Lovely Noir

Ohh yes yes yes I need the biggest bottle!!! Woody, green beautiful vetiver, resinous essence, creamy ambery vanilla, slightly tart, earthy patch spice done right, and a dose of oriental fruity floral allure with the mandarin, jasmine, pear. It's been a while since a perfume got me so elated and hyper. My Aries girl did it again with this one. I kept listening to the negative reviews and missing out on a gem like this. 1/3 of it is like La Belle, another oriental beauty: a common tart pear, more subdued here not as salty, a high pitched floral note being the peony instead of the bergamot, jasmine here, floral notes there so this is less sour/salty. Both are built around vetiver, amber, vanilla goodness. Both are oriental beauties (Lovely Noir lacks the leather accord so it makes it easier to wear). This has a dark side to it tho so 1.5/3 is like Iggy's Devil's Advocate, minus the deep, peppery men's deodorant-armpit sweat type of amber-vanilla orchid of that one (which made me get rid of it eventually), but at the drydown they're similar with Lovely Noir being more creamy, more feminine, smoother, just perfect. It's the best substitute for Devil's Advocate. We have mandarin in both, resinous balsamic olibanum there, resinous balsamic benzoin here, sandalwood in both, vetiver here, woody notes there, amber and patch in both. That one's lacking the sweet vanilla of this. It's amazing. The amber isn't sharp and it quickly becomes what's meant to be, I don't have to wait 2 hours or so for the smooth, creamy woody earthy vanilla to evolve or the patch spice to be comforting. They already are right off the bat. Nothing harsh or obnoxious. All of her Lovely line are amazing skin scents even the OG which is the more mature one with the intense patchouli. It's also a less sour less balsamic cousin of Hayan by I Profumi Di Firenze - I have "Echoes of Hope" by The Dua brand (yes The Dua, don't crucify me) it's got notes of White Flowers, Bitter Woods, Madagascar Vanilla, & Patchouli. They're both very woody, decadent with oriental jasmine a sour aspect and a resinous element. Lovely Noir is more wearable tho, built around vanilla and earthy vetiver. The combo is delicious. Not the dusty stale vetiver. Its green woody vetiver vein is embellished so nicely by the benzoin and vanilla. The opening has a freshness before it takes you on that oriental journey. Another cousin imo featuring that beautiful sour salty floral patchouli essence is Intense Natural Jasmine Voyage by The Dua brand for Nomade Jasmin Naturel Intense by Chloé. The notes are Jasmine, Date, Pear, Vanilla, Sandalwood, & Patchouli. The date note is sour resinous there as it is in other date scents, but you see it's likewise built around jasmine, pear, sandalwood and patchouli. So that's the basic recipe I guess. Lovely Noir keeps that beautiful oriental sandalwood, jasmine, pear, patch-vsnilla structure and adds to it more oriental zest with the mandarin, a fresh airy floral note, a decadent resinous balsamic heart and aromatic green slightly dark woods meshing with that rich, ambery vanilla. The best of all the aforementioned scents. l'Interdit is built around pear, jasmine, patch, vanilla and vetiver but the vetiver is smoky on me, the ambroxan bergamot sour, obnoxious, the lack of resinous notes leaves the patchouli unhinged, dirty and harsh so with the indolic florals salad they're reminiscent of old ladies in the Greek church. Long story short I'm very happy with Lovely Noir I can't stop wearing it.

What is it about the pear and jasmine in Lovely Noir that induces a raisin-like quality to my nose? In its entirety the perfume is a complete experience of a boozy, rum and raisin vanilla ice cream but warm. It opens a bit sour but sweet. You've just been handed a scoop of the ice cream. As you eat it, rum fills your senses, addictive and smooth. Once you finish, the trail of vanilla it leaves behind makes you want another scoop. I love how noticeable the benzoin is, and how beautifully well it bleeds into the vanilla that they produce a rum-adjacent harmony. That aspect certainly makes Noir a darker, more mature type of vanilla scent. On its own it stands strong and whole, but I reckon layered with a woody or inky scent this could be a beast. Weirdly enough, the more you sweat the better this perfume becomes, coupled with a long lasting performance on the skin.

This is such a nice boozy non- rich vanilla. As someone who still mourns the discontinuation of stash, I’m so happy SJP is stepping back into a darker, stronger scent. This has great longevity and scent bubble for its price, and I find the woody amber dry down to be so intriguing. I also think this is a particularly good showing of benzoin- the tangy balsamic mixed with the sweetness makes my nose crinkle in a good way. It almost reminds me of a much cheaper version of another recent favourite, sages rose. A great addition to the sjp fam! Update: unfortunately, after a week of macerating, this lost its complexities and turned into a sugar bomb. It’s so disappointing, I loved the deeper woody tang. Not a waste of $$ it’s so cheap, but I wouldn’t bother to buy again

I was very surprised to be able to try this perfume straight out of the box thanks to a kind chemist warehouse worker. It smelled absolutely divine on the paper, I absolutely love delicious fruity-sweet, amber-forward scents. But unfortunately, when I got around to testing it on my skin, the vetiver and sandalwood notes also jumped out with the amber and made it smell a bit too masculine for my liking (plus I'm not particularly a fan of vetiver either, it kinda smells like hay to me) So although I was disappointed by the dry down, I still like this scent and am confident that it would smell nicer on other people as it's just too strong on me !

I thought this was very powdery and had the typical 'noir' smell on my first initial spray. However, the drydown is sooooo beautiful 😍😍😍 very powdery, vanilla-ry, and smooth. This is how I wish Vanilla Powder by Matiere Premiere should have smelt like, and I also prefer this fragrance to Grand Soir. I don't own any of the SJP line but I have tried many of them and really rate them, especially for the price, it's a steal!. This fragrance is by far my favorite from the line, and I can't get over how good this actually is.