I found the opening to be very impactful and interesting the pink pastel sweetness of pink pepper and iris over an instantly enveloping pillow of musky, dusky, sandy woods. It appeals to me on a very basic level but I went through stages of feeling a little smothered by it's themes but then just wallowing in the loveliness and cozy atmosphere of it all. I could still smell it on my skin this morning, and it was a musky skin scent. Good stuff but by no means great.

I enjoyed this perfume, I thought it was very good indeed. Comparisons to TdH are a little simplistic to me... ahhh okay.... This is genuine now. So I wore this perfume yesterday and I'm writing this review retrospectively However, I also sprayed it on a card which I popped in the top pocket of a jacket I'm wearing today and just as I was about to say how wrong and naive and ignorant comparisons to the Hermes fragrance are I kept thinking....I can smell Terre d Hermes....I thought it was my mind conjuring it!!! But seeing as I don't believe that woo, I knew it had to be something real, sure enough it was the Boadicea card. (Facepalm) Okay so bearing all that in mind I never made a particular association when first sprayed, nor did I when wearing this yesterday other than it being a peppery, citrus vetiver. I do now somewhat, however this is more luxurious than Terre D'Hermes, it really is, to the point I stick to what I was originally saying and comparisons are quite redundant, The point I was making was that they are not totally irrelevant I guess. This is speaking as someone who has recreated many different tweaks on GCMS formulas of Terre and used it as a jumping off point for my own creations and let me tell you like many corners of perfumery which are iconic and breakthrough for a reason, many others will arrive (or intentionally reproduce) a similar journey to get to almost the same destination. But the 'Almost' can be quite a broad church even if you start getting esoteric and talking about 'vibrations' and 'emotions' and such. If I'd immediately smelled Terre I wouldn't be as on board with this perfume as I am. I got more bergamot, malaise of fruit, and eau de cologne, and a sort of generic but still very nice vetiver/cedar. The drydown and card remnant is much richer and rounder even still. A minor tweak of similar materials to TdH no doubt but as I mentioned that can make all the difference.

Managed to get a vintage sample of this gorgeous perfume but there's nothing flouncy or poetic about it to me, I found it quite functional and to the point. The point being leather. A unambiguous, loveable, non intrusive, realistic leather accord. Interesting that it predates big references I could make to elegant 'Russian' leather accords like the iconic floral leather Cuir de Russie by Chanel and perhaps that Guerlain one of the same name? (although alas I've never tried that :() The vibe here is much more stripped back though and simple tonality, which I totally love about this perfume. Peau d'Espagne has this creamy. fleshy, lightly powdered feel, with a hint of smoke to it. It's barely 'smoky' though I get that this has much more toned down, less exotic floral element, rather than ylang or jamine it's much more in the realms of hinting at carnation or geranium. Could it even evoke mentions of Guerlain Derby? Again that would be totally misleading! lol not having much luck here reference wise. Basically if you like the perfumes I've mentioned, classic floral and powdery leathers, you like the house (yes they deserve to be called a house) of Santa Maria Novella you So smooth, I love it.

Right so… Hope. I’m not sure if the name is ironic or what because if anything was to crush any hope of originality in perfumery then this is it. I don’t know if my expectations are unfair now? I mean Pink Floyd couldn’t keep making Dark side of the Moon’s now could they? This is a boring perfume, opulent yes, powerful… reasonably… a modern oud which if you want to say has a kind of plastic, translucency, and a good mixture of spicy, resinous, animalic etc… then okay. But it smells like many other ‘opulent’ oud/oud rose perfumes (okay so no rose officially but…) I’m not sure why you’d drop FM gem money for this, I’m curious as to any excited interview from Dominique Ropion stating that he’s done anything here but create something which exists elsewhere in perfumery for a fraction of the price. Yes it’s nice and wearable and modern and I can even concede smells expensive & may contain real oud and some other nice naturals, but it doesn’t justify the price nor does it stand with the others in this line which although even more outrageously priced (in some cases) at least have a bit of something about them. Even Promise which is the most genetically similar and market pleasing has something of a unique balance to it.

Wow! Initially a minimal modern art piece with undertones of crude 'Indy' perfume about it but it soon becomes apparent that L'eau d'epine has some get up and go. Really classy touches to it, I'm quite enamored to tell you the truth. I've not sampled Hermes Galop in ages but this kinda puts me in a similar mind space, it's shocking, green rose theme is impactful but conversely, barely in the realms of existence, ethereally transparent as it can appear. The opening has that tidal effect, it sucks back, like you get the lightest top note effect but then it washes back in becoming more potent and present, This usually happens with these resin/incense perfumes when they go down a fresher or greener route and you certainly get green from the galbanum and spikes of chemically clean aldehyde, punching through. The effect of the rose chiming is translucent before finally settling to something resembling a sanitised leather accord. I think it's great.

Opens like sweet balsamic jelly baby sweets, and the underlying creamy spectre of a vanilla, tonka and custard accord which gets stronger in the heart. If you're expecting bold tobacco be prepared for disappointment the tobacco accord is very much a ill-defined creamy part of the balmy fuzz created by the base. In essence this is a quality perfume and I really love the audacious confection of the opening five minutes or so, then the prominence of sandalwood you can really smell that for a while there too working with the vanillic theme of the whole thing. It's cohesive and well made perfume but it doesn't stir a great deal in me. If you like this sort of thing, particularly classy stuff from Guerlain or similar then I'd recommend giving it a sniff.

Fabulous!!! What a fantastic, classic smelling perfume. Aromatic, citrus opening with a lightly smoky, dry cedar and moss at it's heart. Lovely on paper but even better on skin. I think without being a pointless copy, because it isn't that...I'd say if you like stuff like Dior Eau Sauvage you'll be in safe hands with this. Very much more base, woody, mossy and less diffusive floral mids and a touch more herbal, this smells more full and 'niche' whatever that means? Well I know what it means and I think you do too. Little in the way of invention here but it's a classic three chord banger, jazzed up a bit for a boutique brand, what's not to love? Great perfume really enjoying wearing it today and lasts and projects pretty well for a fragrance of this nature.

I found this to be lovely. Really nice. The balance, the subtlety, everything is in it's right place and complementary. Opens like a very delicately flavoured Turkish delight. I don't even like Turkish delight, never have, never will do, the Gelatinous texture, the infusion of rose, the sweetness, all if it! NO!!!! But this smells of it and even evokes it so vividly but I find the fresh light, rosewater effect and hint of sweetness even the implication that it's powdered like they are, everything! There's even a light effervescence, which looking at the notes here, champagne is included and I get that too! Could a certain green cognac material be in here? Okay Mr Alan this is some good work. We haven't even reached the kicker of chocolate. It is a chocolate accord too, not a after thought or a cacao note which leaves me a bit cold sometimes, this smells like a rich coco with the right balance of earth to it. All together then we have a bit of a trope. It's roses and champagne and chocolate, it's valantines day in a bottle, and clearly Alan nods to that in the title. It's a more sophisticated paint by numbers, things like Chocolaty patchouli is often paired with rose as well as the champers or a certain booziness but hey perfumery is sometimes about nailing classic stuff just because you can, but mainly because folks like it, there's a reason why scales and chord progressions exist in music. I actually think this is more interesting than commercially similar efforts like Noir de Noir by Tom Ford and more than likely something by Montale. I'd reach for this though because it shows a nice degree of craft and restraint. Haven't worn it yet so migh update when I do but I've smelled it a few times now and still think it's great!

Darren Alan continues to dazzle with his... Nahhhh he doesn't. Ooooh that was uncalled for. Sorry. He's doing alright you know? Not bad. I love a musk material and even moreso a perfume with musk in the name so let's GO!!!! Totally taken aback by the opening for me it's a little powdery, pastel violet tinged rose-ish accord very soft, velvety but papery with woods and very much indy vibes which is fine. The refinement does come as that musky base starts to chime in and envelope, it's really crowd pleasing and frankly appeals to me, musks belong in perfumes and create a familiar 'pillow' (almost quite literally) to rest your head upon, and go....."aahhhhhhh" This has something of that effect while being a be rough n ready. It's a bit twee, but it's alright by me. Very hard for anyone to innovate in the musky perfume space, so not gonna be too harsh.

This is my starting point with Darren Alan perfumes. I have immense respect for the DIY/Punk artistic attitudes of Indy perfume makers, I really do. It might not always seem that way because I don't even view these perfumes in the same reference frame as 'trained' or 'proper' perfumers work. That seems, snobby, gatekeepery even but it's largely true. There's levels to everything in life and the pro's are pro's for a reason. Anyway, I approach this set with an open mind and the title of this immediately evoked what I thought it would be about, not a bad thing. So it's a petrichor fragrance which usually involves the requisite materials like mushroom alcohols, perhaps patchouli and almost certainly geosmin. So I was expecting something heavy handed and glum, gloomy. Largely you do get that earthy, moist air, a very natural smell and something we can all somewhat relate to, but no perfume I've tried captures it well, it's a perfume after all maybe I have unrealistic expectations? I mean geosmin is an incredible material but is extremely powerful and difficult to incorporate into accords and compositions, but here I think Darren Alan has done a pretty fine job of it. (if indeed that's what he's used, as I mentioned some alternatives can create a similar effect) The main reason being that he has brought this floral accord into the mix which you can smell in the background throughout and I think that gives this perfume more of a story than simply representing AFTER RAIN, it adds to the context and naturalism, it's not just the soil reacting to the rain but everything else. The problem is....I don't want to wear perfumes like this. Okay sometimes maybe but they're just not my bag and it's hard to get excited about post thunderstorm, mineral, wet soil shit yano? Credit where it's due this could've had way less thought put in and a much more hamfisted approach but it was pleasantly surprising.