Black Ship Grooming Co.
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The citrus trio erupts with immediate brightness—bergamot leading, clementine trailing sweet-tart, blackcurrant bud cutting through with herbaceous tartness. There's an almost clean, almost sparkling quality here, reminiscent of early morning energy, though it carries an indefinable strangeness from the moment it touches skin.
The floral heart emerges hesitantly, dominated by that polarising rubber note which transforms freesia into something architectural and strange. Jasmine sambac and ylang ylang struggle to assert their traditional creamy comfort against this synthetic-mineral intrusion, creating an oddly compelling tension between beauty and disquiet.
The base settles into a murky, animalic warmth where sandalwood and musk compete with those earthy, slightly funky base materials—the liatris and that sewage note lending an almost smoky, almost unsanitary character that lingers in disconcerting waves rather than graceful dissolution.
Doubloons arrives as a peculiar collision between citrus vivacity and something altogether more unsettling—a fragrance that refuses easy categorisation. The opening bristles with bergamot's nervy brightness, immediately joined by clementine's honeyed sweetness and the tart snap of blackcurrant bud absolute, which lends a slightly green, almost herbaceous edge that prevents the composition from veering into simple gourmand territory.
What makes Doubloons genuinely distinctive is Karine Chevallier's decision to thread rubber through the floral heart. It's an inspired provocation: freesia and Comorian ylang ylang might ordinarily suggest creamy femininity, but that rubber accord—sharp, slightly synthetic, vaguely metallic—transforms them into something peculiar and unsettling. The rose and jasmine sambac absolute add richness, yet they sit uneasily beside that rubbery, almost automotive quality, creating an accord that feels deliberately at odds with itself.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.5/5 (658)