Rose En Noir

Many people are wearing this instead of Portrait of a Lady & indeed that was why I purchased this 50ml (gorgeous) red bottle in it's dark red box. Myself I still thought of buying POAL a while ago buy not o disappoint anybody - POAL is not what it was when my Great Aunt used to wear it sometimes. If u can find a bottle from pre 2012 then that's good - buy anything post reformulation is not & it's a bit disappointing to be honest. That - is where u will find a very dusty & very dusty-woody drydown) & it sits with it all the way through mixed with the blacurrant/berries patchouli incense & roses - but the rose is now thin & not the way it was (& has a sourness it never had before. Yes it used to be a very Gothic perfume perhaps but it was a wonderful Evening Perfume (perfect for a night at the Opera or out to dinner) or to a beautiful Winter Ball in an opulent Scottish Hotel or even a Scottish Castle (one of my favourite things is to go to such a Ball & straight out of an almost Fantasy Writer's dream. Of coirse I am myself an Author/Writer & must not get carried away with my description here. ) Now unfortunately though they have ruined POAL & a lot of people won't buy it bc it's not the beautiful perfume it was & they are looking for decent replacements (& a much softer price point because in this Economy niche perfumery is becoming completely ridiculous price-wise) & so now we have Chopard Love. Six different kinds of roses in fact many different kinds of Rose including Bulgarian / Tair / Damascena Rose) & has some cinnamon & very clean patchouli (not much & I couldn't stand that if it wasn't the very clean + definitely not too much version) but what Chopard Love also has is a violet note to bring out the rose(s) & to make it a wearable/modern version of "Something like" POAL - it has brown sugar cinnamon & some cacao (in fact to me there is that but also either white chocolate such as used in Bvlgaril Omnia Original (my Love❤️ ❤️& very hard to find now) how & I hoard my precious three bottles tucked away in a cold cupboard - like Golum) or maybe it's a very milk-y chocolate - but either way that mixed with the violet gives this perfume a wearability which many people wouldn't find in POAL (& certainly if they purchased the new version without testing it first - they would probably be very worried.) With this one also - u can amp up the cinnamon & maybe even honey too (it layers beautifully with Jimmy Choo Illicit & u can also wear it layered with Alien Fusion (cinnamon & what smells almost Jasmin like but is tuberose) & I even have Reve de Miele Nux Wonder Waters meaning "Honey Dream" & that works well too. The violet & brown sugar + cacoa & chocolate give it a sweetness & lighten it up - u can add sandalwood &/or amber perfumes if u want to make it deeper & more POAL like - but for about £31-£35 per 50ml (& postage depending) it is a pretty good one (& the bottle inside the red box is absolutely beautiful. Even if u only wear it for glamorous nights out (& in Autumn Winter even going out for Sunday Lunch or maybe Friday night Dinner u cannot really go wrong with it. The £350 for POAL though (in it's modern formulation would be a waste though) for that price there is far better. Once the reformulation gets to that point - & is so dusty & dry dusty-woodsy on top of the incense & the formerly stunning jammy & deep rose has been replaced with a thin one (& a bit sour too it has no business calling itself POAL. I like Miller Harris Rose En Noir though myself very much - such a gorgeous deep dark evening rose perfume & completely fault-less (& I did (get a back up just in case of the dreaded reformulatiom) but alas - this one is just a smidgen to close to that one when u first spray it (Miller Harris a Luxury Brand + far more expensive than this though - it's a bit annoying really🤭) but this is the sweeter slightly more chocolate-y & sweet violet-y sister (they are very very alike to be honest) & so I'm selling mine because she deserves to go to somebody who will Love her & Wear her to go out (especially at night & especially during the Christmas Season top but any luxurious setting would do (but if I didn't have Rose En Noir & adore it for nighttimes as above) & even for lunches in Wintertime then I wouldn't be doing so. (As it is I'm almost in two minds to do so because the bottle of Chopard Love is so gorgeous) & the bottle of Miller Harris so plain & classic - but then I was supposed to be "De-cluttering." No. I must be strict with myself my Fiance even makes jokes about the closet where the perfumes Live as it is (& I must make a serious effort at the de-clutter project.) Lovely bottle though. I myself am not a great fan of Dupes & usually find them a disappointment currently I cannot cannot stand any of the (very thick & very sweet Middle Eastern Dupes of the kind so many people are raving about on here & recommending (I won't be bothering with any more of those I don't think - but this is not that. It's not really a dupe per se at all really - it is more a Re-imagining of the "Idea of Portrait of a Lady" & I have to say that for the price it is very gold & that is a Lot of Roses some very good sweet but not too sweet violet cacao & milk or white chocolate - but not too gourmand (it has a lovely balance about it.) (They even make tiny versions of these beautiful bottles & there's a 30ml - both of which are stunning & perfect eye candy for your bedroom or walk in closet etc - Chopard know a thing or two about perfumery & have made some really good ones & they clearly know about how to make stunning bottles (& how much we love to treasure those. One thing I would point out to anybody on the fence about which Perfume to choose in looking for something along the lines of POAL is that in Miller Harris Rose En Noir it is violet leaf (& no sugar + some tobacco) giving a more niche perfume effect (& it is expensive really) but in Chopard Love it's actual violet & some brown sugar & cacao + chocolate - which lifts all those roses & not too much woods - very modern & gentle woods in Chopard Love - to make a more wearable in modern times effect perfume (Some people simply wouldn't wear something like Rose En Noir & make comments about it being "Too mature" etc) & most people under 50 now I believe wouldn't wear POAL (although it was very beautiful in it's original formulation) it was a huge Gothic incense-y & bewitching perfume & not something most people would wear on a day to day basis. This whilst being quite at home for glamorous Evening Events would also be very at home accompanying somebody to Lunch in a cosy Restaurant or in a Bistro-Pub & any tearoom by a the Fireplace & would be as suitable for a Night at the Opera (especially if layered with Sandalwood/Ambra or Oud/Woods) as it would be on it's own with some rosy or chocolate-y body cream for Sunday Lunch in Autumn/Winter (& the bottle is just lovely. Precious bottle in fact.) Please message me if u would like to buy my barely sprayed 50ml or if you would like to do any kind of swap - there are a few I don't have & would like to try (& some oldies I would really like) but if my Fiance was to ask I am definitely de-cluttering & being almost ruthless in doing so. (I am certainly not watching any perfume videos on Youtube nor looking at reviews on Fragrantica obviously.)

My bottle is from 2006 and is the Liberty Exclusive bottle back when this was a Liberty exclusive, so it's been macerating away in my perfume cupboard for 18 years LOL. It still smells amazing. Top notes are spice and aromatics mainly: lots of pepper and coriander, lemon leaf, and a bit of patchouli. The head is a bit too "spicy salad" to be my favourite part of the scent, but luckily it settles within a minute or two - the pepper burns off, then the herbs, patchouli and dry tobacco come to the fore for a few minutes for a smoky earthy autumn vibe, and then... then!... the most beautiful, jammy rose you've ever smelled blooms from the sooty earth, unfurling green leaves and dark red petals as tobacco, ambrette and patchouli step back but remain in shadow, to keep the rose very much "en noir". The drydown is bliss. Powdered, but still jammy rose on a bed of dark woods for hours and hours and hours. It's gothic but still fresh, delicious but dangerous. It's elegant, sophisticated, and addictive. I have my nose buried in my wrist as I write this. I remember clearly that it was love at first sniff back in Liberty's in 2006. I had never heard of Miller Harris at the time, but I was instantly hooked. My bank account wasn't agreeable, though, as I recall - so I left the bottle behind that first day. Afterwards, though, thought about it every day for a month until I finally broke down and bought it. I think the only reason there is still half a bottle left is that I was trying to get through my Serge Lutens "Sa Majeste la Rose" at the time, so used this one sparingly. I have no idea how it got shuffled to the back of the perfume cupboard but it's coming out again into regular rotation because it is just as beautiful now as it ever was. I guess the world agrees, as it's still in production, albeit no longer under Liberty's banner. I've discovered a few "dark" roses after this that I also love (Tauer "Incense Rose" and JHAG "Mad Madame" spring to mind), but this was the OG and still one of my favourites.

This is one of my favorite roses. There's a timeless beauty to Rose en Noir. When I first spray it, it's like an unearthed treasure that's been around in a crypt for ages that has maintained its beauty because heat, humidity, moisture and light have never penetrated the container that preserved this beautiful concoction. The coriander, pepper, cumin and patch give a strength and backbone few roses (w/out oud) can be as unisex as Rose en Noir while not muffling the lush ripe rose that must have grown in a royal garden. I must give credit to Lyn Harris for this strong vision. Clearly a man would smolder in this, but this baby is mine all mine. The tobacco and rose are like the contrast between an aria sung by an Alto and Soprano to contain all of this beauty while allowing all notes to shine in this wondrous composition as it swirls in your senses and you thank your lucky stars for the sense of smell and maybe you're fortunate enough to have a backup bottle of the precious. Two hours in I still smell the lemon leaf, and it seems a counterpoint for the pepper and cumin. This is one of my fall/winter favorites that gets pulled front and center with the arrival of fall. This is in a class that I include with L'arte di Gucci, POaL, Rose 31, Une Rose, Rose of Kandahar and Rose Of No Mans Land. This is not an ingenue rose like Izia, Rose Splendide or Rose de Grasse (although I LOVE these compositions too). I could see a young woman with a Goth style loving this perfume, but it is certainly right at home on a woman of taste and experience. For some reason, I could easily see Tom Ford wearing this. For me, this is Ms. Harris' masterpiece.

I don't know that I'd describe this as a gothic rose fragrance--I feel as if I need to smell more than just this and L'Ombre dans l'Eau to form a valid opinion on that--but I can see why others might. I can't make out the supporting notes specifically, with the probable exception of the (laid-back) tobacco. This, though, is in keeping with the fact that, to my nose, this fragrance, while clearly having some sweet and gummy facets such as might be expected in a floral-forward scent (and which here remind me of what I think has been listed as cyclamen in some other scents I've smelt), is mostly a very--not rich, exactly, or at least not in a super-floral or gourmand way--warm, dark, rounded, kind of full-bodied representation of what I experience almost as a big, fat, velvety-thick deep-red English garden rose right in front of my face (or photographed very close up, to the effective exclusion of everything around it, with a very high-quality camera and macro lens). This is not to say that the performance is hefty; it's average. This is not an overcomplicated fragrance but it's not a cheap one-dimensional one either. Very nice for gloomy or damp days or nights in autumn and probably in winter too. Oh, and--I'm male and absolutely do not have a problem wearing this. Edit: of all the fragrances I've tried, this has the capacity to open with the biggest slap of a lipstick effect.

This is a surprising oriental floral, based on rose, with a classical feel. When I arrived here in the database, the only note voted for on the diagram was rose. I voted for the other notes (besides cumin, I din't notice it) because this isn't a soliflore, there are other strong players. For example, Rose En Noir is full of tobacco off the top, and dries down to a clean, dry, leafy scent with a hint of spice. I think it's unique because at first it's a spicy, smoky rose, but for an EDP the sillage is light and texture airy. I'm reminded of a black voile curtain in the bedroom of a country estate, fluttering by the breeze of an open window at evening. It has an element of greenness, but herbal green, an added layer not part of the rose itself... different from Malle's Une Rose, which smells as much of actual rose stems as it does the petals! I will purchase a larger decant of this scent to be able to wear it a few more times. I really enjoy the smoky opening and way it makes *me* feel naturally pretty. The sillage becomes almost too polite for me after 30 minutes of wear. With a larger decant, I can hopefully manage to increase the dose and enjoy this perfume for longer.