Seven Gates Immortal Shade (Maïa Lernout) 2024+ Veiled in Gold, Bound by Shadow Giveaway.

Seven Gates Immortal Shade

 Seven Gates Immortal Shade by Karl.

There are perfumes that attempt to describe a painting, and there are perfumes that inhabit it. Seven Gates Immortal Shade is firmly the latter. Composed by Maïa Lernout, it is a woody, smoky meditation on intimacy and duality, inspired by Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (1907–08).

Maia Lernout perfumer

Maia Lernout courtesy of the perfumer.

We know The Kiss well — or so we think. The lovers, enshrined in Klimt’s molten gold leaf, kneel at the edge of a dark abyss. His hands envelop her face; her own hands hover uncertainly, as though surrendering and resisting at once. The scene is sensual, yes — but also ambiguous. There is something unsettling in the way their bodies dissolve into an abstract, glinting pattern, two selves locked yet indistinct.

Gustav Klimt The Kiss

 Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss wiki commons.

Seven Gates Immortal Shade reflects that ambiguity in scent. The opening is resinous and unorthodox: clary sage and myrrh cut through with bergamot, given unexpected depth by the liquorous swirl of rum. The impression is shadowy yet alive, like gold leaf catching the light through smoke. In the heart, a cool and tactile orris root contrasts with bitter black tea and the peculiar, honeyed salinity of immortelle, as though echoing the strange duality of The Kiss: tender and defiant, warm and distant.

The base is where the gold deepens into dusk — amber, tobacco, Madagascar vanilla, and dry woods, the vanilla restrained and atmospheric rather than cloying. Maïa Lernout’s composition lingers close to the skin, becoming an intimate presence, like the faint gilt dust that remains long after the painting has faded from view.

Seven Gates Immortal Shade does not romanticize love as simple devotion. It is, instead, a fragrant exploration of love’s dual nature — its sweetness and its bitterness, its union and its erasure of the self. In Klimt’s vision, these are indivisible; and here, Lernout has rendered them olfactively indivisible too.

Top: Clary sage, myrrh, rum, bergamot

Heart: Orris root, black tea, vetiver, immortelle

Base: Amber, tobacco, Madagascar vanilla, birch, cedar

Karl Topham, Senior Editor

 

Immortal Shade by Seven Gates

Seven Gates Immortal Shade courtesy of the brand.

Thanks to the generosity of Seven Gates and  Parfum Le Dance UK we have a 100 ml of Immortal Shade for one registered reader in the UK or EU ONLY-USA IS NOT INCLUDED. To be eligible please leave a comment about what strikes you about Seven Gates Immortal Shade and where you live. Draw closes 7/18/25 and will be announced two weeks later.

Please read Karl’s WE LOVE THIS STORE: Parfum Le Dance here.

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36 comments

  • As a fan of the incense, I would love to experience Immortal Shade. The notes of rum, tobacco and black tea mingled with clary sage and myrrh sound fantastic. Thanks for the opportunity to sniff. MI USA

  • goldenswan says:

    Seven Gates Immortal Shade sounds like a nice, warm fragrance with vanilla, smoky tobacco, and immortelle that make it interesting and smooth. The idea of capturing deep and lasting love with those rich notes is pretty cool. The review gives a personal take on the scent and the art, which makes for an added perspective. US

  • wonderscent.mari says:

    I had not heard of this house before but Immortal Shade sounds so deep, rich and opulent. A very magnificent composition. What intrigues me most is the tension to replicate the painting The Kiss Of Klimt in an olfactory experience by blending softer notes like Orris, Vanilla and Myhrr with the notes that can be traditionally found to a more masculine yet aromatic fragrance. Also adding this aromatic element of sage giving that meditation direction to this blend make it even more interesting! The tension light and dark, soft and dense, female and male dual nature is something that really appeals to me.
    Thanks for the review and generous giveaway.
    I am located in Germany EU

  • jennapark says:

    This composition sounds unique. A fragrance that got its inspiration from The Kiss has to be sensual, inviting and a little mysterious. The whole journey of Immortal Shade intrigues me. The resinous opening then settling into orris and black tea ( tea has become one of my favorite notes). The dry down sounds so beautiful with tobacco, madagascar vanilla and amber. The bottle is gorgeous and shows attention to detail. I am intrigued with every facet of Immortal Shade from the inspiration to the notes and the bottle. I absolutely can not wait to try this fragrance. Thank you Pennsylvania USA.

  • I have this perfum and its the most long lasting fragrance I have. Its an amazing smell and the amount of comments I receive when wearing is unbelievable.
    From the UK

  • I am a big fan of smoky tobacco rum and incense. Would definitely try this one at nearest retailer. Thanks i am based out of US.

  • This sounds very interesting and I am very curious about it, more so as it has some of my favorites notes – vanilla, tobacco, immortelle, vetiver, myrrh and rum. Please count me in! EU
    Thank you!!

  • Succinct review that makes Immortal Shade sound very compelling. The combination of tannic tea and boozy rum should always work, but it’s framed by some additional accords here, namely the orris and vetiver. The rich base sounds particularly nice with the honeyed rum opening.

    I’m in the USA.

  • Nice review, Karl! This aromatic exploration of the duality of love sounds very interesting: sweetness/bitterness, union/erasure of the self. So, Immortelle (honeyed salinity) and Madagascar vanilla (sweet, dark, and resinous) play each part here, representing Klimt’s Kiss. I hadn’t heard of Seven Gates, but it seems like a great addition to the niche world. I live in Spain. EU

  • First time hearing about Seven Gates, but it’s reminding me of another house I appreciate in Renier Perfumes who also use painting as inspirations. I love to hear about warm & deep scents thta dont smack you in the face with vanilla and fills the whole room. It’s time we get back to inviting scents that aren’t nuclear. Thank you for the review. USA

  • Seven Gates Immortal Shade intrigues with its woody, smoky take on Klimt’s The Kiss, blending resinous clary sage, myrrh, and rum with orris, black tea, and a warm amber-tobacco-vanilla base. It captures love’s duality—sweet yet bitter, intimate yet elusive. I’m in Trzebnica, Poland, EU.

  • emorandeira says:

    I live in Lugo (Spain).and what strikes me the most about this perfume IS that It contains orris root, which is my Favourite note (and iris my Favourite flowers in rela Life). So, this perfume is made for me! Good luck to all

  • WaltherP99 says:

    One in my opinion VERY important and to me at least emotional fact about the brand Seven Gates is that one of the co-founders (i believe) and current creative director is actually…. former Cafleurebon contributor 🙂
    Berkan Başoğlu was very active from 2015 to 2016 . Back then I was just reading, and not yet posting comments but I remember his Munegu Nishane read. If someone is curious just go to the search bar and type in Berkan Basoglu , dozens of beautiful articles will pop-up, some of which collaborations between him and Michelyn 🙂 I often wonder why i do remember such things… but I do .
    In my opinion Immortal Shade is the best fragrance by Seven Gates, I’ve smelled all in a boutique in Kadıköy Istanbul.
    Good luck to all !
    P.P.
    I’ll DM Karl on Instagram about the Berkan Başoğlu and Cafleurebon connection ,it’s worth adding the information to the article imo

  • Seven Gates Immortal Shade reflects that ambiguity in scent. The opening is resinous and unorthodox: clary sage and myrrh cut through with bergamot, given unexpected depth by the liquorous swirl of rum. The impression is shadowy yet alive, like gold leaf catching the light through smoke. In the heart, a cool and tactile orris root contrasts with bitter black tea and the peculiar, honeyed salinity of immortelle, as though echoing the strange duality of The Kiss: tender and defiant, warm and distant.

    The base is where the gold deepens into dusk — amber, tobacco, Madagascar vanilla, and dry woods, the vanilla restrained and atmospheric rather than cloying. Maïa Lernout’s composition lingers close to the skin, becoming an intimate presence, like the faint gilt dust that remains long after the painting has faded from view.

    Seven Gates Immortal Shade does not romanticize love as simple devotion. It is, instead, a fragrant exploration of love’s dual nature — its sweetness and its bitterness, its union and its erasure of the self. In Klimt’s vision, these are indivisible; and here, Lernout has rendered them olfactively indivisible too.

    Top: Clary sage, myrrh, rum, bergamot

    Heart: Orris root, black tea, vetiver, immortelle

    Base: Amber, tobacco, Madagascar vanilla, birch, cedar I am really intrigued to try this house really intrigued by the notes of myrhh, Rum, Tobacco and vanilla. Thanks a million from the UK

  • Seven Gates Immortal Shade reflects that ambiguity in scent. The opening is resinous and unorthodox: clary sage and myrrh cut through with bergamot, given unexpected depth by the liquorous swirl of rum. The impression is shadowy yet alive, like gold leaf catching the light through smoke. In the heart, a cool and tactile orris root contrasts with bitter black tea and the peculiar, honeyed salinity of immortelle, as though echoing the strange duality of The Kiss: tender and defiant, warm and distant.

    The base is where the gold deepens into dusk — amber, tobacco, Madagascar vanilla, and dry woods, the vanilla restrained and atmospheric rather than cloying. Maïa Lernout’s composition lingers close to the skin, becoming an intimate presence, like the faint gilt dust that remains long after the painting has faded from view.

    Seven Gates Immortal Shade does not romanticize love as simple devotion. It is, instead, a fragrant exploration of love’s dual nature — its sweetness and its bitterness, its union and its erasure of the self. In Klimt’s vision, these are indivisible; and here, Lernout has rendered them olfactively indivisible too. I am fascinated by this house and this concoction really stands out with notes of Rum, Tobacco, vanilla, myrhh, black tea, orris and vetiver. Thanks a lot from the UK

  • Saverioud says:

    There’s something about boozy fragrances that always attracted me.
    They remember me of the cold evenings in my grandma’s country house, filled with the smell of the fireplace mixed to the spices in her pantry and the omnipresent favorite rhum of my grampa.
    Based on the review, Immortal Shade seems to have that kind of vibe, enriched by a mysterious aura given by the myrrh. I also love immortelle in fragrances, giving that nutty/licorice facet to the composition.
    hoping to smell it,
    I’m from Italy.

  • This description reads like a chiaroscuro painting in scent — luminous yet shadowed, intimate yet elusive. The idea of rum and immortelle weaving through smoke and orris is hauntingly beautiful, and I’m intrigued by how it explores love’s complexity without softening its edges. I’d be thrilled to experience this duality on skin.

  • Belma Yigit says:

    Hi. I’m Belma Yigit. I’m addicted to the perfumes. I think Seven Gates is one of the most powerful smells. Every note is awesome strong and uniqe. i like the best rum,vanilla and bergamot, but its not so sweet but gourmand. If anyone like gourmand style he should give Seven Gates a chance.

  • What strikes me most about Seven Gates Immortal Shade is how it transforms the visual language of Klimt’s The Kiss into an olfactory narrative of love’s paradoxes. The interplay between the resinous opening of clary sage and myrrh with that unexpected rum accord sounds like it perfectly captures the painting’s tension between sacred and profane, intimate and mysterious. I’m particularly drawn to how the heart notes of orris and black tea create that “cool and tactile” contrast against the honeyed salinity of immortelle—it’s as if the fragrance embodies the lovers’ simultaneous surrender and resistance that Klimt depicted so masterfully.
    The restrained Madagascar vanilla in the base particularly intrigues me; too often vanilla becomes cloying, but here it sounds like it maintains that atmospheric quality that would make this fragrance an intimate, skin-close experience rather than a projection monster. The idea of it lingering “like faint gilt dust” long after application is poetry in itself.
    As someone who appreciates both art and fragrance as forms of emotional storytelling, I’m fascinated by how Lernout has created something that doesn’t just reference The Kiss but actually inhabits its emotional landscape.

    I’m located in EU

  • There’s something profoundly introspective about Immortal Shade — I don’t think I’ve encountered many perfumes that feel like they’re asking you questions rather than giving you answers. The interplay of orris and immortelle in the heart really stood out to me. It doesn’t unfold the way most perfumes do — instead of progressing linearly, it seems to hover between states, like it’s suspended in time. It reminds me less of a love story and more of a memory of one — beautiful, but elusive.

    I am from the EU

  • FragranceFrenzyS says:

    What strikes me most about this fragrance is its texture. There’s a strange contradiction between how delicate it wears on skin and how weighty the materials feel emotionally. The clary sage and myrrh up top feel almost medicinal at first, but then that rum washes through and everything shifts. It’s like the scent of something sacred that has also known decay. The drydown in particular — tobacco and birch with that ghost of vanilla — has a kind of melancholy that lingers, like the warmth of someone who just left the room.
    EU

  • Lastochka says:

    I find the connection to The Kiss quite affecting not because of the romance, but because of the tension in that image. Immortal Shade captures that ambiguity in a really nuanced way. There’s a pull between intimacy and disappearance like the orris wants to reveal itself but keeps folding back into the woods and smoke. It doesn’t feel like a scent you wear for the world; it feels like something you wear for a part of yourself you rarely acknowledge. There’s something vulnerable about that.

    EU

  • AromaAdventurer says:

    For me, the most arresting thing about Immortal Shade is the use of immortelle. It’s a note that often dominates, but here it’s almost like an echo saline and honeyed, but thin, like a shadow on the wall. Paired with the orris and vetiver, it creates this space between coolness and warmth, detachment and longing. It’s not trying to please anyone, and I appreciate that. It feels more like a meditation than a perfume. Or maybe even a confession.

    EU

  • LindenNoir says:

    There’s a certain quiet confidence in this composition. It doesn’t shout or try to dazzle instead, it unfurls gradually, and if you’re not paying attention, you might miss its most interesting moments. The bergamot doesn’t sparkle, it broods; the amber doesn’t glow, it smolders. I think that’s what I admire most: it’s unapologetically complex, even a little withholding. Like a poem you don’t fully understand on the first read but find yourself thinking about for days afterward.
    I am from Germany

  • This sounds right up my alley. I wonder if it is close to the legendary Iris Nazarena? I like the warm and distant duality. I can’t place the rum right now – consider me curious! I’d love to win this to Germany, thank you for the draw!

  • Sorohan Adriana says:

    An incredible vanilla almost smokey but also powdery Immortal shade is the reinterpretation of Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” like the painting a dominant figure (male ) with a soft and elegant figure on the other side (female) embracing in a forbidden kiss. I am from EU

  • ElenaChiss says:

    I am very curious about the combination of rum, immortelle, black tea and tobacco. I do not have much experience with immortelle and I am looking forward into trying Seven Gates. I am based in the EU.
    Thanks!

  • These perfumes incredibly capture the atmosphere of Klimt’s painting. It’s not just an inspiration, it’s as if fragrance actually inhabits that work of art, which is both rare and fascinating. I was particularly struck by how the scent plays with contrasts.The opening with myrrh and rum is dark and then iris with tea and immortelle in the heart perfectly reflects the painting’s duality. It’s a blend of delicacy and a certain tension. The fact that the scent isn’t overly sweet, and the vanilla in the base is restrained, is a big plus for me. The whole composition feels intimate. It doesn’t shout but rather whispers. It’s precisely this deep interpretation of love’s complexity, rather than its simple romanticization, that makes Seven Gates Immortal Shade truly captivating and unique to me.

    EU

  • This one seems perfect for colder weather and dinner with friends. Thanks for the review and generous giveaway.
    I am located in USA

  • Patricia R. says:

    Sweetness and bitterness of love as a reflection of life, restraint and atmospheric vanilla and the notes of myrrh, black tea and tobacco is what drawns me in. I live in the EU.

  • The idea of love as more than an high emotional state bring depth and richness to this inspired perfume. Making it a rounder and more full creation. Love to try it. In maryland.

  • Christos GX says:

    From the review, it seems the fragrance can capture the multifascids of the painting, and the duality of love . Those reasons are what makes me want to experience this fragrance, how the creator used all the different notes , having “the kiss” as an inspiration, to create an new piece of art, in the form of a fragrance. I live in Greece, EU.

  • Scentofme says:

    Seven Gates Immortal Shade sounds incredible as a woody and smoky perfume inspired by the beautiful painting The Kiss. The composition is sensual and ambiguous, sweet and bitter. I live in EU.

  • PetaloDiCera says:

    Immortal Shade sounds a very interesting fragrance to try, most of all because of its inspiration: The Kiss. What’s intriguing is the combination of notes I wouldn’t ever imagine for the iconic Klimt painting, so I’m so very curious to try it this dark, profound vanilla, sweetnes of two lips touching and living their love.
    Smiles from Italy, EU.

  • wallygator88 says:

    Thanks for the great writeup!

    Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss is a painting that I enjoy. I really like the tension in this fragrance replicated from the painting, using both warm resiny comforting materials and materials like clary sage, bergamot and birch.

    Cheers from WI, USA