Carlisle

One of my earliest PDMs - love at first decant sniff and it quickly became a full‑bottle commitment. Carlisle is a lullaby in fragrance form, it can either wake you right up or leave you drifting in olfactory awe. I wore it once and my partner said I smelled like a Catholic church, LOL. I love Carlisle regardless of whatever commentary people throw at it. A quiet but bold masterpiece.

When this was first released, my partner would beg me to wear it whenever we went out for dinner, so that she could enjoy the drydown all night upon our return home. She said repeatedly, that it was "the sexiest fragrance ever." When my smaller bottle ran out, I eagerly went to the department store and purchased the larger 125ml bottle because of her, although I never actually loved it. When I wore it out and for the first time, she didn't comment, which was very unusual. Still, I confidently jumped into bed, only for her to recoil and ask me to "please scrub off the cheap smelling cologne" I had on. "Women! You can't make up your minds," I teased, baffled, then explained that I was wearing her "sexy" fragrance. "No it's not,' she retorted, 'Carlisle is sexy; this one is horrid!" PDM says there has been no reformulation. Mrs begs to differ. I have to agree with her; it does smell like a different fragrance. Many thanks for reading, but no thanks to PDM for getting me chucked out of my own bed.

A rare fragrance that truly checks every box. It opens with a stunning blend of crisp apple and saffron, wrapped in a fresh, earthy patchouli that adds just enough darkness and mystery without becoming overly earthy. As the fragrance develops, that earthiness quickly softens, allowing a beautiful rose and sweet tonka bean to take center stage. In the dry down, a rich, creamy vanilla envelops the entire composition, creating a smooth and addictive finish where the apple, rose, patchouli, and vanilla become the stars of the show. The other notes are still present, but they play a supporting role. The performancae is just as impressive as the scent itself. It lasts 7–8 hours on my skin with excellent projection, making it an outstanding choice for fall and winter. This is the kind of fragranace that draws positive attention the moment you walk into a room—confident, mascauline, and effortlessly refined. I don't hand out "amasterpiece" ratings often, but this one has earned it. It's an easy 10/10.

My top 3, this is so good, mysterious, but so easy to wear. Also Carlisle is compliment magnet, everyone likes it. Performance is also amazing, i usually go with 5-7 sprays, you can go less, no problem, will perform amazing. All in all this fragrance is a reputation maker, so worth buying. For me it is 10 out of 10 fragrance.

The comparisons to Red Tobacco make it hard to justify buying a bottle for me. I have owned RT years ago and ended up selling it as something about it leaned screechy for lack of a better word and Carlisle falls in that category as well. Nowhere near a bad scent but it's not for me. Also nobody mentions the floral accord which is very apparent in the drydown.

Out of the red tobacco/carlisle/triumph of Bacchus DNA, Carlisle is king. It’s the smoothest and has the best blend of vanilla and patchouli. Very pretty

Too much oud, not my cup of tea

I finally sampled this after I have been sampling cassius and signatures 2 from maison alhambra. This certainly smoother with higher quality, thus the 2 aforementioned clones are getting you there 90% costing 5% of the OG. What really disappointed me was the performance, carlisle did not perform significantly better than cassius (which have been bashed because of average performance, even though it costs 15 euros). On the other hand it performed definitely worse than signatures 2 from maison alhambra which costed med 12 euros for 50ml. Last but not least, I dont get the comparison with boss bottled absolu, totally different profiles. Even the comparison to red tobacco makes little sense, definitely not redundant, maybe 20/25% similar. At least red tobacco justifies its price performance-wise. I was ready to pull the trigger because the carlisle profile checks all the boxes for me, but personally I dont think its worth the 300$ pricetag, because of the lacking performance.

I just got a bottle for a really good price. It smells a lot like Mancera Red Tobacco in the air. It’s quite a bit nicer and less pungent up close off the skin. Unfortunately it doesn’t last quite as long as RT but that could be a new bottle maceration issue. I get a solid 9 to 10 hours with 8 sprays. It did stay after a hot shower. The new %81 concentration isn’t really that noticeable performance wise. Compared to Layton Exclusif from 2019 at %78, it doesn’t have the same longevity or silage. But compared to the current Herod, this is still a nice long lasting cologne. The new Herod lasted maybe 3 hours on me when I tried it 3 years ago. I returned the bottle. The notes in this one are very well blended and this is a scent that is growing on me. It only smells like Red Tobacco on the surface. It’s more layered and nuanced and it doesn’t make me sneeze. 🤧 It has a comforting and warm green apple cinnamon pie scent with a faint clean lavender accord as the after smell. It’s quite complex. Well worth it for the right price.

Spray this on and give yourself a smell. Wait 1 hour then smell again because it takes that long to dry down to one of the most beautiful scents I’ve ever smelled for winter time! It is a projection beast, do not overspray I promise you will be noticed.

The best. Sure wish they sold it in 2.5oz. Size.

This thing is strong. Only did 2 sprays on my forearm to test it and it was projecting and leaving a scent trail.

Looking at another one from the house of Parfums de Marly today, we've got Carlisle. This is a fragrance that has received a lot of recognition for being both bright and mysterious, with many people calling it Batman's fragrance and making all sorts of comparisons like that. So let's see if Carlisle is really fit for the Dark Knight or if the hype for this fragrance is the real crime. The opening of Carlisle was a bit brighter than I expected. Right away I get a bright, crisp green apple along with a subtly sweet, peppery spice from the nutmeg and a bit of earthy sharpness from the saffron. It comes across much fresher than I was expecting and almost a bit screechy at first. After about 20 to 30 minutes, I start picking up the osmanthus, rose, and davana. The davana works really well with the apple by continuing that slight fruitiness from the apple while making the fragrance feel a little deeper and richer. The rose helps carry those softer floral facets, while the osmanthus adds a sweeter floral touch with some earthy, almost leathery tobacco like undertones. I know a lot of people mention getting a tobacco nuance from Carlisle, and I'm guessing this is where that impression comes from. After a couple of hours, the fragrance settles into the dry down. The patchouli keeps that earthy character going while the opoponax adds a smooth balsamic sweetness. Eventually the vanilla comes through, but it's more of a smooth vanillic sweetness than a creamy gourmand vanilla. It adds warmth without making the fragrance overly sweet. I wouldn't let all the Batman comparisons throw you off. While this is definitely a statement fragrance, I don't think it's especially dark or brooding. I could easily see this being worn on a cooler day when you're a bit dressed up. It's a really nice blend of brighter notes up top with darker, earthier notes in the dry down. I will say that the earthy patchouli in the dry down may appeal a little more to mature tastes, but I think Carlisle is more versatile than people give it credit for. It strikes a great balance between freshness and warmth, making it another great release from the house of Parfums de Marly.

I have an almost-full bottle of Carlisle for sale for anyone interested (UK only). ~123/125ml.

This is a perfect dark and mysterious perfume almost too perfect. I tried this in the store a few time to make sure I'm not mistaken but evry time I like it even more. I don't kniw how I get some tobacco in it which I really like and adds more depth too it. Carlisle reminds me of a much better version of red tobacco. Such a great perfume. I wonder if there is any good dupe of Carlisle.

The greatest men’s fragrance ever made. It opens with a sweetness that almost leans into feminine territory, but there’s something incredibly reassuring about it. It feels like meeting someone for the first time and being shown only their best qualities. You can feel that sense of trust immediately, but there’s always a quiet suspicion in the back of your mind. And eventually, you realize that suspicion was right. Beneath that sweet mask, there’s something much darker. The darkness doesn’t reveal itself all at once. It doesn’t hit you like a blade. It creeps in slowly, building intensity little by little. Normally, a fragrance opens loud and powerful, then softens into sweetness. Carlisle does the exact opposite. By this point, we have nothing in common with that sweet opening anymore. Now you’re standing in front of a man dressed in black, looking directly into his eyes—and there’s no fear in them. This man has no limits. And somehow, that feeling of confidence from the opening is still there. But now it’s no longer warm or comforting. It’s the unshakable confidence of a dangerous man—someone fully aware of exactly what he is. When you’re beside him, you know you’re safe. But the moment you walk away… to him, you become nobody.

Wow. I own 10 PDMs now, mostly freshies, but Haltane was the first I bought, after a lot of consideration, and it quickly became my date night scent. Much later down the line I decided to give Althair a go, they both fill the same space for me, Cold Evening scents. Haltane is special, Althair is more mass appealing but still lovely, and with those two, I didn't feel the need for another scent in the same space... Then I tried Carlisle... And just wow. Obviously it's subjective, and this is a strong scent, but this is a masterpiece for me, in the same tier as Haltane. Its absolutely phenomenal, it starts off a bit smokey before some of the fruitiness starts to come through, but keeps the smokey backbone, settling into a more almost smokey creamy woody scent. Definitely worth a try!

A fruitier, sweet, rounded, smoothened version of Red tobacco.

The year is 2022 and I am at a Halloween party wearing Carlisle. I do my typical 4 spray routine 2 neck 2 wrists. This girl had to of been at least 5 feet away from me sitting and looked at me and covered her nose and said "That is too strong its burning my nose". I laughed about it but she literally got up and moved her chair to the other side of the room and I was like sheesh is it that bad? No one else complained. Other than that, it was a nice scent to me

Yeah its a Masterpiece

If I were to choose one summer fragrance and one winter fragrance only. This would be my winter scent. What a lovely fragrance.

Not a safe blind buy whatsoever. People talking about this is the best PDM fragrance. And while it is good, it's just so overwhelmingly powerful and strong to me. Similar to oud smells, this one makes me lightheaded. It's a shame and i wish i could tolerate it, because it is a good smell(as it's also expensive). But im just going to be honest this is not a safe blind buy whatsoever and if you have even a remotely sensitive nose you will absolutely dislike this fragrance. It is incredibly cloying and could make you nauseous just thinking about it. Hard pass. Will probably sell it.

So I was able to get a completely full bottle of this with full presentation for only $200 from facebook marketplace. Huge steal for this incredibly exclusive fragrance. I fell in love with it when I smelled it in store and was so excited to see such a legit deal. Anyways, this is Saudi prince vibes. Instantly makes me think of royalty, old castles, silk robes, etc. it’s such a dark and mysterious scent while also having this sweetness that’s not quite sweet. This scent is like what I thought Royal oud by creed would smell like. This scent is a 10/10, the performance is fckin nuclear, I put half a spray on and smell it all day. You could really fuck your day up by putting on too much of this. So my 125ml bottle will last an eternity lol The only problem I have with this one… it’s too royal smelling for casual wear, it almost feels off to wear this with anything but a suit and tie, but regardless I do, all the time. PDM has some underwhelming fragrances. But this and Layton , are absolutely stunning 10s.

This is a masterpiece to me. When I spray this on a cooler day It gets me in such a good state of mind, I feel like a million bucks. I live in Southern California I just wish I could wear this more often because it’s so good. This is an amazing fragrance.

This is the best and most elegant perfume of the house of Parfums de Marly.

I bought a 5ml decant and I had to buy full bottle straight away. This is just beautiful..

Got a old 2020 batch. I have not tested new bottle to tell you the difference, but i really love this parfume. The patchouli is so damn good. A worthy buy even if you are worried about new batch old batch talk. Just get it, it is solid. Honestly wear it anywhere in any weather. I feel like a boss with this, and it shall stay that way. Edit: i do feel like the performance could be a little better. Only because i love it so much, i want it to stay around longer.

PDM makes great fragrances. This is no exception. Right up there with Haltane and Herod as outstanding winter fragrances.

Masterpiece. I wanted it for a long time. Probably the best PDM. Performance is good still. Other PDMs lack it now.

Can't decide between Carlisle, Herod, Haltane, Percival Or Sedley. Which PDM is your favorite?