Black Eau de Toilette

After my second divorce, I started having trouble getting dressed. My ex-husbands had always badgered me to wear this or that – something to make me look hot, to look not quite as hot, to wear something that ‘suits the occasion’ as one of them would often say or *insert condescending glace here* as the other would often react. Now that I’m once again free to reinvent myself, I’ve realized that I’m not exactly sure who I am or want to be for other people. In my apartment, I’m comfy pajamas, and at work, I’m business casual, but just outside, out and about? Random. And that counts for perfume too. Whatever grabs my attention. Enough dumb reaches to send perfumery students back to Pre-K. So inevitably, a lot of blue fragrances and polite green fragrances. My bottle of Costa Azzurra went from 90% full to 10% in a year, and now I’m going to have to figure out how to transfer the new juice from its mid-ass gold-ripple bottle back into my overpriced but very-pretty blue Private Line spritzer. But as we know, repetition breeds boredom, sterility (not that that’s anything new for yours truly) and, with a style of perfume so popular among the general population, it starts to erase one’s identity. WHO AM I? Is not a question that is cute for a thirty-something-year-old to be asking. Yes, life is an adventure, but baby, you should have a foundation in your fourth decade! Enter Comme des Garcons Black. The Blue fragrance for bad bitches. Maybe its just my blackened heart or the last gasps of a rebellious teenage spirit trapped in an young unc’s body, but this magic potion works anytime, anywhere. It’s a statement maker that’s somehow still smooth and classy as hell. It has edge, but the kind that’s closer to a sharp jawline than a scowl. In the office it’s no nonsense, and in the club it’s mischievous as hell. Incense? Not churchy – clean and mysterious. Woods? Dry and textured, but no cutesy or try-hard NYC chic. If I smelled this on a man, I might get another ex-husband, and if I smelled it on a lady, we’re getting a uHaul. Here’s a numbered rating for you math-brained fragheads: Scent: 8.5/10. Excellent, but too chill and polished to send you to fragrance Nirvana. Performance: 10/10. And I don’t mean beastmode bs, I mean perfectly balanced. It’ll do its job for a good 8 hours without scaring the hose unless you spray it like a hunky fireman all over your fire-hot body. Weather: Whenever. Apply lighter in hot weather, as if any reasonable person who wears fragrance wouldn’t do so automatically. If you like: Nasomatto, masculine classics, walking into a room like everyone already has a crush on you, Robert Eggers movies, getting 100mL of a top-of-the-line fragrance for under $150, women wearing shoulder pads, Women Wearing Shoulder Pads (the excellent new Adult Swim series), the masculine vibe of looking pensively over a cityscape dotted with hazy dive bar memories and streetlamp-lit night walks.

DESCRIPTION: "Top notes are Incense, Black Pepper and Olibanum;" MY EXPERIENCE: super strong incense and black pepper, couldn't smell the olibanum. There's a subtle sweetness to it as it dries down a bit which could be either the olibanum OR the liquorice, hard to tell. DESCRIPTION: "middle notes are Birch, Licorice, Leather and PepperwoodTM;" MY EXPERIENCE: Definitely get the pepper wood and that campfire smell from the birch. Liquorice very subtle, just a hint of that anise sweetness. Couldn't for the life of me smell any leather. DESCRIPTION: "base notes are Cedar and Vetiver." MY EXPERIENCE: Cedar comes through subtly since the middle and top notes linger around in waves for quite a while, so can only notice in the gaps. Couldn't really discern the vetiver smell, but it did smell like an outdoor campfire so maybe the vetiver subtly contributed to an outdoorsy vibe. I wouldn't call it smokey, but to me it smells like burnt wood after the smoke has mostly gone away. Kinda like what's leftover of a campfire thats been going all night on a dampish winter morning. +pepper. If I'm layered up in winter and I spray it on myself and a bit on my clothes, it feels like I'm all cozy and bundled up next to a campfire. I don't wear this in warm weather but it is GREAT when it's cold. The smell also comes in waves rather than a consistent smell. I'll be able to smell it consistently for the first 0.5-2hrs, but afterwards it'll just be random waves of this peppery, burnt wood. I use a lot of it but I definitely don't need to. I just REALLY like the smell. If I don't wear a lot then I often wear it with another fragrance, usually after about 2hrs have passed. Definitely need to sample before getting a whole bottle. When my friends have tried it, not all of them have loved it. A few of my friends didn't like the initial smell but liked it after about 30-60mins when they started to get more of the wood and liquorice notes. If you don't like incense or black pepper in fragrances, don't get it. OVERALL MY EXPERIENCE: smell: 10/10 pepper, incense, campfire longevity: 6/10 Technically lasts long, but not at consistent level. Similar on clothes too. sillage: 2/10 doesn't linger in the air long, so if someone doesn't like the smell it won't stick around much projection: 5/10 Strong initially, then comes in waves. Overall it projects about an arms length away in short bursts, more intimate in the gaps. NOTE: I'd only wear it in cold weather, so it doesn't project super far since it's either on my clothes or it's on my skin under my clothes. Strength: 5/10. Comes in waves. 7/10 initially, then after about an hour it's a 1-2/10 with short bursts of 5-7/10. NOTE: I like the smell so it might not seem as strong to me - my sister who wasn't a fan of the initial smell thought it was overwhelming when first sprayed.

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.

I never thought I would say this, but Black is as close as a signature scent gets for me. It is dark, dark without drowning in the ever-obligatory amber. Unapologetically dark- I love it! I now wear it everyday (I never wear deodorant, I wear perfumes instead) and I noticed how Black even brings out the best from other fragrances- likely because the olibanum adapts well. Black is one of the greats in the land of smokes. Upon testing it, I have worn it throughout the week to see how it held up and it did not disappoint me at all. Eventually, I am so happy to have gotten a full bottle of "Black". I compared Black to other fragrances before I ordered a bottle. Perfumer H's "Smoke" is very similar to Comme des Garcons' "Black", but Comme des Garcons is the obvious winner to me. CdC has what Le Labo's "Patchouli" and "Guaiac" are lacking for me: they only project tar for a very short duration and much weaker than other smokes. It outperforms other smoke fragrances, while being only an Eau de Toilette instead of an EdP. Black is not completely original in the birch tar and olibanum range, it is even reminiscent of Oudh Palao and Shalimar, but it holds its own spot as a beautifully dark scent that does not go down the path of ambering itself down (I know it has got an amber note, but that is not the same as being watered down by it). What has been said about Black not being for "soft types" is true. I am not at all genderfluid nor unisex, but as a more dominant/diva type, this suits me. Black has great longevity, given that it is an EdT. Actually, the projection and longevity are insane. Better than most niche fragrances I have ever worn (which are a lot). 9/10.

I've grown to love all the landmarks of CdG perfumery, it is maybe my favorite brand at the moment, and, knowing that, I could safely assume I'll love this one. However, it failed to fulfill my expectations. To make things clear, I love the juice. The first star of the fragrance is black pepper, with lots of it in the opening, along with, for CdG, traditional incenses of different kinds. Later, the scent pyramid is dominated by both artifacts of the opening, but primarily birch tar, and a lot of it. You can totally feel the color of black through the composition. The final stage is a surprisingly dark vetiver, combined with birch and maybe liquorice, but definitely not a sweet variety of it - this scent has absolutely nothing even remotely sweet in it. Now, the trouble is, I want Black to be stronger. And seeing these numbers here really baffles me, since I had to reapply it at first in order to feel anything, and, even after that, the scent evaporated within two hours. I tried it again in few days and the same thing happened. It also stays close to the skin, but that would be all right with me if only it lasted longer. Those two hours were magnificent, dark, heavy in a great way. Original. But those two hours were, well, two hours. Like someone said, I want Black Intense. I'd save money for that, really. That would be as awesome as any CdG ever. I'll surely try this a few more times in order to try to change the perspective. Until now, it's just too short-lasting. 8/10, just because it's so daring and unique. Otherwise, it would be much lower.