No. XIX Terre Noire

If you come across a bottle of Terre Noire, please do yourself a favor and dedicate a small space on your skin to try this scent. And if you may, spray liberally—this fragrance is very weak. Terre Noire opens with a wet stone, mossy scent. While it’s far from an aquatic or marine fragrance, I do pick up a slightly umami, savory note. It’s as if the minerals in the stone are releasing a faint salty aroma after being rained on. And this wet, mossy, mineral-laced stone sits in the middle of a forest—one with no flowers, just dense green moss, towering cedar and/or pine trees, and a heavy, lingering fog. This doesn’t wear like a summer fragrance—the spice note adds warmth and a bit of heat. I agree with other reviewers that the slightly sweet dry-down smells like chai. Think: chai tea with a dash of cream, sipped in a foggy cedar forest. Unfortunately, the opening and heart of this beauty don’t last long. After the first two hours, it sits very close to the skin. I’d love to find a way to enhance its longevity without compromising the scent itself. Still, this is such an interesting creation. It’s easy to wear, yet sophisticated and versatile. I finally picked up a bottle today after debating for months—and now I can’t stop smelling my wrist.

Terre Noir is without question the most frustrating fragrance I own. The scent itself is incredible. Fresh, damp, mossy mountain forest with a dewy sweetness. It's without question one of my favorite smelling fragrances, and my go-to for warm/hot weather. It's delicious, unique, and unquestionably alluring. However... Your typical EDT will outlast this. I decided to do a direct side-by-side comparison with L'Occitane Eau des Baux - which out-performed Terre Noir in longevity by nearly 12 hours, and projected nearly twice as much. At less than half the price of Terre Noir and twice the volume, this simple, classic EDT really reveals Terre Noir's major weaknesses. For 50ml and priced at $200, Terre Noir is woefully overpriced. An EDP at this pricepoint shouldn't last a single hour before almost completely disappearing off the skin, and require 5-7 sprays to reach the same levels of projection and sillage your average EDP manages to accomplish in just 2 sprays. I sincerely hope Mad Et Len figures this out, as some of their other fragrances of theirs I own (Graphite comes to mind) don't have this issue.

I get a beautiful, juicy rush of jammy, rich woods and potentially oakmoss, surrounded by a very earthy, almost "cool-toned" spice and musk veil. The scent is very smooth upon application. It has a certain darkness to it, that I think comes from a somewhat masculine musk aspect overlaying the wood. Upon drydown I get an almost Encre Noire-esque cypress or coniferous forest, dry cedar, and a light, toasty wood that echoes back to the original blast of the scent. Personally I love this - although, the initial spray is really transcendent and I wish it would stick around forever. I think overall this scent lasted me 6-7 hours; the sillage is monstrous, though. Very distinctive and powerful.

I adore this fragrance. It is cold soil at a cemetery in the rain at dawn. It is THE goth earth scent, in my opinion. I am the kind of person who dislikes strong scents, so this one is perfect, despite being woody and earthy, it is also intimate and alluringly quiet. I do not get the warm spice note on my skin at all, maybe a dash of pepper, but I do not mind at all. I am surprised that other reviewers report poor longevity, it lasts me around 6-7 hours easily! Overall, this one is definitely staying in my collection.

Someone described this as "cool-toned" and I completely agree. Wet, cold, mossy but also sweet (which I didn't expect). The sweetness throws me off a little as it's sweet in a savory way? Like sweet tree sap, sour and bitter. Don't know if I'd buy this again but I'm happy to have experienced it. I've never smelled anything like it. I'll have to think more about this.