Lucifer No. 3
by Damien Bash

The ylang-ylang top note is strong in this one. This scent plays out mostly floral on me, without the dark or spicy
nuances others mention. I don't find this a "dark" scent at all. It dries down close to the skin; the sillage on this one isn't very high and its longevity is average at best. I detect a white tea note, which isn't mentioned in the structure. Sandalwood and frankinscene are supporting players in the this production, and they speak their best lines at the end of the show, when the ylang has long left the stage (but the ylang hangs around for quite a
while, so you won't get to Frank and Sandal until the very last act). However, the structured way the perfume unfolds is the only thing theatrical about it. Naming after the fallen angel strikes me as inaccurate: Lucifer No. 3 is hardly ominous, scary, grotesque, vile, evil, dangerous, craven, fallen, or any of the other ideas associated with the dark one.

I could imagine this scent for a weekend evening at home, a dinner party or a more intimate occasion. The first notes of this scent stimulate and welcome, then as it dries down, it becomes a skin scent, and plays best in close encounters. This is also a nice spring rainy day scent, where I could imagine it being brought out by the humidity and wetness of the rain. Rather than a dark scent, this one might tip towards melancholy, but that kind of melancholy that the best optimists have, when once again, their sensitive hearts have been dashed by believing too much in something that didn't pay off.

I like this scent, but wouldn't pay the high price for it as there are other frags that I think are more distinctive. It's a fine scent, but underwhelming and not particularly unique, therefore, I can only give it a nuetral review.

Lucifer No.3 is the softer relative of #1. Both are incense ridden and dark souls. Number 3 isn't acrid as the franincense/myrrh might suggest, and while not quite as strange and sinister as No.1, still a brilliant five star alchemical brew. This could pass more easliy in situations as a fragrance instead of incense, which it also is. Highly recommended.

Best of the Bash's possessing a close similarity to Creed's Ambre Canelle with a tad more amber. Darker. The only one I'll even look at. the rest are approaching hideous.