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I recently got a discovery set from the House of Sillage, and it came with $100 gift certificate towards a full bottle. I loved one of the scents in the discovery set (The Classic) enough to get a full bottle, but I found it at a discounter for much less than the HoS site even after the hundred dollar gift certificate. So then I kind of had this hundred dollar gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket… I definitely liked a few of the other scents in the discovery set, including this one, and separately I got a decant of the Batman Vengence as well — but didn’t feel any were full bottle worthy for the price even after the gift certificate. And then… HoS put Ruby Flame in their online outlet store at a pretty big discount. When I figured out the hundred dollar gift certificate would work for that one too, I pulled the trigger. It’s got a pretty gimmicky bottle - not only does it have the House of Sillage trigger atomizer cover, but it also has this gold lion with ruby eyes motif - but somehow I don’t mind it. This one is interesting to me. It opens with a slightly woody red pepper along with some warm spiciness, but the main attraction is this rich earthy cocoa vibe. It is definitely not a sweet chocolate, it’s kind of this interesting savory chocolate scent, kind of like if you have a box of rich dark chocolate truffles coated in cocoa powder, eat all the chocolates, and the box still has this rich cocoa scent without any of the sweetness along with some cardboard earthiness. Or like how a good mole sauce is rich chocolatey spicy without being sweet. There’s a hint of rose (which for the first time ever doesn’t put me off - I usually can’t stand rose in men’s fragrances) but it doesn’t come across very sweet at all or even very floral at all – this is almost like dried rose petals that add some earthy richness to the already rich cocoa vibe. There’s some patchouli in here also to make it even more earthy in the mids. Maybe this leaves a sillage trail like the name of the house would suggest — I’ll have to ask somebody to check when I walk by them — but for me sitting around the house wearing it today it was lightly projecting and I was getting wafts of it off my arms for about four hours, and then it was a rich skin scent for another 3-4 hours more after that. I feel like this scent would work well in all seasons except maybe the hottest of summer, it’s definitely for evenings.

Wearing the above, second scent in the new Afnan sample pack I picked up. As others have commented, its light, refreshing, and you definitely pick up the pear note - at least in the first hour. I found it a little harsh and synthetic - straight off the top, but it settled down after 10mins or so, finding its one of those that has definitely grown on me. I'm also starting to pick up a hint of of cedar and musk the longer its on my skin, though I can't detect some of the other listed notes - e.g. the amber and vanilla. Tbf, that might just be a lack of discernment on my part......... I've seen some reviews indicating it leans very feminine, I think it does to an extent in the opening stages, where the sweetness is more prominent, after that, I've found it more green/woody tbh, and not particularly feminine, rather - nicely balanced. Not getting the sense its big in terms of projection, and I'll have to see how it lasts, as I've seen wildly mixed reviews on that front.