Brand: Darling Clandestine
Scent Description: A sting of sea salt and leather, splashes of communion wine, the essence of raw skin. Inked is one of my favorite little sex machines. It MUST be experienced on the skin and not just sniffed from the bottle. Inked is an acquired taste, to be sure, but folks who love Inked LOVE LOVE LOVE Inked.
My skin really changes this up. I usually steer clear of wine notes, because they tend to go very sharp on me, but I love blends with weird notes like dirt or salt, because my skin really transforms them. Inked is salty and musky in a very soft way, and kind of like the smell of the plastic skin on a favorite doll, with that powdery note in it. As it dries, it turns metallic, but in a salty sea way, while still retaining the softness. I think the wine and/or leather is adding depth to this (i can’t really pick them out but I feel like I can sense them in there) and in general, I really like the experience, since the scent stays close to my skin and I can only get wafts of it when I move, making the scent even gentler. I can totally see the metallic pen ink vibe if I huff it, and I don’t hate that either.
From my very first IMAM review: Just applied it smells like the skin just below the neck and just before the shoulder of a merman with a shark’s tale and fin that has just saved me from drowning in the deep sea. Upon dry-down it smells of the same merman’s chest after he’s carried me onto the beach and the sun has dried the water on his shark skin so that the salt and sand has stuck to it. (FYI – This is my fav, in case that wasn’t clear. 😉 )
I feel the same way years later, I have multiple backups at this point. Totally agree its what I imagine Jason Mamoa as Aquaman to smell like.
Opens as a rich, sweetish red wine for me. Tones down into the barest hint of spice – I’d actually like just a *little* more spice to balance the sweet. Depending on the day, I will sometimes get the hint of musk, but not often, and it doesn’t last. This sounds a little negative and it’s not at all! I actually really love this scent. I wasn’t sure I would, as I thought the wine might be too much, but it’s delicious on top of my skin, whether or not the musk is showing up that day! It lasts pretty well, ~4 hours. You’d definitely need to reapply if you wanted it to be more noticeable or lasting, but that not a concern for me, so this is perfect.
This one didn’t work on me, which I probably should have predicted seeing as wine and leather almost never work for me. It’s like mushy overripe fruit in the back of a taxicab with fake leather seats. This is a very popular scent, but if you have issues with wine or leather I would steer clear!
Notes are pretty straightforward – This smells like salty wine and a little bit of sweaty skin (in the best way). It’s not my style but seems fine.
I don’t like Inked, but then again I typically go for gourmands/vanilla-based perfumes. Inked smelled sort of like Band-Aids (plasticky), leather and salt to my nose. Skunky-sweaty. I’ve also tried her “Love & Sharks” blend and I found Inked nearly identical, just without the fruit notes.
as others have said, this is definitely a musky, sexy scent. it definitely has a bit of a salty tinge to it, like sweaty, post-lovemaking skin, and i can pick up the faintest scent of wine. it sits close to the skin, so it’s a more intimate smell, but lasts quite a long time. definitely a good “my skin but better” perfume.
Sexy, spicy, clean, almost woodsy (not in a literal way). This is a clean-skin musk topped with spiced wine and a tiny bit of inky leather – not enough to make it sharp. The opening is clean, musky, and blue, and the warm spice opens up over the course of wear, where more of those almost woodsy notes start to blossom. Decent longevity (6+ hrs), medium to low throw, and a very unique experience. I don’t think I have another musk quite like this.
Smells like an old lady on me. Not old lady perfume, straight up just sniffing an old lady. Which is a shame because I really wanted to like it.
This is dark and salty and musky at first. This just might be what the new Aquaman smells like. With wear I’m getting musky communion wine.
This smells like wine-splashed skin to me. Like you poured wine over your lover’s sweaty body after a night of passionate love. It’s sexy for sure.
Rich red wine with a blast of metallic pen ink, like the gritty kind in blue pens. Then, once it starts to warm up, there’s a hot and salty skin musk mingling with metallic ink. The wine totally fades to the background and I never pick up any leather. This scent is, without a doubt, sexy.