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Ensuegeskisee – :
Man I really liked this one at one point. But I tried wearing it again and hated it. I think the licorice note just turned my stomach. Can’t get myself to wear it again. Whoops.
megamesh – :
Its a black leopard coming out of a burning forest with haunting but mesmerizing steps. hes somehow effortlessly seductive and vague it almost feels hes a man under some dark spell. and just when its becoming interesting the dream/nightmare is over. after an hour or so of olfactory magnificence it suddenly leaves you wanting more
scent: perfect and some more, 5 stars (I’d rate only 2 or 3 other parfums 5stars)
performance: heartbreaking, 2 stars (and perfumes usually perform better than reviews on my skin)
ps:I dont know how voters have found so much black pepper in it, but to my nose its not a spicy aroma at all.
ico939Diobtetty – :
The D.N.A. of CDG is spread all over this perfume. It’s like a sum-up of their previously ground breaking perfumes, with the trademark incense + wood + sweetness mix. Yet it is a good new creation, odd in just the right amount, artsy and attractive.
After about an hour it smells like a sweet almond ice cream.
WinTorry – :
i love dark, love black, all the notes but not the liquorice, that ruins it for me, why oh why…. also there’s something synth about it which on the occasion make the stomach feel unhappy. sadly it looks like there is a negative correlation between liking and longevity. this has been on my skin since morning , now into evening, and it is still strong :O
rlatoevace – :
This is hands down my personality in a bottle. I love the smell of this and could smell it all day. It makes me feel like wearing otk boots and a leather jacket in the rain. I don’t feel like it’s masculine, I feel like it is dark and sexy. It is spicy and mysterious. I definitely smell the pepper in the opening. I don’t detect any leather which for me is a good thing. I don’t like that scent to be overpowering. I think it is in there, this is just really well blended.
My bf says it smells like a men’s cologne. He likes the sweet gourmands on me. I think this is a unique one. I would say it is daring but the scent doesn’t last very long. it dries down into a very light skin scent.
lobzik27 – :
Black is not as black or as dark as his name suggests.
In fact, the aroma block is swirled at all times between a smoked leather and the sweetness of the balsamic notes together with a nice note of licorice wood that turns out to be more friendly and pleasant than belligerent, achieving as a result that the resulting aroma is more bearable and softer than other fragrances encased within this genre.
Black evolves little, the resolution is modern, portable and not too powerful.
To me, to get that point so measured makes Black liked me a lot.
Rating: 8
ego – :
Wearing this as a woman, I received numerous compliments. I am not very eloquent and poetic in my descriptions of perfumes. However, I can say this scent lasted on my skin and represent my dark, sensual, serious, and intense personality. There really isn’t anything feminine about the scent, however stilettos and leather jacket could pull this off.
antikovajanaga – :
For guys wanting a dark, wearable incense with more than just incense to offer, this is your scent. A model modern masculine and a near-perfect cool weather scent.
After an almost too-strong but still pleasant opening of leathery birch tar, within an hour things mellow into a warm, all-day drydown of musk and woods, with a bit of powder to soften the incense and birch tar. Clean but smoky; perhaps the best incense in the entire CdG line. Wore it for an entire autumn/winter when it came out; gorgeous.
A well-deserved 9/10.
sergeismlnkv – :
Just got a sample for Xmas, starts out straight incense and mellows out to the dry pepper. So far lasting well, pretty subtle sillage but perhaps for the better. Im actually going to try it out in warmer months, the dry spice could suit the heat of Texas, especially compared to the more wet-warmth and spices of resinous fragrances. Not sure if im not sensitive enough right now to pick out the licorice or rubber notes, but i hope with a clear nose i get them, because id love to see this scent rise to its reputation of complexity. I do think the incense and pepper are being pulled one direction by a hint of rubber, so perhaps its just subtle enough that its not recognizable by itself. Nonetheless still bold and unusual, but perhaps thats just based on the tastes of today. affordable too, imo
annenaichok – :
چوب سوخته با بالاترین کیفیت ممکن
———–
Scent & Qualiy: 10/10
Longevity: 8/10
Sillage: 7/10
Creativity & Uniqueness: 10/10
Affordability: 6/10
———–
Overall: 8.2/10
emi.su – :
Really enjoyed the scent and got a bottle, but couldnt get it to last more than an hour or so. Bummer. Wish it came in an edp version and Id be all over it.
potreb – :
Scratchy, dry, smoky, inky, charcoal-like modern incense – and perhaps the reviews here skew male, but this is firmly unisex in my view. Warming without smothering, the opening burst is all aromatic warm wood with a peppery kick which lasts far far longer on me than Blackpepper, which died within minutes. The birch and tar do give it a feel of outdoors; somehow despite all its darkness, there’s a freshness in there too. I thought hints of juniper/cade, not listed, but that might be a weird liquorice cross-contamination effect.
Moody and magnificent – thank you so much UK Fragrantian corkscrewcurly for introducing me to this very dapper gent of a scent.
ETA: been wearing this more and more as the cold weather draws in, and with enough applied (2-3 sprays in each desired point) this actually lasts very well, though very much contracted after first few hours; it’s only left as a skin scent, pretty much exclusively made of incense and mild wood notes, but that skin scent can still be there even 8-9 hours later, which by CDG standards is a marathon.
hacer – :
Got it today!
Perfect for winter and cold nights.
its peppery,smoky and very artistic scent.
i had the CDG2 also from this company so i can assure you how good the products are.the prices are very logical to me but dont blind buy it.its not for everyone.totally one of the best frag.around.
magazinhellokitty – :
Smoky, tarry fragrances were a rarity a decade ago, but with the proliferation of niche, coming across a bottled explosion of birch tar isn’t that uncommon.
Black is that kind of fragrance, but what makes Black stand out in all this noise is its affable wearability. The star is the tar note, but it’s nicely balanced against incense, star anise, pepper, vetiver, and woods, and is never smothering or caustic. It’s a very modern perfume, but the wood smoke vibe makes it rather comforting if you have nice campfire or fireplace memories.
A well-made tar-iental, and probably holy grail material for fans of smoke in perfume.
omelch777 – :
I must admit, this CdG fragrance surprised me. This incense based juice can match such gigants as: Tom Ford’s “Sahara Noir”, “Heeley’s “Phoenice”, Montale’s “Dark oud” or Olivier Durbano’s “Balck Turmaline” – which shares most similarities with. Sillage and longevity is, unlike the most CdG’s fragrances, much better than average, and unlike them doesn’t transport you to the given spot, but is more abstract and wearable as well. For every incense lovers – Must Try. Very interesting peppery opening in conjunction with liqourice and olibanum makes it for Olivier Durbano and Gucci PH I lovers a Must Have fragrance. I can’t understand why it’s discontinued.
8,5/10.
alekseika – :
Very dry black pepper overdose with incense smoke, if you like Interlude Man you will love this.
Memax412bedyWelty – :
Imaginez une forêt sombre, un feu de camp au milieu duquel on aurait jeté du poivre et du réglisse… J’aime l’odeur mais c’est linéaire et le coté fumée devient un peu ennuyant à la longue.
Bonne odeur, mais ça ne m’intéresse finalement pas en tant que parfum.
Alex081277 – :
I wear this when I’m watching Game Of Thrones. Yes, I realize how nerdy that is, I have a GoT scent… but hey, in my minds eye, it just fits to a tee.
This is the smell of Winterfell.
essimey – :
An incredible shape shifter of modem perfumery this beauty from the CDG line starts off with a blast of pepper and birch and immediately begins drying down to begin to slightly reveal the other elements including incense, olibanum, cedar, licorice and vetiver. Like many other CDG offerings, sillage and projection is on the moderate side. Thus, layering this with something neutral like Molecule 01 brings out the full three dimensionality of this subtle mysterious creation. This is about as mainstream CDG is going to get folks so this may be a good place to begin to start sampling this eclectic rule breaking house. This is a beautifully crafted perfume and has a deserved cult following because of the many surprises it beholds in each developing layer.
GORGONA – :
@Jude
Not sure what country you are in, but many online retailers offer it including:
Amazon, nordstom, barneys, and Luckyscent. Hope it helps!
NeftEvittee – :
A very stylish friend of a friend wears this fragrance – think Uma Thurman Pulp Fiction. When I met her a year ago I had to ask her what she was wearing as it was one of the most striking scents I’ve come across. I had been thinking about it since then and had to bite the bullet. I’m just after purchasing a bottle without testing on my own chemistry and I’m relieved to say I ADORE it. It’s woody, spicy and faintly soapy. With its deep smokey notes it’s not for the faint hearted but the somewhat musky scent of vetiver cleans and softens the composition. It may appear in its description to be a very masculine fragrance (packaging included) but I find it completely unisex. Almost in the same way as Tom Ford Black Orchid and Chanel Cuir de Russie are.
10/10
(I found it hard to acquire – does anyone know if they’ve ended production?)
ccl908speagoessenda – :
This is my kind of fragrance. Forceful, natural-smelling cracked black pepper in the opening that surrounds a smoldering authentic incense. There’s just the right, light touch of sweetness, that seems to be a blend of licorice, olibanum, and maybe a greasy vetiver note. I had to look at the note breakdown to figure out the constituents of the vetivery, natural sweet note that balances out the sharp smokey notes of black pepper and incense. And the Birch was blended into the incense note so seamlessly that I couldn’t make it out distinctly.
So that I get a spicy/tangy black pepper, incense, and vetiver/leather in the dry down. It’s natural, authentic, and smells like high quality ingredients.
There are some very natural smelling scents that because of their elemental composition can be kind of genderless. But those are exceptions to me. I think this one skews masculine/natural/unisex. Which I like. I don’t like flowery or powdery notes. This is one is acrid, smokey, peppery, strong, long-lasting, and packs a sillage punch. 12 hours for me.
I was putting this sample up against, Amouage Interlude man, Memoir man, Summerhouse Norne, and Andy Tauer’s 2 moroccan desert scents, and this one and interlude are my favorites. I think i like Interlude only a touch better. But this one was cheaper so I went for it. Glad I did. It’s excellent. And a superb value.
vselma – :
I own fragrances from Amouage, Xerjoff, Nasomatto, Parfums de Marley and Profumum. BELIEVE me when I tell you that ‘Black’ is right up there with the heavyweights. This stuff is absolute genius. Similar to Olivier Durbano’s ‘Black Tourmaline’, ‘CDG Black’ is heavier with more of a pronounced intensity that lasts for a while with excellent projection. I’ll always have a bottle.
minenkos – :
When I seen both birch and smokey/incense notes I knew what to expect. I’ve always enjoyed a warm smokey scent bringing back memories of sitting around a cozy fire pit. Black pepper is what gives this juice a real kicker. CDG refind the vib taking away that harsh/choking vib that you get when you smell of smokey incense. There’s a smig of leather giving it more a masculine juice.
Longevity and Silage is excellent…8hrs
Finally thoughts,
GDC for the most part have created high quality fragrance…this is a fine example of one! I ABOUSOTLEY enjoy the smokey incense burnt aroma without it being cloying rather dark sophisticated aroma. 8.5/10 don’t go overboard and spray too much…it will definitely seem like you had been camping and just returned.
petr0v1ч – :
What a wonderful scent. I broke an eight month-long no-buy for this. CdG Black is a dark, synthetic (but in a good way) fragrance ideal for cooler times of the year.
Black opens with a rather strong and dense blast of black pepper along with a hint of olibanum. Once it settles, the incense, birch tar, (to a lesser extent) licorice and leather come through, the pepper note still present also, all individually detectable but very well blended. I have been looking for a quality incense-based scent for a while and Black fits the bill perfectly.
Unlike a few other CdG fragrances I have tested, performance is very good, 8+ hours with decent projection for the first 3-4. Sways more towards the masculine side (in my opinion) but definitely could work on females.
If you prefer darker fragrances then give Black a try.
eihsiedler – :
This is an excellent, albeit pricey niche fragrance which really sets up a strong experience for those who enjoy more deep, dark and complex fragrances. It channels a lot of dark ingredients into something mysterious and “cool”.
Here’s what I gather: The opening dances with charred resins, wood, and earth like the flames of a wildfire, through which a biker clad in black leather rides with reckless abandon. Around him fall ashes and burning trees, but he pays them no heed as he races toward something beyond.
Beyond the woods, the rider slows to a stop at the crest of a hill. His leather coat now imbued with the incense of the burning wild, he stands from his mount. The smell of fresh blacktop rises from the road ahead, sticky and sugar sweet from the heat of day. Over his shoulder, one sees night fast approaching. As the figure stares down at the small village beyond the knoll, you suddenly understand that he is not fleeing the sinister blackness behind him; it follows with him. The rider begins to remove his helmet, but you never see his face.
That’s Black in a nutshell. I really want a bottle.
Sedziwoj – :
A clever idea; all things black in color–tar, pepper, incense, smoke, licorice. I get a lot of the licorice/anise note, and at first I found it strange, especially combined with the frequently-weird-ness of vetiver. But the spices grew on me, to the degree that I came around to finding this scent comforting and sexy. I feel like it’s what Hades would wear, and I like Hades (he doesn’t really have blue flames for hair, okay?), so that’s fine with me.
89094785829 – :
A good dark scent with excellent performance, perfect for winter nights.
8/10
EmpobbyGeople – :
Straight up campfire.
Which, granted, is a scent I enjoy out in the world, but I guess I don’t actually want to go around smelling like it. It was also almost overpoweringly leathery at first. Makes me feel as if someone has smeared wet ashes on my arm in one thick, dark, dramatic line. It’s very sexy somehow, but not for me.
Reminded me a bit of Bottega Veneta, which I wore for a bit last winter when I felt like a leathery fragrance. But very masculine…I can’t picture this making sense on a woman unless it smelled different on her than it does on me.
I don’t hate it, but I wouldn’t wear it.
pokoinik9379992 – :
Aptly named, Black is indeed quite black: peppercorn, birch resin, licorice, smoke. It’s like sweetened, liquid ash. Trouble is, it smells overly synthetic with a chemical, medicinal note that I find off-putting, the same note I find in all the CdGs I’ve tried. I speculate that it would have better potential with higher quality ingredients.
Projection and longevity are good for an EdT, and it is unique in a crowded genre, with the licorice providing a nice touch. The price is right as well. But I found it tiring. 6.5/10.
danna-a – :
Good fragrance. Very wearable. I see the connection to Avignon, but this is a little bit sweeter. If you also enjoyed others like Kyoto and Passage D’Enfer, sure you will enjoy Black.
dqoojfwj – :
what i like most about comme des garcons’ clothing is the way it usually fuses childlike playfulness with adult tailoring. while having it’s share of punk influence it steers clear of the typical, awkward adolescent associations common when it comes to grunge and rock-influenced fashions.
black similarly strikes up a great balance between reserved dryness and inviting sweetness making it very wearable. it’s got just the right amount of tasteful edge and darkness for my everyday tastes.
nallisown – :
I have been reading reviews of Black for a while now and finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase a bottle… and I am SO glad I did!
Black is a fragrance that actually lives up to its name! I tend to get colors from fragrances, some change colors throughout the day based on the phase of the scent at that moment in time, Black however, remains true to it’s name. That is exactly what I get out of this, Black… PITCH Black, without a trace of light.
This one also give me a “story”. Closing my eyes I am transported to a city street. A hot day quickly turns into a brisk overcast night. A power failure has eliminated all sources of light around me. I stand on a freshly paved city road experiencing a tar type scent. Incense wafts from the open door of a nearby church. Remnants of arc welding smoke drift in from the scaffolding of a new building under construction. A spice shop across the way adds to the odors filling the air around me. An ominous feeling comes over me, something is about to happen, but what? Maybe an exorcism in the Church? My senses are heightened. All around me is silent, except for the creaking of my leather jacket as I breath in and out.
Wow! Black is a Very intense complex scent. Mysterious, raw, untamed and sensual, almost like having forbidden fruit in your hand, getting ready to take a bite, but stopping to ask yourself if you should. Hanging on the edge of light and darkness.
Black opens with an incense, licorice and heavy pepper vibe on my skin that is almost clove like to my nose. As it begins to dry down a slight vetiver and leather start to make its way through the darkness and mingle.
I agree that is has some similarities to Avignon, but Black folds Avignon’s chruchy scent into it own dark world. It is a small part of this scent.
Overall a VERY good scent for a person that enjoys darker / heavier scents, but certainty not for the faint of heart.
Bottom line: If you lean towards clean fresh scents, this one is NOT for you. But if you like heavy, dark, almost ominous, scents you should give this one a try.
clusernamew6 – :
So dark, so smokey, and anti ‘fresh’. To me it smells of burning incense and herbal medicine. It’s a challenging yet addictive scent! Would appeal to fragrance connoisseurs.
myrzik – :
Absolutely wonderful! A sharp blast of black pepper opens things up…and it just keeps getting better! With all of the “blackness,” it carries itself deftly, never overwhelming. This is never smoky, but dusty, like ashen coal? As things warm up, frankincense, licorice and cedar smooth things out. I’ve experienced birch tar overshadow when used, but not here! This is modern in construction, but very familiar in execution, and more versatile than one might think. I need to get a bottle! Thumbs up!
viktor3555 – :
Bought it as a Xmas present for myself. After sampling more than a 100 niche fragrances in different luxury perfumeries, and buying dozens of 1 ml samples, I’ve finally decided on this one. It smells like something burning on a cold winter’s night and gives off a very distinct vibe.
I think that it is similar to Incense Avignon (which is a nice frag too, along with Montale Full Incense and Heeley Cardinal. Damn, those smell a 100% alike), however I find this much more wearable.
It is still in the category of “strange and far from popular taste” fragrances, but if we imagine that family as a continuum (rather than a homogeneous group), with probably some oudish monsters at the very end, this is quite close to where it starts. This means that while even the average Joe and Joellyn can smell that this is something unusual and bitter, they won’t tell you that you stink like some sort of animal covered in its own sheit, but enjoy every sniff that they get from you instead.
I don’t get why people complain about the longevity and sillage, after only 3 sprays, my classmates said that they got hit in the head by it, even outdoors. The following day, I had sprayed 2 on my neck in the afternoon, and my girlfriend said that she could smell it the following morning.
mumRousia – :
I love woody, smoky and spicy fragrances, so it’s not a wonder that Black is definitely one of my favourite fragrances at the moment. It’s like Incense Avignon and Wonderwood combined, but much darker. The scent really smells like the colour black. It’s warm, full, masculine, spicy, oddly comforting, but there’s also sweetness in it.
Although this fragrance is one of my favourites, the longevity is quite weak 🙁
Today I layered CDG Hinoki on top of this and the combination was heavenly! Hinoki also has quite poor longevity, but together Hinoki and Black are long lasting!
onu172speagoessenda – :
Black opens in a cloud of sharp and smoky black pepper, but quickly (approximately 45 minutes) mellows into a good baseline incense for the majority of its lifespan, with a slight touch of woody warmth in the deeper depths of the drydown.
There is a smokiness to this but it is more subtle than you would most likely expect. This scent is definitely less waxy/charred smelling than the wick of a freshly extinguished candle(try Profumum’s Ambra Aurea), but far too tarry to quite qualify as the scent memory style church incense(CdG’s own Avignon) .
This is a good reference point for dry, modern incense……the subtle, resinous remainder after hanging your coat in the locker area of an expensive spa/sauna, or taking a walk through a street full of spice merchants and smoky snack stands.
Great as a learning tool for those who want to start learning more about different fragrance notes and families, and very wearable. Sillage is very close to the skin, and longevity is on the low end of average.
Overall, I like this well enough, but it is a touch too quiet and agreeable to really be a love for me. Beauty is more readily apparent when there is a hint of the strange to contrast with, and this plays a bit too safely for my liking.
danior – :
Dry, peppery, smokey and charred scents drizzled in tonka-creaminess. This is a one of a kind beauty. This is the only perfume out there that has realistically captured the scent of freshly blown out candles: a beautiful metaphor for “black”. My dream is that this finds it’s way to an EDP or extrait format so it’s intensity and longevity can be cranked up. Perfumers out there, get working on it!
Unrerodooli – :
I am blown away…
In my childhood, I used to solder materials by putting the hot soldering into the resin.
And CdG Black smells like heated resin.
Masculine, mysterious, dark.
Love this stuff.
torpedist79 – :
Maaaaaaaan. I was really disappointed with this. Not because it smells bad – but because it smells IDENTICAL to Imaginary Authors’ “A city on fire” – indistinguishable. Unfortunately, I now own both. Smoke and incense. If you have one, don’t get the other :/
Nikolaevich.kn – :
Something really special…
This is a fragrance I love because it challenges me. Whenever I find a fragrance like that I am always pleased. The house of Comme des Garçons is one which always pushes the limits and is able to challenge people’s noses. I really admire them for that.
So the fragrance… to me this has spices and leather, liquorice & incense, and a heavy dose of birch tar. Personally, what comes to my mind when I smell this is the smell of a spice market full of busy people. In a busy street. I used to live in Cairo and at different times I used to remember the exact smell of a market full of all kinds of spices… cumin, caraway, black pepper, cinnamon, aniseed, paprika, cardamom, all sitting in sacks by each store. Sometimes because of the busy street you would find a man on a motorcycle pass by you, bringing the smell of the street with him (petrol, black engine smoke, engine oil ) and I would smell the black tar on the road which had melted in the hot sun. So many smells which rush in my imagination from all directions when I wear this one.
Personally, I don’t agree when people say this is “unwearable”. There is no such thing. I agree that this could smell challenging to some people, but to me I feel right at home! I would happily wear this. It’s not too strong, it stays on the skin for a long time but it doesn’t project to people in an offensive way. I think people who smell this on you would be intrigued and interested to find out this smell. I think that if you are a person who likes “interesting” or challenging fragrances, and who wears a fragrance for yourself, and not to “please” others, then you will enjoy this one. Personally I enjoy it very much, and it fires my imagination. Well done CdG!
cerbed1 – :
EDIT: After a second day of full wearing, everything is different. All the notes blend nicely, no more sour or too sweet impressions. I think my bad impressions on the first day could be caused by my chemistry. It happened before that the first day wearing a fragrance was terribly wrong, and the following days everything was much better. Black is long lasting, and it is the masculine musk (Jovan-like) in the base that I can smell the morning after. This musk is not listed, but I’m sure it’s there. I think it makes this fragrance last longer than my favorites of this house, Hinoki and Sugi, but less refined, more dirty.
————————————————-
I’m a CdG lover, but this stuff is bad. I love unisex scents, but this stuff is not unisex, the blend is just not nice at all, some facets are too masculine, other facets are too feminine, and both in a bad way. Licorice, pepper and iso e-super. I usually love iso e-super, but in this concoction, it only helps the bad notes to be more noticeable. When it dries down on my skin, it becomes sweeter and sweeter and similar to Eau d’Iparie for women, almost headache inducing. There is something getting wrong (sweet & sour) in the dry down, something too feminine not in a pleasant way, but it comes together with something that has a cheap and harsh masculine musky and leathery vibe, this is my saddest CdG purchase. The longevity is better than with my favorite CdG (Hinoki). Guillaume Flavigny has a lot to learn from Bertrand Duchaufour, who makes much more lovely and wearable fragrances. I won’t buy it again. Never.
sergei74 – :
What an amazing olfactory punch this packs! IF you like smoky incense & catholic church, this is where you find it. Putting this on is akin to someone battering your face with a large wooden crucifix dipped in Frankincense oil (olibanum!). Then there’s scratchy catching in your throat pepper, and finally there’s balmy sandalwoody warmth (would that be the cedar? the liquorice?) – not sure my nose/ perfume knowledge is good enough to identify the exact notes, but I know that the intense smokiness develops into a sweet warmth with an occasional spike of incense smokiness and the perfume develops from “Catholic church in winter” to “beach bonfire on a Greek summer beach” – so it’s for all seasons. IF you like smokiness. If you don’t, stay away from this one! 🙂
Eva_fromAF – :
This is my first venture into the house of cdg. I was very kindly gifted a sample of this by a great fragrantica member.
To me the intial blast and 2 to 3 hours afterwards reminds me of an african market I frequent. Plus there is also a spice shop in kensington market that might have a copyright claim if the owner ever smelt cdg black 🙂 I don’t really get smokey, for me it’s a spice mash…not a bad smell, but maybe not something you want to go around smelling like.
In the later stages it starts to get woody and as another review mentioned, it smells like a Finnish sauna. Saunas that are made of birch specifically. Again, not a bad smell just maybe not one you’d like to smell like.
Finally it transitions into a slightly sweeter cloves scent. It’s definitely different and yes Black. If the price on this was better I might consider a bottle just on weirdness factor.
It lasts about 8 hours with 3 of those being decent projection but that’s during it’s spice market stage.
I give it a 6.5/10 and it’s only intrigued me into trying more from cdg.
zbk369speagoessenda – :
Lots of darkness going on here, very befitting of its name. A heavy does of coarse black pepper and thick, smoky incense. The smokiness is enhanced further by Black’s core of birchwood and leather. The leather’s of the retail fashion variety here, not animalic or particularly rugged, and it’s kind of obscured within the bracing, potent cloud of peppery smoke that precedes it. The birchwood provides its trademark tar note, and when combined with the licorice, there’s something of a bitter, medicinal quality that lurks in Black’s shadows. But really, this is all about black, peppery incense–a spicy campfire kind of smell that is warm and more in line with nature than industry. Once the pepper begins to settle down, this could be considered one of those cozy, snuggle-by-the-fire types, especially when you take its relatively reserved projection into account. Overall, I like Black and think it’s a good fragrance. If you’re a fan of Gucci Pour Homme, Norne, Sombre Negra, or Comme des Garcons 2 Man, you’ll probably like this too, though it may feel a bit redundant.
Thumbs up and definitely worth checking out if you like the woody-incense genre or have a black pepper fetish.
Yurii201165 – :
i’m wondering – why is this scent described here as such a revelation? after the shallow synthetic liquorice note is gone – about an hour – it’s just birch tar that’s left. i once travelled to finnland and came to a city called jyväskylä. there is a restaurant where you can eat like a real viking (‘haralds’) – on the menu there is ‘smoked ice cream’ – birch tar: cdg black!
Aleksander – :
I Am absolutely stunned by this fragrance! It has all I was dreaming and longing for to find for years and years!
Birch tar, olibanum, perfect leather, perfect incense, so enchanting, poetic, adventurous with fragments from the childhood – waxing cream for skis, shoe-cream, Dad’s soldering kit and lots of ashes.
I disagree that this is saga about black pepper, – to my nose and senses – TAR, Olibanum, licorice – in this order. With help of which molecule such mystical image achieved – I dont care, its amazing.
ahhh so bewitching, so introvert, so me!
Wait, I know the type of person who would fit perfectly well into this scent – Jaqen H’ghar from The Game of Thrones.
“I’ve seen a man who could change his face, the way that other men change their clothes”
5 out of 5 to Guillaume Flavigny.
monah1981 – :
One of the best by Comme des garçons. Strange and addicting mixture of burned tar, liquorice and incense. It’s smells like a cabin in the woods in the Northern Europe. It’s perfect for autumn and winter.
scn321InsuffBooni – :
Wow. On paper a shocker. On skin something else. Woody aromatic indeed.
Very dark and deep, strong but not overpowering, the smokey incense gives me the impression of burned wood and ashes. But unlike let’s say Air du desert Marocain, the wood in Black is not dry, but moist. That must mean the frankincense (olibanum) matches the incense. And there are clearly other aromas in play here as well, that makes Black even more interesting than Marocain.
I get birch and tar, a resionous kind of olibanum, but also the salty-bitter aspect of licorice, alo