Harmatan Noir 11

I'm surprised this is not on the top 5 fragrances by Pierre Guillaume and/or get more reviews here as it is a great mix of originality, wearability and freshness (with a long shhh, freshhhhhh). Do you know this fragrance? Go acquaint yourselves with it dear friends! I love Harmatan noir, it is on my top 5 summer scents ever. A quick word of caution here before going on: I tend to dislike conventional summer scents on me. I find them predictable, not too distinct from one another and a boring trip sooner or later. So having said that: Harmatan Noir is one of a kind, fresh mint tea with a salty touch, very green and definitely quirky. It has been compared to Geranium pour monsieur here and although the mint is present in both, I would respectfully disagree for Harmatan is not a refined smell, or chic, it is a tea scent with the cultural feeling attached to it, a very realistic mint tea by the garden in some old house in Morocco. This I guess is something not everyone would like, its natural and more artisanal feeling as opposed to high end conceptual Paris. I choose both. I love the fact I can enjoy this scent for its weirdness while most people I meet compliment it for smelling great. Unlike many of my other beloved scents, people don't "huh?" at me when I wear this. Still: not for everyone, it has this sweet side that I imagine not being everyone's cup of... tea. The only scent I can mention to be a relative of this is Menthe Fraiche by Heeley, which I like but get easily tired of. I definitely prefer this over that one.

A gorgeous twisted traditional cologne - very bright and left left field. I find so many reviews here over the top and ridiculous - sorry.. Simply a very salty tea with no milk, very bright lemons carry it into a traditional but not traditional cologne over the top of a slight woody base. Classic Pierre Guillaume at his best. Not massive on silage or longevity (so far tho I need to try it some more). At an arms waft it comes across as a nice slightly spiced tea - a little anosomic. Reminds me vaguely of Ralph Lauren Romance Silver. Not full price full bottle worthy unless this is your favourite genre - I would definitely seek a decant for a permanent place in my collection even as a personal scent.. Very perky indeed!!!

Just rebought a full bottle, my last one was the first PG I bought 10 years ago. It's such a perfectly dry, woody, sharp, multi-facetted, complicated mint. I can't live without. It's a bit in the vain of Geranium pour Monsieur, if you like GPM, you will also like this one, I guess, although GPM is less rough and a more elegant take on mint. And btw, It could be a good option of a cologne/sporty scent for people who don't like citruses- they're there but very mute.

I like this scent very much! The opening is a little on the sweet side for me, but Harmatan quickly transforms into a beautifully balanced, refreshing green scent. I’m getting lots of mint (the herb that is), with smokey tea and crisp woods playing along. It has a cool, shady quality to it (great for summer!), but orange and a hint of jasmin add enough sparkle and shimmer. Very delicate and very enjoyable! Discreet indeed, so no big sillage.

First off, I get that this is not for everyone, but for me, Harmatan Noir is fantastic as I love atmospheric, aromatic fragrances. Imagine a dusty, outdoor cafe, somewhere is the middle of West Africa, the faint smell of mint tea is in the air, and the aroma of dry woods wafts in, along with a touch of salt. Sounds different, Yes, but it is unique and refreshing, if fleeting. Wear anytime, but a warm day is best.

A fresh and clean minty scent, perfect for the summer. Probably my favorite from Parfumerie Generale. Love it.

Salty, minty black tea. Not much more to add. Sooo gooood.

140) New basic Big minty notes starting rather an unusual opening. That said, the mint does not present a very long time luckily, this fusing and cold note is far from what is best in this fragrance. What is unveiled after a few minutes is certainly more appealing. Imagine that you dip your nose in a mixture of smoky Lapsang Souchong tea embellished with dried violet flowers, some lemon peel and hot spices. An intriguing effect emerges from this aromatic not trivial, which evolves from a metallic squeaky freshness to a dry air world of leather, incense, dried herbs and resins. Discreet but present, a fine example of distinguished and refined aromatic. It is with Aomassai my favorite in PG collection. If you don't like the opening Pierre Guillaume has exactly duplicated the base notes without mint, but even more aromatic, for Laboratorio Olfactivo under the name of Esvedra. Like all the PG creations the longevity and the sillage is disappointing (on skin).

(All Too) Brief Encounter. Airy, fresh, light-green tea with a lovely but restrained squad of herbs lurking a discreet distance away. Exceedingly refreshing and a whole lot less synthetic-seeming or artificially sweetened than many 'green tea' fragrances; true unisex and with overtones of real plants. But sadly, this is one of the PG's that doesn't have the strength to back up its beauty; vanishes fast and is never that robust even at its peak on me. A delicate watercolour of a thing, then, limpid and clear, but gone too soon. Think some of the Hermes eaux, or the Jardin series, but a bit less assertive and complex, and that's about right. But performance just a washout on this one - a shame as it's real purty.

Not strong, but it starts out very pleasantly, with mint and a little spice. There are notes of fruit (apple?) and wood in the background, which grow as time passes. Cedar is listed in the notes, but I'm not getting any of that. The tea is a green tea, I think. It smells like something I'd like to drink. Very refreshing, and probably most appropriate for summer. After about a half-hour, the mint fades; a honeydew melon note comes out, along with salt and more spice - possibly cumin. The fragrance still causes my nose to tingle, even though I don't smell mint.

Incense + sun heated twigs and lichens + scent of an old city (watered pavements during the heat, colder air circulating from basements of old tenement houses) + scent of herbarium (dry plants) + ink (changing into the dry plants) + extinguishing fireplace + church benches + trace of cloves + leaves of agrimony? (Agrimonia eupatoria) (Tiger by Kenzo?) + leaves of chrysanths + soapy, cologne-y note in the base.

Yes, I agree that Harmatan Noire is perfect for summer ... a little spicy, but note of tea, salt, wood leaves a delightful trail. I like it, this is my type of fragrance. Some flowers, like a blossom of a rare wood, but I can not remember exactly what I recalled.

For my nose this is a strong dusty mint tea with a drop of salt in it. It's an exceptional yet somehow calm and reserved fragrance which would suit men very well. Great like many PG scents!

Fantastic. Superbly blended. Savory spices with a bit of dirty mint, black licorice, hay and woods.

Intense spicy opening. I don't get fresh mint as such, but more like dried mint leaves (the kind you'd use as cooking spice-to my nose it's more like parsley!). This note is very persistent, even when the floral notes join in later on. Overall it's an interesting concept, but I feel it lacks something that would make it uplifting.

Overwhelming patchouli, not much else. Not a terrible scent, sort of compelling, but the notes listed are cuckoo, and it veers too far into pickle juice for me, even in the opening so it doesn't bode well for the patchouli drydown.

Ugh I wanted to love this frag but really can't. To me it smells anything but green. It's giving tea with grandma in the worst way possible. Cloyingly chemical and smells nothing like I expected. Idk if it's just my chemistry or if I misjudged the notes but damn... I can't stand this scent on me.

Loved it the first time. Now all I get is minty pickle juice.

This is gorgeous, particularly the opening & transition to floral heart. My experience of the opening is very strong sharp citrus & bitter herb like galbanum or artemisia layered over smooth powdery spicy like cardamom or nutmeg. Performance wise, these top notes remain strong & last a very long time (more than one hour). Over this time floral heart note builds, but itself doesn't last super long until transition to woody, slightly balsamic, slightly animalic base containing some continuity with preceding greenery, which is complete within two hours. Interestingly, I didn't specifically recognize mint or tea notes, testing blind just more general herbs & greenery, although I get it in retrospect. To me, this reads like a chypre. Also, I find the base to remain pretty strong, not fade so quickly as for others. ETA on 1/3/21: Now that I've had FB for a bit, I definitely see the opening as evoking minty spicy Indian chai, even a little bit milky lactonic.

Such a nice surprise. Minty notes and citruses juxtaposed to spicy and smoky notes. It's funny how the mint takes the distance from the toothpaste-y / bubblegum-ish aspect of this ingredient. What really works is that it is paired to a smoky lapsang tea accrod that made me immediately think about maroccan mint-tea. it's grassy, herbaceous and refreshing but at the same time sort of warm. The fragrance transitions to a super-smooth woody-spicy base with smoky undertones which feels unquestionably modern and masculine. Probably not groundbreaking but a fantastic go-to fragrance for summer. Kudos to Guillame for creating some of the most original accords in modern perfumery... I'd suggest this fragrance to anyone who likes modern takes on masculine themes. A couple keywords: Hermessence, The Different Company. Rating: 7.5/10