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REvgen – :
Bois Noir
Black Woods
Nose Jacques Polge
Year 1987
Bois Noir (Dark Woods) is a 1980s powerful male scent but can also come off as unisex and has something that I as a female who wears men’s colognes and unisex frags enjoy – a dark sensual allure and power vibe. Somewhat similar to Egoiste, this is lighter and softer and has more vanilla and spices. This is a warm spicy fougere slash Oriental. It smells great in cold weather. Unfortunately this beauty has been discontinued. I bought this back in the 80s and I had an older friend who gifted it to me recently. I was feeling nostalgic and relived the fragrance.
Starts off with a fresh orange scent, quite perfumy and rosy with a rose note that to me briefly smells of Miss Dior and more feminine than masculine. Before long though the citrusy rose scent disappears and the more aromatic lavender rosewood and coriander emerge. The scent is distinctively Oriental with woods and spice. The sandalwood and bourbon vanilla are the final dry notes which take over. Smells rich, sexy, warm woody and spicy. Because there are no top middle and base note structure in the formula this is a linear and very faint scent more an eau de toilette of smooth and weaker concentration. As such it smells better as a dab on and I apply it as such dabbing it on my wrists and neck.
I’m a sucer for woodsy scents and the sandalwood here is absolutely gorgeous. The dry vanilla gives the scent a smooth clean effect and almost borders on powder but is not as powdery as Egoiste. This is almost a prototype of Egoiste. A beautiful and very easy to wear fragrance if you’re accustomed to unisex and men’s colognes that are vanilla and woods based. I love to wear this in winter time and now that the weather is plunging into the 40s 30s in NYC I love to wear warmer and more Oriental woody fragrances.
Get it if you can find it!
drandar224 – :
Lucky to own 4 bottles of this hard to find fragrance, 2 spray and 2 splash. All of them were in sealed condition. I opened and used 1 of each. It is very special, more complex than all different version Egoiste (owned L’Egoiste, Egoiste CC, Egoiste[different batch]). Also find it is smoother and creamy.
MupTiepweni – :
Chanel’s masterpiece .
Think Black , Think white , Think Chanel Bois Noir
I have two bottles of Bois Noir , one 70 percent used bought in 2013 on ebay , the other one 125 splash sealed unopened , never seen the light kept in the fridge in small box with other sealed perfumes bought it 2016 from my friend’s uncle .
I have also Vintage Egoiste and Egoiste cologne concetree both before 1994 ( in 1994 mysore sandalwood was restricted ) after 1994 chanel Egoiste and Egoiste cologne concetree also chanel Coco , and guerlain samsara , changed a lot as monsieur Jacque polge said the “main” composition that holds all the notes is “mysore sandalwood” .
after 2006 the glorious oakmoss was restricted .
I have also Egoiste from 2003 oct , 2007 jun , 2011 , and 2015 reformulation .
I heard that V . Egoiste is “identical” to Bois Noir No more No less , I heard from others Egoiste cologne concetree is Bois Noir , just remove the name from Bois Noir To Egoiste cologne concetree et voila .
well,I don’t think so Bois Noir is 70 percent different than egoiste and E,CC . I mean how can we compare an exclusive perfume made of Crystal bottle and the Cap made of real ebony wood to a commercial Egoiste ????
as Labaloo said : I don’t think Fragrantica’s list of notes is accurate or truly gives the pyramid justice , “I definitely agree” .
here’s the Full notes of Bois Noir ((at lest to my senses :
Top notes : Bergamote , lime , nutmeg ,clove , coriander .
Heart notes : Brazilian rosewood , Ebony wood or cedar wood , tobacco leaves ,lavender , Dried plum ,Marron glace (candied chestnuts) ,Carnation
Base notes : Sandalwood , labdanum as a leathery amber note , frankincense , oakmoss , Castorium , ambrette seeds , musk , vanilla .
the opening is very smooth ,the bergamote and lime very watery airy like , the nutmeg is light and the coriander “spicy” the opening is clean .
the Fougereness in Bois Noir is a result of two notes authentic tobacco leaves , and the herbaceous aromatic lavender. those two notes mixed very well with the exotic rose wood it’s smoky , rich deep ,the dark brown rosewood suddenly turn into a “Black wood” when the Ebony wood or the pencil cedar wood note appears . like perfume’s name Bois Noir = Black wood .
Bois Noir in this stage is very woody and enriched with tobacco leaves , then the Rose kicks in I have to mention the Carnation here is indeed very smooth , pinky and spicy , the dried fruits makes the whole thing even darker the plum is dark the dried chestnuts is rich stewed and chewy .
the dry down is magical the “pine terpenes” smell from frankincense goes heavenly with the sandalwood very milky balmy vibe mixed with almost leathery almost dusky amber of labdanum , in late dry down when all the notes are gone what’s left from Bois Noir is the Dusty earthy pencily oaskmoss .
Note : my Bois noir bottle “the used” one I bought it with only 30 percent juice left I can barley detect the notes there’s no opening no dry down all i’m getting is rose wood tobacco oaskmoss a hint of labdanum very disappointed .
on the other side the one kept in the fridge contain all the notes I don’t know why is it because the cold environment or maybe it’s sealed with no air oxidation .
vintage Egoiste and the Cologne concetree both of them aren’t my cup of tea .
the dry down in these two is different than Bois Noir , Vintage egoiste and CC dry down into marshmallowy powdery brown “ambrette seeds” , plus the coumarin the result is chocolatey dusky ambered with brown ambrette seeds .
this dry down someone descript it as apple pie some said it’s like cookies on the oven , to me it is one of the worst dry down it’s unbalanced .
one more thing egoiste and the cologne concetree both of them , they don’t contain any “lavender” ,
they contain geranium , so “no lavender” in egoiste .
there’s no frankincense , ebony wood or cedar wood , bergamote , nutmeg , Castoreum , lavender , candied chestnuts .
(in Egoiste ) .
also Egoiste contain synthetic damask rose , unlike the supreme natural Carnation .
also Egoiste contain higher percentage of coumrin which gives us a Tobacco – Hay like , unlike Bois Noir which contain authentic tobacco leaves .
they do share some notes but please don’t say they are “Identical” .
chanel’s golden age is the 80s , perfumes back then were thick , layered , complex full of natural components . Egoiste 2015 is sheer , watered down , not just egoiste even chanel n 5 , coco , dior , guerlain .
by the way back in the 80s there were only 20 up to 23 synthetic components , today there’s more than 200 synthetic components “lab made” .
Bois Noir is Jacques polge’s favourite composition “during his 38 years as chanel’s nose ” , I know he said egoiste , i’m not convinced , I think in his heart he meant the original composition which is bois noir .
I think there’s jasmine mixed with the sandalwood , there’s also 4th wood along with sandal ,rosewood ,ebony wood , i’m not sure maybe it’s the cedarwood ? overall this perfume is very woody rich and deep .
If you’re a fan of fresh clean out of shower perfumes or teens perfumes , or even super flowery , fruity patchouli like ,than stay far way .
lerika – :
I am completely thrilled to have the chance to smell this vintage and rare release from Chanel, but I don’t think Fragrantica’s list of notes is accurate or truly gives the pyramid justice. For starters, I would classify ‘Bois Noir’ as an (woody) oriental–and at most an oriental-fougere–as I’m smelling a base mainly composed of labdanum, frankincense, benzoin, and sandalwood–with only faint traces of oakmoss and coumarin adding a “dry” facet. Above this is a delightful blend of sharper woods (cypriol and cedar) which diffuses the upper reaches of frankincense into something quite heavenly. And then there are spices which are barely mentioned here: cinnamon, clove, and coriander, and only a whisper of lavender and rose. As well, there is an interesting–and subtle–fruit-accord hiding beneath the spices. At the very top, I do agree with mandarin orange/tangerine being the main player.
Overall, this is a GORGEOUS composition full of expensive naturals that just may have been a little “ahead of its time” for 1987 (which I lived through, btw). Men at that time were still very much preferring full-on fougeres, and this might have come across as “too feminine” for most. Just my opinion. Egoiste seems to increase the “fougere-ness” of Bois Noir by amplifying the oakmoss, coumarin, lavender, and citruses, while retaining much of the original sketch. This is perfume history in living color.
Djoni – :
The holy grail of designer perfumery!
Artakserks – :
This is a very beautiful perfume. It is blended and balanced in fragrance. I have found it holds close to the skin and gently dries down to a Wood synthetic. Citrus is Mandarin, which has a slightly different scent profile to Tangerine. The whole thing hums a tune of order. Needs more volume though.
It was not widely available for good reasons. It strikes me as a work in progress. In the search for market the following release Egoiste is more vibrant with the use of Tangerine and the amping up of Top Notes.
With the Egoiste and Egoiste Concentree the top notes and Citrus with this amplification, to my nose, seem unbalanced. They have my mind thinking and tasting Apple Pie. Drydown is again to a Wood Synthetic.
All have a life of about 5 to 6 hours on my skin.
The Egoiste of today pales.
My palette prefers the elegant and better balanced Pour Monsieur Concentree and Wow! The Vintage Pour Monsieur.
Vnyk94 – :
Aromatic fougere?. Really?
Dear fragrantica editors, you must check out the clasification. Thanks!