Encre Noire Lalique (2006) Eau de Toilette

Encre Noire (Eau de Toilette) by Lalique

Bottle Design: Lalique

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8.1 / 10 1019 Ratings

Encre Noire (Eau de Toilette) is a popular perfume by Lalique for men and was released in 2006. The scent is woody-earthy. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Lalique Group / Art & Fragrance.

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Perfumer

Nathalie Lorson

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Vetiveryl acetate, Cypress
Heart Notes	Bourbon vetiver, Haitian vetiver
Base Notes	Cashmere wood, Musk

Ratings

Scent

8.1 (1019 Ratings)

Longevity

8.0 (746 Ratings)

Sillage

7.3 (740 Ratings)

Bottle

8.4 (732 Ratings)

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 12.11.2018

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Reviews

11/11/2018

9.0/10

8.0/10

9.0/10

RaySilvers

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RaySilvers

Dark warm leather

The first impression is that of fine leather, but not that of a new car, but rather that of a warm expensive leather couch in front of the fireplace. The scent is dark, strong but it does not jump into your face, but sneaks into your nose again and again at intervals. I cannot share the association with cold, wet, dead earth, for me the scent is warm and dry, noble, rich wood notes and warm earth, as in the Mediterranean summer under an olive tree form the back wheel and embed the leather gently. Very male, dominant by darkness and volume but quite elegant. The cuddling factor could well be present if the woman likes leather. Keeps 7 hours loose, I like it

4 Replies

11/06/2018

10.0/10

8.0/10

9.0/10

9.5/10

MrInfinite

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MrInfinite

My soulmate.

Black ink for me it sounds like black soul; metaphor.

What do I expect from a name like that? A scent that radiates dark, gloomy, loneliness, as if it were looking through my eyes into the soul. If I want to experience loneliness and a scent should lead me to it then Encre Noire is the right thing for me. A composition that starts with a woody 'grey' note and in the course of time finds its 'pitch black' completion. He comforts me in days when my soul is crushed by the burden of life and envelops me with a veil of rest.

The noble bottle has been reduced to the essentials and reflects the fragrance and its uniqueness. The shelf life is on a high level, the Sillage however weakens a little.

One must not expect the smell of ink from EN, which one suspects especially from the naming. Instead, you get a vetiver fragrance that is second to none.

3 Replies

10/31/2018

8.0/10

6.0/10

7.0/10

3.0/10

DeJu

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DeJu

!!!!!!!!!!!

At the beginning of my passion for fragrances, I made the mistake of ordering fragrances blind if the ratings here at Parfumo were high enough. Encre Noir was my last bug of this kind.

I have read through all statements and comments about this fragrance here and the water has run together in my mouth. Divine ink, heavenly vetiver and God knows what I was allowed to read here. In addition a score of currently 8.1. With the price one must simply strike there I thought.

First of all I can say that the most beautiful thing about this perfume is the flacon. Even though it has a minimalist design, it still looks very noble.

The fragrance itself lacks pretty much everything that was praised so highly here before. I don't smell ink from start to finish. Not once, not even rudimentarily. If you want to smell authentic ink, you should try Mortal Skin by Stephane Lucas. The only thing I smell here from the first spray to the base is earth. Damp old earth. Well, I don't mind if a scent runs linearly. But only if the scent smells good. This one doesn't do that for me. I was hoping for a similarity to the Encre Noir for ladies, which I really liked to smell. But there are worlds in between. How can it be that such a fragrance is rated better here than e.g. Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver or Guerlain's Vetiver? These are just two of the countless examples of unrealistic scores here at Parfumo. In addition, there are all the unobjective and often far-fetched comments and statements that give the readers an interest and an expectation that the fragrance cannot justify. I have the feeling that some people here rather live out their inner poet than really deal with the scent in a matter-of-fact and real way and thus help the people who are interested in the respective scent.

Even though I'm probably stoned by the community here, I couldn't help myself...

Love you guys < br /> Denis

29 Replies

10/31/2018

8.0/10

3.0/10

4.0/10

Stinki

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Stinki

Less helpful Review 2

What haven't I read here,

i don't want to comment all these vampire, cemetery, church, tomb, from another world blabla things, because I fell for it and ordered it blind. For me a absolutely meaningless Labberwässerchen, which does not deserve the name Noire to begin with. And if that ink is supposed to be, it's probably secret ink that you sign contracts with. Ne people, for me the prime example of a fragrance that is tailored exclusively to a special younger audience (hipster), who hardly know any real reference fragrances and the zeitgeist, hardly wanting to smell of anything, except perhaps after, I think it is called Iso E Super. Boring as hell for me.

10 Replies

09/25/2018

10.0/10

8.0/10

9.5/10

Marlboro

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Marlboro

Is that old wooden chick still alive?

Yes! He's still alive and proud of his name! I have read some comments on this fragrance here and bought the cat in the bag - but have I regretted it? Clear "no" at this point. The fragrance is heavy, noble and really unbelievably mature, but I agree with my previous commentators on the course of the fragrance - there is none! I personally have no problem with that, because I really like the composition of Lalique.
Sun, moon and stars? It's not! Not a little light burns in the sky, deep black, noble and pure he comes along! The clean man without a shadowy existence - I find that simply "super cool"!

09/11/2018

8.0/10

6.0/10

8.0/10

Konsalik

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Konsalik

Very helpful Review 15

Abstraction

Some commentators praised and some complained that Encre Noire lacked a scent. This may be true from a diachronic point of view: After five hours on the skin, this fragrance still smells as it did shortly after it started; somewhat quieter, but basically almost identical. Real shifts in perception actually only occur synchronously and more or less spontaneously. So while many other perfumes resemble a play or medieval historical painting (the story develops from left to right), Encre Noire is closer to certain trends in modern painting. Or a Rorschach test. Similar to the works of Russian Suprematists or people like Mondrian, a uniform, immovable scent impression stands before us on the surface, which is initially no more than it is. Pure, uninterpretable matter.

Only with longer, not even particularly concentrated duration of perception, changing associations emerge in me, only to sink again soon. Wet forest soil, bark mulch on playgrounds, asphalt, rubber tires, ink (actually!). In fact, the picture field as a whole - at least for me - is a rather dark one, but without the emotional force that stormed me a little at "Eucris" by Trumper. It seems as if the perfumer in this composition has tried to work out the pure performing ability of the vetiver - and this has certainly succeeded. Pure representation, silent showing is cold and the question is, as with modern art, whether it pleases.

But here the picture goes wrong: this question is of course not simply a question of taste in great art; rather, the value judgement here feeds on a wealth of other considerations. With consumer art this is something else and the question whether I like the fragrance is not easy to answer. Intellectual satisfaction through the new, respect for the composition: Yes! Pure "like": I don't know. Therefore, I will abstain from a rating for the time being. Mondrian's too, by the way. To this day, I still value his pictures more as "symptoms", in a sense purely from a cultural science perspective. As an expression of time. Internally, however, they leave me cold.

8 Replies

09/10/2018

8.0/10

5.0/10

9.0/10

5.0/10

NasiGoreng

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NasiGoreng

I can't make up my mind!

Encre Noire is one of the most difficult fragrances for me so far!
Not that I don't like him or that he's bad.
It is certainly an extraordinary fragrance - but here we are already talking about: Is it really a fragrance or "only" a smell?

It really smells all very dark and dark and heavy. But unfortunately the smell remains the same for me after about 5 minutes - but actually for many hours. So the durability is really extreme - even if quite close to the skin, I think. However, I can't even say exactly what he smells of - but yes: it reminds me of old church, swamp and pencil.
And after the many hours mentioned above it can be really annoying if nothing happens and it just - I call it that way - a "dull" smell on the skin (although bobbling here is probably exactly the right term: association to swamp / pond / old water).

Let me put it this way: if a little freshness would appear here once in a while (even if it would probably have absolutely nothing to do here, since it is simply not this fragrance direction), which would then "transport" the fragrance away from the skin, the fragrance would have a much greater chance for me (because a certain sweetness is sometimes also recognizable).
Maybe a little menthol or eucalyptus in addition or something in the direction...?
Maybe try with layers...?
Oh, I don't know!
For this reason - since neither very good nor bad - I give an average 5!

sunny greetings from Lower Bavaria
Shari

5 Replies

05/18/2018

10.0/10

8.0/10

9.0/10

Carlitos01

Very helpful Review 5

The dark side attraction

I bought my first bottle of Encre Noire about 3 years ago. Since then, I already bought another bottle of Encre Noir and its flankers Extreme and Sport.
Encre Noire ("Black Paint" in french) is a strong vetiver cocktail. It's not the traditional barbershop easy to wear vetiver. It's a pleasing to wear dark vetiver accord, result of blending a couple of high quality vetiver notes. It's extreamly classy and its wearer will surely be noticed by the people around him.
My attention was also captured by magnific minimalist black cubic bottle with a wooden cap. So simple and so beautiful.
This fragrance is signature scent material.
After a couple of sprays, you notice a magnificent imposing cypress. The vetiver middle notes make themselves noticed almost immediately, embracing the cypress without choking it.
You get a touch of wood (cashmere) and musk with the base notes to enhance the pleasant darkness mood.
There is something black and animalic about the fragrance that catches your attention in a good way. The notes combination lead you to scent a dark aura around the created ambiance together with a gorgeous smokiness.

Performance is above average. You get a bigger performance if you spray on your clothes and hair. You may get easely an eight to ten hours longevity. Sillage is not as strong, and you share you darkness within five to six feet. You get a good enough projection of more than an arm lenght up to the third hour.

My rates for Encre Noire
Scent Opening: 9.0 (my judgement)
Scent Dry Down: 9.0 (my judgement)
Longevity: 8.0
Sillage: 7.5 (5~6 feet at its peak with just 2 sprays)
Uniqueness: 9.0 (quite unique as a strong vetiver dark fragrance; of course I do not consider its flankers)
Wearability: 8.0 (It leans more to the night time and cold weather, although I consider perfectly safe to use it during Spring and Fall daytime)
Versatility: 8.0 (a dark fragrance that does not please everybody, although its class will overcome many barriers)
Quality: 9.0 (my judgement)
Presentation: 10.0 (Definitely in the front row of any shelf)
Price: 9.5 (100 ml non tester for 22 Euros + shipping)

Overall rating: 8.70/10.00
- between 7 and 8 = above average;
- between 8 and 9 = recomended;
- bigger than 9 = don't miss it;
I strongly recommend this fragrance to all colectors and all dark fragrances lovers.
I do have my ups and downs with the Encre Noir line of products (3 fragrances). Sometimes I pick the extreme version or the sport version. But there is nothing like returning to the first love. This perfume is gorgeous.

Music: The Rolling Stones - "Paint It, Black"

2 Replies

04/08/2018

9.0/10

7.0/10

8.0/10

Smora

Helpful Review 4

Serious

Scentrack: The Fifth Dimension - One Less Bell To Answer

Lalique constantly delivers great and reasonably priced fragrances. Encre Noir is an extremely dark, yet transparent scent. Cypress, a lot of burning vetiver and Iso E Super woody background. Simple, serious and successful. This burning vetiver reminds me of Profumum Roma Fumidus, not so dense of course. Reasonably priced, great smelling, good looking bottle- almost perfect.

Rating: 8/10

10/09/2017

6.0/10

7.0/10

8.0/10

6.0/10

Giesta40

Helpful Review 1

Black paint

Dark vetiver, linear perfume with strong sharp edges, remember me the smell of the black paint of a pen. Some perfumes slowly seems to lose their strength because of the "odeur fatigue", but not this one! i can feel it all day long, it never smoths is allways there... bang! in your nose.

1 Replies

09/09/2017

10.0/10

7.0/10

9.0/10

9.5/10

Muotarek

Helpful Review 2

Dark masculine scent

Earthy vetiver, Woody, dark, masculine, VERY MASCULINE to be honest, you'll smell like a forest in winter, this one is really outstanding, it is a niche quality with a very low price like 30$ or something but quite remarkable.

Rate:
Scent: 9/10
Longevity: 8/10
Silage: 6/10
Suitable for winter day or night.

1 Replies

10/25/2015

8.0/10

GMK

GMK

Very helpful Review 5

Classy Masculine

Love in first sight does not happen always...sometimes it takes a lot of time to understand the characteristics and attributes. so is the case with Encre Noire with me...when ever I sniffed it , it reminds me of two very Beloved scents which have been discontinued unfortunately ,Gucci Pour Homme and Lui Rochas...IMO, EN has a similar vibe of that muddy , wet, Vetiver which we call 'KHUSS' , a very nice take on Vetiver with lovely musk , I m in love with this these days , especially for my all time favourite notes of woods, musk and smoke.

08/12/2015

ColinM

Greatly helpful Review 8

Solid dark vetiver

One of the most solid contemporary mainstream fragrances which doesn’t really need my (or anyone else’s) endorsement. It is extremely popular, but finally for a good reason: because it is unmistakably, undeniably really good for the price. If you’re on a budget and you want a good vetiver for even the most sophisticated situation, I can’t think of anything better than Encre Noire. Most of others in the same price range couldn’t really compete with this. A dark and crisp smoky vetiver, as much synthetic as able to disguise it under a genius “inky”, wet-paint look – it has some cheap nuances indeed, but none will notice them. There is cypress, there is Nathalie Lorson’s trademark love for clean, angular, futuristic dusty-woody shapes, and there’s a ton of vetiver and Iso E. You can easily guess what to expect, dark oily woods with a really pleasant sort of “transparent” texture which is able to keep the darkness, but without any thickness or heaviness. Which is probably one of the key strengths of this perfume – it’s dark, but an easy-going, versatile, even “bright” kind of dark (compare this to Jovoy’s Private Label to get my point about dark vetivers). A classy, cleverly modern crowdpleaser good for all seasons. If it was just a bit more persistent though... well anyway, recommended!

7,5-8/10

11/03/2014

7.5/10

9.0/10

MasterLi

Greatly helpful Review 8

The "Silky" Vetiver...

Encre Noir by Lalique is not an easy one to write about, as it's very complex and mysterious...

Basically this is a fragrance which focuses on Vetiver, from top to bottom... using every aspect of the root in it's composition. It can be linear (it's about Vetiver), but it can also be complex, as it explores the many facets of this wonderful plant.

It's name means "Black Ink", and I think this description fits it very well, with even the heavy dark glass bottle made to look like an inkpot (Lalique actually used a design of an old inkpot from 1913 in their glass design). The smell is dark and smoky in the beginning, with a sharp blast of vetiver root which still feels like it's covered in dirt or mud. It smells very much like the soil at the bottom of a dark, damp forest. It's very mysterious. Then the woody quality comes through... with Iso-E-Super and Cashmeran, a synthetic woody-musky molecule that gives a silky, "sheer" quality to the composition.

In short, this sometimes smells like trees, sometimes like earth of dirt, and other times like wet ink or wet paint. It's really unlike anything else I have smelled. That being said, it strikes me as a "formal" fragrance, for someone who is dressed very well (could be male or female), and who is confident and relaxed (and in control). It also has a smooth quality that smells fantastic on skin. I like it very much, and I find it intriguing in many ways...

This is a fragrance for someone who has an appreciation for fragrances... an "experienced" nose. I think most people will have a mixed reaction to it. But if you keep an open mind (and have experience with many fragrances) then you will appreciate this one a lot. In a word, I have never found that the word "black" fits a fragrance as well as this one. Like the darkest, blackest ink. Smooth, smoky, sultry... like pure mystery! One to try for sure. It smells like nothing else, and the price is fantastic compared with the high quality. Definitely one to try!

2 Replies

10/07/2014

10.0/10

7.5/10

10.0/10

Karinoula

Helpful Review 2

Pure forest aroma -

You feel dived in the rain forest where all the magic smells of the leaves and the ground compose a real symphony. Thats what is about this perfume, is so aromatic so magnetic and unique forest aroma. I chose to include this in my collection even if I am a woman I could wear this easily and make everyone wonder what I am wearing. So exclusive, long lasting with a nice dark bottle like dark wood. On men is fantastic on a woman is mysterious could pass for unisex. Lovely !!!

05/12/2014

10.0/10

7.5/10

9.0/10

Prosperonlin

Very helpful Review 4

For Men

What I really like about Encre Noir is its straight forwards character. It doesn't try to hide what it is, a simple mens's scent. Vetiver, woods and cypress make it difficult to imagine a woman wearing this, but who knows, and what if? For me Encre Noir is very similar to comme des garçons Wonderwood, perphaps EN is a little roughier and CdG's more natural and intense. Also, a good thing is that both can be worn in hot weather. They smell quite fresh in Summer cooler evenigs.

As with other Lalique bottles, Encre Noir looks great and sober, no excess in here, at all.

1 Replies

09/18/2013

7.5/10

10.0/10

Hayven

Greatly helpful Review 4

a little humorous, a little personal

I received a decant of this from a swap; I wanted it for my boyfriend and was very happy to get my hands on some. When I received the decant, I told him, "Here, I got something for you. Hold still!" and sprayed it on his neck. After letting the fragrance settle for a few moments, I hovered my nose a couple of inches above his neck. I smelled smoked barbecue; I couldn't believe it! Encre Noire smells like my coworker's BBQ joint smoker. I waited another half hour or so, then I sniffed again. the vetiver and a smoky wood scent were detected instead. Now I feel like my nose is "less crazy".

Two days later, I buried my nose in my boyfriend's neck when we woke up, and I could still smell it strongly. I'm guessing he hasn't taken in a shower in a few days (yuck), but the longevity is pretty good on my fella. I think I'll buy him a full bottle this Christmas.

1 Replies

03/11/2013

7.5/10

8.0/10

Miaw2

Best vetiver!

Sycomore's poor cousin? I dont think so.

For me, EN is raw and agressive while Sycomore is softer and ethereal when compared to it.

Also EN has a better lasting power and its much cheaper.

Sillage and projection are medium-high. Lasting power is around 8 hours or more.

One of the best vetiver scent that i've ever tried. Certainly niche quality.

Updated on July 2013.

2 Replies

12/28/2012

10.0/10

2.5/10

7.5/10

8.0/10

Drseid

Very helpful Review 7

A Fine Dry Smoky Vetiver...

Encre Noir starts off very subtle and slightly fresh with its extremely brief top notes, then quickly transitions to a linear smoky vetiver with a good dose of Iso E Super (Cedar) mixed in for good measure among other things. The dry-down is somewhat similar to Terre d"Hermes without the orange and with more of the smoky vetiver. This is a classy scent to be sure, and it already has vaulted its way into my heart. As an aside, I have read many folks associating this with Guerlain's Vetiver but not I. I don't think they smell remotely alike, and I feel Encre Noir is in another stratosphere (no offense intended to GV and its supporters). I went many years thinking I did not like vetiver scents, but obviously I just had not tried the right one yet... Now I have. 4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars.

07/15/2012

jtd

jtd

Greatly helpful Review 7

Iso-E Super composition

Encre Noire is a nicely composed vetiver that I don't wear any more. It has balance and treats the vetiver honestly, focusing on the woody/cedar tones. It has a well-defined linear feel. You know, it's the sort of linear fragrance that rotates through its range of notes rather than simply having one tone, only louder at the beginning.

But I don't wear it. Along with a few other perfumes from its general era it has come to read as a treatise on Iso-E Super. So many perfumes started seeming like they shared the same trajectory, the same qualities or tones. Suspicious, I bought some Iso-E Super. Bingo. Mystery solved.

It wouldn't be so bad if these perfumes simply had a note or range of notes in common. The problem is that Iso-E Super is known more for its qualities and the olfactory textures it imparts rather than how it smells (although there's that, too.) Worst case scenario for Encre Noire is that I just don't want to wear it any more. A better case for me, but possibly worse for the producers, are those perfumes that I had admired but would no longer consider buying. Examples: l'Artisan's Timbuktu or Ormonde Jayne Woman. Somewhere in between are the fragrances that I never wanted but now recognize as simply belonging to the Iso-E Super genre, eg. Terre d'Hermes.

The above perfumes do all share that woody, turpentine/cedar scent of Iso-E Super, but it is the pervasiveness, that seeping quality, the almost ultrasonic background tone that turns me off. The code-word for this characteristic in perfume criticism is "radiant" and I now cringe when I read the word.

I own a few a few other Iso-E Super-heavy scents (Lutens's Feminite du Bois, CDG's 2 Man) and enjoy them, so it can't be just the aromachemical alone that bothers me. Perhaps a particular use of it. Poor Encre Noire. It's certainly not the worst use of Iso-E Super, maybe just one of the more egregious, and likely just the last straw.

Show all reviews (21)