Rien fragrance notes
- Incense, Rose, Leather, Iris, Cistus, Oakmoss, Black Pepper, Aldehydes, Cumin, Patchouli
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Latest Reviews of Rien

The opening is brash aldehydes of that old Chanel No. 5 (1921) quality, sour and nose-singing like your grandma's favorite purse spray. The late Divine could have worn this comfortably. The rest moves into bergamot as expected, with iris ionones and rose in the heart, flavored with pepper and cumin. The funk is noticeable right away, as the leather and animalis notes (not civet) take over immediately, although this is a drier funk than something like Kouros or even Furyo by Bogart (1988). Styrax, patchouli, frankincense, amber, and oakmoss bring up the rear, going full-chypre with labdanum and a woody nuance at the end. Animalics do tone down considerably in late phases, and Rien becomes more of a dry chypre incense experience. Performance is otherworldly, so go easy on the sprays, and this scent profile can even be a little overbearing with light application if worn in the wrong weather, especially high humidity. Do as thou wilt though, but harm none. For me, this reads masculine, although officially Rien is a shared fragrance gender-wise. For me, this is a lovely kick to the face I'd wear anytime, fight me.
All told, there is a reason that vintage heads hype this one in particular, and within a few more years time will qualify as vintage anyway, unless that time has already passed when you get around to reading this review. Discontinuation scares also abound on this and its partner Rien Intense Incense by Etat Libre d'Orange (2014), but of course they do, since the kind of cloistered and obsessive "all mine" collectors that get on their lonely soapboxes about the end of perfumery as we know it, are also the kind of types to actually yearn for discontinuation so they can abate the thought of having to share something with someone else able to buy a bottle as they have. That sad psychological minefield aside, they are typically right about Rien, as this is a hearkening back to the bigger (and often gayer) era of the early to mid 1980's, where stuff like Pete Burns and Boy George were mainstream, and not targeted by hate groups. Clearly this scent is anything but "of nothing", although I'll leave it to you for finding out. Thumbs up

This is not for the faint of heart, VERY strong fragrance.
I really like it, love it even.
But then again, I love Kouros, so...
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Rien is the straight man, however, for Rien Intense Incense, which with just one single spray seems like an olfactory wormhole, a vortex pulling everything and everyone in. While the olibanum in Rien has a major role of equal billing to the leather, with Intense Incense, it is a brick of olibanum, incense in overdrive, still brimming with every alipathic aldehyde available for perfume use, and the addition of mutant orris root that is waxy, crayon-like, play-doh like, almost igniting deep within the recesses of the hippocampus distant memories of kindergarten. It must be dealt with a light hand, as it is surely one of the most potent, tenacious fragrances I've ever encountered. Utterly fascinating, with this bottle lasting several lifetimes, epochs, dimensions, matrices.

Like a real Stormblast, Rien is everything you need from a bold fragrance: hits you with dark facest from resins and incense, bold from patchouli, animalic notes and leather and also green from vetivers and woods.
Everything it's abstract, in fact you can't percep the raw materials in their true form, instead in the abstract, metalic, aldehidic way. The signature of Lie. This is a superb creation of master parfumer Antoine Lie, and i m really like it! Potent, heavy, tricky.
Olson it has that latex, plasticity aspect Wich i find it unusual and super original used here, especially for the 2006 year !
10 out of 10 for me, a reference for the bold and abstract parfumery

It is helpful for me to think about this fragrance when it comes to the three primary to break it down as best as possible as to what each of these three are doing, and then in summary discuss how they work in harmony.
1: Leather.
The leather is quite impressive in Rien for it changes between two impressive and historic advents of leather based perfumes. It starts as many sweetened and powdery leathers do (think of Knize 10, Cuir Ottoman and the like) with a great deal of spices keeping it herbal and dry while it still maintains its inherent sweetness (which primarily comes about by way of a balsamic amber accord,) and gets a boost of powdery affects through what I'm taking to be the iris and its mingling with the aldehydes.
As the fragrance dries down, it takes on a far more smokey appearance with the cumin and black pepper adding to it, bringing out a far more butch and aggressive Cuir de Russie style of leather (represented more clearly in Sultan Pasha's Cuir de Russie, but also present in vintage Chanel's.)
2: Incense.
The incense stays pretty linear throughout the whole of the fragrance - it is quite a churchy incense, somewhat less woody than avignon, and perhaps quite close to full incense by montale. This incense itself is quite peppery (the primary bearer of this note) and comes across quite smooth and smokey. This could easily be an immaculate fragrance on its own - a wall of spicy smoke with slight herbal undercurrents.
3: Aldehydes.
The aldehydes here are big and bold up front, with, the oakmoss, patchouli, rose and iris creating what I have already called a classic man-chypre feeling. The aldehydes are loud intitially, giving a huge fuzzy feeling to the overall composition with a thick earthy base composed of mousse de chene and patchouli, as well as some sweetness from the rose. It's classically gorgeous, and one that gives the perfume diversity and depth beyond the leather genres that it seems to fit into so smoothly.
Conclusion: The fragrance in total has one hell of a series of progressions, and one that is hard to be found anywhere else - it leads one through classic men's monuments of fragrance, and yet, never feels out of place as a modern fragrance - it has the typical avant-garde flair and twists that one comes to expect from the more 'out there' ELDO fragrances, but never feels excessive or extreme by classical standards, and only by modern standards if you've gotten your understanding of fragrance from Sephora. It's one that occasionally smells like you have bottled the essence of a luxury mechanic, or a dark perfumer who wears all luxe leather attire. As with most ELDO, it is in fact quite synthetic, but that honestly doesn't take away from the work in general, but is an area that could be changed to take it to the next level, if any indie perfumers would be up the challenge. ;)
8.5/10
YT: JessAndWesH


Abstract, complex, perfectly proportioned, wonderful balance between the different elements, and yet there is always a tension. The result is a novel accord, hard to describe because it's so different, nonetheless smells great and is something that would probably make Guy Robert proud. Definitely it's a bold perfume with wonderful silky sillage and lasting tenacity to match, so naturally it was never meant to please everyone.
This is definitely in the musky leather category for me, and would likely appeal to fans of Kouros, Christopher Street (Charenton Macerations). Rien is the quintessential leather perfume of the 21st century - unique, iconic, and yet indelibly evocative of the best vintages in its glorious depth and richness.
Bravo!
5/5

It's interesting for sure, but do I actually like it? I think I need more time to decide, as I do like those notes/accords separately, but I'm not sure I dig the whole chorus here. Honestly, I think I'd rather just wear Opium for the spice, or something by Comme de Garcons for the incense, or Chanel's Cuir de Russie for the leather, or... you get it.

For a brief period of my life, I worked as a finish carpenter, specializing in installing carpet, tile, and laminate. Rien instantly takes me back to that dreadful year of wrangling buckets of toxic glue, underlayment, and rolls of rebond. The smell is so similar that it's uncanny.

