Jasmin Noir L’Essence

Confession time: I am a 20 year old female with a perfume obsession and an undying love for everything dark, mysterious and sultry. Leather, tobacco, myrrh, incense, woods, spices - I can't get enough of that. My affair with Jasmin Noir started early, around age 10. My mother had bought a set of Bvlgari samples for her mother in law, but seeing that I love perfume to pieces, those samples ended up in my hands. Crystalline and Amethyste quickly ended up alone an unloved, Rose Essensielle and Femme were fairly nice too, but nothing could compare with Jasmin Noir. I adored it. I treasured it. I identified with it on a deep level. Jasmin Noir was a magic mirror where that I looked into, and saw my adult self staring back. How could I not include this fragrance in my collection? Jasmin Noir has been reformulated, and it's a shadow of itself. L'Essence brings back the potency of Jasmin Noir, but more balsamic, darker, woodier, even more mature. The jasmine is hardly discernible here. Rather, it is Jasmin Noir's darkness amplified. Precious woods, almond, licorice, and myrrh. Yes, Bee-young-ka is right, the myrrh is a noticeable (and welcome!) addition, but I disagree strongly with discouraging people under 30 from wearing this. This masterpiece could be enjoyed by anyone.

This is one of those fragrances that can honestly be described as 'gorgeous', no doubt about that! The opening stuck me as having a vintage tone with a twist of citrus, the bergamot is strong to me for a few minutes and this is actually refreshingly oldschool, I didn't expect it, it's great! It mellows into a spicy jasmine, and somehow with the blend of tonka, licorice, pepper and the sweetness of myrrh (it doesn't smell of myrrh nec, but it has a baseline resinousness to it and it feels very "full") it smells of incredibly elevated/fancy Dr. Pepper. It's not gourmand, yet it this is smoothly delicious and very, very elegant. In the drydown it remains very refined, interesting. There's a real creative edge with this one, but it's not entirely *out there* (I like weird frags, so either way is not problematic), but this is very "wearable" by most people's standards. It's noticeable, but not wouldn't be rude to non-fragheads (if that's even a consideration, I'm not implying it even should be). Projection is moderate, longevity is 8 hours or so before it becomes a true skin scent on me. I bemoan the current prices of this, maybe I'll get a FB, or maybe I'm just going to savor the sample...

I got a 12 sample pack of this to compare it with my bottle of Splendida jasmine noir and they are similar but different enough that I want both. The L'essence is more about the jasmine, there is no gardenia here. This is a very sensual, seductive jasmine infused with sweet and spicy licorice, deep myrrh and vanillic Tonka bean and nutty oily almond. It lacks the razor sharp petals of the single cemetery gardenia that is found in the Splendida version. The stone tombs, the wet mushroom earth. The jasmine L'essence is warmer, sweeter, spicy overt sexuality. Much more the woman out to have a good time mingle, be seen. A perfume for holiday parties, dinner out with your husband. Splendida Jasmin Noir is much more somber, brooding, complicated. She is a woman who keeps to herself but is still noticed but she is unapproachable, mysterious. Captivating yet frightening. Both are beautiful perfumes with name jasmine but only 1 is a jasmine and that is L'essence. She is a spicy and sweet nutty edible jasmine. Delicious, sexy and fun loving.

Like the original Jasmin Noir, which has been my favorite for many years...this is the most beautiful version of JN I have ever experienced. A composition of everything I want in a fragrance. Jasmin Noir L'Essence, a true name for this embodies the very soul of Jasmin Noir in a bottle. Complex and luxurious; this composition of seemingly simple, common notes becomes something much more enigmatic. A dark beauty veiled in shadow and smoke matched by a most exquisite black and gold bottle. This fragrance is ever so smooth, as a liquor. Almost bourbon-like without the bitterness.The sweetness is mellow and savory. It is gourmand, it is floral, it is pleasure in a bottle. You can pair this with sweatpants and smell of royalty and decadence. You still get the licorice-marzipan feel of the original JN, but the myrhh of L'Essence gives this a wonderful middle eastern flair. Spray this and become the night blooming desert flower in the Sultans garden of forbidden delights.

Omg! This is absolutely everything I hoped it would be from reading the notes. On me this is a dark, slightly resinous, creamy, woody almond/jasmine. It’s so well blended that no one note jumps out. I kept getting wafts of it and it reminded me of a fragrance and it took a while for it to click but it smells like a darker, nuttier slightly less sweet version of heliotrope by Reminiscence which I also love. I wore them side by side and they are very much alike! I bought a 12 pack of samples of l’essence for a very inexpensive price. I’ll be purchasing a full bottle next. I don’t know how this compares to Jasmin Noir EDP because I haven’t received that yet. I ordered a 25ml and it’s in its way to me. I hope it’s as beautiful as l’essence. If you can pick up a sample please do if you think you might enjoy this at all. I think it’s really special.