Rake & Ruin (2018)
by Beaufort London

I am in general agreement with FumeHood's entertaining review below. My first impression of the fragrance was something very original, savory, burnt or roasted. The savory aspect which can certainly be compared to celery is also very like the herb lovage, a common ingredient of soups. It could come also from angelica roots which is listed among the ingredients, and is a characteristic component of gin of course, which is in keeping with the backstory.

You could end up smelling like a soup kitchen but somehow the perfumer pulls if off and just makes a fascinating and creative blend, very avant garde and different from anything else on the market, that I'm aware of.

The dominant effect for me of this excellent fragrance in summary is savory and herbal. It is earthy and rooty. I don't think it is at all animalic and any association with sweat, prostitution and debauchery is ridiculous. However, most reviewers on Fragrantica and elsewhere seem preoccupied by that perception after reading the advertising story.

Opening is 2 hours of smelling like celery. Scrubber

Not as striking as Vi et Armis, but perhaps a more wearable concentration of its predecessor's dry down, Rake & Ruin is a dark, smokey, peaty, barrel-aged brown spirit-infused concoction that continues Beaufort's knack for incredibly sensual wearable liquors that feel alive and festering (or only recently deceased). Yes, there's always something composting in these scents (with the exception of Lignum Vitae—that one is the azure-hued salubrious wonder of your maritime dreams; it smells nothing like death). Rake & Ruin is the spawn of a pirate and a chimney sweep, and it may turn off those looking for the bright top notes and dry woods of more traditional European perfumery. Here you get Green pepper over fresh greenery and slippery wet planks over dry incense. But, strangely, it maintains a calming and beautiful hum, perfectly accompanying those dark-stoned interior scenes from Game of Thrones. Truly marvelous stuff.