Orris Noir

Ooooh gorgeous. Sexy classy upscale waxy earthy rooty iris surrounded by spicy tangs of mystery. Opens with a giant great BANG of outrageously flamboyant and bossy pepper, which I love, and instantly conjured a much much more upmarket Caron Parfum Sacre - so that's a whole lot of pepper, black and pimento, maybe enough to make you sneeze while still being redolent of milder, mellower woods. And there's a strikingly creamy, rich feel to the orris and iris - this is no pale, floral pastel sketch but a deep, richly-textured oil painting of the iris flower amid a bouquet of aromatics. Bayleaf can give me a banging headache but here it's just doing some supporting work well in the background. Absolutely delectable all the way through as it grows slightly less spicy, more floral and milder over time - and it doesn't last forever: the first burst is big but shrinks fast, though this hangs on, even on my skin, for up to 6h, so it's respectable but not outstanding. Unisex skewing femme, IMHO - though while Orris Noir's a tiny bit sweeter overall, any man willing to wear scents like Piguet or YSL Velours could deal with this one too, I think, for a much spicier and darker spin around the dancefloor with a very different kind of Iris. She's a grown-up, grounded, sophisticated lady, this one. Retail price is outrageous (if cost is an issue go for Parfum Sacre!) but this is worth hunting out for bargains wherever you can. A winner without a doubt.

Case when unfortunate name undermines great perfume! There's zero "noir" about it, as many here stated already. It causes many people to be disappointed too quick because they come to it with preconception that will not be fulfilled. It is not dark and heavy, but rather light, spicy and airy. Now come back to it with this expectation and see how wonderful, well balanced and uncommon this scent is, at least on opening and midlife. After 5 hours it does gets darker, but more common and less impressive. It is unisex with leaning toward feminine (sprayed on paper), but on men skin (as it was in my case) it could lose some powderness and sweetness and becomes perfect upscale daytime-office men scent. Longevity is pretty good, 9-10 hours on my skin. Projection and sillage barely reaches moderate, but it also not a skin scent, it kind of lingers 1 ft from skin good 7 hours.

My first impression is of a sweet, candied, fruity scent, neither orris-like nor dark. There is a dry woody note, but it’s a light wood, sort of like dry oak planks. As it settles in, it becomes a rich, slightly sharp and spicy floral-oriental scent. I like it a lot. Like some of the other OJ scents that I’ve tried, it has what I perceive as rough edges, notes that don’t quite mesh but are close enough not to be perceived as separate, something like beat frequencies in closely spaced musical pitches, producing the olfactory equivalent of rough timbre. Whether intentional or not, it’s an interesting effect. Sillage is moderate, and the scent lasts at least 6 hours on skin. It’s not my favorite OJ scent, but it’s up there near the top.

I dismissed this out of hand the first time I tried it. All I smelled was pepper. But then the other day I was messing around with the sample (trying to measure how much came out per spray - true!) and I kept sniffing the tray I'd sprayed it into. I wound up rubbing the tray on my wrist. It smelled great! It has the same cedar drydown as its siblings Frangipani and Ormonde Woman but it has better sillage and a seductive incense note that I like very much. I don't think I like it quite as well as the other two but still, it's quite nice.

pepato all'inizio, anzi proprio piccante direi, con un'evoluzione assai originale su iris, patchouli secchissimo e, infine, incenso. molto gradevole la giustapposizione di note speziate che passano su toni floreali-polverosi per assestarsi sul balsamico e l'affumicato. contro ogni previsione non si tratta di una bomba invernale ma piuttosto di un profumo che col tepore, secondo me, deve rendere meglio. non invasivo, neppure persistente, ma godibilissimo. molto buono.