the middle.. It’s nice, clean, and fruity.. This will be my scent of the day tomorrow so I will see how it wears through out a whole day.. Two thumbs up!! Rating 8.8/10 Plum Plum Plum

The perfect dark boozy scent. Syrupy dark plum almíbar spiked with a high end rum. Inexpensive niche but exceptional stature, only it doesn’t last all day so the oil roller ball is a must for this one, and even then slightly short lived. So crazy that people compare this to laundry detergent, must be a different ph or maybe the oil version just stays sweeter and nicer because the spray never interested me. Please tell me what detergents smells like this so I can buy it asap. I’ve repurchased this scent for many years and it reminds me of my mechanical engineering days for the oilfield. Us smart girls don’t want to smell like cupcakes, cookies and cheapies from Sephora. Inoffensive and perfect for everything including the corporate office filled with male sharks (some in suits and others in steel toe boots).

This fragrance is a bit of me. I love the way it smells. The fresh bergamot and sweet fruity plum with the boozy warmth from the rum is perfect. I love how it is fresh and uplifting but warm and spicy at the same time. Something about this profile reminds me of a milder version of Thé Noir 29 by Le Labo. Perhaps the bergamot, fig, black tea combination gives a similar impression. Unfortunately where TN29 is a beast, Dark Rum’s performance is sooooo lacking! It’s such a shame because the scent really resonates with me but the longevity and sillage would possibly prevent me from repurchasing it. Or maybe it should be noted by others/ accepted by myself, that this needs to be oversprayed in order to last or project. Perfectly unisex; 9/10 scent but 6/10 performance.

I loved this one when I first tried it -- it was the holy trinity of booze, plum and milk. Unfortunately, as my nose has evolved, so have my appraisal of this scent. It's too sweet -- and by sweet I mean 'generic fruit' sweet. The plum seems to get less and less pronounced as things develop. The booze is still as majestic as I remember, but, you know, this was one of my first booze/plum scents, and it is likely that this is just quite average at what it does and I'm recounting this with plum-coloured glasses and all... Anyway, I have about 3 - 5 mls left in my bottle, and when I'm done, I most likely will not look out for a replacement. It was good while it lasted! You were my gateway (of sorts)...

This is genuinely a perfect fall+winter daily fragrance. It’s not glitzy, the packaging is minimalistic and the brand has been overlooked when it comes to perfumery. But the fragrance itself is just AMAZING. There is a lot of fruity depth to the opening specifically with the plum and the anise adds a bit of spiciness. The bergamot adds brightness but it’s not what your nose detects. The dry down you get this spiced rum+slight leather combo that’s not overbearing at all because the “milk” note contrasts that by adding a creaminess. For those expecting a “boozy” fragrance, this is not it but what you have is a nice cocktail in a bottle. It’s warm, it’s inviting and it’s a real complement getter.

This is addictive. A gorgeous blend. Deep yet sheer and bright. Warm, a little resinous, and creamy. On me, it’s equal parts rummy, sweet, and ambery. The rum is more rum extract than Captain Morgan. I don’t pick up the fruits, just the sweetness. Leather is the star player, I’d say. It’s a perfect leather. Just a hint of it here, and it’s the best leather I’ve smelled anywhere. Such skillful interplay with the amber. I’ve been reaching for this as well as Nest Vanilla Bourbon on the cooler days as of late. To break up the Spring Fever stretches of florals I’ve been crave-wearing. Time for the full bottle of this one. Great year-round, but I like it best in Spring and Summer.

When I first smelled a sample vial of Dark Rum, my initial impression was, "This smells like Christmas!" Ever since then I wear this mainly in November and December. I don't know what it is about this that gives me holiday vibes, but I know that I really enjoy it. It's such a stark contrast to the fragrances I typically gravitate towards. Some gripes I have is that the projection and sillage are minimal. I do also feel that the price is a tad high, but it could be worse. Besides, some online boutiques offer lower prices or discounts on it. This definitely holds a ranking among my top 10 favorite fragrances... although I only wear it for a few months out of the year.

The opening is a very balanced, decadent plum, sweet but not cloying or immature. As it dries down, the fruit mostly yields to a clean, effervescent leather— nothing funky or handbag-like here. There's something a bit soapy, but it doesn't detract from the experience. To me, this fragrance is attractive in the same way the male lead in a rom-com is. Handsome, even seductive, yet gentle and non-threatening. It'd be a perfect date night scent. I quite like this fragrance, but I don't think I'd have enough occasion to wear it to justify a full bottle. I wish Malin+Goetz sold travel sprays! If anyone wants to part with a decant/partial bottle, feel free to DM me.

Delicious, unique scent that is truly unisex— completely suitable for either a man or a woman. Many allegedly unisex scents tend to lean masculine or overly mature. This is not the case for Dark Rum, largely in part to the sweet— but certainly not cloying— element of its DNA. Additionally, the rum component isn't sickening and overly boozy like alcoholic notes tend to be, as is the case with Jazz Club by MMM; it is perfectly rounded and subtle. Compared to Jazz Club, it has much better staying power as well. If you want it to be more masculine, consider layering with Leather, also from M+G. For more femininity, layer with a warm vanilla.

This is a really great perfume that got my attention since the first second I set my nose on. Lots of rum and milk here, makes me imagine that I am at the The Korova Milk Bar of the Clockwork Orange dystopia, drinking some Moloko Plus cocktail - this is the smell of it in my mind. Quite pricey for no obvious reasons, as there is no niche quality detected here BUT this perfume is really different from anything out there. Worth a try. Follow my scent journey on instagram instagram.com/scentsexual *This review was written after several full wearings of the perfume and not just after smelling this on paper or on wrist.