12 Lacha

Another Wow! I just got this off ebay at a great price. I had smelled it briefly a couple years ago and remembered really liking it, but it really is much more than I thought. It is like two of my favorite Original Donna Karan fragrances had a baby - Donna Karan Signature and Chao's love child! My two favorite notes, suede and saffron, together side-by-side. It is truly incredible. Maybe even a little Black Cashmere nutmeg thrown in as well. The only down side to Lacha is that it tends to be slightly more rough around the edges, not quite as smooth and elegant as the Donna Karan scents. The sweetness others have mentioned as caramel or raisins, reminds me more of a herbal root beer sweetness. It is definitely not as sweet as the current trend of men's fragrances out there; in fact, I would say it is more dry and has a slight gasoline note found in Bvlgari Black... Wait, DK Men! Someone took all of Donna Karan's original fragrances and combined them: The suede and carnation from Signature, the saffron of Chaos, the nutmeg and pepper of Black Cashmere and the sandalwood, patchouli, and musk of DK Men. I am curious to find out who the perfumer is that made this awesome scent.

12 Lacha is a furiously spicy scent developed by Odin in 2015. I purchased it from Barney's NY for $165, and in the package was an Odin candle, of which scent I cannot recall. I would have liked it to be the 12 Lacha formula, but it smelled delightful. 12 Lacha's opening is strong spice and flowers. It dries down to a strong spice and oud scent that is unforgettable. I haven't smelled this on anyone, and it's definitely a niche cologne. I've had many compliments on this scent, and it Is my go to evening scent.

A very smooth and slightly sweet leather scent of his quality. It is not one of those pungent leather scents, quite the opposite. It is the civilized, light version of leather here, reminiscent of some of the Thameen creations. Love it!

Funky and weirdly astringent for a mix as rich as the pyramid above might suggest to you. Very little sweet about this; its first burst made me think 'dry, sourish, woody - inside of a whisky barrel?' rather than leather, but on looking at the ingredients listed here, it all starts to make more sense. Opening reminded me of a much less raspy 4160 Tuesdays Buddhawood Box, then calmed down, then wandered about a bit, with the odd interesting moment along the way, but it somehow just doesn't really convince. The saffron is on the more bitter-earthy side, not sweaty, but sharp rather than mellow. The wood's in there but somehow lacking a rounder, more resinous fullness - more of a spare, minimal hint of sawdust than a big cloud of sandalwood oil. I get no pepper and only the most timid whisper of nutmeg. Leather on the sour end of the spectrum too. So: Savoury, not sweet, throughout. It's earnest and aspires to be outdoorsy, but it's all a bit thin and lab-grown for my taste. Skews a tiny bit too masculine for me on the unisex scale, and more so on the dry down where I get the odd vaguely aftershave-like whiff now and then. Longer-lasting on me than some other sweeter Odins, but still nothing all that impressive - really crumples to skin scent in under an hour and hangs on vaguely for another few after that. 6.5/10: wants to be a lumberjack but doesn't have the broad shoulders or the raw muscle to carry it off.

A very fine nutmeggy-suede scent... soft and comforting. It's a bit like visiting a leather shop. It is one of the oddest fragrances I own in that when I first spray it on I'm a little annoyed by it; it seems somewhat off-putting. But then, after a little while I get used to the smell of it and realize, again, that I really like it. No other scent I have is like that. Lacha has superior longevity - on me it survived a shower! That doesn't happen very often. I found this one after an exhaustive try out of the scents at the Barney's store in Las Vegas. Had to have a bottle! I do not detect any pepper, BTW. --------- I liked it before, but after a number of wearings I got to the point where, at the end of the day, I sniffed the top of my tee shirt and went Mmmmmmmm. I cannot mentally force myself to do this. It's my final confirmation of approval and all my favorite scents have this reaction for me. It's a very nice stablemate to my Tuscan Leather. One is assertively leather, the other is mildly suede.