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".

This was a serendipitous purchase..I mistakenly bought this. I was thinking I had smelled it and loved it in the store but now I realize it was Dahlia Divin. But this...this..is..me. Rose and pink peppercorn is my jam. It smells good on me and I THOUGHT I had smelled every possible combo..nope! This is almost indescribably delicious, sensual and womanly. It's not sweet...if it's powdery it's the powder smell that you get from an iris. If you are familiar with the smell of iris it's so soft but intoxicating..mix it it with my Rose/Pepper combo and oooohhh. You have to know real flower nuances to know the quality of this perfume. It is rounded out by the wood and vanilla and that is what you will be left with after wearing this for 12+ hours..spicy wood vanilla. As a side note..hours after I sprayed this on my husband said "I don't know what you are spraying around here but it's awesome!" That's high praise!

I got a mini of this to give it a try. I am always interested in perfumes that are discontinued. Usually, you just want to ring the necks of the powers that be at the companies who make these decisions because most often what they discontinue is usually stunning. And the discontinuing of stunning perfumes goes on w/ Dahlia Noir. This is old school, something my grandmother's, would have worn but it has a bit of a postmodern twist and lift w/ the pink pepper and a touch of sweetness from the mandarin orange. This is a lovely chypre fragrance where flowers do battle to steal the show, but it ends up in a stale mate. Rose is there, dark and w/ thorns, mimosa is there in her sunny dusty yellow and iris is there w/ her cold shades of violet. I would love a bigger bottle of this, I own Dahlia Nectar, Initale, and Nude and while I like all of them this one leaves those in the dust.

Hmmmm... what we have here is a very pretty, powdery floral, plain and simple. Sometimes, that's enough. It smells like the rose is in competition with the iris. The rose shouts a little while the iris just lies still, leaving a beautiful, powdery bed. It smells much better as it projects away from the skin. I find when I sniff my wrist, there is something bitter that distracts from the whole. If it wasn't for the note pyramid I would swear there was some berry in this. It may just be the pepper and patchouli doing bad things on my skin. I have a small travel spray which will be enough. Overall a very pleasant scent that I really enjoy. EDIT 4/23/2020 - I am upgrading this to a love. The trick is to avoid over spraying. The subtleties of the notes are easily overwhelmed if you spray too much. Right now, I feel so soft and comforted. The rose and iris are so beautiful.

I came across this fragrance when a shop assistant at the duty free shop handed me a Givenchy ribbon and sprayed Dahlia Noir. I, at first whiff, found this fragrance super powdery and not to my taste but I could not stop smelling it. I fell in love! I almost bought it in the spur of the moment, not wanting to part with this elegant mysterious heavenly scent; but figured christmas was approaching and I'd have time and there would be good sales around. I obsessed over this fragrance constantly smelling it whenever I visited a fragrance counter, and within a month of knowing this fragrance I bought the largest 75ml bottle. I feel a little overdressed when I wear it at day time, but sometimes I just cannot resist! I feel like this perfume just fits me. I love this fragrance so much.

A personal favorite it is. Dahlia Noir presents an interesting combination of Iris and pepper, and is highly versatile throughout the day. In the morning she is mostly powdery and floral, bright with a hint of spice, yet before sunrise she gradually descends to a moderately woody scent with tender sweetness enhanced by vanilla. Highly captivating Imagery: she wears the asymmetric little black dress with details in lace, and a bronze coloured moth neckless for a Gothic edge. Delicate yet naughty, enchanted indeed. On the other hand, I think the problem is it's not-so-above-average longevity, she only persists approximately 4-5 hours on me. Also, Noir is not a typical scent for highly matured women I think, the pepper makes her a little bit sassy. 7.5-8 /10.

Reminds me of a scented talcum powder a friend of mine had When We were kiddies. I loved to smell that stuff, because it was a perfume-y kind of talc, it was really strong and flowery. I always smelled her perfumes to see If it was some of them but it was the talcum that smelled sooo good. This smells Just like it, sweeter and missing some indolic jasmine, nevertheless awesome. I found my springtime frag! A very modern take on chypre florals ETA: sillage is so so heavy I can't breathe right If I spray more than two spritzes, stays heavy on the sillage for about an hour and a half and begins to dry down, about 4 hs it's a very noticeable skin scent, at six or so it's a skin scent that lingers until you shower. Longevity is 8hrs+ with medium sillage.

Dahlia Noir is what I had hoped Sarah Jessica Parker's "Lovely" would be. My nose picks up vintage Skin Musk (Bonne Bell) with Bvlgari Rose Essentialle lurking in the background. There's a very light patchouli mixed in but it's incredibly soft and subtle. THIS is the clean, fresh, pretty musk perfume I've been looking for. I can't stop sniffing my wrist when I wear this. I have a dabber mini but for me this is FB material. I can see this work for all seasons, but I imagine this is gorgeous on a warm spring or summer night. It's hard for me to tell projection and sillage from a dab perfume but I can smell it quite well after applying an hour ago. I will say that I think "Noir" is misleading. Tendre is more accurate. Or simply...gorgeous.

Finding it hard to believe Noir's lack of fans! The mandarin opening was a very pleasant surprise indeed. To me, however, the pink pepper steals the show. This keps going... and going... I am overjoyed at the lack of Patchoulli on my skin - usually a big no-no with my chemistry. Tonka bean and vanilla in the base - how very smart, elegant and comforting. Lovely powdery dry-down. I'm wearing Versace Crystal Noir on the other wrist... can't believe I'd never noticed how comparable they are. Pink pepper seems the main difference, as well as the somewhat more powdery dry-down and may just be giving Dahlia the edge here... Now, how do I get my hands on a bottle???

For me this has a warm, dusty and smooth-textured vibe sitting under powder notes, infused with mimosa and pink pepper, which float above. It brings to my mind the smooth natural textures of suede or silk, without actually smelling like either of these. I don't wear warm and smooth fragrances as often as I wear bright and fresh ones, but that's more to do with the climate I live in than the appeal of the warm side of perfumes. I should wear this more often because it's lovely, classy and quite sophisticated for a powder 'fume. I get about 4 hours of detectible longevity with arms-length sillage. Dahlia Noir EDP is a certainly a smooth operator.

Wow, this is sexy. Very floral and woody. Rose, mimosa, patchouli and sandalwood shine on my skin on a background made of light vanilla. Not so much powder other than the mimosa's, and I don't get the baby powder other reviewers describe. It's sweet in a mature way, dark and intoxicating, and it projects loudly. Rose, patchouli and sandalwood are pretty similar to the new Dior Joy Intense, but mimosa makes Dahlia Noir sweeter and more sophisticated, with a light 90s twist that evokes a faint echo of Amarige. Great date night scent. Givenchy knows how to make gorgeous florals for sure. Sad this is now discontinued and hard to find.

This is pleasant and safe. If I were going into a situation where I wasn't sure what the people were like and how I wanted to come across this would be a good choice. Or if I was in a hurry in the morning and didn't want to take the time to figure out what sort of image I wanted to project that day, Dahlia Noir would be a good choice. It just smells nice. Sure, there's some baby powder in there, but not overwhelming. It's really very sophisticated. My emotional response is urban, but not aggressive, and not artsy. I think someone wearing this would make a good impression. I find the name and my olfactory impression to be at odds.

I had to upgrade this to a Love. I forgot I had it, and even though I wore my Thanksgiving L'Artisan Noir Exquis today, I saw this and gave a spritz. The iris seems stands out more than I recall. I also own the EDT, which I wasn't too fond of but will try again, but it lacks the soft fluffiness present in this one along with the beautiful iris if I recall. Moving this up to the front of my current rotation, and will also retry Dahlia Divin. Dahlia Noir isn't earth shattering, but I am happy I rediscovered it because it is quite lovely. I think I also have a purse spray which will be helpful as the longevity is mediocre at best.

I love this. I bought it while on vacation in Cozumel at one of the tourist shops. I just passed by and spritzed it on because I thought the bottle was pretty. Well I couldn't stop sniffing my wrists and finally had to walk back to the shop and buy it. I don't have a good enough nose to define all the notes but I do detect the powdery rose and citrus. It's just addictive and pleasant. Normally I can't stand patchouli because it's so sharp and bugspray-esque. But this one isn't, there's apparently just a hint of it. A very safe perfume for the office, not offensive to anybody, in my opinion.

"andabri" described this frag PERFECTLY!! i honestly couldn't have said it better. DN smells nothing like baby powder, nothing! in fact what i am smelling once the initial blast of iris fades is a tangy, drunk mandarin mixed with sparkling fresh roses, pink pepper and mimosa! then, lurking just beneath those notes you'll find patchouli, vanilla and sandalwood keeping all the notes warm, woody and SINGING on your skin. Fahhh! La! LA! Laaaaa!!!! this juice is complex and gorgeous. in a way it reminds me quite a bit of Briar Rose by Ineke.

I adore this scent, it was what got me recently interested in fragrance as it was love at first sniff which has never happened before! I get the baby powder similarities too, but it is much more complex than that. I love the powdery finish. The rose, iris, sandalwood and patchouli come together in a symphony and I feel like I am wearing a delicate fluffy angora jumper. It never offends me, I can wear it during the day, at night. It makes me feel comforted and cosseted. Love, love, love...