Ocean Noir

I was at a perfume boutique in town, the only one, which does not give me great sensation. The owner sprays half a spray on tester strips and the Sephora worker next door said that she thought they sell fake fragrances. Now, I don't believe the last part. This store must have a deal with Michael Malul London (actually from Ohio) because they have so many of their fragrances and it seems like they are desperate to sell them. The owner said "price is $110, but for you my friend $90" (this is the price you can get it for online from MML website, mind you on discounters it is the same price). But after I said that I have to think about it, the price dropped to $70. I think I could have haggled more, but I felt like $70 is a fair price to ask for this one. Anyway, to the review. You may get the sense that I feel I got scammed with this purchase, but the truth is, I am very happy I got this. The bottle is very nice, hefty, the pressurised atomizer is the first in my collection, which I think is pretty neat. The scent is, generally, marine. I struggle to find other notes than "marine" and the coconut in the opening. The downshift into heart and base is incredibly quiet, to the point where I don't notice a transition as other fragrances do if I am consistently smelling them. Under the ocean's surface, treasures await, a gentle, inviting sweetness and ambery-ness that clings to your skin like the salty sea water after you come out. It is a dark blue scent, but not in a menacing way, but moreso in a pensive way. To me this is sunset on the beach in Peru with my grandparents when I was a child. It is that breeze that the sun carries on its way down over the Pacific. Its the smell of wet sand and sunscreen, the feeling you get when you breathe into your towel after drying your face. It's the knowing that you are away from the real world for a few weeks. It's the smell of new money that is too self-conscious to be loud and presuming, but wants to have a boat with a chef. Its inoffensive and enjoyable at the same time, but distinguished enough from the gourmand trends I see on FragTok. You can wear this any time you want, forget about seasons, but frankly its sillage is on the poor side - it doesn't project well - a trait I have come to appreciate more lately, so probably summer will be better for it. It lasts a long time on my skin with minimal spraying. Great job, Michael Malul. I will cherish this one for a while.

Arguably one of the most unique blind-buy safe fragrances. I say unique because Ocean Noir, while easily being classified as a "blue," "shower gel," or "freshie" scent, there's nothing quite like it that's widely used. It smells both airy and deep at the same time, evoking a sensation of what can only be described as "dark blue." The combination of its amber, musk, citrus, and aquatic accords result in a fine richness that gives the fragrance a darker and sweeter character whilst still retaining a fresh, slightly aquatic profile perfect for the warmer days. I am a fan of musky fragrances, and the way the musk note develops smoothly and warmly in the dry down (whilst still granting a unique richness in the opening) is addictive to my nose. The genre of this fragrance is very mass-appealing and blind-buy safe, although Ocean Noir presents a unique facet to the category with its depth. The performance is far above average for a fresh fragrance. On my skin it can last the whole day from early morning to night (becoming noticeably sweeter, ambery, and less aquatic as the day progresses), and projection remains noticeable throughout the day. It is important to note that I get nose-blind to this fragrance very quickly and easily, which often made me underestimate its performance when I first started wearing it. Overall a fantastic fragrance and one I will always keep purchasing for the summer and any day when I can't decide what to wear.

This isn't your typical blue freshie here. This fragrance has more depth than that. On the opening, I get the sea notes and coconut that are sharp. This has a very tropical vibe going on. This gets a bit darker in the mid, maybe that seaweed. I would characterize this as a deeper blue scent. There's definitely sweetness in here. This dries down to a woody and sweet scent...maybe that Amberwood and tonka beans. To my nose, this is a pretty good scent. Excellent for the beach or vacation in the summer. I can see the wearer lounging in a chair at the beach eating an orange in one hand and a martini in the other, surrounded by coconut trees. Reminder, this opening is sharp sea/tropical and citruses. This lasts on my skin about 7 to 8 hours. The projection is very good for the first 1 to 2 hours. Silage is great at more than arms length until the 6 hour mark. Very good scent! The younger audience may not like this as much with that opening, but this is purely subjective. This is actually a very good versatile scent. May not push off skin as well in cooler months. This is exceptional for the spring and summer months though. Projection: 8 out of 10 Silage: 9 out of 10 Longevity: 8 out of 10 Scent: 9 out of 10 Price: 6.5 out of 10 (depends on where you get this one. Was able to find this for $50, so for me the price was great. But normally these sell for around $100-$150) Overall: 8.5 out of 10

I got a sample that was given to me for free with another purchase and never heard of this brand or scent. It's interesting scent that gets better in the drydown. The best thing about this fragrance is the musk IMO. Not sure if it's my skin but this lasts easily 6+ hours on my skin with strong projection for the first hour and a half. The scent DNA is pretty well known but it has a twist, it's more tropical and the musk makes it stand out. Again the FAR dry down when you get into the musk is when this really shines, absolutely addicting, but you have to get through the invictus style DNA (not my favorite) to get there. I looked it up and to me at least it's a bit overpriced (120 for 100 ml on discounters). If the price goes down by at least half I might consider picking it up but as it stands there's no way I'm paying 100+ for this fragrance. EDIT: I sprayed this on a test strip a week ago and it's still projecting faintly around a foot and a half. People saying this has no longevity might be going through major nose fatigue. This stuff lasts on fabric it seems and on skin I got good performance. Hoping it goes down to 70-80 bucks because I would pick it up because of that beautiful dry down musk.

Its generic, but people over the internet and on fragrantica have said it to death already and people expect it to be some amouage level unique creation 😭 Say what you want about the company though, they are actually based in ohio and have a lot of creations that are eerily similar to popular fragrances. Anyways, my review. This stuff is amazing and people are going noseblind to it, including myself. I get a big burst of something marine smelling and a juicy orange citrus. I also get a sweet undertone coming from the tonka and coconut. About an hour in the citrus starts to die off and you keep some of the marine smell, but the sweet base starts to come out more. It pretty much stays like that until the deep drydown, where its mostly a blue sweetness to me. This is my favorite blue fragrance hands down. Its generic without being boring and thats what I love about it. Coconut is also my favorite note in a fragrance and I can smell it most of the way through. Performance is good, I get a solid 8 to 9 hours. Sillage is mediocre, my girlfriend had to be within an arms length to smell me with 5 sprays on. 9/10