Damn Rebel Witches: REEK Perfumes gives the Bitches a Sister

From the 2017 archive: Reek is an independent Scottish brand who worked with prolific Nose Sarah McCartney to produce the fragrance Damn Rebel Bitches. The scent was created to honour and commemorate the women who fought back in the Jacobite rebellion and the name the English had for them is used to name the fragrance in a rebellious two fingered salute.

This year, launching,appropriately on Halloween 2017, comes Damn Rebel Witches. At the march for women earlier this year, placards read “We are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn,” and that to me, is the demographic for this stunning statement scent. In other words, all of us.

Damn Rebel Witches is in a similar vein to Damn Rebel Bitches, but has a sharper opening and a darker finish. The blood orange comes out immediately, and the tobacco- here a rich woody note- adds an earthy finesse. There’s hearty malt, and a horsey whiff of leather. Both scents are created from ingredients that would have been around at the time of the women they celebrate i.e the 1700s (Okay, maybe not the oranges, but I’m happy to stand corrected). In both you’ll find malt, pink pepper, berries and blood oranges and they do have several similarities: these two are blood sisters for sure.

Witches is woodier than Bitches, and the orange is sharper. You know when you peel an orange and you accidentally get some in your eye? That’s the smell, although your eyes won’t sting if you smell this.

What I find curious about this is that when you think Damn Rebel Witches has left you completely, it disappears and comes back as a sort of light floral ghostie. I was sniffing my arm wondering what petal like scent I had sprayed earlier, only to realise that Damn Rebel Witches dies and comes back! How’s that for a party trick? And where did the dark orangey flowers come from? They’re not even listed as notes. It’s witchcraft, I tell you.

Where to buy it

The last batch of Damn Rebel Witches is currently available here, so move fast if you like the sound of it. prices start at £15 so stock up.