Empire T

I would be remiss if I did not underscore the idiosyncratic description of this fragrance that is attached to the bottle: smells like a good story Empire T Top Notes: smoke, nocturnal Heart notes: cool, shadow Bess Notes: noir, Москва, skyline This certainly grabbed my attention and helped me try to put the fragrance into perspective from the point of view of the perfumer, Stephanie Bakouche, the creator of the legendary fragrance Invasion Barbare. The notes listed on Fragrantica are: Tuberose, Tobacco, Ash, Fur, Champagne, Mountain Air Is this a fragrance dedicated to modern Moscow (Москва) or to its Platonic Ideal? I do not have an answer to this question. Instead, let me just say that I quite like this fragrance. I will say however that it is not as innovative as the verbal description on the bottle. Indeed, this shares a lot of similarities to Tubereuse 3 Animal from Histoires de Parfums. Both focus heavily on tuberose, both have tobacco notes. On the other hand, Empire T doesn't try to be like Fracus or Carnal Flower or any of the other well know Tubereuse I have tried. Maybe I am affected by the label to the point of responding to this due to confirmation bias. I do think of this one as nocturnal and noir. Frankly, I am a huge fan of nocturnal and noir in fragrances and films and places too. It is only after what I have written that I came upon what seems to me to be the best description of this fragrance at the bottom of the House's website page for Empire T: ‘Empire T is a perfume homage to Stalin’s “Empire-style” architecture, both sumptuous and eerie, a bit like Gotham or the universe of “Blade Runner”. “It’s a cool, nighttime, noir kind of perfume. It smells like night air, cigarette ash and tuberose, a flower I find very architectural, almost marble-like in its wholeness. It’s what the T in the perfume’s name stands for — tobacco and tuberose,” — says Ksenia Golovanova,’ I encourage those who like these descriptions to try this fragrance. I feel lucky to own this one since I won it in a lottery drawing here on Fragrantica. I know I will get the sample set to try others from this House, which I was not familiar with. I am always looking for fragrances which fulfill my wish to have an experience that transcends the scent itself. This one does.

I was fortunate enough to win this in a recent giveaway. Thank you Fragrantica!!! My first experience with Nos Republic. The narrative behind the scent is intriguing. Upon first test, paper and skin, it was really just a well done tuberose with a crisp air facet in the background. Nice. Late in the second full wear, I could pick up traces of ash and fur. I really enjoy it. Glad to have a bottle in my collection.

It's strong. Has a lot more atmosphere than I'm used to with a tuberose; a note that I often find rather linear and utilitarian transformed to evoke a full scene. My friends will probably hate it. I will always love it; I feel like I've smelled this a million times but each time shines and I can't help but put a smile on my face like when I see the sparkle of Liza Minelli's dress in her Money number in Cabaret.

Kudos to perfumer, Stephanie Bakouche, for not letting commercial interests get in the way of her art. She'd certainly win the avant-garde category if there was such an award. This perfume is described as "dramatic," and I'll certainly give it that, though it doesn't start out that way. It almost had me fooled on first spray with its sparkling effervescence likely due to the champagne. Then the mood suddenly shifts when strong birch tar and smoke appears and I'm suddenly smelling rubber tires, which fortunately is short lived before transitioning to a smoky, type tobacco and aromatic vetiver. It is only then that I start to smell a creamy, buttery tuberose which now makes me think that this could be a tuberose version of Etat's Jasmin et cigarette, had they used that flower instead of jasmine. That aromatic smokiness leans masculine to me. Then something weird happens. It becomes very atmospheric. Cold and for some reason, metal, particularly, steel, comes to mind. The perfumer says marble, and yes, I can envision stately buildings made of marble and limestone, but also an industrial site or a bridge on the outskirts of a city. Overall, a strange and fascinating fragrance. It isn't a perfume in the traditional sense. If I was feeling particularly imaginative, I'd tell myself that this is a beautiful woman wearing a fur coat and a tuberose perfume while smoking a cigarette on a frigid night in the city, but it could also be a man wearing a fur hat, smoking a cigar on a frigid night in the city. It has a very dark and brooding feel. If I could assign a color to this perfume, it would be grey and the mood, somber. As it wears on becoming closer to a skin scent, it sheds all the other notes and that beautiful tuberose, much lightened up, comes to the fore again. Some of the reviewers say this would be an easy wear for men, and I agree since this has a nice balance of feminine and masculine notes. Thank you Fragrantica for gifting me this very interesting and thought-provoking fragrance!

Interesting scent, cool and intriguing. Beneath the more glamourous notes there's a sourness reminiscent of alleyways that have been used as urinals, but it works in a story telling sense: If you want to smell like a character in a film noir following the femme fatale's trail through dark and dingy alleyways, this may be the scent for you. My mother unfortunately can't stand it, as she has a very sensitive nose. If you're at all sensitive to the scent of solvents or prone to headaches from scents you may have a similar experience to her.

Actually, I hate white flowers and tuberose scents. But "Empire" is something definitely new for me. For me, it smells like a cool, translucent, greenish, silent tuberose and the distinct scent of cigarette foil. Not tobacco leaves, not cigars - just foil. It's not something I usually wear (just because I don't like things about smoking), but it's beautifully and carefully done. I would wear the tuberose part for sure.

I literally smell cigarette and loud white florals. It's like if I was wearing some sweet tuberose perfume while having a cig outside and wearing some sort of old leather jacket. I'm really not sure I want to smell like this but this is well made for sure. And quite original. Thumbs up for that. Cold temperature perfume, suitable for harsh winter nights under city lights.

I agree with the review below mine. Birch tar, tuberose, vetiver but I would add cigarettes and their ashes and ash trays everywhere on a train going nowhere. As it fades to the extreme dry down it becomes a non sweet camphor like tuberose soliflore. I would never wear this during the day. I probably won't wear the whole sample at all. While for me this is interesting and somewhat wearable my husband gags and coughs when he is near it. It is a very gothic perfume IMO. You have to be vampire like to pull it off.

I have just obtained a sample of this along with some other samples. This is the best of the samples I obtained. The opening is definitely champagne, but then the green notes, like a florist shop, come through and are lovely. It then introduces a tea note and then the tuberose and all these changes happen within minutes. I’m still testing this one and I’m interested to see how it develops as I wear it. At the moment I’m unsure about it and as yet I don’t get any tobacco which is odd as everyone else has commented on this. I will say it’s certainly an interesting perfume.... Update - tested it again today and this time I smelt the fur and the cold air. I’ve never been convinced by ‘air’ notes, but this perfume has it without a doubt. I still don’t get tobacco, instead I smell tea with almost a hay note. It really is a very unusual fragrance and changes rapidly.

Birch, tar, tuberose, vetiver. Smells like some tuberose flowers were put on the tracks and run over by a train. Somewhere the mountains.