Rook by Rook

Wow this is a heavy hitting and deep perfume which I can’t stop smelling! Opens with a bit of wood smoke and spice then develops into a very sultry and woody smell almost medicinal but in a good way. In my opinion a very masculine scent more suited to the darker months - top of my list of recent new smells - up there with Into The Void by Juliette has a Gun but a more affordable price point- highly recommended

The opening is super smokey, almost overpowering so - but then I start to detect Ginger and something else sweet cutting through stopping this from becoming too heavy. Within about 10 mins, this becomes a beautiful smokey incense with a slight powdery floralness ontop of a soft leather. The Dry down is still beautifully smokey, with a tiny bit of skank, nothing unpleasant - it's quite alluring

A diplomat dressed up as a punk rocker! Beneath a pouty, moody, smoky exterior this has a rather charming and refined woody-floral lurking beneath its studded leather jacket. I'm a billowing smoke fiend so never found the opening too much - for me, though certainly there in thick screens, it's much more resinous/aromatic than the Beaufort range's steely metallic gun smoke. Perfectly unisex for those who love a smouldering-incense-woods-tobacco thing, the animalics aren't bitter or overwhelming and the violet and ylang give the odd flash of sweeter, fresher air in between. It's very much in the Coze - Black Afgano - ELDO Rien sort of mood, absolutely loaded with punchy, dark, tough ingredients, though this is paradoxically much lighter and more transparent than any of those scents. At times it's almost a heady floral, reminding me (really weirdly) of the bottom end of Zoologist's Nightingale or Moth. Those are a lot of heavy hitters for Rook to be sidling up to. And there's the rub - for me, only, its performance doesn't quite back up its attitude. Now depending on your needs, that might be a good thing (Black Afgano makes me heave, and though I love Coze it can be a choker, as can Rien.) This one does let you breathe, and after the first 10 minutes I doubt anyone could object to it. So is it really the bad boy it purports to be at first? Fades quite fast on me, though never unpleasantly, and becomes startlingly milder and more floral, almost soapy (?!?!) in one phase, and though every step of the journey is great, that's kind of disorienting. I like it just fine, but want it to butch up a little and stay tougher, longer. Very decent value for money and an honest, creative, robust fragrance from a brave new house, though. Do give it a go if this sounds like your bag - I can see it making a lot of new friends.

Interesting. A violent pyroclastic opening. The gates of hell are ripped opened. Once it settles then you start to pick out the incense, Myrhh and tobacco. The spices peek through along with the animalic notes. It is now a little warmer and resinous. A little ylang starts to surface and the fresh ginger and vetiver cuts through now stopping it becoming too heavy. It gradually becomes a spent firework that becomes warmer and more resinous with time as the ginger and vetiver wain. This s the perfect scent for wearing on bonfire night. It has that cordite ambience. Its very unisex. I get good longevity and reasonable sillage.

This is a fragrance with an intense smoke, incense with synthetic Oud opening. It mellows in about 30 minutes, then 2-3 hours later it’s a whisper of its former self. Before the dry down arrived, I smelled a bit of rubber, like smoke from burning tires. It wasn’t toxic death though, as spices mixed with the scent and made it weirdly interesting. I like Rook with all the different notes mixing and morphing. Last time I wore this perfume was in the summer. It was a hot August day and Rook bitch slapped me in the face. You have been warned, this is for cold weather only.