Le Bolshoi Black Swan

A brilliant interpretation of santalwood note in the only way that only Guerlain can do it. My expectations were around a perfume full of drama but , instead , a splendid creamy soft santal with a comforting vibe.

Fragrance Review For Le Bolshoi Black Swan Guerlain Top Notes Citruses Middle Notes Jasmine Tea Sandalwood Base Notes Musk With a name like Bolshoi Black Swan, a nod to Odile in Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, and as a fan of the Bolshoi Ballet, I had hoped that this fragrance would be a lovely experience of perfume that evokes the ballet itself. It really doesn't go there. Instead this is an Oriental tea scent. It does not smell like I imagine a black swan would smell or a ballerina in the role of Odile, nor does it fire up my imagination with Russia and the theater. This fragrance opens with normal boring citrus, nothing special, just plain old bergamot oranges. They come off as fresh and old fashioned. Afterward the jasmine flower note emerges and it's a spiced up jasmine akin to jasmine tea. The tea note takes over the fragrance, evocative of a teahouse with the aroma of bergamot and jasmine tea in the air. The sandalwood is placed in the middle note stage which is unusual but provides the Oriental effect. It's a really beautiful santal with headiness and even a masculine vibe. This fragrance can easily be worn by guys even if they don't wear women's frags. It's an Oriental fragrance redolent with sandalwood. The musk at the base is also quite a warm masculine musk. The animalic note at the dry down is black musk which really does match up with the name Black Swan. It's occasionally powdery but it's warm and musky like normal musk. Ultimately, this fragrance is a spicy unisex Oriental with tea scents. Cozy and warm, it's a fragrance best worn in winter and with fur coats and leather jackets. I can at times see through the notes and understand the mood this perfume tries to set. It seems to be a winter time perfume to wear to the ballet itself but only when the warm notes emerge and make you feel like luxuriating in furs and leather. It's Russian after all. This is a gorgeous Russian-Oriental tea scent with musk and sandalwood. Beautiful.

I did not see tea leaf as a note in this, what I saw on Monsieur Guerlain's blog was: milky notes, lemon, bergamot, mandarin, jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, violet, cedar, sandalwood, white musk and vanilla.