Lalique
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bergamot and juniper spark immediately with that bracing, almost botanical quality of a gin martini—sharp, herbaceous, alive. Pink pepper CO2 arrives with a distinct peppery snap, creating an opening that feels deliberate and slightly austere, the aromatic equivalent of a pen poised over blank paper.
Saffron emerges with quiet sophistication, its slight warmth refusing to sweeten the composition, instead deepening the black tea accord into something with genuine tannin and depth. Patchouli creeps upward from the base, transforming the fragrance into something increasingly earthy and introspective, the spice settling into a more refined warmth.
Madagascan vetiver and ambergris create a skin-close base that's simultaneously green and woody, with patchouli adding a subtle earthiness that keeps the composition grounded. The sillage drops considerably, becoming an intimate second skin rather than a declaration—which somehow feels entirely intentional, as though the fragrance is finally done with external conversation.
Encre Indigo arrives as a studiously composed meditation on restraint—a fragrance that whispers rather than announces, yet carries an intellectual heft that demands attention. Annick Ménardo has crafted something genuinely unconventional here: a spicy-woody composition that reads less as conventional masculinity and more as the olfactory equivalent of linen worn against skin, creased from actual living.
The brilliance emerges in how the bergamot and juniper berry establish a crisp, almost gin-like opening that immediately signals "thinking person's fragrance," before the pink pepper CO2 introduces a prickle of warmth—not sweetness, but genuine spice with a peppery bite. This is where the composition's character crystallises: it's austere without being cold, refined without pretension.
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4.0/5 (135)