Rules of Attraction

I recently purchased Flame & Fortune, and during the return process, after realizing it wasn't for me, Sarah personally asked me if I'd review the perfumes from her house that I do like. So, I'm honored to review Rules of Attraction, which I love, but apparently is discontinued. Rules of Attraction is a skanky, sexy, somewhat dirty perfume, but it also smells high-end, fearless, and classy with a vintage vibe. I get the similarities between Poison, Tubereuse 1, and Skin on Skin (all of which I own and LOVE). I've never smelled Bal a Versailles, so I can't comment on a resemblance to it. I smell the tuberose, civet, gardenia, and leather the most, and some aldehydes, which help make a nice counterpoint to some of the dirtier notes. I also get something kind of bitter (which it shares with Charade) that I'd thought to be oakmoss, but it doesn't appear listed as a note here. I don't really detect much cumin, and I think the iris is more structural, adding more to the general mood, than to the actual scent profile. Rules of Attraction smells enough like Poison to me, that I was almost sure it had a plum or dark fruit (maybe even a black rose, like in Voleur de Roses?) in it, but there is none listed. I have a very dark, grayish purple shirt that fits the mood of Rules of Attraction perfectly, and when I worked at the library, I would often wear them together to work. I felt very much the part of the sexy, but not trashy, librarian while wearing them. I have several Olfactif samples of Rules of Attraction, which is how I currently enjoy this gorgeous perfume, but if Sarah Baker brings it back on her website, I would definitely buy the full bottle.

This perfume is like a sexed up White Shoulders! It’s got this vintage vibe with the tuberose, iris, jasmine and aldehydes...but this fruity modern side. It’s musky and a bit animalic, sort of that civety thing of vintage White Shoulders parfum but it has grapefruit which gives it this fresh modern feel.. The iris here is pretty dominant and the entire fragrance is potent. Rules of Attraction is fun and flirty and almost has a split personality of sorts. Imagine Courtney Love during the Celebrity Skin years. She’s trying to be a lady but she can’t hide the rocker. Definitely a night on the town kind of scent! This is daring and loud but at the same time it has a sophistication. I haven’t smelled anything quite like this while at the same time there is a familiar aspect to it. Very original scent and my very favorite creation by Miguel Matos so far!

I’ve become quite a fan of the Sarah Baker fragrances, and this was the first scent that I ended up purchasing a full bottle of - the other so far being Atlante. On first spray this is extremely animalic and not a crowd pleaser, but (as I’ve found with all of the fragrances in this house) give it some time on the skin and there is true evolution. This scent takes a little while to fully settle, 30 minutes at least, but then the florals overtake the animalics in the race to your nose and they stay in the lead. The animalic notes stay present throughout the (long) life of this scent, but stay restrained while adding interest to these big white florals. The projection and longevity on this (as with most Sarah Bakers) are huge, and this performance was a factor in my purchasing this fragrance.

WOW! This one is a wild ride but it sure is fun. There are so many twists and turns as it is very complex and not your traditional three phase transition. I am not good a describing notes but it starts off being sweet and aromatic, you get phases where tuberose is the strongest note, then seamlessly transitions to jasmine and then Iris (not the traditional sharp floral scent but more dry dusty orris butter). The dry down brings in the animalic musky notes and even the dry down has various phases. I strictly reserve this for winter as the civet amplifies on me in warmer weather. Its a very carnal and sensual scent. Definitely sample before you buy as I can see this scent not being for everyone. If you like challenging complex scents then you need to give this one a try.

Wow! It's powerful just like Jungle Jezabel. Thankfully I really like this one. It's not kicked off a migraine! It's a tropical, slightly animalic, quite musky scent. One to wear for seduction. Powderiness from the iris and a lovely freshness from the aldehydes. This doesn't smell heavy and cloying. It's a tuberose and white flower sorbet. Further along the timeline and I start to note the animalic notes more but they still remain relatively low key. For me white florals can easily be too much but not here. The aldehydes keep it bright and suspended around you. I get above average longevity and sillage. I think its unisex. Its not very sweet. I look forward to trying more MM creations.

Exceptional creation. Absolutely not for timid personalities. Beautifully blended, with gorgeous creamy civet iris, white flowers and velvety green notes picking through and sophisticated honeyed leather and animalic accords. Sophisticated and a bit dirty. I also think the price i very fair. Sarah Baker and her perfumer team makes gorgeous and special perfumes. Must have.

Rules of attraction is an extremely erotic perfume! Should come with a warning note: to be used in night clubs, wild parties, festivals and other places people get sexy and sweat! When used in daylight can be annoying.

I’m beginning to think that perfumer Miguel Matos is the Yoko Ono of perfumery (and I LOVE Yoko Ono). This isn’t background music. This is meant to provoke a reaction, a memory, a day dream. It is whatever you allow it to be. I approached this one with trepidation because my first two attempts testing Miguel Matos for Sarah Baker (Jungle Jezebel and Far from the Madding Crowd) have (to my untrained nose) a thick, indolic jasmine note that’s a bit too much for me. At least I think that is the note that doesn’t agree with me. From the positive reviews it seems I’m the only one. I’ve picked up the same note in other fragrances, even one by Saint Francis Kurkdjian. Rules of Attraction, however, is a whole other animal. Here I sense the same indolic jasmine but lighter. In fact it is perfect. It does not overpower the other notes, it enhances them. Rules of Attraction reminds me of sex in the most beautiful way possible. And yet it is wonderfully wearable. This work of art gets a very strong like from me.

Don't really get cumin or grapefruit, it opens all tuberose and damp newspaper on me. Then the gardenia does that thing that it does on my skin where it amplifies to the point of nausea, but luckily that backs off quite fast, however it does keep reappearing for the first couple of hours which I could do without. Setting aside the gardenia, there are leather undertones, a dustiness from the iris, and the civet adds a sharp, oily note. After several hours the gardenia retreats and a honeyed/almost resiny note comes through which makes it even better. I like it, but only really start to enjoy it about 4h after application. It's got large projection, no one around you can miss it, and it lasts for a very very long time, 12h+. Would not wear on a hot day, at all.

This is unfortunately a strong pass from me. I received a free sample with another perfume order and was intrigued by the name, but never grew to enjoy it after trying it 3x. The cumin is extremely overpowering in the opening, and in my opinion, smells very masculine. I could smell the grapefruit for only a couple of minutes, and while it lightened it up a bit, this still felt like an aggressive perfume. I'm not a fan of tuberose either, so the floral notes didn't impress (and it seemed were fighting to come through at all). The woody/animal-themed base notes also smell masculine. This is one of the few scents I've tried that gives me a headache, and that is after one spray. Definitely a fall/winter/evening scent. Pros? It seems to be high quality - long lasting, potent, unique, and complex. I'm sure this is perfect for someone out there, but not a safe blind buy at all.

I do enjoy some animalic fragrances but this is horrendous. I received a travel size of this for purchasing a full bottle of a Rogue fragrance. It is a spicy pissy cumin urinal cake. I love my Salome’s and Bal a Versailles but this is terrible and offensive. Had to scrub it off me after 30 mins. Vile. 2/10

At first I was not going to review this scent here. I truly hate it. But because this was predictable from looking at the notes I felt a negative commentary might not be fair or helpful. But here’s the thing—everyone here likes it , including people who say they normally don’t like white florals, or animalic scents, etc. Well I’m here to represent the other side of the aisle. The initial blast of florals is very powerful and had I not been in the car already I might have scrubbed this perfume at the half hour mark. The tuberose was especially noxious. Then it morphed dramatically into a heavy plastic scent. I’m guessing that was somehow the animal notes and aldehydes partying together. The only notes listed that I usually love—grapefruit, wood, leather, musk—were never detectable. I’m now 90 minutes in and the fragrance is pretty faint at this point. I can’t imagine I’d get anywhere near the longevity some users reported. But then again, I Really don’t want to smell this for the next 10 hours...

I usually can find something nice to say about any fragrance, and at worst usually just find those I dislike to be boring. But wow the first blast of this was hate at first whif for me and not at ALL what I expected from the notes. Like musty waxy tuberose Jasmine w/slight aldehyde in the background all stored in heavy duty plastic contractor bags. SO bizarre. Idk if it’s the cumin or animalic notes or what but the waxy musty dusty part is HARD to ignore. It’s about 30mins later and maybe SLIGHTLY improving but oof will not be reaching for this one again anytime soon. The only thing I could imagine possibly layering this with to save it might be Olfactum’s Zanzibar (which is the only place I’ve ever smelled cumin and wax together like this but unlike this one from Sarah Baker, I absolutely LOVE Zanzibar)

This fragrance makes me feel irritated and angry because of how bad and strong it is. Listen, I like a little cumin funk in perfumes, but this one smells like fecal matter, urine and old sweaty men all at one time. Hard pass. Please try other Sarah Baker fragrances though, there are amazing ones like Atlante and Charade.

Lindsay Lohan in Rules of Attraction by Sarah Baker: The sun is setting: Lindsay arbitrarily swats her own cigarette smoke away from her face before taking another drag. It’s not too bad here, looking out from her back patio onto the Night Blooming Jasmine beginning it’s show and creeping slowly towards her nose. A deep breath followed by a quick glance to her side, nobody is there; just a dish of half-eaten grapefruit waiting to be taken in and put in the sink. She bites her silver-banded thumb to encourage contemplation before lightly smudging out her cigarette. Opening the sliding glass doors and entering her freshly cleaned house, she pops a tic tac in her mouth, sucking its initial vanilla flavor and then spitting out the mint. She opens the trash bin and flings the half-eaten tic tac – a quick waft of discarded chicken curry and recently deceased flower arrangements. Her heels clack loudly on the wood floor. She blows out a few candles, gets her purse, and leaves. Later that night: At once in motion and still, her red hair catches a flash. Immediately following the flash, Lohan lifts her arm to block her face. Frightened, she smells herself – she knew she was forgetting something – but this won’t show in the photograph, right? At the club, a sophisticated rustic watering hole for wealthy camera-pleasers, she accompanies her friends to the bathroom. They need to touch up their makeup. Sitting on the sink, facing away from the mirror, she laughs with them, intoxicated by their rosy-nightlife-drench. The inevitable onlookers enter and exit the stalls, carrying with them stale breath and 3am sweat; chainlink halter tops turn the body odors metallic. These bathroom strangers leave behind them the linger of urine and uncertainty. “Oh, god.” Lindsay watches as her beautiful friends all smear on their waxy pigment and powder their faces, the watching eventually becomes witnessing. Snap out of it! She bites her thumb and swirls her deep, red, cocktail with the other hand. The flash of a camera: strobing a moment of celebration – a bouquet of royal decadence. The photograph to follow: a deeper, sweaty secret. Instagram: @scent_speculation

Oh boy...I was so excited to try this fragrance because Sarah Bakers Peach Revenge was so hyped after the Milan show and she works with a perfumer I adore and have studied with Ashley Eden Kessler - but this is so not for me. I am finding that I am not a fan of Aldehydes...or at least not 600+ samples in and also feeling like Cumin is just an odd fragrance spice for me to wrap my head around - I do like it in Guac. On my skin it feels like the white florals are struggling to make themselves heard but they're drowned out by the overwhelming cloudy spice. They're top notes that just won't quit. I hate to say I hated this .but I hated it. :( Nothing sexy or attractive about it. I want to wash it off and will before I go out tonight.

Orris butter so thick you can see it scooped into a petri dish. Tuberose blossoms heavy on the stem, and a whip crafted from the green parts of plants. Supple black leather. A little bit of cat pee blowing off some nearby bushes. This smell brings back the memory of a ceramic panther sculpture my grandmother used to keep on the bottom part of her coffee table. It was a sleek, black, shiny panther crouched close to the ground like it was stalking prey. I used to carry it around with me and play games with it, making it stalk glasses of iced tea-- or growl, and then knock my grandfather's pens off the side table. As a little girl I found it hilarious that the panther statue had testicles. So does this perfume.

Intoxicating, does she not sell this one anymore? It’s pretty good. I could see it being too polarizing for people today though. Dior Poison meets Bal A Versailles. Little bit Fracas in there. But ultimately I’m not getting all the ‘it’s an homage to Bal A Versailles’ this is closer to a plummy white floral Dior Poison vibe than a resinous balsamic powder bomb. With Some other dirty animalic vibes. Like Poison, It’s very Catherine Deneuve in “The Hunger” maybe even more so, due to the edginess. Update 9/20/24 Got a bottle on Krystal Fragrance.com Was told they have multiple bottles still in stock

Rules of Attraction is an homage to Bal à Versailles (1962) and I see this connection, there is some post-modern game, some kind of a meta-irony when you imagine a ball in Versailles through a modern remake of some classic historical costume drama (Dangerous Liaisons comes to my mind). A creamy orris is blended with sharp white bloom of tuberose-neroli-jasmine, aired with aldehydes, and settled on a musky civet base. A cape show when you're pretending to be naive but at the same time letting know that you are definitely not.

Rules of Attraction is a musky, iris-based leather fragrance with bright, light florals. It’s a flirty, playful leather, with a sexy animalic side thanks to the addition of civet. Dries down more woody iris and the brand’s notes mention an antique rosewood accord which adds a more restrained aspect to the kink of the rest of the notes. I would say this is a wonderful spring fragrance and for fans of iris, civet and leather, you are gonna get a real kick out of this.

This sounds like heaven- Sarah and Miguel make the most distinctive, clever, beautifully wearable pieces of art. Gradually hunting down all of their creations and cherish them. I really feel like I’m buying the most fabulous piece of contemporary art when I purchase their perfumes. Would like to meet other superfans of Sarah Baker and Miguel Matos’ potions.

Very sick this last week but this sample came in and I really wanted to smell it and I know my nose isn’t getting the full potential but man does this stink so good 🥲 reminds me of growing up in the city and it’s like smelling a sampaguita shrub on a disgusting street

I got a sample this month in my Olfactif box, this smells straight up like porta potty air freshener. So disappointed

Just applied and I smell liiiiike cat piss

smells just like Tendre Poison