Shadow Lace

[suki]

Dusky plum oudh casts a pall over frayed strands of green cognac and tobacco leaf. This tangle of threads is stained with a smear of patchouli and opoponax and intertwined with vanilla cream lace.

In The Bottle: The plum is sweet and bright right out of the gate, followed by a hint of that green cognac. That's all I get at first.

 

Wet On Skin: The oudh settles into itself, becoming a bit more rich, but not incense-y as I had expected. The vanilla cream lace is juuuuust beginning to peek out!

 

Dry Down: Siiiiiiigh. This is everything that I hope any in the Lace series to be: filling me with a painful nostalgia that haunts my longings and releases all my beautiful ghosts. It's sweet and dusky and gorgeous, no one note standing out, all working in gorgeous symphony. Like stepping into a sitting room full of silver print photographs and dried flowers in cut crystal vases.

[MischiefofRats]

UNF. That plum. So gorgeous. This one is alllllllll about that stunning, dusty purple plum, blended with that smooth, sweet antique vanilla lace. The patchouli is very light and incredibly inoffensive, but adds a note of rooty woody richness. This is not an incense scent; this is plum lace with some deepening complementary notes to add complexity.

[ramblingrambler]

I was hoping the tobacco would not be front-and-center in this blend, but alas, on me, as any fragrance containing this note, it is all tobacco, all the time. The plum-oudh makes it bearable along with the usual Lace suspects (sans tobacco), but I simply cannot wear tobacco blends anymore it seems.

 

For anyone who amps this note and/or is not a fan, stay far away. Otherwise, this will be absolutely beautiful on you, and I highly encourage you to get it.

[Casablanca]

This is a nostalgic blend: dark fruit on a complex, antique, and woody background.

 

First applied, plum is most prominent. It's a deep plum, less bright and overtly fruity than I expected. Its depth blends right into the woodiness of the oudh, with hints of green cognac and incense. After a minute or few, I find a light and subtle woody patchouli and a little tobacco grounding the blend alongside the oudh.

 

Once Shadow Lace has dried on me, its plum is soft, even subdued. Its other notes also fall back, as though in ennui on fainting couches. This is a low-throw, low-energy blend on my skin once dry. It develops a little vanilla fullness, but mostly lies supine and cannot be bothered, waving away all attempts to interrupt its reverie.

 

Most of it fades from me in under two hours, but it's a beauty, and an experience, while it lasts.

[JMorgynWhite]

Its's a few days out of the mail now. In the bottle it's a cologne-dark-fruit with a bit of booze. Wet down it has a sort of an expensive perfume powdery element which makes me think of white musk with some ethereal incense and a hint of plum. I am not getting tobacco on its own but knowing it in other laces I can see that its there but I have to look for it.

 

Dry it's faintly plum powder. The effect is super-elegant and sophisticated.

 

To me it's one of the incredibly complex scents that reminds me of department store perfume I would go for.

 

I adore it.

[zankoku_zen]

Cognac, plum, and a whiff of tobacco. Complex, and interesting, but I'm all about the Amber Lace right now.

[Ina Garten Davita]

I'm all about the plum with resins. I love it. It's a little powdery, but I think that will age out. I'm an avid "Lace" collector and this is a perfect addition to the family. The vanilla is SO SWEET.

[dementia_divine]

I got to try this one at Dark Delicacies yesterday! I applied a drop to my arm and then walked around Magnolia Park some more, so this isn't the most detailed review as I was walking around in the heat and just sniffing my arm occasionally.

Plum isn't really my thing, so I didn't order a bottle of this when it went live, and I didn't end up grabbing one at the store either. But I do want to say that, even though I'm averse to plum, this wasn't as intense on the plum as I expected. This is not a cloying variety of plum, so while the plum remained the dominant note at all times, I never felt like I was in an irksome cloud of it. The plum and cognac were strongest notes on me at first, and then I got some of the Lace vanilla and tobacco, and then the oudh came into play after a few hours, making it a resinous plum scent. After a full day of wear, it was back to being mostly plum-infused Lace (cognac, vanilla, and tobacco).

Shadow Lace is evocative of its name, and I recommend it if you're a fan of darker plum scents.