Dahlia Noir

Contemporary Lady (Francois Demachy, 2011) Bottle Design: Fabien Baron Scentrack: Moloko – I Want You In my opinion Givenchy is one of the greatest fashion houses ever. However, many of their fragrance releases in this millennium were unworthy of this historical name. Dahlia Noir, created by Francois Demachy of Dior, gives a hope that Givenchy got it right. Personally, I really like Dahlia Noir EdP. It is elegant and modern, yet reserved with hidden old time grandiosity. Dahlia Noir opens with an unusually fresh burst of mandarin, accompanied by short-lived berrylike accord similar to Guerlain’s La Petite Robe Noire. Among this fruit interplay, one could sense some perfectly tweaked peppery and powdery nuances. After initial fruity playfulness, Dahlia gradually morphs into a flowery heart of iris and rose. The iris note is rather fresh, juxtaposed to damascone rose of both floral and jam-like aspects. This jam-like aspect is a perfect introduction to sweeter and almost gourmand base. Like every other part of the composition, the base is again very skillfully tweaked. Tonka bean, vanilla and woody notes are very carefully arranged to give a contemporary feminine touch to the composition. Dahlia Noir is a perfect example of hybrid contemporary-classic chimeras. All the contemporary aspects are skillfully paired to classical thoughtfulness by the perfumer. Very nice for professional environment, dinner or theater due to its duality. Simply, a beautiful and well balanced creation that successfully avoids all the traps of modern vulgarity. Almost gourmand, yet classical. Almost unisex, yet so distinctively feminine. A beautiful work. Rating: 8/10

Perfect on a warm, rainy afternoon. Dahlia Noir (EDP) opens brightly with juicy orange and fresh mimosa, then swiftly becomes predominantly musky. A subtly sensuous, powdery, salty "clean skin" vanillic musk, with a smooth, buttery iris and dreamy sandalwood, provides a delectable backdrop for moist, honey drizzled, plush pink rose petals. If I had to compare this to another scent, I'd describe Dahlia Noir (EDP) as a modernized, fresher, zesty, creamier, far less suffocatingly sweet take on/version of Ombre Rose. (I personally find Ombre Rose to be somewhat smothering, too strong, too sweet, too linear, and a little bit (DARE I SAY?) somewhat dated. At times I can appreciate it, sometimes love it, but overall I'm far fonder of the deeper yet fresher, more ethereal Dahlia Noir!) It's like taking a snooze after indulging in a whole tub of vanilla ice cream with thick honey spooned all over it. Dahlia Noir (EDP) puts me in mind of clean, moist skin with a delicate layer of oil/sweat. I find this scent comforting and refreshing. A nice "pick-me-up" for days/evenings when you're in the mood for something a little more natural smelling. My best friend says it smells like dill. Strange but true, and I'm inclined to agree! Easy to over-spray, so beware; it's really not required. Better to top up in a few hours than to over-apply. Keep it low-key. It has relatively good lasting power (around 8 hours on my skin), projects to arm length (with only one or two sprays), and becomes skin-close after around 3-4 hours. (By the by, is there definitely no frangipani here?)

Another Demachy's masterpiece ( I think Dior homme is his number 1 and this is his 2nd) and hands down my most complimented fragrance. It wasn't love at first sight, I bought it when it first came out in 2012, and it took me quite a while to plunge in and buy it, I'd enter the store, spray, smell consider. So glad I did, it really grew on me so much. It's powdery but it opens with something slightly metallic and reminiscent of tart cherry. The rose is not as sparkly as in other Givenchy perfumes, the metal is gone very quickly and this becomes close to the skin, powdery, creamy, the mimosa is sweet rather than green, and very present along with the rose and the iris. It's utterly delicious. It's innocent, yet a very sensual scent. It layers very well with molecule 01, molecule 02 and another 13 from Le Labo. I mean so well people that never say things like that will rave at how you smell. I also has very good staying power and projects well, for such a powdery soft drydown. I've been in mourning ever since they stopped making it,I suspect because the name "Dhalia noir" connotations could land them in hot water as connotations about glorifying violence against women could potentially be claimed. So I'm spending silly money on sample bottles that still get sold on e bay. If somebody here has a bottle and takes pity on me, please DM me!

After the short and quite original opening combining pink pepper and mimosa, I get the 2 floral notes, underlined by patchouli and vanilla. The votes here put iris in the first place, but to my nose the rose is dominant. The battle between the two lasts for 5 or 6 hours, but the powdery scent of iris I prefer is clearly a bit weak compared to the power of the rose, giving this frag too much of a classical twist. Though this website may not be the right place to say this, I mixed DN EDP at 50/50 proportions with Guerlain's l'Heure Bleue EDP, and got a superb frag with a fancy dominant floral iris for 6 hours. The following skin scent is that of LHB which is not surprising as the longevity of LHB is better than that of DN. Anyway, I'm using now the 50-50 mix rather than DN alone and I'm very happy with this. Someone asked if this frag is discontinued by Givenchy and I got the answer : yes it is (Aug. 2017), so I could buy 2 more bottles at 55% off to make a big flacon of my mix with LHB...

Ι sampled this one in a Department store, yesterday and I waited to make a decision. As much as I adore powdery perfumes, I am sorry to say, this one, to my nose, is anything but powdery. It reminds me of a shampoo , a light hair cream, i don; t know, it s just not what I expected. I sprayed on my wrist and I could hardly smell it. Light , non offensive but nothing spectacular. At least for me, this is not my conception of a powdery perfume (like love chloe, shalimar, chanel nr5). Maybe givenchy is not my style, I hardly like their perfumes, I like ange ou demon which to me is more powdery than this one. Maybe dahlia noir is the preface for Young girls WHO want to enter to the World of sophisticated non sichkly sweet airy powdery perfumes.But again, this one has something soapy , but not nice soap (like d&G Red cup, the old one). I hope I did not dissapoint those WHO adore this scent. I am just saying there are a lot more adequate to the category of "powdery".