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sadhu – :
“Ballet” by Yellow Magic Orchestra (1981)
Listen to that song and read the lyrics.
After reading the story behind this perfume, and all the reviews surrounding it, I had to smell it for myself. Unfortunately, the tiny bottle I ordered on ebay had damaged top notes like acetone and cheap vodka. But after the damaged parts calmed down, the lower notes were indeed mentally stimulating. It’s hard to put into words. For now I just recommend listening to the song above.
Shipilov9 – :
Oh my my! How fukn exciting! (Excuse my swearing, it’s a ‘one off’ here at fragrantica) but I just bought myself a unicorn!
Yes yes, the elusive and ridiculously priced, Nombre Noir is now coming my way
I recently paid $29 per ml and purchased 2ml in the way of a decant from trusted seller in Texas!
Several 4ml minis listed on Ebay with
price tags of up to $135AUD.
Scored my boxed mini for less than $50 so consider myself quite lucky.
Now all I’ve left to do is find a black bottle edition in the 15ml or above.
I LOVE that opaque black flacon as pictured on this page.
**edit (1/4/2017)
My unicorn arrived from France in its mini 4ml bottle
Shaking with anticipation, I opened it to FINALLY get a whiff of the world’s most iconic perfume.
Having so much to live up to, was it all it was meant to be?
The first thing I noticed was the relieving realisation that it was in fact, still good. No unstable notes at all which is amazing, considering its 35 years old
opens with a aldehyde blast, essential part of a scent that the era demanded. With over 18 notes, what else can I detect? Well there’s a lovely rose, the Damascones I imagine, now banned and will never be used in perfume again, thanks to the powers that be (IFRA)
The citrus is apparent in the opening, with the many florals coming thru in the heart, the jasmine winning the race to my nose, and then the warm musk, tonka bean and sandalwood shining thru in the base.
Honestly, the fragrance isn’t worthy of the hype surrounding it. The STORY of Nombre Noir as tragic as it is, is what makes the fragrance so iconic. I wonder if the other reviewers would rate it so highly if they didn’t know what it was or about the story behind it and it’s unobtainable status.
All in all, I’m proud to own this perfume but only because of how rare it is.
Yes I would happily wear it but it’s not my favourite scent. Not even in my top 20 frags. NN is a unicorn, yes. It’s for the collector.
I have a one off, 1ml decant avaliable to anyone in Australia only, and would be happy to swap for something of similar value. ($30 it owes me) reasonable considering some places like Surrender to Chance are charing up to $80AUD for a small sample!
ravengrey – :
Black Number/Nombre Noir “eau” edition (eta 1981)
The First Lutens.
A review that has been a few months in the making, research and wearing. How does one convey what a unicorn is, feels, and smells like if the others have never heard or experienced it? I will attempt a rudimentary review of it, from a visual-technical and a separate olfactory experience. The conundrum of Nombre Noir or translated as “Black Number” as you never quite get the same wearing twice- even a disappearance.
NN is a double helix design of 4 damascones that give this scent complexity and depth alongside osmanthus and hedione that amps up and puts a light sparkling overlay upon the scent. Its structure creates the backdrop of two main themes simultaneously- A study in light and dark, all the while the story actually haunts us in reverse some say or bloom to decay as the story returns to the soil upon nightfall.
The complexity of the fragrance makes the notes weave in and out of each other. Its behavior is only seen again in the original Magie Noire EDT. I believe it shares at least (one maybe two) damascones. Prelude by Balenciaga shares the same damascone that gives it is transparency. All three fragrances were released in similar time frames. However, these were turned into 3 distinct fragrances, so to say this is saying they all shared the same blond hair and two of them blue eyes.
My opinion for what its worth:
A green apple balsamic opening that does or doesnt have aldehydes. Its not a usual aldehyde but more of a light sparkle or breeze of a chilly mountaintop air. Tobacco, rosewood and bergamot enter the story.A dry woodyness (hello lutens trademark cedar note) and a mix of osmanthus, honeyed rose,plum and a sour note that dances in and out. This is the first 15 minutes. A rapid development or more accurately a horizontal opening between the top of the double helix design.
A strange violet note, but its not a candied or other violet note (I have experienced) surfaces with a slight spice. Rose, transparent jasmine bloom with orris and the earthy base seeps in as the rose returns to the ground. Darkness descends with the hum of a smoky resin and amimalic whisp of musk.
The decay (noir) notes are always a subtext and always present throughout the journey as if looking upon the underside of this rose is permanently tainted dark. (opening tobacco note, plum, spices, earth as it tells its Noir story) Simultaneously, the “light” of aldehydes, honeyed rose, apple, osamthmus, jasmine (with the help of hedione) are in balanced symphony with the darker or “noir” notes concurrently.
It retains its lightness and suppleness much in step with Japanese aesthetics. (which hasnt been echoed since NN for Lutens) The rose presented in NN is an Oragami Rose, like light rice paper folded in many ways displaying its paper facets, only the rose morphs from a rich jammy,fruity, honeyed rose, a metallic rose, a green rose, and a dirty rose.
Lutens revisits this polarity of light and dark in La Religieuse. Some say the rose echoes from NN in Rose de Nuit, the osmanthus apricot suede in Daim Blond, and the woods developed into Feminite du Bois. It seems a few of his fragrances are echoes of parts/ideas created within the Nombre Noir ideal- a big bang theory of sorts for Lutens.”Black Number” serves as the genesis to his cannon of fragrances. A fitting beginning for a complex man that lives in the shadows.
Addendum: To understand NN, Study the classic 80s rose chypre. Magie Noire edt for its fruity, sour bright damascone rose, Montana Parfum de Peau Edt for its damascone rose with tobacco leather decay garbage note and even Encre Noire for its vetiver wet moss base and osmanthus in the vein of either a osmanthus soliflore or the note in Daim Blond. It is a damascone rose chypre, but it is well modulated as it unfolds and betters all mentioned.
kanstyle – :
I smelled a sample on (my) skin. Given this perfume is highly praised and almost a myth, expectations were high – and were not fulfilled. (But read on.)
Damascenone and Damascones I can smell very well, but I suspect that I’m somewhat hyposmic to lactonic compounds. Since some references to Nombre Noir include milky (i.e. lactonic notes) I might miss something. Also the sample might not have aged very well, but this I am not able to tell. At least it did not smell vile – which it would if the aldehydes were oxidised.
To my nose Nombre Noir is a classical Chypre very much in the style of non-vintage Mitsuko: not overly adehydic, the chypre theme tamed with lactones, a nice gesamtkunstwerk. To that comes a balanced rosy top note, which is not very fluorescent (damscones) but not sweet (phenylethanol) or fatty-green (rose oxide) either. Unfortunately it doesn’t last, so that you end up with some kind of Mitsuko drydown.
So it is indeed a nice fragrance, but to me it was no revelation – at least not this sample.
KoL9H – :
I happened to sample an old 4ml vial of Loris Azzaro Acteur – Its opening is same Rose as that of Nombre Noir opening but sans latter’s depth. But those who are curious how NN smells, closest you get , at least in opening minutes – is definitely Acteur.
fisher-34 – :
My impression is based on a sample I ordered recently from the US. I remember someone had said in a blog it is a typical rose chypre of its age (80s). I think it will be a gross injustice to rate this as typical perfume of any order or age. If there is one word to describe this scent it will be ‘perfection’. Everything about it is just right.Firstly bears hallmark of classical french perfumery, eg. one may decipher classical air of Tabac Blond in opening. But then that’s where comparison with the rest stops. There is no struggle in appreciating its beauty nor it is so trivial it can be easily forgotten. There is rose in this – but rose with a iota of medicinal quality- it bears resemblance to expensive fresh rose water stored in crisp metal bottle for some time. Rose here is not heady, nor light, nor spicy nor playful- it is rose like no other. But afterall rose is just the core of the whole structure Nombre Noir is built upon. It feels every note there, top to bottom, is contriving to enhance rosiness in its own way , yet not spoiling the marriage of other notes that goes on at the same time. There is prune, and there is very very tiny tobacco (almost inperceptible) and there is this noir theme that tames the whole combination from creeping into fresher flowery domain. It must be damascones that do this trick for Nombre Noir. There is a definite plasticky , lipsticky dimension to this as well- and Nombre Noir does not smell natural at all. Yet this is a kind of synthetic scent that one will adore much better than natural rose- it is perfectly well balanced. If perfumes had a kingdom, Nombre Noir will live somewhere in the palace of the king- opinions may vary if it is the king or queen or something else of all the perfumes. Having smelled 150+ perfumes ( pretty small number must admit) – I was expecting a rose afterall when I ordered sample – but I am very happy Nombre Noir lives up to its fame…and is superior to any perfume that I sniffed.
MaklerOsp – :
This is indeed a stunning perfume. I have one small bottle that I cherish and store carefully. The juice is a great example of ingredients that are balanced to damn near perfection. It reminds me of another great discontinued perfume – Envol by Ted Lapidus. Soft/sharp/floral/musky/green and every facet in harmony. It’s fantastic in construction (and price, if you can find it).
I realise it is unlikely I will ever find another bottle unless I re-mortgage, but it is indeed worth the investment if you can afford it, not because of it’s rarity but because of it’s beautiful composition. Is it the best perfume I have ever had the fortune to smell? Well, no, don’t believe the hype but it’s pretty close to perfume nirvana.