Bois Noir

TOLKIEN'S MIRKWOOD A forest is a place of magic and danger, found in many countries' folklore wherever the natural wilderness is wooded: it is a place beyond which humans normally travel and where strange things can happen. Often there are fairies, elves, dragons, dwarves, giants, gnomes, goblins, ogres, trolls, unicorns and other mythical creatures, as well as perfumers and perfume addicts, all of whom have developed a taste for dark, gloomy, smoky, woody places. If you think you have a place among these guys, then you are bound to like or even love François Piguet's Bois Noir. The opening and heart are all about intense, dark, woody scents. Palo Santo stands out with its tary, smoky and tarmac notes. But there is also austere cedar, the sweet lingering scent of sandalwood and earthy patchouli. The opening and heart notes don't seem to fade. On the contrary, they are reinforced by the strong base notes of resins, balsams and labdanum, tied together by a hint of animal musk. These rich accords of woods, balsams and resins are immediately noticeable. This dark, smoky scent is truly pleasant and is undoubtedly the DNA of this perfume. After the initial storm, as you approach the drydown, you feel the fragrance entering calmer waters. The sillage is average (but always high compared to non-woodsy scents), but the fragrance lasts almost ten hours with three sprays. It's my kind of scent, and Piguet is one of my top five niche houses for their mastery of blending this kind of dark, smoky scent. The nose behind this perfume is Aurelien Guichard, the house's 'regular' perfumer, and gems like Casbah, Visa and Oud Divin come to mind when you experience Bois Noir. Let's assess this dark, enchanted forest: ________________ Scent Opening: 10,0 Scent Drydown: 10.0 Longevity: 9.0 Sillage: 8.0 Uniqueness: 9.5 (Piguet DNA only) Wearability: 7.5 (Spring nights + Winter + Fall nights) Versatility: 8.0 (at leisure by yourself, formal occasions, dining out, no clubbing, no gym, no seaside) Compliments: 7.5 (dark fragrances lovers will like it a lot) Quality: 10.0 (quality ingredients; excellent packaging and bottle sprayer) Presentation: 9.0 (High standard but not the best) Price: 7.5 (€80,00 - 100 ml) ________________ Overall rating: 8.73/10.0 between 7 and 8 =above average; between 8 and 9 = recommended; bigger than 9 = don't miss it; MY OPINION: One of the best woody, balsamic, dark and smoky scents I own, at a competitive price for a niche perfume of this quality; if these are the characteristics you are looking for, Bois Noir does the job superbly. It's far from an 'all round' fragrance and the wrong choice if that's what you're looking for. Recommended? No! Do try it before you buy it. It's just too specific. MUSIC: "Changes" by Black Sabath

I am basing my opinion on a sample rather than a longer term wearing but this is a fascinating scent. Straight out of the traps this gives a really strong Cloves and Musk aroma which quite quickly settles and balances out in to a dark, austere, mysterious journey of spices, woods, resins and musk. Not a mass appealing crowd pleaser, oh no. Yet, it is still somewhat alluring and almost addictive albeit from curious fascination more than out and out attraction. I see how this could be deemed unisex but I feel it does lean more masculine. The scent profile conjures a youthful Dorian Gray-like character (don't laugh, I'm serious. :o) ) but not in an altogether gloomy sense as it is still very sophisticated and luxuriously woody. I see some of the votes for similar fragrances and am shocked. Gucci Intense Oud......woody and resinous yes but quite different from Bois Noir. Z & V This Is Him! - No. No. No. Just no. Lalique Encre Noire A L'Extreme, one of my favourite scents, err...yes both are woody spicy and dark but one is keenly Vetiver driven and the other is most definitely Guaiac and Cedar driven so quite different....they might live in the same forest but in very different parts of that forest. Tom Ford Noir Anthracite - literal translation Anthracite Black better known as coal - strays a little closer capturing that freshly mined coal accord with an extra dry, citrusy, spicy edge but it is still some way off what Bois Noir captures which is more of a walk through a damp, dark, cold, ancient forest. Anyway, I digress. I haven't tried every scent known to human kind so I cannot make claims like "wow! this is so unique!" but from the few hundred that I have either owned or sampled over the years I don't think I have come across one quite like this. Not to everyone's taste perhaps but for me this is special and has more than earned a place in my autumn fragrance wardrobe.

I'm not sure where it takes its inspiration from, but while I respect each and every opinion, I totally disagree that this one has been "made to put something on the table during exhibitions", or that "it is a crowdpleaser targeting mainstream crowds". What I get is a lot of resins (frankincense on top, and also probably opoponax, tolu balsam and possibly elemi), with a noticeable cedar note, and a guaiac wood note in the background. I also get some sweetness, probably the patchouli with vanilla support. A dark but warm fragrance. While this one is definitely placed on the woody/resinous/incensy shelf as other ones previously cited by other commenters (Nasomatto BA, Gucci IO...), sating that it's "similar" just doesn't make sense. Indeed, at that point, it would also be fair to specify that Nasomatto BA, Gucci IO and Carner Cuirs had tenths of fragrances preceeding them to use similar notes: but that's not enough to make them similar. Although I agree to say that the latter 3 shares similarities, I think that Piguet Bois Noir is pretty different compared to these and brings a noticeable originality to that shelf. Not to talk about price, that (for a 100ml equivalent) currently costs - in the best case online - : BA $400, IO $130, Cuirs $150, while I got Piguet BN for just $45 shipped on amazon... A big winner here, and different enough from other frags in the "same category" to have convinced me to pull the trigger. Thank you Robert! Fall/Winter evenings, 25+

It is very nice. It is also very similar to Cuirs by Carner Barcelona, Private Label by Jovoy Paris and a milder version of Black Afgano by Nasomatto. And considering from my relatively limited ventures and exploration of different perfumes, niche ranges, samples etc that I can already off the top of my head name 3 other scents that smell similar it certainly doesn't feel original. I don't know which came first, or which others smell similar, but for me I would be happy with any 1 of those 4 scents in my wardrobe but don't feel any need to have them all as they are so similar to me. I guess it would depend on what order you came to these scents, if this was the first I had smelled of its kind I would be deep in love and pricing it up right now, not writing this. That said for all its likeness to other scents this is a very lovely scent and one I love, but I do feel that it comes in at least 4 different bottles! So, I do love this smell and I do want it, so I guess it will come down to price, longevity and sillage. Basically a really lovely, wearable and relaxing scent, I am female and don't feel at all uncomfortable with any of these kind of scents so unisex for sure. Well worth a try if you like this kind of thing, but if you have any of the others you probably don't need this.

Great review from chromatic...says it all really! I tried it and I have to say I really loved it but it's very similar to other fragrances I like, super woody and full of incense...and unfortunately not very original in its approach. But who cares? It smells wonderful! I will buy this fragrance because it's so wearable has great sillage and longevity, also it's not a well known brand and is something different for the collector, quite reasonably priced too for a high quality fragrance. Smells great this one people. Update: Ha! well I never! Didn't really look at the notes in this one and there's no incense to be found.