Perfume Review: Damien Bash Parfum Lucifer No. 1

In my misguided youth I used to be a big fan of the horror genre, including David Seltzer’s The Omen and even a couple of follow-up books and the first couple of movies based on them (after that the books and the films most definitely jumped the shark…but I digress). Ten years later, the fragrance line with scents bearing the name of Lucifer, created by a person named Damien (Damien Bash, a New York painter and photographer) still manages to intrigue me. Old geeky ways die hard. The top notes of Lucifer No. 1 are strong and heady; it is an appropriately dark, nocturnal floral blend with neroli and rose being most prominent to my nose. The intensity of the notes subsides somewhat when vanilla joins the composition, but almost immediately, with the advent of carnation, the scent becomes stronger and spicier. The best part of the fragrance to me is the ambery drydown. By then, the headiness wears off a little (only a little, mind you, this is still a strong perfume) and Lucifer No. 1 becomes warm and strangely comforting, its spicy darkness enveloping the skin like black velvet. This is not a strikingly unusual and original composition, in fact, Lucifer No. 1 reminds me of a much heavier Or des Indes by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier or –more so- of a less “dirty” and less floral Bal a Versailles by Jean Desprez. Taking into account the fact that the latter sometimes can be found for almost ten times less than Lucifer No.1, there is really no way I can justify a full bottle purchase of Bash’s creation. If however by some black magic a bottle of Lucifer No. 1 found its way to my perfume cabinet, I would have worn this scent with much enjoyment, especially in cold weather, when I crave such rich, warm, darkly comforting scents. Parfum Lucifer No. 1 is available at Aedes, $95.00 for 3.4oz. *The photo is from DamienBash.com.