Magie Noire Parfum

Moonlight And Magic In A Dark Forest Magie Noire The Black Magic Perfume I purchased a vintage Magie Noire miniature in the crescent moon shaped or shell-shaped splash Eau de Parfum. It dates from the time of the fragrance's release 1978 or between 1978 and 1983. And let me tell you this is the most hauntingly beautiful fragrance of the night ever made. Magie Noire was formulated by Gerard Goupy for Lancome. At the time, the biggest selling fragrance was Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. Women bought it like crazy, as it was the defining fragrance of the 1970's. It epitomized drugs, sex and decadence. It was advertised as a perfume that gets you high, that puts you in the mood to put on your sexiest most provocative clothes and go to Studio 54 and dance and get high to your heart's content. Surely Opium's fragrance made it into Studio 54. But Magie Noire came out at about the same time and became a sort of alternative to Opium. Whereas Opium was selling as a recreational drug perfume, Magie Noire was a magic potion. Lancome was not as luxurious a brand as Yves Saint Laurent, but it was no less French as it produced cosmestic and fragrances during the 60's. Today it exists as L'Oreal. So Magie became an evening fragrance selling not to the wealthy Vogue magazine fashionista crowds, but to suburban middle class mothers. This is what a teacher would wear, or a secretary, receptionist or even dental assistant or nurse - on her night out on a romantic date. Magie is pure magic. But like all good classic frags, it has been reformulated and exists in different versions. You have the original vintage from 1978. This one comes in a black plastic box and is a minature, usually about a one fourth ounces. The colors are black and orange, but I noticed that it appears to glow in the dark! The stopper is shaped like a small mushroom and made of glass as is the whole bottle. The liquid is actually lime green but turns orange when exposed to bright lights. There were two reformulations. In the 80's, beginning around 1982 and selling through 1989, there was an eau de toilette spray. This one is black and yellow with the liquid being a pale yellow and the spray's stopper looking like Darth Vader's helmet. This one is very similar to the vintage, except it's lighter and less concentrated. It sold very well in the 80's and was wearable even as a casual day time frag. The last reformulation is a larger size spray glass bottle with no real charm or distinctive qualities and has nothing in common with either the parfum or toilette. It is dreadful and has lost any of the characteristics of the original. So if you want to experience the "black magic" all over again, buy the vintage parfum and toilette. They sell on amazon.com and on ebay but you'll have to bid on auctions for the vintage and pay upwards to or over 50-70 even 90 bucks. For some people who are on a budget, this is too much to pay for a fragrance, and one that is considered a vintage. I adore vintages and love to collect them. So you have to be a fan of vintages to be excited about Magie. This was indeed a magic perfume, and it cast it's spell. Magie Noire was advertised on television twice. The original 1978 ad shows a woman in a dark black gown summoning lighting and thunder and out of the flash of light emerges the miniature perfume crescent moon shaped bottle. The other TV ad (in the 80's) shows a woman in a white gown descending a large staircase in a mansion, and looking out into a long view of green gardens with a breeze blowing over the gossamer curtains. This ad was for the eau de toilette. Magie Noire sold very well in it's time. It is one of two fragrances that make a cameo in the 1988 movie WORKING GIRL starring Melanie Griffith Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. The mini Magie Noire sits on Katharine's dresser as she takes some valium to calm her nerves when she discovers the dress she is about to wear that belongs to her boss costs 6 thousand dollars, and it "ain't even leather". The other fragrance that appears in this film is Guerlain's Shalimar, when Kathy applies it on her skin while seated on her bed. Magie Noire will truly fulfill your craving for a vintage. It has stood the test of time as a beloved fragrance. NOTES IN LANCOME'S MAGIE NOIRE Head Notes: Cassis, Cassia, Raspberry, Galbanum, Hyacinth, Bergamot, Bulgarian Rose Heart Notes: Honey, Tuberose, Orris Root, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Lily of the Valley, Cedar, Narcissus, Base Notes: Spices, Sandalwood, Amber, Patchouli, Musk, Civet, Oak Moss, Vetiver, Myrrh Incense This is a rich, heavily layered perfume. With this many notes, it's hard to single out each one, and there are some that don't even bother to make an olfactory cameo. Of the top notes I do get the green notes of galbanum, cassis and cassia. It's like slowly entering into a forest where you see a lot of green plants and green leaves. But you're still in the safe part of the forest and it hasn't even gotten dark yet. There is supposed to be a red rose (Bulgarian Rose) but I wish I had been able to smell it. To my nose there was no rose or the rose had already wilted. You keep smelling and smelling and the progression is frightening. Suddenly you're getting deeper and deeper into the dark forest. There is no sunlight and it's completely dark. A crescent moon sheds a silvery beam of light over the dark foliage. What I found to be the most prominent note of all was patchouli. This is a real green patchouli, and it's layered with amber, musk and incense. The incense is like black smoke. These notes are found in the base notes. It makes the fragrance very powerful indeed. There is also leather but it's not listd in the notes. The dark leather gives it a cool elegance, but combined with the musk and patchouli, makes it somewhat greasy and oily. Other notes that don't seem to be listed but which have to be in here include asafetida, used in medicine and Indian cooking. There is ferula and galbanum. This appears to make the fragrance smell as if it were extremely toxic, poisonous and very evil. This fragrance reminds me of Greek mythology. It made me think of Circe in the Odyssey who was a ravishingly beautiful witch who seduces Odysseus (Ulysses) and turns his men into pigs. It also brings to mind the John Keats poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy, a romanticized depiction of Death as a very beautiful woman who lures a gallant knight into her arms of death. It also seems to wear like a fragrance for The Evil Queen in Snow White, who was very beautiful but vain and with an ugly heart. It's a fragrance for the evil sorceress Morgana Le Faye who was King Arthur's own sister in the Arthurian legends of Camelot. This is a fragrance of beautiful witches and enchantresses. The fumes gave me visions of a crescent moon, a dark forest, and of a man trapped in the woods, caught in the tendrils of climbing plants and vines. He is the victim of a magic spell, a woman who has lured him into her fatal embrace. This is absolutely beautiful. Gothic. Dark. Mysterious. It's a fragrance you should wear only once in a while, for Halloween, or for a romantic night out, an evening formal fragrance. You can definitely wear this with black clothes: black leather, black coats, black dresses and black evening gowns. This is like somthing Anjelica Huston would wear (think of her in the role of the Grand High Witch in The Witches or Morticia Addams in The Addams Family/AddamsFamily Values ). This is a perfume Morticia Addams would wear. When I wore this fragrance for the first time to test it out and how it smells to others, a guy friend said it smells like the "80's", like the inside of a woman's leather handbag in the 80's. It has a lot of leather and as such smells like something that could also be worn by a woman who is into black leather outfits, jackets, even a motorcyclist. This has a lot of patchouli that still sells big and is favored by the young crowds of today. So don't look at this frag as "old lady" or "vintage old" it's wearable in our time because of the patchouli. And the patchouli on here is very large. So is the civet, the animalic note, but don't let that scare you. It makes the frag warm and cozy, and with the honey in this it adds a lot of warmth. It's definitely a fall and winter fragrance. In the spring and summer this fragrancee would not smell as good. This is such an enchanting fragrance. It affected me deeply and I love it but can't wear it out too often. This one is a special perfume, a magic potion to be used only on the right ocassion. I must tell you that this frag's leathery and musky aroma is totally unisex. This can smell just as good on a man. I love it. You'll love it too. But I would not recommend this as your first fragrance or a blind buy. You can't jump from Coco Chanel Mademoiselle Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker Wonderstuck by Taylor Swift or Paris Hilton Tease or any other celebrity fragrance light skin scents big on sugary sweetness. This is not even much of a floral fragrance. If it had to be classified I would put it under the category of FLORAL CHYPRE. The flowers and raspberry accords are muted but make a brief apperance before overwhelmed by the darknes of woods, incense and patchouli and civet. The wood notes on here: sandalwood, cedar, oak, make it a chypre. But it's not an Oriental at all. It's a straight out chypre. Let Magie work it's magic on you and unleash the darkness and the night in the most beautiful, elegant way possible.

When I was young, there was an expanse of bramble bushes that in the summer heat, as the berries ripened, would transform the air with a bittersweet, tart balm. It was this, along with the surrounding vegetation, that resulted in a scent memory that is just as vivid today in my mind. I recall the fruits in different stages of maturity, bright magenta to a deep black. Careful to avoid the thorns, I'd pick them and eat them one by one, hands stained with juice. The opening of Magie Noire parfum, its piercing green galbanum, blackcurrant, and raspberry, remind me of the summer blackberry air long ago. Then Magie Noire recalls even more, it haunts me as it progresses, like the darker corners of the woods, when in solitude, I am greeted only by the sound of the trilling pine warbler, the plangent repeat of the ovenbird, and my favorite, that of the hermit thrush, with its otherworldly melody. I still hug trees as I did as a child, I still turn over rocks to see what lurks underneath, I still look very closely at decaying tree trunks and marvel at the smallest organisms, trying as best as I can to enter their world, or at least imagine that I can. The green of the foliage begins to glow as I look at it long enough, and that is the sensation I feel here, glowing green foliage, bitter and flowing with phloem. Entering the forest further, where the sunlight struggles to reach the understory, this is where the most unusual flora grows, organisms like myco-heterotrophic plants: ghost pipes, pinedrops, snowplants. I imagine that Magie Noire would be the fragrance if any of them had one. Now dusk approaches, and to be caught in the woods so late is the most exhilarating rush of fear and adrenaline, but also of magic. What a time to shovel one's hands through dry pine straw, through into the earth, and to see the sky grow dimmer by the minute. There is this point here where Magie Noire smells of honey, earth, and camphor, and the thickest, densest, most impossible moss cushion. If you've ever really dug your hands into the forest floor, there is that loamy, fermented quality that I imagine only the most devoted forest scouts can admire. I sense it here. There is the scent of grape must, inedible red berries that when you squeeze give off a peculiar astringent order, the underside of a mushroom, plucked and withered lily of the valley, long dried out roses. Then there is a myrrh oil imprint on my skin, with some vetiver and a smell that I would describe as castoreum-scented incense. It's as if I've made my way home before nightfall digs its heels into the ground, and I am left reflecting on the blackberry day and the forest sundown. This gives me the same haunting, temporal synesthesia as that of Yatagan, Aliage, or Devin, where it feels profoundly familiar, profoundly like home, but my neurons can't articulate the sensation and I certainly fail to translate it into the written word. Yes, that is how weird I really am, and thank you for your time reading my weird description of this perfume. Night night. [This is based on the original 78-83 version parfum that I own]

For October this is the fragrance to wear. At least it is for me. It's become a yearly tradition with me as I dress up as Morticia Addams and decorate my townhome in a haunted house Addams house theme. This is a witchy mysterious smoky leathery sexy fragrance that far surpasses it's 'niche' mode. I have had this perfume many years but the one you have to experience is not the EDT but the EDP dab on in the black miniature case and glass bottle shaped like a mushroom or shell. A piece of nostalgia as it was in the same league as YSL Opium. The initial notes are sweet raspberry and cassia-cassis which when I first wore it was hard to detect. There's a Bulgarian roses which matches up with the sweet berry. This portion of the fragrance is deceptively sweet and evocative of forest berries. Makes me think of the entrance to a forest inviting you with the sweet scent of berry. Or think the sweet gingerbread house belonging to the Witch in Hansel and Gretel. The allure of a feminine woman with long hair and roses and berries, an enchantress, Circe from the Odyssey. She opens her arms in an embrace but the closer you get to her the dark side emerges. So many amazing notes just not found in a single perfume today that is all in one - galbanum patchouli oak moss civet leather incense myrrh sandalwood ambergris and vetiver. Quite a powerful aroma. Galbanum green and earthy with oak moss musky civet and incense, myrrh, dark woods, and patchouli await you as you inhale the fragrance deeply. This is a giant patchouli to me, aromatic, herbal, and what with the toxic tuberose and indolic jasmine and everything, this is a dangerous type of floral. Think Dior Poison. In fact this can be worn by those of us who wear Poison. As it dries down it reveals a black leather and a touch of powdery iris. It's oily and very potent, like a witch's brew. This stuff can fill up an entire house so apply with caution. I do love to smell of it so I splash myself all over with it. This fragrance has always touched me deeply. I love it and enjoy wearing it every October. I wish that it was more well known and I feel it suffers from being underrated. This is such a gorgeous unisex fragrance which both males and females should enjoy. This has incredible longevity and atomic sillage. It is a real perfume made of essential and authentic extracts. This is a rarity nowadays and as such I appreciate it's value. Smells wonderful and makes you feel powerful. This fragrance has everything. And it evokes not only Morticia Addams, but all the Disney witches from the Evil Queen in Snow White to Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, not to mention real people such as Maila Nurma AKA Vampira the Hollywood actress with her own late night movie TV show BEFORE Elvira Mistress of the Dark, and of course it's great for wearing while you wear your Halloween costumes of vampires and witches.

I have dab-on perfume bottles that look just like this photo on Fragrantica. I bought them at an independent vintage perfume store. They come in a black plastic case with Magie Noire on gold letters on it. The bottle has a stand in black crescent shape. Magie Noire is so beautiful. What I first feel or sense when I dab it on my skin, is something so out of this world and unusual, kind of like the vibes I get from Mugler's Alien. Nothing like this today selling at Macy's! This is not some sweet gourmand or cutesy floral. This is a powerful scent; a full bodied floral chypre and mossy-animalic. I can detected the raspberry and rose plus lily of the valley, iris, hyacinth and green notes when it is on me for the first minute or two. It comes off as briefly sweet and feminine, with fruity-berry and rose floral notes including white jasmine and tuberose. This tuberose is creamy and as big as the ones that would be signatures in the 1980s. There is galbanum and other green accords. There's something oily and warm. Before long the florals have exited. The iris gave it a powdery aura but it doesn't get too talc powdery. Instead the dry down turns warm and mossy, smoky, and musky. I have to really keep smelling deep into the fragrance to pick up on things that make up the fixatives holding the whole thing together - civet, leather, resins, amber, sandalwood, some other kind of wood like cedar, incense, myrrh, patchouli and oak moss. This is quite smoky and dark, rich, and exotic. Smells expensive and if this was a dress it would have either velvet or leather fabric. This is a perfume of the night. It's for a confident and alluring woman who is bold, intelligent, sexy and sophisticated. Very few women who are used to wearing today's scents i.e. Coco Mademoiselle, Victoria Secret, etc can pull off that look but it seems to suggest an accomplished and very womanly woman. For example, I can see Anjelia Huston all over this perfume. It's got a witch potion aura but in a very sexy way. Dark woods, moss, night blooming flowers, incense and civet. The perfume is a bomb and lasts a long time. 2 days long. The warmth is suited to winter and fall. It's a nocturnal and seductive scent for the woman who wants to make a statement and seduce not only with 'what is that interesting and unique scent? kind of way but in her personality which matches the mystery of this perfume. It's mysterious, and exotic, intellectual and Gothic. Totally a Goth can get away with it even in high school. Best way to experience this perfume is the EDP which is the dab on bottles selling on ebay from authentic owners of the vintage original. The EDT spray is a messed up reformulation.

Magie Noire is a subtle wonder. It’s not very strong, but it’s unbelievably complex and ever-shifting. It’s officially listed as an oriental, but it feels more like a chypre, dominated by the bitter-dark forest floor notes of oakmoss and patchouli. We’re in “grown-ass woman in Diane von Furstenburg wrap dress” territory here — it’s a late-seventies perfume, and has that Anne Bancroft, wry, self-possessed vibe I like so much. Same genre as Aromatics Elixir, Knowing, Paloma Picasso, even Aliage. But Magie Noire is special in a number of ways. First of all it has a true, almost fresh green top, thanks to the cassis and galbanum and a very judicious use of the raspberry (tart, not sweet). So it’s not all forest floor; there’s also some bright-green foliage. The galbanum feels natural here, a point of peridot light set among shades of olive and loden. Second of all, the myrrh and incense and spices really make the base deep and dark in a way that even Paloma Picasso isn’t. There’s no mention of castoreum or leather in the notes but I seem to smell something like that too — a dark-brown, rich animalic, not just the high beige hiss of civet around the edges. The “noir” is almost reminiscent of a 21st century niche “dark” incense perfume, except without the harsh smokiness and chemical edge you get all too often. There’s no discernible sweetness for me, just deep, dark, mysterious depths that feel richly smooth going down. Magie Noire may actually be the ultimate dark, witchy chypre for me. Some chypres use the oakmoss base as a dark-green-velvet backdrop to set off a sweet, bold floral (like Knowing did for rose and Paloma Picasso for hyacinth) while others are kind of monochrome (Aromatics Elixir is just greeny-brown herbal-woody notes; Bandit is dominated by the overwhelming bitterness of pure black leather, with chartreuse galbanum highlights.) Magie Noire is neither; it’s iridescent. It keeps shimmering between sparkling greens and rich incensey depths, with no sweet “easy” notes, just an endlessly twirling kaleidoscope of bitterness, darkness, spiciness, freshness, and radiance. At last it settles into a sepia-brown, oakmoss-and-myrrh base, as solid and reassuring as a cup of black coffee.

I used to gaze at the beautiful vintage bottle of Magie Noire, created by the genius Pierre Dinand, with its round cap and hypnotic overlapping curves, an iconic design from the 70s. I longed for it, though with little hope of ever holding it in my hands. A couple of years went by, and finally, this gem arrived in my collection, bringing with it the untouched character of another era, and a familiarity that surprised me! Although the current formula retains its spirit, its DNA, I perceive an “excessive” use of white musks that lend a more powdery and clean effect. In contrast, the vintage version reveals a more sober depth and a subtly enveloping sweetness, probably enriched with nitro musks, offering an elegant and sensual warmth on my skin. MAGIE NOIRE (Vintage) – 1978 I like to think of Magie Noire as a dark spell in the form of a floral chypre, unfolding its mystery from the first green and fruity notes, with galbanum and blackcurrant, into a voluptuous heart of dense honey, tuberose, and jasmine. The base is deep and musky, with civet blending into the composition, adding warmth and sensuality, in harmony with a mix of myrrh and incense, supported by that oakmoss so characteristic of classic Chypres, which adds richness and complexity to the fragrance. I’d say that if you don’t know the vintage formula, the modern Chypre-retro version (with a classic character) might be very pleasant for you, as it was for me. However, owning this original edition feels like holding a fragment of perfumery history in my hands. And also, a small dream come true! ❤️

I still have about 20% of the 30 ml EDT in the narrow, black cap, black collar, clear bottom vintage bottle from the 90's. I was very young when I received it and the EDT smelled very classy, elegant and grown-up. My taste in fragrances changed a lot through the years and this type of scent is no longer a favorite, but I will always keep the bottle as it has sentimental value. It's amazing that it still retains its power after all these years. I wanted to throw this bottle away so many times as I was acquiring or receiving other scents, but somehow, I hung to it as it was my first expensive fragrance gifted to me by dear friends. And I concur with @Decodawn. Reviews should not be like dissertations with hundreds of words and dozens of lines. For God's sake, I got dizzy from @LovecraftLover and @Gigi The Fashionista's excruciatingly never ending "research papers" :/ Smh... EDIT 14 hours later: It's still there, after I sprayed it yesterday on my inner elbow. EDIT 24 hours later. Although I showered, it still lingers lightly on my skin. And it's only EDT! Wow!

The reviews on this scent are totally wrong. They are going by old Expired bottles. I bought this perfume, in mid 80’s to this day. I have never smelled anything like it, the EDT that is current now, does not even touch the beauty,sillage, nor the power of this vintage EDP.. Although it carries some of the DNA that is where it ends.. No perfume like it.. in the vintage EDP form, the most beautiful, intoxicating scent Lancôme has ever produced. Was a monster and lasted for hours and hours . I could smell it on my clothes for days.. I had to wash it out of my clothes. Even though I’m smelling it in my clothing, it was still so beautiful. Not one time when I wore it,did I not receive a compliment. This bottle is very different than the one I bought in the 80s.. it was slim with a black cap and black top, and in the bottom was clear . Gorgeous scent. Do not use the reviews of the ones below as they purchased perfume that was already very old and no longer good.. I have a wide and varied collection of perfume. This one was a truly beautiful scent.

I'm lucky to have this perfume in the original flacon with the orange and dark red edges. The scent was one of my favorites back when it came out. Lately I have been lucky to find and purchase a factice dummy of the original flacon. For me Magie Noire belongs to the days back in the 80' where I wore it when I didn't wear my Opium. These were the only Orientals I could wear back then. Later, when I grew older and more mature I started to like the aldehydic based scents like Chanel No 5 and the others. The only aldehydic perfume I liked and could wear in my youth was Je Reviens from Worth, which I loved and still like a lot. It amazes me how much my taste in perfumes has changed throughout my life and how much the chemistry of my skin has changed too so I now can wear perfumes that made me smell like "a hooker who's paid too cheap" (as my now late sister called it) in my younger days.

an oldie but this is absolutely my favourite woody perfume, it doesn't open like that at all, but after half an hour it becomes so beautiful, it's pure magic, I actually think this perfume is quite unisex. it takes you slowly to that mysterious part in the forest, strange things happen along the way into the opening of this perfume, the notes do jump through each other, sometimes it is pleasant, sometimes it is not, but it is part of it to eventually get there, it is as if something is with you as an invisible guide, it tells you to come with them to that secret part in the forest. once there, you are safe in a calm dreamy state into very clean wooden cabin. it is a gorgeous story perfume, to me this one belongs to one of my best fairytale perfumes with no childish traits whatsoever, sometimes I can't stop put my nose on this one.

Review is for vintage 50 ml eau de toilette, "Darth Vader" bottle, labeled "made in France". Just WOW....how did I miss this in the 70's & following decades??? I find it truly intoxicating! Having never smelled it but intrigued by reviews, I set out to find a vintage. I scored an 11 ml (origionally part of a holiday gift set) @ a flea market. Instant LOVE, from the first spray til the final whiff the following morning. After living with her for a week, I had to invest in a larger bottle. I have not smelled the current formulation, because I am enthralled by this beauty. She is mystical and magical, long lasting and imo great for any season, day or night. I realize this review reveals nothing about the notes, but if you like the notes listed in the description, you should definitely give this potion a try 💚🖤💚💣

I finally got my hands on a bottle that I purchased on eBay and it arrived today. It's the bottle with the black plastic collar on top in a 100 ml. So glad I got a good deal as well :) My first time that I discovered this hidden gem was back in 2014 at the Lancôme counter in Macy's. I fell in love and thought I got to have a bottle of this. I was very half tempted to purchase it at that moment but as I did my research I knew why not get an older bottle and thank god I did. This has so much depth and character like no other perfume that I've smelled before. It's incredibly intoxicating yet daring with a seduction touch. I imagine the type of person wearing this is someone that is well put together, wear's dark color tones, and has a quiet confidence.

My favorite concentration of this perfume. The huile parfum is good too but a little more green. My bottles are from the early '90's and earlier. It's warm, soft, animalic, powdery, mossy, woody, with hints of flowers and incense. Very well blended. A cashmere sweater in a room full of soft delicate incense. It's somehow both cozy and sexy at the same time. The opening has a bit of cassis leaf, a little bergamot, a little floral, though not as much as the EDT from similar years. Not for everyone but my absolute favorite. Very powerful, more than 2 sprays will suffocate anyone in the immediate vicinity. I've been getting compliments at work when I've worn this recently, which surprised me.

This is a truly magical blend, deep and really long lasting with nuances of spice, floral, balsam, animalistic senuality and earthy wood. Just the right amount of floral to sweeten the spice and wood. With a spice balsam base, it is not good for someone who prefers a sweet or fruity fragrance. The black currant lends a uniqueness that some don't like but I find has a otherworldly earthiness. In my experience it draws lovers irresistibly to you. Need I say more?

To Bokonon12: The American company which distributed Lancome products in the US in the 70's and 80's was COSMAIR INC. and not COSMAN. My 30 ml EDT Magie Noire bottle from the 80's has Cosmair Inc. from NY mentioned on the bottom.

This is terribly good. I'm a man, and like this at the point of use it often. I'm a fan of powerhouses like Polo, Kouros, etc. But this, is really Magie. Awesome, really awesome.!

HoneyPamela....LOL. I think you are right, the perfect fragrance to sleep your way to the top.

I have long been intrigued by this luxuriant looking bottle and finally got around to ordering a 1999 decant (love me some vintagedecants.com) to see if it was worth purchasing a full (vintage) bottle. To my nose, this is far too similar to 4711 which has been around since 1792 (!) and Jean Nate that although was born in 1935 was SUPER popular in the 1970's when Magie Noire came to be. Is it a coincidence? I think not. I do find this a pleasant, clean and unisex fragrance, but will not be buying it since I already own 4711 and Jean Nate.

Oh my goodness! This is the first time I've been able to get my hands on an un-turned original formulation chypre-oriental, and I am blown away. This fragrance is dark and cushion-y at the same time. The incense and resins in the base really shine and the ylang-ylang too is noticeable. The top notes have sadly been washed away by the sands of time, making it more oriental than Chypre, but I don't mind. This sample will be given to my best friend for her birthday, aka I've actually never smelled it before (;

Sigh. Save your pennies and your sense. Nice. Not OMFG GOTTA HAVE IT. Basic sweetness with a little chypre action. Oakmoss. Kind of reminds me of the 80s and big hair, blazers, and shoulder pads. Fellow fragcomm member pointed out that 40 years later, this baby probably just ain't what she used to be. I think I'll wear out my bottle, just to be perverse, as well as to see if something else develops, but as of now #notimpressed.

If I were to sleep my way to the top, Magie Noire is the fragrance I would wear. Popular in the 80s, I didn't wear it to the office because others in my cube were wearing it. It does have the quality of being both sexy and elegant at the same time. Distinctive. Delicious. I'd second Magie Noire is probably the best Lancome fragrance.

I can see why you would like this, but to me it smells like the mosquito spray “Mygga” that we have in Sweden. It actually smells like midsummer in the northern part of Sweden. 😊

MAGIE NOIRE Lancôme Nose Gerard Goupy Year 1978 Lancôme's Black Magic Fragrance Santana's Black Magic Woman Matches Up With This Fragrance! The eau de parfum dab on bottle as pictured above is the perfume I fell in love with when first released in '78 and wore it throughout the 80's when it continued to sell as one of the most beautiful power perfumes of the oh so crazy 1980's. This was Lancôme's turn to shine in an era when there were so many amazing complex bold dynamic dramatic fragrances bedazzling the noses - Yves Saint Laurent's Opium, Dior Poison, Coco Chanel Coco, Krizia Teatro Alla Scala, Paco Rabanne La Nuit, Passion Elizabeth Taylor, Cher's Uninhibited. Magie is a chypre but man what a chypre! This is the darkness of night, moonlit woods and moss at midnight, in a vast green forest, creatures of the night, crescent moons, owls, bats, cauldrons, witches, caves and smoky incense. The packaging was wonderful in black with a crescent moon shape and a somewhat greenish honey colored liquid. When I first inhaled the perfume and wore it, I was enthralled. I'm not into the whole voodoo witch thing, although I can see why reviewers and wearers visualize witches in a forest like the witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. It kind of does smell witchy and ancient, wicked, sinister, mysterious, eerie, disturbing. A spell. If you're into Wicca maybe this is for you? If you're a Goth this is for you? Yeah this is for them and for us chypre lovers and vintage lovers. My guess is if you like Dior Poison, Yves Saint Laurent Opium and Krizia Teatro you'll like this stuff. Magie opens up all green and mossy, redolent with vetiver, oak moss, patchouli and galbanum, the key ingredient. The galbanum is spicy, aromatic, herbal, but layered with sweeter notes that keep it from being too dry boring or flat. The sweetness of cassis or cassia grape, like pure grape wine, honey or beeswax, raspberry, hyacinth, tincture of rose, cold Bulgarian rose, and white flowers of jasmine, tuberose and narcissus. There's also a little bit of natural bergamot oil. There's also powder notes and iris or orris root. I wouldn't call this a big floral would you? It has minimal floral notes and they can be detected but they pass away briefly like flowers that are already wilting and withering and turn dry and lifeless. But thanks to the spices and Oriental notes and woodsy notes, this becomes an enjoyable escapist fantasy of an enchanted forest and mystery. The woodsy notes consist of sandalwood, oak, amber tree, and moss that hangs on trees. In addition there are smoky notes of incense and myrrh. This smokiness is such a mind fuck. It makes me think of an old black and white horror film with fog and smoke in a forest. One expects the Wolf Man to emerge from the dark. This is also animalic as much as it is mossy and green. There's civet and musk but in moderation. It is never too much of an animal scent although it has very strong leather. The leather plus the woods and green notes, all of which are super fragrant, are more masculine on some women's skin so if you appreciate those type of strong unisex scents you'll have no problem with this stuff. It is more like the muskiness and greenery of Paco Rabanne La Nuit. And yeah men guys can wear this too because it is unisex. Magie Noire is a sexy evening cologne to wear to seduce the nose of anyone who appreciates it. My old girlfriend Xiamara loved it on me and we always had a great time both in and out of the house when I wore this stuff. Yeah it is dated and smells terribly old fashioned, definitely mature, but it is the type of fragrance that can never die. It is timeless. It's appeal reaches far and wide. I once sat next to a lady from the Czech Republic wearing this on a train. She would have had a lot of people turning their noses away from her had she sat in a New York subway but the other Europeans on that train didn't mind. Probably more commonly wore in that part of the world. This is an exotic and glorious chypre Oriental with so much going on and with a witchy bite. Sillage is excellent. Longevity? This is the longest lasting fragrance I have ever worn. Sometimes it lasts so long that I can still smell traces of it after I've showered and washed my clothes. It is a powerful perfume for a powerful woman. Such a shame they don't make them like this anymore. The reformulation spray bottle is terrible. If you want to experience this for yourself buy it from eBay in the original miniature bottles of splash or dab-on form. Beautiful.

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI BY JOHN KEATS "She found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew, And sure in language strange she said— “I love thee true.” She took me to her elfin grot, And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore, And there I shut her wild wild eyes With kisses four. And there she lulled me asleep, And there I dream’d—Ah! woe betide! The latest dream I ever dream’d On the cold hill’s side. I saw pale kings and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci Hath thee in thrall!” This is a mysterious evening cologne that always called to me from the Lancôme perfumer department. This was around the time I also wore Paco Rabane (forgive my misspelling) La Nuit which is a similar dark night perfume. This is really sublimely beautiful. It is a perfume that stands out in anyone's collection. I recommend the vintage miniature splash or dab-on bottle from the date of it's release which I believe is from either 1978 or 1979 and the minis sold throughout the 1980's. How can I do justice to this amazing fragrance with mere words? Oily, leathery, woodsy, musky, and smoky are just adjectives. This fragrance has been called "evil" but it's a sweet kind of cruelty. There's a raspberry, honey, and a rose, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel tempting children with sweet smells. The patchouli, galbanum, woods, the oak moss, and the incense prevail. This scent is like a sorceress' potion she made for herself, not as a love potion, but as a transformation. It's like needing desperately to wear this perfume when you need to feel confident, when you need a boost, when things in life have gone downhill and you need a pick-me-up or a reminder that you're still a beautiful and seductive woman. I wore Magie Noire when I was divorcing my 2nd husband. He never liked this perfume on me and said it smelled like vinegar. I wore the hell out of it to spite him and bathed in it. I kept buying more and more bottles and deliberately put them all over the house so that he wouldn't miss them. The divorce was long and bitter. He betrayed me with a former friend who went on to become a professor of Western Philosophy at Oxford. She was tall and blonde, I was short with black hair. She came from money, I came from a family of plumbers. This woman was the Camilla Parker Bowles of my life. She was always around my husband. When the divorce came and went, I was left with nothing but bitterness and hate. There was even one incident in which I poured the contents of Magie Noire down the sink of the bathroom he used in the house we were fighting over so that he could always smell it for days. The fragrance is a beautiful perfume outside of my bad associations with it. If you like dark, oily, woodsy fragrances and if you have a good enough nose to appreciate the notes listed: ranging from sweet to dark - raspberry, cassis, honey, rose, narcissus, jasmine and tuberose, lilies, galbanum, patchouli, incense, musk, sandalwood, civet, ambergris and moss, this fragrance will devour you in it's gorgeousness. It's one hell of a perfume. I would indeed call it mature but it can be worn by sophisticated young ladies who like chypres or Orientals. If you have worn Coco Eau de Parfum, Occur by Avon Passion by Elizabeth Taylor, Opium, Teatro Alla Scala, Chanel No. 19 and Ivoire de Balmain, chances are you'll like this fragrance. This is a fragrance that is rich, not very floral despite the tuberose, and has a lot of camphor, and moss, as well as the little nocturnal civet with it's musky aroma. Easily unisex and males can wear this too. I have gotten over the ex but I do have memories that stab me like daggers whenever I smell this perfume. I mean I was using Magie Noire as a weapon against him. I even went as far as spilling this stuff on his T shirts LOL Today he's no longer married to that same blonde and I don't know what became of him. I never took alimony from him and went on to become a music teacher in London. Magie Noire I keep around whenever I feel like wearing it to art galleries, museums and to dinner parties. This is still a perfume of such great beauty and it stands tall as one of the greatest chypres of all time.

I hope this information might assist LoveCraftLover below, and my fellow vintage cult classic collectors. If you can’t identify the year of manufacture from the batch code for your vintage fragrance on checkfresh, please try looking it up on raiders of the lost scent. Raiders may have batch codes recorded which go back further than checkfresh. That’s how I identified that my tall narrow Art Deco inspired bottle of Magic Noire EDT was manufactured in 1988, a decade after the launch. The batch code was older than Lancôme’s more recent numeric codes so I went on an archeological expedition. I know that I’m writing this on the MN Parfum page, but my EDT doesn’t have much in common with the current bottles on sale. This 1988 beauty is more complex than most fragrances today, even if some of the notes may have lost their power, and it still has a huge sillage. As described in Fragrantica for the parfum, my vintage EDT is honeyed at the top, as though to lure the unsuspecting in, but it’s not a sweet honey. Then the floral notes join in, but again, nothing light, fresh or springlike. Lily-of-the-valley, galbanum, jasmine and narcissus are green and biting. I don’t detect rose or ylang ylang so thhey may have been lost over the years in my bottle. When the resins, cassis, civet and oakmoss arrive, they give MN a definite vintage vibe. While the orris powder tames the whole somewhat, it is never enough to make MN an easy fragrance. AND I LOVE THAT!

Magie Noire parfum de Lancôme I sample here from a vintage bottle. To label Magie Noire a floral chypre only begins to hint at the complex spellwork of its craft. For likethe chimera, this chypre is bright green on top, honey gold in the middle, spicedly oriental at its base, ...and possessing a black heart of civet, whether it be deemed magical or not. It all seems to loom up in quick succession: galbanum and other greens, assorted flowers (especially rose), languidly thick honey, various spices (cinnamon, cloves, etc.), bittersweet oakmoss, ...and civet, much bitterer still. It is a demonically tempting indulgence, ...but one must not betray thy soul's entry into paradise. The proper way to cast such potent witchery would be by subtle application at pulse points, ...yet frankly, this is a fragrance wickedly designed to pay dark tribute to the devil of excessive application. Certain malevolent necromancers might even coat themselves in it, like hexensalbe at a sabbat. Of course, I shall admit to enjoying this arcane extravagance on wrist or blotter, ...but only in abashed privacy! ..For it is a most jaded perfumista indeed, one with callous disregard for all norms of virtue, that will abandonedly accept this as a full and regular social wear. ...but still many worlds better than the evil that is Paloma Picasso.

For real about Gigi aka Southern Blonde aka whoever else?? Seriously??? That explains so, so much. I wondered why Southern Blonde the cruise ship dancer always seemed to review whatever Gigi the New York designer reviewed, always glowingly. One thing I wondered was who has time to write and read all that...and how come everything smells so much better to them. Hence, a couple of years ago I stopped reading their reviews because they seemed insincere. Maybe I will come back and post as Therese, the Montreal set designer, or Genevieve, the Swiss performance artist, or Karly the Arizona department store manager.... Wow, wow, and wow. Just when you start thinking cynicism is unfounded. Fragrantica just got a lot more interesting. Oh hey duh...all these pseudonymous reviewers consistently confuse /it's/ and /its/. Confusion of these expressions is a shibboleth of illiteracy. It does link them, however. (Apologies for not posting a review of Magie Noire...It was lovely. I remember it from the early eighties. I actually just came here to read about whether it had been reformulated.)

I was walking through an antique mall when I stumbled apon a magie noire pure parfum in a 15ml bottle as shown in the picture above It was more than half way full, and the liquid looked exactly like the color in the one pictured above. So for $12, I just HAD to have it!! It made my brain feel a little "fizzy" after putting it on. It started out VERY animalic and "aromatic" the dry down has this natural "sweetness" which my friend tells me is coming from the real cassis they used in the composition. It definitely reminds me of the modern day edt, but there are some HUGE differences. The new edt starts sharp and green. I can kind of sense that they tried to recreate the "plushiness" that was in the heart of the composition, but it just comes off as "soapy" in the new edt. The vintage parfum doesn't smell "soapy" to me at all. Its quite strange honestly...

What the Hoobastank is going on with fake fragrance reviewers? I actually went off of some of Gigi's reviews and blind bought a few perfumes to my dismay. Paris Hilton's St. Moritz was blech and Paul Sebastian's white floral hot mess. Sadly, the only one I could return was PS. On the bright side, Konga5000's recommendation on Sonia Kashuk's fragrance line was right on the money. Yellow Alluriana, Pink Innocencia, White Etheriana, and Red Promisia have all found homes with me. Thank you!! Oops, forgot to review Magie Noire (LOL).... if my memory serves me correctly, it was an intense floriental with woodsy undertones. And I bet longevity matched its sillage.

Hello there, I am a long-time fan of this fragrance - my mother used to wear it in the early 80s so it's bewitched me for a while now! I've begun collecting MN ephemera, as Lancome have always been so good at creating merchandise to go along with their scents. I have a pack of MN tarot cards and a scarf and a couple of art books, and I was wondering if anyone had ever made a comprehensive list of all the associated MN branded products? I would love to find out more, if anyone knows anything - hope it's alright to add this comment here. Yours in magic, Lily

I cannot recall if I got this one from my Mom or if I was given a sample in store. All I can remember is how I was mesmerized by this scent. It is so enchanting and mature. I wore it all the time in my late teens and early 20's. I miss the days when the department store sales staff would load you down with samples on the way in or the way out of the store. I was NEVER without perfume samples. It was a thing, even in high school, to have at least 4 or 5 samples in your purse "just in case"

Check out the reviews for Lanvin My Sin and you will see the entire troupe of crazies echoing each other’s reviews...yes, they’re all there...Gigi & Co, capitalising on the good nature of Fragrantica members by subjecting us to their attempts at writing projects. About Magie Noire, I have already reviewed it. I love it so much even though we had a slightly rocky start. It’s the one I reach out for most of the time before bed. Smoky, mysterious, dark and alluring.

Vintage Magie Noire is simply an addiction for me. I am helpless to its magical effects. I wear it exclusively in the winter season. The spell of this perfume is indescribable. I have to resist more than one spray. It makes me think of black velvet, medieval tinkling bells, sparkling lights, deep green forests, and wet kisses. Lancome's Magie Noire is complex, mysterious, and stands alone as the most inexplicable fragrance ever.

The best parfum in my opinion! Always recognize it, even in a big crowd. Exceptional combination of notes. Long lasting with excellent sillage. It's very sensual and almost addicting - the more you wear it, the more you crave it. My mom's favorite and mine too as I get older (and wiser?) I am talking about the pure parfum vintage version, which is very hard to find nowadays. Still have unopened bottle I cherished!

It was my first expensive perfume bottle and I still remember the smell and how long it lasted. The bottle was a masterpiece too. Too bad it was discontinued. The new EDT version has some similar notes, but it is totally different. I missed you Magie Noire very much! Tried to buy from the eBay, but it was fake.

Iconic! in the La Nuit by Paco Rabanne, Diva, Knowing, First style... Really a poison, complex and intoxicant: a powerfull magnetic field, a marvellous such a bit licqueor. Amazing fragance. In my country there is an specialistic laboratory in fragances, one of them is a really similar fragance for men

One of the most magnificent scents for woman. Even the classic edt Magie Noire is imo one of the most beautiful womens perfumes, this one gives you the full experience, because like all perfume oils, it brings richness and performances. Beautifull little bottle can be gem in every collection.

I wore this when I was a young child and I didn’t really know the depth of it. It’s super sultry, deep, dark, I mean, it’s black magic, literally. I LOVE everything about this perfume. It’s very Sisters of the Moon. Dark Lady. Diamanda Galas. If ya know, ya know...

All this time I though GiGi The Fashionista was a real person! Also; she never makes remarks in the forum section - which is odd for such a fragrance fanatic. She's always too busy "shopping with her mother in NYC". Wow. Crazy lady (or man). Or Norman Bates.

If you read her reviews you would know that is hardly the case. If you can do this kind of reviews(insightful and very balanced) of perfumes you wear by all means do the more the better, we need them, this site is made for sharing experiences.

My mother's signature scent in the 80's. I still have this feeling of opening a forbidden door when I see the bottle. It is a timeless perfume. Beautiful and timeless.

The important thing is that whatever her name is her reviews are illuminating, wonderful and give a precise reading on notes and how the scent evolves.

My first love....even my cats attracted to this beautiful smell!