Chiromancy (orris, worn leather, ink, porcelain, black truffle) is a premium scent by Sixteen92 and released for Fall 2018 as part of their Forbidden Arts collection. it's a darker atmospheric which contains realistic leather, ink and mushroom notes, something i would wear if i wanted to dress up all in black, turn down the lights and embrace my inner emo.
in the bottle, Chiromancy is good, smooth leather from a bound tome and spilt ink spreading across the page from an overturned inkwell. these two notes are quite heavy, but the orris steps in to layer a gentle lightness over these weightier smells so that overall the net result is still quite a soft wearable scent.
on my skin though, it's as if Gordon Ramsay was liberally grating enough truffle to max out even his credit card limit. boom, mushroom, earthy mushrooms all around. it took me by surprise because the mushroom had been completely non-existent in the bottle and yet rose to become the main star after it appeared, sending all the other notes packing. where did the mushroom come from and how did it become so strong?!
thankfully, the fungi fracas only lasted for a maximum of about half an hour, and then the scent stabilised into something I'm a bit more comfortable with. the earthiness of the mushroom dials back quite a bit to allow the leather to come back to the forefront with a touch of richness, and i'm able to discern the ink with it again. i can't really get the porcelain as a standalone note but it's probably quietly holding everything else together and helping the orris to contribute to the lightness of the scent. overall, the truffle complements the richness of the leather perfectly to create a dark, slightly more brooding atmospheric that is kept (by the soft orris) from going too far off the rails.
as a perfume oil, Chiromancy wears quite close to the skin. i lamented though that even though this is a well-rested sample (of about two years), most of the notes were faint and barely discernible after just over an hour on my skin. it's a pity - i love leather and ink and the restrained broodingness of the scent is surprisingly powerful, but the brief longevity of the scent (and mushroom craziness for at least half its smell life) were downsides which were hard to overlook.
6/10 a scent that i'd enjoy in my hair or a diffuser when i need to connect with my closeted emo self, but not something i would be dying for a replacement of when i'm done.
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this review is of a scent that i had purchased second-hand from another perfume lover's destash with my own money. i wasn’t asked to review this as a condition of receipt and didn’t receive any incentives for writing this. i’m not affiliated with Sixteen92 and as always, all opinions remain my own.
Chiromancy is part of the Forbidden Arts collection which was added to the Sixteen92 general catalogue by popular request - you can check it out here. as this is a premium fragrance, prices are US$5 for a 2ml sample, US$15 for a 6ml bottle and US$24 for a 10ml roll-on (before shipping).
all information correct at time of publishing.
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