Cognac Reign
Eau de Parfum, D.S. & Durga (2025)

You definitely get cognac vibes from this one, so the marketing feels accurate here. Landshark’s review is spot-on. I also pick up leathery nuances and a very light touch of smoke. There’s some caramel present, but this isn’t a sweet liqueur-style fragrance. It leans dry rather than dense, thick, sweet, or syrupy.

The tonka in the base isn’t overpowering for me, though I do get a general woody foundation. The main downside is performance. It feels very top-heavy and seems to lose momentum as it dries down. It’s also not especially complex. While I enjoy the opening and mid, the scent loses its character over time and settles into a fairly bland woody drydown. I may need to retest this, but as it stands, my interest faded once the opening passed.

Sampling D.S. & Durga – Cognac Reign, one of the house’s releases in 2025, a striking boozy blend with hearty, smoky, and woody aspects. It’s a less sweet cognac-led scent than, say, By Kilian Angels’ Share, instead pivoting a bit more toward the darker aspects, sort of hinting at a connection to smoky/leathery/resinous Amber Kiso. Cognac Reign is a little sweeter, albeit still with some heady sharpness (perhaps the via the orris, and even the cognac, itself), but overall has a similar character with a sort of woody center. I’m quite impressed by it and very much enjoy that they’ve released a fragrance in a similar vein (I’d argue) to Amber Kiso and Bowmakers, two of my favorites of the house’s main collection. It’s mainly its similarity to the former that gives me pause in wanting to buy this, but I similarly give it high marks to the other examples.

Its concentration is EDP, its retail pricing is $300/210 for 100/50ml, and it’s sold in the US via the house website and great boutiques like Olfactif and Ministry of Scent. Its performance is excellent, fitting for a dark, boozy niche perfume, and it’s a bold, robust scent that could serve one well throughout a cold season, particularly in formal occasions.

8 out of 10