Albâtre Sépia

I have the tester box for all seven of these fragrances, and this is the first one that I had to dive in for, simply for the obscure notes that peaked my interest! For me, I definitely get an inky note, but more in the form of an old library book that has been hand written with a quill, but the quill had a bit too much ink on it. Vanilla tones sweeten this up but also lend an earthy quality, which the violet works off really nice too. It dries down beautifully with this aged leather note, which goes really well with the earthy truffle wisp, as well as the old books with handwriting inside. It lasts a good amount of time, and I kept getting smells of this off my hand throughout wear, however I wouldn’t say the sillage fills a room. This is a bit more of an indoors type of smell. For my first encounter, I’m impressed! The bottles are just divine and a statement piece in themselves, so I’m glad the liquid matches, at least with this anyway. Excited to try the others though!!

I am honored to be one of the early reviews of this fragrance. As opposed to the people below, I am a huge fan of this! This is my absolute favorite type of vanilla. The fragrance as a whole is balanced very well. It's a beautiful blended incense and vanilla, but there's so much more. I believe there is an ink accord and a little bit of violet which gives the entire composition a little bit of coolness. Perhaps even slightly damp. Much more complex than your typical vanilla and my favorite type of by far. In reference to babycat not quite, but actually much closer to muse! Very close in fact. They have the same ink and the same vanilla. The only difference is the lack of iris in this composition. I love them both. This all is about taste. The quality is superior. The longevity is great. The bottle design is outstanding. So it's simply about if this is your style. It is certainly mine. I only wish I could afford it!

I'm surprised by this one! "Earthy" being top of the 'main accord' list doesn't line up with how this smells to me. This is very spice- vanilla forward, with added creamy/earthiness - probably from the truffle. I pick up the violet a BIT, but not a ton. Upon first smells, it reminded me of something but it took me a minute to realize it's YSL's Babycat! It's definitely not a 1:1 dupe or anything, but there is a similar vanilla-spiciness going on with this like in Babycat. The differences are this lacks the 'sweet' element that Babycat has, this one is more earthy, and this is less potent (babycat will choke you out if you spray too much.... this is a strong fragrance but not in a way like babycat). I like this a good bit!!!!! I could see this as FB worthy.

It opens like a teenager who’s discovered spiced vanillas and hasn’t looked back since. Then shifts into this sorta creamy-beige blur. Not offensive. Just... dull.

a truffle pig asleep in a bed of violets with ink-stained hooves & soil on its snout