Rivalite Imperiale

If you're into smelling like a plummy, boozy Christmas cake, this one has you covered! It's absolutely gorgeous! Even a day later after I sprayed, I can still smell it on myself and I'm getting wafts of delicious vanilla sweetness with dried fruits prominent and a backdrop of tobacco and amber. Mmmmm... My perfect scent profile! I know I said cake, but this has nothing of the dough-boy about it. It's airy and sweet and not heavy. Most of these cakey gourmands make me feel like I'm in an instant food coma, kinda nauseous and stomach-achey, but this fragrance is NOT that, I promise! The closest fragrance in my collection would be Praline in Maple by Scents of Wood, but even that's not close really. More in the same family. Not sure if that helps because you might not have heard of that one either. Is it a safe blind buy? I would say yes if you love the gourmand-amber-vanilla intersection. This is great for autumn and winter, even spring and summer nights. It won't make you feel sickly when it's warm, but I wouldn't recommend it when it's stupid-degrees outside. I already had two compliments yesterday! I think Plume Impressions is a really underrated / unknown fragrance house well worth exploring. The quality of their fragrances is astonishing. I got my nose on samples of all their line and I was hard pressed to choose my top six. So far I have this one and Love no Shame in my collection, but I'll be getting more. Next stop: Pop Heart. Then probably Elégance Cuirée, surprising because leather is definitely NOT one of my notes! But it's one my nose longs to keep coming back to.

I really didn't want to like this. Nonsense marketing blabla, leaning towards ridiculous, uninspired notes, was 99% sure I am going to test just an other come-and-go niche brand. Fortunately, I was totally wrong. I just can't help loving the two perfumes from this line done by the same perfumer, Dalia Izem, who is completely new to me. Plus the concept of the line is actually right up my alley, they refuse to drench us in chemical fixatives to make the scent last longer, instead they opt for the soft, tender, well blended elegance which is somewhat of a scarcity on the market nowadays. I understand why Rivalite Imperiale is an autumn perfume for most, however it reminds me personally of summer memories, and because of the softness and airy quality, it's completely wearable in the heat as well. It's a plummy tobacco-amber with cinnamon and creamy sandalwood. The plum-cinnamon combo is indeed pretty much a Christmas staple, but the scent has a clean, powdery breezyness, which reminds me of the fizzyness of a Lush bath bomb and some distant memory of staying at a luxury hotel over the summer, how the lobby was scented, and how it felt creeping under the crisp white blankets there.

I am addicted to this fragrance. It's the best thing I have ever smelled... And I've tried around 500+ perfumes. What's crazy is the notes aren't particularly rare_ except the mirabelle_ but the result is well rounded. It's sweet but not exactly a gourmand. It's spicy but not too much. The tobacco and patchouli are soft and well blended. I fear I will never be eloquent enough to describe it. The longevity is great on me and it's just so elegant and effortless. It's a great unisex perfume in my opinion. Don't miss out. Edit 09/2025: I had the opportunity to smell Ambre Narguilé and I understand the comparison. However, Ambre Narguilé is spicier and less sweet. So anyone looking for a dupe shouldn't buy Rivalité impériale. It's become my signature scent in the autumn/winter seasons. ❤️

This is really beautiful. But I see it only being for occasional wear (Xmas immediately comes to mind). I think I would tire of this scent if worn all the time. For me the dried fruits come through quite pronounced. A winter/fall scent for sure. For me 6-7 hours longevity and for this scent I think that's just about right. Nice projection too for the first 2-3 hours. Yet another in this line that has impressed ;)

I tried this in paris, and immediately knew i had to get it. This to me is not a winter only fragrance, as it is elegant and sweet. To me it smells like a coconut and fruit cake, in a room with some high quality rum and tobacco, but theres this freshness about it? But this is contradicted by some dried fruits and cinnamon, this is a good thing. I love this, reminds me of paris, smells good, lasts long enough

I just love, love these perfumes! Successful blind buy after reading comments below. They are rich, warm and boozy. If You love BDK Gris Charnel and Grand Soir by MFK you probably will love these to!

This is an amazing scent! I'm going to keep this short and sweet, not pun intended. This smells like TOASTED COCONUT! A favorite smell and flavor of mine! YUM!

Warm fruity but complex amber. I love this!

It's a love, love, refined and sexy.

Smells boozy in the opening. Like a spiced fruity dark rum. As it settles, it smells like... raisins. Like a boozy spiced raisin fruit cake. Smells like happiness. Smells like the holidays!

I recognize that this is a good fragrance, but somehow I think this type of perfume is no longer doing it for me. It's a dried fruit sweet oozy tobacco scent, which sounds like it should be right up my alley for the fall and winter, but I'm actually finding it kind of sickening and overwhelming. I'm not sure why. Maybe I've smelled too many scents like this? The tobacco is actually reminding me of a time last month when I was stuck in a tow truck with a man using chewing tobacco and spitting in a bottle...and I really hope that memory hasn't ruined all tobacco fragrances for me...but it's certainly ruined this one. This one is just too much...to spicy, too sweet...cloying on me.

Im surprised this has been compared to tabac nomade by houbigant. I blind bought this as a potential cheaper (though not by retail) alternative but this smells absolutely nothing like it. This is a feminine fruity (almost mulled-winey) Christmas-y spicy tobacco scent. Don't know if I'll ever wear this, though hopefully it'll grow on me

Just going by notes, yes yes yes for me. This is 100% my genre however. I do think you can get far better quality and often for less in this genre. I'm thinking Ambre Eccentrico, Serge Arabie (although a bit clove heavy) and definitely Tonkade Laboratorio Offativo. I do love dry fruit emphasis and gourmand chewy nature of these frags, here I get more tobacco, it's more dusty and less intense on the fruits than the ones I mentioned so might just be my bias for chewy fruity ambery cinnamons. Cinnamon and amber in fact here are not that discernible IMHO. I feel like this is far too fleeting and "light" to be at this price mark...

Just realized I had reviewed this few months back....interesting, I have no recollection. But i see why. The notes are very misleading indeed. If someone told me this was a powdery heliotrope and vanilla, with maybe a touch of iris and aldehydes I could have believed it. Not much to do with the notes listed above, mostly powdery and I even get a touch of licorice strangely.

I bought their sample set from Maxaroma a year or more ago and finally pulled the trigger on this one because they had a great sale. Upon smelling the newly purchased bottle I noticed it smelled completely different and I was quite disappointed. Even tested side by side there are major differences. Id love to know if anyone else has experienced this!

I get rich Christmas fruit cake and lots of toasted coconut, even though coconut is not a note. It is a truly gorgeous fragrance and full + back up bottle worthy for me. Performance is also fantastic. Longevity is a solid 8+ hours and silage is strong. Unisex is the best possible way. Best worn in cold weather and in the run up to Christmas.

Stunning! A scent that would remind you of either Angel’s Share or Old Fashioned by Kilian. It’s in that realm. But this is its own profile! Sweet, spicy, Tobacco, dried fruits, all the complexity without feeling or smelling heavy! A must have.

This has more going on than oajan. It has similarities though. This has more depth and complexity because of the dried fruits rather than the pure cinnamon bomb of oajan. and has the same baked apple pie vibe. Projection is arms length.