Spectre Wraith

I will have to let this sit and wait. Not impressed by all but I had the same impression with Fue and Aether Extrait and they really were the worst ever first impression. Nothing but alcohol for 5 min then no fragrance at all. I have circled back to those fragrances and they are amazing now. Hopefully this will be the case here as well. Fingers crossed.

Well it was a blind buy but inexpensive enough that I don’t mind if it sucks. At the opening, it is cognac to my nose with bright cold spices. The boozy sticks around the bright spices start to blend in and play on the background. You get this dirty chocolate note and the vetiver, coffee and I don’t get anything else. My nose did get tired from the scent so you have to be careful how much you apply. Another fragrance that I get that cognac note from is Bentley men; these are very similar but don’t share audience. Scent 7/10 (not a mass pleaser) Longevity 8/10 Projection 7/10 Price 9/10

it is absolutely TERRIBLE. the opening is so unbelievably harsh, synthetic, rubbery, and just all around terrible. this is the worst fragrance i have ever smelled.

when i first sprayed it it smelled like a spicy play dough now after 4 days of letting it sit all i get is a coffee dark choco woodsy mature heavy scent. its really manly and mysterious very gothic like. definitely not for every one but i really like it

A dark and soft/airy sweet coffee fragrance This smells like a sexy mysterious ghost lol. It remains quite masculine because of the added spice and a dark and almost leathery element to it. Very nice and would go great with an all black outfit.

I copped a bottle from Burlington hoping this was going to be a powerhouse coffee scent and what I got was a watered down faint coffee burp. I’m going to let this one macerate a bit but so far not impressed.

This was a pleasant experience through and through. I bought this at Burlington for $35 dollars and I feel in love with the scent. Its very coffee heavy on my skin and has a hint of sweetness in which is very intoxicating. Immediately got compliments the first day wearing it and it last 8 hours on my skin, 5 of those being projection. Love it.

Rich deep delicious scent! Projects nicely for the first couple of hours then tapers off to a skin scent that is still a delight. I find myself sniffing my arm hours after the dry down. My wife loves it on me as well. Win/Win!

SMELLS FUCKING AMAZING WOW

I am amazed how people classify this fragrance as male-leaning or male. This one is perfectly female - a mysterious, immortal female. Not an angel though - more like a voluptuous vampiress who knows her worth. On my skin, this one develops into darker, more sophisticated Jeux de Peau by Serge Lutens, with a whiff of coffee and a subtle hint of an old church with lots of crypts underneath. Am I so unique with how the fragrance develops on me, or is there anyone else who also noticed that similarity?

I know that fragrances are opinionated but I’m reading these reviews and one guy wrote a book and another guy said he didn’t like but his wife complimented him and a female co worker, you guys need to expand your nose and develop a deeper palate. This fragrance for 29.99(joma) is a coffee masterpiece(really good quality). My batch was made 02/26, I got lucky ,fragrance was nice from the initial spray. I’m going to let it maturate not “macerate” and have this fragrance ready by December

Sigh... I was looking for a Black Phantom clone and stumbled upon this fragrance. I bought it sight unseen, without testing it, based on online reviews. At the time, the hype around Arabic perfumes was at its peak. First off, the packaging. Top-notch—10 out of 10. The box is super nice, just like the bottle; I’m still using the box as a pencil holder—it’s a multifunctional item, and I highly recommend it. The bottle gets a 10 out of 10 for looks. The design is really cool, even though you can see traces of glue in some places. From the first spray, the scent was very chemical but undeniably reminiscent of Black Phantom. And I foolishly sprayed it three times in a closed room. As a result, an hour later, I sent the bottle to the “gulag” for maceration for a couple of months because it took a full day just to air out the room. After nearly a year of aging, I can say the following. The perfume has settled. The chemical note is gone, replaced by a certain smoothness. Most likely, it was always there. It opens with coffee soaked in rum—which actually exists and is very delicious—or, to put it simply, espresso with a splash of cognac. Next, a hint of chocolate and perhaps some praline come through. But 95% of the time, this fragrance smells like a chocolate candy with cognac, which you wash down with coffee and a shot of cognac. The longevity is decent, though after an hour or two it becomes flatter than I’d like. Of course, the fragrance lacks the grandeur of “Black Phantom”—that noble trail of cognac barrels—but on its own, it’s quite good. It’s gourmet, rich, and reminiscent of coffee-rum or dark cognac-chocolate with a 50-50 milk-to-dark ratio. The only problem with this perfume is that it doesn’t create the atmosphere it was intended to evoke. It should evoke the refined comfort of an autumn or winter evening by a cozy fireplace, with a glass of brandy and a cashmere sweater. That’s what I heard in “Black Phantom.” Instead, it’s like the difference between a foreigner’s expectations—someone who wants to visit a random pub in Scotland and is guided by pictures and videos from Pinterest, where there’s a dry, an atmosphere of coziness and a fireplace, the lighting is set perfectly so you can feel the warmth of the walls and all the decor, and the beer tastes like Butterbeer from Harry Potter. And then you walk into this pub—the decor is there, but the fireplace is barely smoldering, the light is gray instead of the yellow glow of a fire, it’s damp and a bit chilly, and behind the bar, a regular customer is dozing off, having drunk himself into a drooling stupor. It’s all sort of there, but somehow it’s not quite what you imagined. Mixed feelings. Not a blind date, in any case.

I 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 wear my fragrances on clothes...never on skin! With that being said, when I spray this on clothes I get a sweet, milky soft chocolate smell with a bit of booziness. I thought it was a weird smell but when I walked past my wife in the kitchen she said, "𝑴𝒎𝒎𝒎...𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅!". Then the next day my female co-worker also told me that I smelled good. I guess Spectre Wraith is that type of fragrance that the wearer thinks is a bit off when they smell it from the bottle or on themselves up close but the scent trail brings a good aroma to others!

What kind of scent is this 😭 A butcher doing alcohol party.? I am out as a nice guy.

This one’s really weird half the time it’s like a burnt tire and the other half the time it’s like you take coffee beans and some spice and some pure cocoa powder . It’s very bitter and dark and mysterious. Someone said it’s like an aura farming fragrance and I completely agree. I feel like the right person right situation could absolutely rock this . I don’t know if I could wear this unless I’m dressed in all black at night . Kinda a Batman style fragrance . Least safe blind buy I probably own. Not even sure if I like it yet, but I don’t dislike it. I probably will never wear this in public because the risk of offending people is so high. It’s extremely unique. If you want something dark, bitter, polarizing and mysterious then give it a shot.

Although I have no real interest in the other two Spectres, Wraith always drew me because of its coffee accord. I should preface my review by admitting that the whole French Avenue range reads to me as little more than UAE drugstore fare, which is to say fairly high-end designer by Western standards. Over there in the oil-rich deserts of Arabia, untrammeled wealth leads to the sort of flamboyant excess in packaging and bottle design that Wraith is offered in, i.e., one of the most beautiful box/bottle presentations I've ever admitted into my collection. That's drugstore to them. Here in Connecticut, drugstore is dirt-cheap flimsy plastic with side seams and crookedly-applied sticker labels. Anyway, I digress: despite how I might view French Avenue's market positioning, I can't deny that Wraith smells like anything but a drugstore cheapie. It smells expensive. Like, it smells $100 a bottle expensive. Upper mid-shelf designer. Sort of brushing up on the heels of Dior and Chanel, in the same vein as Versace or YSL's best. The materials used here are solid. At this point I've compared the packaging to drugstore fare and the smell to pricy B-List designer products. Let me tell you about the composition—here's where Wraith compares to niche. This is not a crowd-pleasing perfume. It suggests it might be in the first five minutes, with its gorgeous cherry cordial accord, shimmering in the mellow semisweet glow of dark chocolate and black cherry filling. There's a liqueur edge, which only adds to the effect and conjures the alcoholic cordials that cost a pretty penny and are everywhere during the holidays. But the cherry cordial eventually melts into a weird coffee and buttery sugar that doesn't fully elucidate on either note, instead allowing them to fuse into a dark, tarry smoothness that offers flitting glimpses of cinnamon, brown sugar, espresso, and patchouli. There's a subtle hint of nutty vetiver undergirding it all. I'm reminded of the tar note in the original 1996 A*Men by Mugler, which is really what the majority of Wraith smells like, but French Avenue's fragrance refines and sands out the effect, making it smell more unisex, but also more classy. Nevertheless, it's a strange animal, definitely not something that offers broad appeal. Only a relatively small subset of the public will smell Wraith and think, "Yes." The rest will be initially intrigued, but eventually disturbed. It's also worth mentioning that I really like it, and I think it'll work beautifully when the weather succumbs to frigid winter conditions. Not for the faint of heart.

It opens with an immediate kick of dark, aged rum steeped in warm, pungent spices. As the boozy opening settles, a rich, dark roasted coffee note emerges, beautifully anchored by smooth sandalwood, earthy patchouli, and vetiver. The dry down brings in the sweet comfort of raw sugar cane that rounds out the bitter undertones without becoming cloying.

Not rlly fan its like boozy but rounded out and made sour almost. I wouldn't say bad but weird. I'm js relatively new to this DNA so mabye I'll grow on it

I picked it up as a blind buy today for $37 at ROSS. I can see why people dislike it, and I can see how people love it. I really enjoy it so far, but my tastes are very versatile. It’s very “dark”, not spicy to me in any way, and the woods with coffee and rum come off almost like a hazelnut for me, and I can see how people get chocolate. It’s slightly reminiscent of the roasted almond stall I would see in any mall in the early 2000’s. The patchouli comes through every so slightly but it’s not out of place. I’m really interested to see what this matures into because most of the time things mature into something better, and Wraith is pretty solid for me on day 1.

Smelled in a store, pretty mid honestly extremly sweet and boozy

Wow! dark, chocolatey and smooth. It's not exactly the same as BP but I get why people would say its a dupe. This is a rich unique smell and performance is excellent, easy to go nose blind. I sprayed a t-shirt and went back into the wardrobe and the entire wardrobe was smelling of this stuff. Is this is too dark for you, try layering it with Kay Ali's Vanilla 28, or Angham.. so gorgeous.

Definitely not for everyone.

Nice fragrance. Very dark, mysterious, aura farming scent. Even though I’m not a big fan of Black Phantom, this perfume for its price is a complete steal. I don’t have Black Phantom on my second hand to compare them in depth and say whether or not it’s a completely 1-1 dupe, but as far as I remember the smell of it, this is VERY close. Actually, I tend to like it, even though I remember Black Phantom not being my taste. Unique smell, good performance, cheap asf.

The Batman of Gourmands Spectre Wraith starts off with a blast of rum, dark chocolate, smoky woods and some dark roast coffee. It is fairly linear but the woody notes get more prominent as time goes on. The overall scent profile is very much on the masculine side with only a touch of sweetness, it kinda reminds me of Bentley For Men Intense with a "dark gourmand" twist added. The quality is okay but I noticed a faint, plasticky, synthetic undertone that never went away, still not bad though. Performance: Strong projection for an hour, medium projection for 2 more with a total longevity of 8 hours.

One day when I was making some coffee and somehow the coffee in the pot spilled over some sugar and I loved the smell and I bought a sample of this, rum threw me off at first. Practically first boozy smell that I sampled was this,thats probably why. But time did wonders to this scent it turned into a like from ok, and I can see that like turn into a love. And no, first part wasnt a fucking lie. So fucking classy. I cancelled my order when I remembered I dont dress up enough for this shit

whenever i saw the notes in here, i was very intrigued by it and decided to blind bought it. at first, it was awkward at first but more i started to get comfortable around it, the more i started to like it. and now i love it as for the price and scent. this fragrance really captures the idea of a dark; mysterious scent. yet its somewhat simple, and but not a lot of a complex scent. but for some new users on this fragrance. i would go EASY or LIGHT on the sprays cause i know or have a idea that this might be headache for other people around. i would also note that it's a lil difficult to wear due to it being way too mysterious and mature. its a easy wear for me, but others would not.

Love this perfume. Easily one of my favorites. I blind bought it, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that if $30–40 is a lot for you. If you want a dark, boozy fragrance, go for it. If you want something youthful, this is NOT for you. Simpler terms: if you wear sneakers, you should probably skip this one. Edit:Somehow it is lasting 6 hours at my home and when i went to a party it didnt last 1 hour. i dont know what caused this lol EDIT 2: So you need to be in the cold weather the entire time for it last. the second you sweat a bit its over

After couple months this changed for me to love from a like, even though it's 30 degrees celsius this evening and it should work better in cold.

I only have a small sample and have given it a single test run so far but it made a solid first impression. I have a 10ml vintage decant of Black Phantom to compare to and Spectre Wraith offers accessible, competent alternative for people who would rather not launch their wallets into low Earth orbit to justify a luxury price tag. That's a perfectly valid choice and arguably an admirable one. Of course, Black Phantom is the superior fragrance in terms of refinement, depth and overall luxury. It feels richer, more nuanced and better polished, with a smoother evolution from opening to dry down. Spectre Wraith, on the other hand, takes a more straightforward approach. No one claimed this ME (or Arabians for those who are geographically challenged) dupe was attempting to challenge Kilian Black Phantom for the Iron Throne. The compositions aren’t apple-to-apple too, they just happen to leave a similar scent trail. It's only perfume, darling, not a drag race. No one's getting eliminated from the competition for wearing the cheaper bottle. We're not living in an aristocratic age anymore, so there's little sense in treating perfume prices as a measure of social standing. If you take care of yourself and the scent works well with your skin chemistry, even simple clothes and affordable perfumes can look and smell fantastic on you. "Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?" Some may dismiss accessible ME offerings while praising their favourite European houses, which is fine. Nevertheless, the reality is that ME fragrance companies operate at large global network scale and are able to reach far more consumers worldwide through social media and competitive delivery options. A clean niche bottle design and a crisp font do not automatically uplift a fragrance to mythical status. At the end of the day, perfume is a blend of alcohol, aroma-chemicals, naturals and artistry. No region holds a monopoly on one single excellence. The global industry economies operate through an intricate web of interconnected countries, each contributing its own area of expertise (e.g. manufacturing, technology, logistics or raw materials) thriving on a coordinated supply chain where different nations drive distinct parts of production and trade. Of course, at the end of the day, most of the credit goes to the perfume house, with the perfumers themselves occasionally recognised by those who follow the fragrance world more closely. Plenty of people have families, responsibilities or simply different priorities. Not everyone is willing to sacrifice financial stability for a niche bottle. There are mouths to feed and bills to pay. Unless, of course, you're fortunate enough to come from a wealthy family, won a lotto, have substantial disposable income, a generous sugar daddy or sugar cougar or a devoted legion of OnlyFans subscribers funding your indulgences. If you are able to splurge on these niches, good on you, enjoy them in good health. Conversely, some will passionately defend their high‑end purchases, convinced the price tag alone guarantees transcendence from their demigods or Slavic angels. Thats's OK too - we are free to choose in what we believe in. I, personally, am more gravitated towards Jedis these days, only because I've seen them vividly in colour, crystal clear 8K 4320p resolution on my 94" TV; pun intended . Scent is subjective and enthusiasm is welcome but not every expensive fragrance delivers the divine experience its marketing promises (lessons learned). As for the pursuit of the Iron Throne in perfumery, the intensity can be noticeable. Fragrance is a joy not an ethnic battleground. It's 2026, not the middle ages and chasing exclusivity too fiercely in olfactory consumerism can turn the hobby into a source of personal stress and panic disorder rather than pleasure. Even the most dramatic telenovela stories remind us that obsession rarely leads to the elegance one hopes for . CK Obsession, on the other hand.....that's a different story; Kate Moss remains as stunning as ever, mwah! Before labelling and mocking affordable fragrances as low tier, it’s worth remembering too that global audiences are watching, reading and learning from these discussions. The community is far more diverse and attentive than many realise. In the current AI and IoT age, your digital footprint travels faster than you and your passport. Don't let your next international lay-over flips to an cavity search bend-over at border security because of your atrocious social media mockery. Manners and respect are free, perfumes aren't. A high price tag doesn’t make anyone more refined, it simply reflects a purchasing choice (cash, credit... or Afterpay ma'am?). What truly matters is how we treat one another within this fragrance community. If a comment isn’t kind or constructive, it’s better left unsaid. Negativity only diminishes the joys of olfactory experience for everyone. Perfumes are supposed to uplift your dopamine and serotonin levels, not elevate your adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. If the latter is the case, seek help before things become worse. Enough of my sermon for now, same time again next week? LOL. In summary, Spectre Wraith is an excellent gourmand-leaning choice and well worth a look if you're after that style of fragrance without the premium price tag. Give it a few months to mature and settle, then revisit it to see how it develops. As for me, I'm currently on a no-buy, so this little sample will keep me perfectly entertained for quite some time. After all, half the fun of this hobby is enjoying what you already have rather than constantly chasing the next bottle.

I just sprayed Kilian's Black Phantom and this product, and they are identical—it's incredible. Don't listen to the snobs who claim the other one has more rum or whatever; that's nonsense. They're the same; some people just want to keep the illusion alive and reassure themselves about having paid more.