Description
The French house of Guerlain will launch their new perfume La Petite Robe Noir (The Little Black Dress) in February 2009. As the name suggests, the perfume was inspired by the eternal and fashionable clothing item for women. Just like numerous women adore black dresses, they will grow fond of this gorgeous gourmand perfume. Fruity opening of Sicilian lemon, almonds and anise develops into a heart full of roses, raspberry macaroons and licorice. A base is pleasant and sweet; it consists of vanilla, patchouli, smoked tea and musk. Its vintage flacon, characteristic of the first edition of the house of Guerlain, preserves ingredients of the perfume and it will be available in exclusive stores Guerlain. The nose behind this fragrance is Delphine Jelk.
kazaserp – :
I despise licorice. That said, I do detect it, but I don’t hate the fragrance. I say this in case you, too, abhor licorice and star anise, and fennel, and you’re worried about La Petite Robe Noir smelling of any of it. It’s a non-issue.
Now, in contrast to DANCING ROSES by VICTOR & ROLF, LPRN is a boozier dark cherry to my nose. DANCING ROSES is brighter because of the lychee notes.
LA PETITE ROBE NOIR has more powder, a softer, more delicate fragrance.
Whereas DANCING ROSES is juicier and dries down richer and deeper, less powder and fluff.
Hope this helps for other cherry lovers on the lookout for all things cherry!
anw978Diobtetty – :
I tried this for the very first time ever yesterday. Oh my God. I want to smell like this every day of my life now! I avoided La Petit Robe Noir all this time because of the licorice note. I detest licorice in real life, and so I was worried that it would be too much. But since I’ve started testing and wearing other perfumes with licorice (La Nuit Tresor), maybe my scent palate has just evolved to become more amenable, who knows? I get that some fragrances can feel “off” for certain people (as evidenced by other reviews below), but this one feels like a garment made just for me. It positively blooms on my skin, and it has monster longevity. I put it on yesterday morning and I can still smell it in my hair the next day! To me it’s a grown-up fruity smell…I LOVE the cherry. I also have Escada Cherry In the Air and that cherry is super tart, almost too tart. This one is sour but nuanced. The anise seems to ground the licorice. The vanilla and tonka give this the right amount of smooth sweetness. The iris (which is a note I LOVE) just gives it that right amount of depth. So now I’m curious about all of the flankers…what am I missing out on??? Should I try Black Perfecto?? Either way I need a bottle of the original right away!
lazerfors2000 – :
Tried on a sample today. Very cherry, berry, vanilla and licorice… sweet, feminine and cute.Candy like and fun in a girly way. Too artificial candy store scent for me. Im a great fan of almost every one of Guerlains.. But ufortunately not This one. Silage and longevity moderate and average.
gir741speagoessenda – :
Nope, I’ve never ever liked this one or any of its flankers.
To me the fruity sweetness and syrup, that this seems to be all about, just doesn’t do well with the spiciness, which is also doing pretty strong here.
Yet this scent seems to be liked so many these days that I cannot help but wonder if there is something wrong with my nose and/or body chemistry.
I love especially L’Instant, Insolence Eau Glacée and Angelique Noir by Guerlain and so many others by the house of Guerlain, including L’Heure Bleue. At one stage I thought I would love anything made by Guerlain. But now I have to admit that there are many Guerlain scents that are not wearable for me at all.
ShIfssusan – :
I LOVE THIS PERFUME. It smells like sweet cherry to me. I have yet to receive a compliment on this perfume, but I am not sure if that is because I need to spray a bit more? It does seem to sit very close to the skin on me. But When I get little whiffs of it on my skin throughout the day, I just LOVE LOVE IT
i.sema – :
I don’t like fruity notes with sweet base because I can’t stand to smell them. When I wear perfume is too sweet or fruity, I fell like I’m dirty and it is a bit disturbing for me. But this perfume is pure magic! Dark, bold, sweet but not cloying. It reminds me of shiny Christmas time, a movie from Tim burton, cold snowy weather, warm hug by lover and mouthwaterin desserts.
tod40 – :
for me, this fragrance smells so sweet…teddy bear jelly candies…and i love it…a had this perfume when i was 18 years old, and this smell reminds me of school, winter time and many many candies, but be careful, for those who can not tolerate sweet scent, it’s very intense, you may have a headache
цветок любви – :
This scent is the perfect sour cherry/morello! So intricate and captivating! Start jam, children’s playful, teaser. Tapering into something herbal and specific to make the lovely sour cherry in line with the thickness and weight of patchouli, but the freshness of anise in the base. This composition has an ingenious combination of notes that remain on my skin and my clothes as a unique picture frame. I did not suppose a sweet perfume could be so complicated and wonderful! For me it is a total winner.
fraderik – :
Chic and graceful this is not. Fun, flirty, youthful, effervescent, sure thing. But this is far too syrupy sweet and candy-coated to represent any form of grace. There’s nothing wrong with a lively fragrance, but Guerlain really missed the mark with the marketing on this one.
My experience with this fragrance was much the same as user Greyhoundmom before me. This is a complex mix of stewed cherries in syrup juxtaposed with dirty earthy patchouli and rounded off with nutty almond. Sadly, I find the composition predominantly synthetic to my nose and the various notes are not playing particularly well together.
I think the biggest mistake here is that Guerlain, a fragrance house of well-deserved respect and notoriety, is trying to play the same game as all the other houses with their fruit-chouli’s and fruity-florals of mass market appeal. They just aren’t good at that particular game.
daniel09 – :
I really wanted to love this: it’s such a chic and iconic modern line by an amazing house, but it just smells like very cheap shower gel or aftershave on me T_T
As with most Guerlain perfumes (in my experience), the performance is great – this stuff lasts forever!
AlekseyDW – :
I love cherry scents; Katy Perry Killer Queen, DK Liquid Cashmere Black, and Lolita Lempicka being my holy cherry trinity.. but of course in true perfumista fashion, there is always something else I want to try! This came onto my radar and I anxiously awaited my sample in the mail and ripped into the package when it arrived.. I so hoped it would live up to my expectations.. and I was happily surprised!
This is one complex fragrance! Starts out with syrupy sweet cherry and vanilla candy, and I thought that was fine if not surprisingly childish as I was expecting something a bit more mature, but I love sticky sweet gourmands so I was alright with that. 30 minutes later I started getting whiffs of hippie shop incense.. I thought I was imagining it because I’d been wanting a good hippie shop perfume and how ironic to find that note where I wasn’t expecting it!
That incense note began to meld back into cherry and then a curiously medicinal menthol sort of note that it seems others are sniffing out as well. Very interesting. At this point I was losing interest a bit because the incense was waning and I didn’t want to smell like cherry cough syrup. However, the menthol note settles back down and the scent becomes firmly a cherry vanilla with an incense undercurrent.
Very very nice. Guerlains are always such great quality and their fragrances really take you on a journey during the drydown. I mean, just take Shalimar for example.. that is one rollercoaster ride of a perfume. La Petite Robe Noire isn’t quite the same rollicking ride but it is definitely a fun one all the same. I am definitely getting a full bottle of this one!
SteelLion – :
This deserves a new review:
Today it is very very hot (40ºC +) and I decided to risk it, go to the perfume store and spray this again before going to work.
WOW! This blooms deliciously and amazingly in the heat. It’s a gourmand, juicy, sweet and sour dark cherry with something of a cough drop note. Lovely and not childish, just adult playful.
The more I try this the more I find I actually enjoy some less serious fragrances. 🙂
It is quite well done and sometimes I feel like wearing something playful. I may look for a cheap bottle or partial.
embereeAlloro – :
I have often heard people say this has a medicinal quality at the top, but I don’t get anything of that sort. I get a full, strong, bright bergamot with rich, sour cherry on first spray, which lasts around 10 minutes before settling down to a warm, cozy black tea and vanilla cherry scent. The bergamot is very similar to that in the top of Shalimar Parfum Initial, which also fades after a shouty start. I get only a hint of liquorice in the heart – I’m a big fan of liquorice notes, so I’d probably like this a little higher pitched, but the hint is nice and works really well with the dry black tea.
My overall impression is that the base of this scent is very ‘Guerlain’ – the same rich vanilla, iris and tonka bean that I’ve found in several of my Guerlain Grand Dames! But over the top of that is this delightful sour cherry and berries. There is nothing insubstantial or superficial about this fruity-floral, in fact it’s bloody magnificent. I can’t believe I waited so long to try it, but I suppose I believed what people were saying in some comments about Guerlain ‘selling out’ with this, going mainstream fruity-floral, and so on. In actuality, this is a beautiful, deep, quality scent that has put cherry-red hearts in my eyes!
SagsFiegree – :
I loved L’Homme Ideal EDP when it came out so decided to try LPRN – I hated it. Now? I quite enjoy it, and purchased a bottle at a heavily discounted price and love it! I’d NEVER pay full price… but at $40 for 50mL? Glorious! Cherry, almond and licorice… like a heavier version of Lolitta Lempicka and LHI EDP mixed together, minus the masculine leather ‘cologne’ feeling. Just… glorious. I’m really glad I purchased this!
Edit: That milky, creamy feeling … wowzas! So, so yummy!
I love LPRN Intense & Eau Fraiche too… may need those. Found Black Perfecto underwhelming to me, this is much better.
Edit 2: Batch code says it’s from 2013 so that may explain why this one was so much fuller and well rounded than the recent bottles that I’d tried.
benik61 – :
Well this one is really strange. It smells synthetic. From beginning to the end- synthetic! I love the bottle, but the juice inside is horrible. It’s so expensive for no reason.
MAXS – :
So I just received this in the mail. I LIKE IT!
I know that scents can be complex but when I want to blind buy a fragrance ,I need a review that clearly describes what a scent is like without flowery words. And so I hope this helps someone to blind buy responsibly lol….
According to my nose this is what I smell…a very deep powdery and spicy cherry flavored tootsie roll pop. That’s it. And I like it. I think it’s appropriate for teenagers to grandmothers.I think you can wear it year round no problem. Sillage is not huge to me . And longevity? Haven’t worn it for that long yet.
I bought a 1oz , not disappointed about that.I am looking forward to using this little beauty up.And maybe one day depending on how it goes, I might buy a bigger bottle.
sergey_vas – :
It’s not my usual style but it’s fun. Strong cherry drop fragrance. It’s a dark, juicy cherry , almost cough medicine -like. I actually like it though it is not a full bottle perfume for me.
Reminds me of BAL Suck It scent, which is / was a juicy, sexy, delightful dark cherry lollipop scent. This one is a bit classier, less suggestive, but still very sexy in a playful way.
It’s not my style but it’s well done, especially the drydown phase.
Camila_fromAF – :
I really wanted to like this. I don’t get the medicine vibe mentioned by others, but a screechy cheap cherry candy note that ruins it for me. Not complex like other Guerlains. Lasts for only a couple of hours.
Try Fendi’s L’Acquarossa Elixir for a sexy stewed cherry. It is everything I was hoping La Petite Robe Noire would be. More complex and grown up.
Layedfera – :
The cherry cough drop opening almost made me scrub it off. I love Lolita Lempicka though, and LPRN slowly gets good. I totally get the lipstick vibe. The cherries are really nice once the rose kicks in, though it’s so smoothly blended that it doesn’t stand out as floral. It’s too Dita von Teese to be a young girl’s scent, and it’s a lot sexier than Hypnotic Poison on me (which is supposed to be the vampy HG). Though it’s sweet and has edible notes, that waxy lipstick rose pulls it back from gourmand on me. Very unique and well done.
axole – :
Two months ago I visited the Guerlain stand and tried Mitsuko and L’Heure bleue.They are vintage,classic!Not for me,but I couldnt help feeling their greatness, the story behind these perfumes.I believe La petite robe noire is of the same quality.It is the modern and more approachable aspect of these two,but not like a sequence…more like their grand-daughter.
I love this perfume.The drydown is magnificent and unique.Maybe one of the few essences with such an interesting drydown.The combination is exquisite!and the lasting power amazing.
As for the name,I prefer to think that it refers to THE Little Black Dress,the one that Coco Chanel introduced to women,her vision and the revolution it brought.
It just blooms on my skin!
-snaiper- – :
I like this version much more than EDT and EDP Intense.
It smells like a good makeup: silky face powder and a high-end vintage lipstick. Dark, jammy cherry adds to the composition, bringing the associations with open-shoulder velvety dark dresses (was is meant like this?:)).
I usually dislike anise, but here it fits perfectly. This perfume smells like a woman, getting herself ready for a night out.
The only odd thing about this scent is a strong plastic note in the opening, I have no idea where it comes from. It does not ruin the composition, no, but it makes it smell mass-market-ish.
For me, 30 ml is more than enough as I do not imagine myself wearing it on a daily basis, but I’ll keep my bottle for the girls-night-outs:)
OxxxyMiron – :
like a cherry jam! very sweet scent.
When I smell first time, I dont why It reminded me Dalin Baby Shampoo. It can be very nice for spring time with nice cute dresses. I like it but Its not special for me.
tarasklumjuk14 – :
Got a sample of this. Kind of odd smell. Reminds me of cherry