# Rituals — Voyage d'Ombre

> Voyage d'Ombre is a 2024 release from Rituals, the Dutch wellness-and-home-scent brand, slotted into its upmarket "The Iconic Collection." Composed by Firmenich perfumer Elise Benat, it's a lavender-v

## Essence
Voyage d'Ombre is a 2024 release from Rituals, the Dutch wellness-and-home-scent brand, slotted into its upmarket "The Iconic Collection." Composed by Firmenich perfumer Elise Benat, it's a lavender-violet-incense aromatic pitched as a "twilight" mood scent. wearers coverage is genuinely thin - this is a recent mass-wellness launch, not a critic's darling - and the single loudest theme in that coverage is performance: a lot of people can barely smell it.
## Scent Profile
On paper a floral-woody/aromatic: a zesty bergamot-pear-violet opening, a smoky-lavender-and-sage heart, and an ambrette-and-olibanum (frankincense) base. In practice, the most useful wearers read comes from a wearers wearer who tested it on skin and got "lime-bergamot-coriander top a la Dior Homme Cologne, over a base of Another 13-type ambrox, ambrette and pear... lots and lots of white musks." That points to a clean, slightly powdery violet over a soft incense-musk haze rather than anything dark or resinous despite the "d'Ombre" (of shadow) name. A French reviewer found it "discreet but with character... perfect for a winter evening dinner, or a Sunday with hot chocolate and a blanket." Concretely: soft mineral violet and dry lavender over a translucent woody-musk, with the frankincense reading as clean smoke rather than church incense.
## Performance
This is the headline, and it's mostly bad news. wearers is full of anosmia and weak-projection complaints: "smells like nothing," "just plain alcohol... the tiny bit of actual scent lasts for a fleeting moment and then disappears," "needed about 3 sprays to smell anything." Even sympathetic wearers concede the issue - one who loves the scent says "the sillage is non-existent... Treat it as a low-projection skin scent; if you want presence, this is not the buy.
## Wearing Context
Cool-weather evening, low-key, personal. The few positive accounts frame it as cozy and intimate - a quiet companion for a winter dinner or a slow Sunday - and its softness makes it inoffensive and office-safe to a fault. Marketed unisex; wearers classifies it under "for men" while wearers listings describe it for women and men, and one wearer was told it made them "smell like a 70s school secretary - a subtle clean scent." Best for someone who wants a faint, comforting aura rather than a statement.
## Comparisons & DNA
The sharpest wearers comparison is to Dior Homme Cologne (the bright bergamot-citrus top) layered over an ambrox/ambrette woody-musk in the Le Labo Another 13 mold - i.e., a fresh-clean modern musk dressed with violet and incense. Within Rituals' own Iconic Collection it sits beside Bois Royal, Nuit de l'Himalaya and Ciel Rouge, the four scents added together in 2024. There is no or established-niche-blog comparison on record naming specific rivals, so the DNA picture rests on wearers skin-impressions rather than critical consensus.
## Reception
Sparse and middling-to-positive on scent, frustrated on performance. wearers coverage is thin and should be weighted accordingly.
## Versions & Reformulation
Single composition, available in a 50ml standard bottle and a refillable 15ml travel format (the Iconic Collection is built around disassemblable, recyclable refillable bottles). No reformulation known.
## Acquisition Notes
Inexpensive and easy to obtain through Rituals' own retail and travel-retail channels - a French wearer cites roughly 50 for 50ml, and a refillable 15ml travel size is sold around the $24 mark. Given the well-documented projection problems, sample or test in-store before committing; this is a fragrance whose success depends heavily on whether your nose registers its musks at all.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- Rituals relaunched its entire Eau de Parfum range as "The Iconic Collection" in 2024, pitching it around travel/destination storytelling.
- inviting buyers to "trace the footsteps of the world's finest perfumers." Perfumer Elise Benat is on record about the collection's brief (though not about Voyage d'Ombre specifically), describing it as "an homage to ancient fragrance traditions" and saying the scents are "meant to ultimately make the wearer feel happy and confident"; per the Moodie Davitt Report (2024), "the refreshed line features a minimum of 80% natural-origin ingredients," in keeping with the brand's sustainability messaging. Benat is a Firmenich perfumer with a notable niche pedigree (several Amouage "Love"/"Sunshine" florals), which is a more interesting credential than the brand's mass-market positioning might suggest.