Fan Your Flames

Today we're going niche and heading over to the house of Nishane. My experience with this house is limited, having only reviewed one of their fragrances, Ani. I wasn't too impressed with the experience I had with Ani; I expected more based off the hype around it and I was disappointed. Today's choice, Fan Your Flames, isn't quite as hyped as Ani but still gets some buzz here and there. Will it change my opinion on the house? Let's get into it and find out; Scent: The opening is sweet, earthy, and warm. The primary notes I get are coconut, rum, tobacco, and oakmoss. The strongest of the notes are the coconut and tobacco. The coconut opens up the fragrance with a sweet, tropical, slightly lactonic accord. It's not overpowering or synthetic, instead it's very realistic and natural; like a freshly cracked coconut. I swear I can even smell the brown husk around it. Up next is the tobacco with a warm and sweet herbaceous tone. It's not smoky at all like some tobacco notes can be, just cozy and dry like tobacco from a premium cigar. This is followed by the rum and oakmoss. The rum confers a sweet and boozy quality to the fragrance that matches very well with the coconut. However, it doesn't quite take it in a "tropical drink" direction thanks to the other prominent notes. Lastly, the oakmoss comes across as a very distinct earthy, mossy, and woody accord with a bit of petrichor added in; like moss picked from the base of a tree in freshly rained soil. Of all the oakmoss notes I've smelled, this one is probably the best. All the notes are very natural smelling and blend together to create what I imagine a very wealthy Caribbean pirate would smell like. The dry down is woody, warm, and sweet. The primary notes I get are tobacco, rum, Chinese cedar, and coconut. The strongest of the notes are the tobacco and rum. The tobacco still has the same warm, sweet, and herbaceous tone but has also adopted a bit of smokiness as well. The rum has also grown in strength and places more emphasis on the boozy, sweet, and slightly woody accords conveyed by it. This is followed by the Chinese cedar and coconut. The Chinese cedar is a typical cedar note; woody and masculine in a strong, sturdy way. It doesn't carry that "pencil shaving" tone that some cedars can have, though. It focuses more on the dry, slightly smoky aspects of cedar. Lastly, the coconut is still present with its creamy, almost vanillic sweetness but much more reserved and subtle than it was in the opening. I also get just a bit of powdery sweetness from the tonka in the dry down as well. It is worth mentioning that the oakmoss note is virtually absent in the dry down, which is interesting considering it's listed as a base note. Performance: Initial projection in the first hour is very strong and can fill a room. Sillage matches that with a heavy scent trail. After a few hours the projection had died down to about 3-4 feet and the scent trail was softer but still noticeable. The fragrance became a skin scent around hour 7-8. When to wear: Fan Your Flames is one of those fragrances that turned out to be more versatile than I had imagined. It has the tropical vibes of coconut that make it good for spring or summer days, but it also has the warmth and richness of tobacco and rum that make it a good pick for fall or winter evenings. For this reason, I feel like Fan Your Flames can be worn year round. When it comes to occasion, it's largely the same. I feel this could easily be dressed down for a fun summer pool party, or just as easily dressed up for a black tie affair. The only place I wouldn't wear this is to the office, just because it's a bit too punchy for that environment. Blind buy: If you like warm and sweet scents and you can dig coconut in your fragrance, this is a pretty safe blind buy. Final verdict: In the opening I was really taken aback by how much I enjoyed the scent profile. It was sweet and fruity in a tropical way, yet rugged and masculine at the same time. By the time it got into the dry down it had started leaning heavily into the woody and warm aspects, but still retained some sweetness and was still very enjoyable. The novelty of smelling like a wealthy pirate was too much fun to overlook. The performance is what I would call above average. Very strong projection and sillage for the first hour, and continuing on for about 7-8 hours until it became a skin scent. Versatility, as mentioned before, was surprisingly solid. I can see this being a good pick for pretty much any occasion outside of office wear. Mass-appeal is another point in the "win column". Sweet fragrances are pretty popular right now, and I would imagine most people would agree this scent profile is a pleasant one. All things considered, I would say Fan Your Flames has definitely rekindled my interest in the house. There's a lot to love about this fragrance, and I do think I'll be purchasing a full bottle at some point. Scent: 9/10 Longevity: 8/10 Sillage: 8/10

This is a beautiful spicy-woody offering with warm gourmand facets showing exceptional balance and harmony. The moment I smelled it a memory of scents flashed before me. By Kilan's Straight to Heaven and Frapin's 1270, Slumberhouse's Ore and Kiste, and Zoologist's Bat went racing through my mind's eye, finally arriving at Nshane'si Fan Your Flames. There is an overall warmth to Fan Your Flames which suits its spicy character and sets the tone for its heart notes of tobacco and tonka, but it doesn't become too heavy and never feels like it's dragging at any point. Instead, there's a subtle freshness, a light sweetness that's achieved through the addition of coconut and rum, and perhaps a hint of mango, which makes the composition feel brighter and more inviting, more wearable overall. The tobacco is dark and spicy, it pairs very well with a dry, aromatic cedar and subtle oakmoss. But again, this dryness is balanced by the coconut and the boozy, liqueur-like sweetness of the rum. As far as rum compositions are concerned this one should not be considered a strong one. The rum is in the perfect proportion--adding to the overall quality of the scent without dominating it or becoming its main character. A light, mineralic quality can be found in the heart and base, somewhere among the cedar, oakmoss, and tobacco. It lends a natural earthiness to the picture by hinting at it rather than shouting it out and demanding it. The coconut, FYF's star top note, is white and creamy, semi-sweet, but again never so dominant as to distract from the other accords at play. The tonka accord emerges deep in the base, and it brings a warm, nutty character to the scent. Though it's hard to put your finger on this fragrance and say exactly what it is, that's not due to any unconfident, ambiguous nature of the scent, but rather the excellent balance, harmony, and proportion of its notes. Everything works together equally to create an overall wonderful, spicy-woody gourmand unisex fragrance. FYF is an extrait, and as such it has reserved projection with very good longevity. It leaves a noticeable scent trail, and creates a nice little bubble around its subject in the first hour before settling down closer to the skin. It has the feel of a semi-casual late-fall/winter fragrance--something that can be worn for quiet, intimate evenings dining out, or relaxed moments at home alone or in company, not necessarily dressed up, but beyond your basic sweatpants and t-shirt for sure. As stated earlier, it is a unisex fragrance, and in my opinion might even work a little bit better on a man than a woman. This is undoubtedly a winner from Nishane, and gets a thumbs up with a solid 8 out of 10 rating. It is recommended for sampling. Side note: Though I personally enjoy this one a lot, I always like to give fair warning to those who may not (after all, our tastes differ widely). You may not like this for a few reasons: 1) The projection is lacking. This is a reserved scent after the initial hour, projecting about six inches off the skin. If you're looking for strong projection, look elsewhere. 2) There is a bit of a "candle shop" smell in Fan Your Flames--a general, spicy potpourri that reminds you of the Yankee Candle aisle during the holiday season. I don't think this smell dominates, and within it I can pick up all the listed notes individually, but for those of you who can not tolerate even the slightest "candle shop" smell, you should definitely sample FYF before buying it. 3) If you're looking for a pure gourmand, this is not it. Fan Your Flames features a strong woody component, as well as a dark spicy tobacco with dry earthy facets. The coconut, tonka, and rum serve as accents, never dominating or pushing this in complete gourmand territory.

Fan your Flames is much sweeter and drier than I expected it to be, but it's now one of my favourite, if not my penultimate favourite Tobacco fragrance now, it just exudes class in spades, while being sweet enough to be playful at the same time. On my Skin it opens up with a dense Coconut and slightly sweet, bitter and boozy rum, the Coconut in this though is very dry, not the watery, sweet and borderline fruity smell that Coconut is like in other fragrances like VIW for example, in this its like you're smelling the skin of a coconut and the remnants of coconut flesh that retain that lingering sweet smell. But it mixes rather well with the Rum, and surprisingly doesn't smell as tropical as you'd expect it to with the notes, if anything (to me) it smells very up dressed and rather polished or refined; it's quite classy and mature (I as a guy in his 20s absolutely love this scent profile though, but others my age-group might be put off, or instinctively think of it as dated, however I couldn't disagree more.) but not in a way that alienates it from other more "mass appealing" mature fragrances if that makes sense. After the opening settles down, the Coconut and Rum dial down a tidbit and their sweetness gets amped up a fair margin, but still not cloyingly sweet on my skin, and they're joined by an equally sweet but also Smokey and soft earthy Tobacco note, that's accentuated by a minor yet noticeable oakmoss accord, in which together, they both scale up the maturity just that little bit more. Honestly the way the 3 main notes play together on my skin is so beautiful and "cultured" if that makes sense lol, it smells so sweet and playful yet upscale in a way very few other fragrances capture, which is quite special, yet it's sweet enough to have others notice you in a positive sense and wonder what you're wearing, while being dry and dark enough to stand firm against other sweet fragrances in the room vying for your attention, in a way that's not imposing but definitely noticeable. As the drydown progresses a few hours in, the Oakmoss starts to become more apparent, and the Coconut skin+Rum start to noticeably fade, as your left with fleeting but pleasant Tobacco/Oakmoss to lead the fragrance out as it dissipates. Projection on my skin was medium-strong (leaning towards strong) for the first 3 hours but after the 3rd hour it tapers down to a dense but pleasant medium projecting fragrance as it slowly tapers off, and on my skin i got about 10hrs longevity which is excellent for this scent profile. As for wearability, despite my blabbering about its sophistication, it can easily be worn in casual and/or formal occasions, as long as you carry yourself with confidence 'Fan Your Flames' has your back. unisex leaning masculine in my opinion too, sweet enough for a confident Lady to wear and appreciate it, but dry, earth, and dark enough that it most definitely leans masculine a fair bit. In conclusion there isn't much more to say about it that I or other's haven't already said, and as much as I'd love to sing it's praises, I've already blithered on more than enough, so if you have yet to experience it, I highly recommend you sample it, definitely not a scent for everyone, but if it clicks with you on skin and with your nose, I'm sure you'll love it as much as I and the other admirers of this masterpiece. Classy, Mature, Upscaled, Dry, inviting, and always intriguing for you and those around you. 9.5/10

Got a 5ml decant in a trade so my sample has been well matured. I always blind evaluate fragrances to prevent the power of suggestion, which is especially wise for this one because there are several aspects which are not explained by the official notes. This makes sense because most "niche" fragrances are composed of at least 25 components even though they don't list them all. On opening, I got an immediate mentholic element. I could smell it, feel it cooling my skin, and it even made my eyes water. I would guess that this contains some nagarmotha, but it is blended very well so it adds rather than overwhelms. There is also a nice bitterness akin to chinese herbal medicines. The coconut is quite dry and not at all like the synthetic Virgin Island Water note. There is rum, but I find it subtle. At the 30 minute mark, the cedar and tonka have joined, along with a damp-earth accord. Earthiness can destroy a fragrance if it is too powerful, but when applied deftly, as here, it gives a fragrance a masculine, foresty and complex bearing. The menthol has stepped back but not fully out, the cedar blends with the chinese herbs. The tobacco seems very muted to me, and I suspect that those who say it is strong may be cigar smokers who associate tobacco with the cedar humidors in which they are stored - because the cedar just keeps becoming more prominent. Someone mentioned that this is a base-heavy blend, and this is true. Nagarmotha, cedar, oakmoss and vanilla all have staying power, and from about 90 minutes onward, they are the main elements, lasting for a good 7 hours in total. The coconut also lasts surprisingly well though it tapers off over the first four hours. The earthiness smoothes out nicely too. If I had to compare this to something else, the closest fragrance would be Lalique Ombre Noir - not identical, but the copa, nagarmotha, galbanum and oakmoss of that one provide the same brooding-old-forest feel. I like this one a lot but doubt that it would become a regular in my rotation due to its non-conventional palette. This is probably best worn for yourself, as it isn't much of a crowd pleaser.

At the opening, you are greeted with a rum, sweet smokey tobacco, and woody coconut. The opening is good, as it brings my mind to an old pirate movie. But not the part of the movie where the pirates are on a tropical island. But instead, the bowls of a pirate ship. The opening is dark, woody, smokey, and boozy. It takes me to the scenes of Pirate of the Caribbean when Jack Sparrow is inside the ship's dark interior. You get that rum in wooden casks and the smell of someone smoking a pipe with light hints of coconuts. This opening lasts about ten minutes on my skin. After the opening settles down, the coconut becomes more prominent, pushing back the boozy rum scent. Woody notes and mild tobacco accompany the coconut, which you pick up occasionally. These middle notes projected off my skin for four to five hours. After the middle notes, you enter the dry down, which consists of sweet and woody notes. The dry down is simple but enjoyable because it's easy to wear. As an extrait de Parfum, Fan Your Flames exceeded my expectations. The opening projected brilliantly off my skin, akin to the strength of a freshly plugged-in glade-scented oil. Even after the opening, I enjoyed a good projection for the next five hours, extending to about arm's length. As the dry-down phase set in, the fragrance nestled closer to my skin, lingering for a satisfying twelve hours. The overall projection and longevity were truly impressive, both on my skin and clothes. Fan your flames is a fun olfactory experience. It is an excellent take on rum and coconut fragrance, bringing these notes to the cold months. As stated before, this brings my mind to a pirate movie. Furthermore, it also brought back great memories of my last trip to Cuba, where you were presented with beautiful rum notes and tobacco and coconut. I'll post some pictures of my trip along with my review. Overall, this is an excellent take on these notes, and it is unique as it gives you a different wearing experience in the cold months to my other fragrances.