Fourreau Noir

I fondly recall a visit a few years ago to Bleu Lavande, in Magog, Quebec, where their fields of lavender are open to the public. We visited during peak season, early July, marveling at the expanse of purple, the aroma redolent in the humid air. Along with the usual essential oils and various personal care and bath items that used their crop, they served delicious treats, such as this lavender ice cream, which leads me to Fourreau Noir. Lavender is paired with a creamy, vanillic tonka and the opening takes me back to that day, all warm and hopeful, but its comforting embrace almost makes my eyes water, feeling wistful and vulnerable. Time waits for no one, that day is just a memory, and it is that memory among many that I hold so dear, because it was with someone who I love with all my heart and I am grateful every day to have in my life. If that isn't testament to the power of scent, I don't know what is. As Fourreau Noir settles on my skin, an almond accord surfaces, at once bitter and sweet, while the spot of clean linen dihydromyrcenol subsides and smoky musk moves in like a mist at twilight, shaded with a dusky patchouli. Fourreau Noir puts a spell on me, reminding me of how it feels during hypnagogia, that state between being awake and asleep (hynopompia being the opposite when the body awakens), where we drift in and out, see or hear—or smell things from our past, we almost hallucinate and dreams are just out of our reach. They are the dreams of Bleu Lavande, of lavender fields, ice cream, the love of one's life, and the hopes of tomorrow.

I can't resist...I tried a sample of this and it's a knockout! I could probably pull this off. When I wear Fourreau Noir, I smell like a leather couch made of the finest, most exquisitely treated leather, with a bit of sweetness of excellently blended pipe tobacco smoke...just a hint! After about three hours, it softens into a creamy, sweetish leathery yummmm, and it stays with me as a soft perfume aura for the whole day. I do detect the small bit of lavender in this, which I was initially worried about as lavender projects in a masculine way on me, usually too masculine; the lavender in this brightened the mix so that I didn't turn into a smoke bomb, but it didn't overpower the other glorious ingredients. This one is very refined, and I tried Chergui recently (I can see how these two fragrances could be related), and wore that for a few days and I think Fourreau Noir works the best for me. That being said, if I do buy this (imho, this one IS worth the steep price tag) it will not be for me, but I will give it to my husband and persuade him to wear it. I want to smell this one on men, not on myself. This would be DIVINE on men!!!! Fourreau Noir said to me (I'm serious!), "Vanessa, I like you, but you're not a man. I need a man." I could just see myself following a man who is wearing this, and trying to reassure him: "No, no, I'm not a stalker! I just want to smell the Fourreau Noir on you, just let me follow in your scent wake!" All men should try this. Just think of what you could get away with!!!

Smashing Lavender scent! I bought this in a rare travel kit form. I just recently purchased TF Lavender Extreme and Harrods for Him. All with Lavender my fave scent. I complained that nobody did a great natural lavender that was a stinker and then I get three almost at once!!!! Lavender Extreme is still the best for me - super, super natural bright violet lavender stench with a super powerful tonka that evolves out from behind over an hour to 10 hours at a volume of 10! This is different. It’s slightly darker especially at first. The tonka is there but more of a subtle accompaniment and the musk is there, which makes the lavender bolder - it’s like you have a lavender flower with the stalk and all crushed where as TF LE is more like just the petals crushed. This does not have so far the same performance in Sillage or longevity as LE but it is above average. After 1 to 3 hours the tonka starts to strengthen bringing it closer but the almond and musk keeping it darker than LE. Bond No9 is vaguely similar, in Sillage and longevity too however the chamomile and rhubarb keep it sweeter and smoother. For me these are my top three lavender scents (maybe L’occitane Lavande too). If you like lavender I know you won’t be disappointed...

Years ago, when FN was just new on the market I tried it amongst a couple of other perfumes in the amazing store of Palais Royal and thought that it was not for me...just too heavy, too smoky...it was somewhen in early summer. During one of my later visits there I received the entire collection of wax samples. After another long while I happened to open the one with the FN sample finally and...it was just stunning. I didn't get any lavender or flower from it but the deep musky side of this scent reminded me right away on my dear black she-cat how she often used to sit next to me giving me company while I was lying on the sofa during long, cold and dark winter evenings...such a warm, cosy and comforting memory. It's not that my cat smelled exactly like FN but her black warm hair was the first thing that came to my mind when this scent started to develop to something so familiar on my wrist. It took a while to discover FN for me. But now it's one of my preferred scents from my SL collection. I just bought the bell bottle last this week in the store in Paris - my fragrance for cold weather. Can't wait for autumn to come. Long lasting on my skin with a polite sillage. 10/10

I tried to find a note pyramid on Serge Lutens' website, but there was none. Fragrantica says this perfume contains tonka bean, lavender, almond, and musk. Well, if I may say so, there has never been a perfume that was more straightforward because those notes are all I smell. What you see is what you get. It's creamy, vanilla-like, with strong raw almond and just a hint of lavender. It's hard to say a lot about a perfume that is so simple. I don't see this as a masterpiece, but I certainly love it. The notes combine together beautifully, and it seems appropriate to wear just about anywhere. So the bottom line is that if these 4 notes appeal to you in combination with one another, Fourreau Noir is a safe bet. Update June 2020 (4 years later). I had the chance to buy one of the travel sprays for a very reasonable price, so I jumped on it. It’s as beautiful as I remember. I’m smelling lavender, sweet nutty tonka and laundry musk. Same 4 notes. I really love this fragrance and think it’s perfect for any occasion. Casual or dressed up, it’s perfect.

Okay, so I'll admit that I do really like this. It's lovely, enjoyable and it lasts. All things you'd want. It shifts, changes and develops in an easy to understand way. Do I want it? I'd not say no, but I don't want it desperately. I love lavender scents, I love tonka. They're combined a LOT, though and while this isn't entirely reminiscent of anything else I've tried... it feels kind of like other things. The opening, however, true to form of the brand, is very different to the main body of the scent. Its straight up dusty, smoky incense with a little bit of scratchy citrus. The rest is a creamy, edible lavender scent that calms and relaxes. It's not available in my country and I'm not too sad. One of my instagram friends was lovely enough to send a decant of this and I'll truly enjoy it, but once it's done I could accept it. I won't cry. I'll enjoy that I've given this a go and wasn't disappointed.

Lavender, supported by a noticeable almond. Shorlty after, the tonka bean shows-up rounding the edges and balances the bitterness of the almond by an envelopping sweetness. The drydown is about musc and incense, with the lavender still present. Performance is average on my skin. The 3rd and final take of Lutens on the lavender theme, and what a final! Very similar to Gris Clair, with the almond instead of iris and vanilla. Gris Clair: sharp with great presence, quite metallic, masculine, best for spring and fall days Fourreau Noir: warm, thick, round, balsamic lavender, unisex, best for winter days and spring/fall nights Encens et Lavande: crystal clear, natural lavender with a present but non invasive incense, unisex (but its thin structure makes it lean slightly feminine) You can't go wrong with any of these 3.

A shapeshifting beauty from Serge Lutens. This perfume of contrasts somehow manages to look both forward and backward through the fougere genre in an interesting perfumery sleight of hand. Its opening notes contain an absolutely prominent and noticeable but measured use of the metallic lime-lavender dihydromyrcenol, that ubiquitous "male fresh fougere" staple. I definitely don't mind it here, and it segues interestingly into the creamy, vanillic, tonka-based heart. The final drydown of this is a gorgeous semi-smoky, woody, crisp, lavender-tonka-vanilla chord which brings to mind the lavender-tonka-sandalwood-patchouli-vanilla final whispers of Jicky. Both scents also start with cacophony and end with sweet, glorious harmony. Beautiful and I so miss my finished bottle of this.

Fourreau Noir by Serge Lutens is dangerously addictive! Aggressively herbal, dried lavender notes crescendo into bitter almond and delicious tonka bean. Yet, Lutens saves the best for last: the powdery base notes of rich patchouli and incense are breathtaking and balance the initial lavender blast. Fourreau Noir is seriously seductive. This is the perfume that Basic Instinct's Catherine Tramell would have selected for the infamous interrogation scene! It's cigarette smoke, leather, incense, and opulence personified. Fourreau Noir mesmerizes everyone in its path. Sillage is high and longevity is astounding (6+ hours)!

On me, I get smoky lavender with a lot of almond, both of the bitter and the marzipan varieties. The tonka bean and musk give it a lot of powder. Oddly, I get bitter chocolate more than vanilla with the tonka bean. That said, I would definitely not consider this a sweet perfume; on me, it's powdery and rather bittersweet (not at all in a bad way). Also, on me, the perfume is WYSIWYG: it's the same from the second I apply it to when the last notes fade away. All in all, I quite like it, although I much prefer Incense et Lavande, which I think is one of the best lavender scents ever made.

I love this. Took me a while to work out it was lavender, though - it's a very sticky, heavy lavender, like I imagine lavender 'stroop' would be, though I have never seen or eaten such a thing. Lavender very much in an oriental style rather than a fougère - not clean, not powdery, not sharp or herbal but heavy and resinous, filtered through the typical Lutens prism. I'd previously tried this in wax sample but to my mind the spray (vap tout noir) is quite different - more masculine and less creamy and voluptuous. It is to lavender what Une Voix Noire is to gardenia.

Every disappointing prissy-sugar-frosted-floral-batch-of-whatever should grow a pair and become Fourreau Noir. This is exactly what I want in a new take on a traditional form. This is a clean lavender-musk, but skipping the vanilla for a complicated bittersweet almond is an elegant departure from the fruity-floral smell du jour. The result feels like an impressionist rendering of an old master we have seen copied a thousand times. Again, Sheldrake gives a deconstructed classic lightness and lively modernity that somehow feels like exactly what Lavender wants to be.

PERKINS PASTE!! For those of you that remember these pink/purple posts of glue (that never glued anything with sucess). I am trying really hard not tp lick my wrist.... Almonds, ground almonds rubbed together with lavaender (not the dried potpourri stuff). This is just amazing on me. Well hell on a man I would marry him on the spot. Never has lavender been sexy. This one has been sitting in his musty library (maybe smoking) and has come out to play a bit, first he has walked through a field of lavender. I think I could swapp my whole collection for this one.

This is lovely stuff. Love it, want it, gotta have it. I don't find it as masculine as some scents; it's a lot sweeter than Muscs Koublai Khan, for instance. It has everything that I like, I want to roll in it like catnip. A must-have, for me. 10/10. Addition: 4 years later, I have 2 bottles and the lavender seems more prominent to me now. It's Jicky's furry cousin! but the drydown is where the action is. My affection for this, has remained unchanged x

Another lovely addictive aromatic scent from the incomparable Serge Lutens. The perfume opens with notes of lavender, incense and patchouli. The heart is a sweet almond, tonka bean and vanilla. The perfume dries into a base of cedarwood and synthetic musk. The unisex scent has moderate to string projection and very good longevity. Mysterious, sweet and incredibly seductive, you wont be able to get enough of it. Enjoy!

On my this opens with a herbal blast, I could smell very prominent anise note. It settles down into very slightly creamy lavender-almond-tonka in a smokey/incencey cloud. It is serious and slightly melancholic. Intimate fragrance to me, but I only used one spray. I do not think that it leans masculine at all, this is very feminine to me. Fourreau Noir is simply beautiful, I am so happy to finally have it.

Fourreau Noir by Serge Lutens is a scent I really love, though it’s definitely not for everyone. It opens with a dry, slightly bitter touch a mix of lavender and something like wormwood...then slowly warms up on the skin. After a few hours, the lavender becomes deeper and woodier, almost smoky. It’s herbal, elegant, and a bit mysterious...perfect for those who appreciate complex, unconventional scents.

What a gorgeous scent, especially if you like lavender. Masterful, deep dark purple fleshy lavender with an animalic musk bodied out by tonka and almond (not that to me tonka and almond are part if the journey but rather complimentary to achieve a fleshed out body). Its up there with TF Lavender Extreme, Hermetica Lavincense, Tom Daxon Midnight Saffron and Montales Fougeres Marine.

I was in Paris last week on a perfume trip with a group of perfumista's!!! I bought the beatiful bell bottle in the Serge Lutens Shop! The explanation about all the fragrances was so inspiring! The interior of the shop is stunning. We were invited to come upstairs where normaly mr Lutens only talks to journalists. The colors, the perfumes, it was breathtaking.

Intoxicating , sweet dark tonka lavender. I got it because wanted something less sweeter than Jo Malone Myrh Tonka. Beautiful dry and seductive. It’s a good base for layering with anything boozy or smoky. Can’t say it’s my front row bottle, but good to reach for when feeling of comfort needed ,watching a dark thriller with buddies.

Amongst all the fragrances I've owned to date, this is still the one that still keeps me coming back to it time and time again. It is dark, seductive, sexy, and alluring. In one word, this fragrance feels like "Paris". Every time I head to Paris I buy a new bell bottle of this to refresh my stock.

I bought a bell bottle of Fourreau Noir as soon as possible. I just love it. Its soft, smokey, sweet, just great! Ik smell tonkabean, almonds, lavender and vanille. One day the almonds are leading, the other day the lavender is on top. The drydown is so nice. A masterpiece

Very elegant fragrance. When i wear Fourreau Noir i feel like i'm wearing the high heels even if i'm wearing my "New balance" sneakers. Longevity is about 6 hours on my skin. It works better on my neck than on my wrist. Perfect for the cold weather.

While I don't agree it smells like dad used to smell, it does have a classic twist to it, however I feel they added a modern twist to it. I like this perfume a lot and recommend it to people who like darker scents with hints of spices.

Not for me due to too masculine but is my absolute #1 choice for men. Absolutely sexy gorgeous & would make any man very very huggable!

This is one hard to pin down perfume. At first spray, I am bowled over by a darkly glamorous, very film noire-type scent. I picture a femme fatale wearing this, with deep red stained lips and a full length black mink coat - seductive and mysterious. The lavender is not too pronounced to me. I get more of a smokey, slightly sweet, gourmand aroma with a hint of radiant citrus that somehow reminds me of the bergamot at top of Shalimar. The scent is really stunning. At this point, this confirmed Lutensophile is convinced she has found a new favorite. Ok.... that was the incredible beginning. I'm totally with kastehelmi that the middle phase of this perfume is not so appealing and is, yes, quite dirty in an animalistic and musky way. The change in the character of this fragrance is striking. The drydown does lose that pronounced animalistic smell and mellows into something sweeter, but still musky and also with a certain murkiness. I like this phase of the perfume better than the second, but not as much as the first. As with many Serge Lutens perfumes, Fourreau Noir takes you on a multifaceted journey to many places. I just would have prefered to spend more time at first stop.

Sigh of relief: this *isn't* a Lutens which I'll be pining for and saving for and lusting after for years. There's already a long list of those so I am so pleased this won't be another. It's just fine, a lovely, classy, centred, mid-market scent with a well-restrained lavender-woodsiness ... just a touch on the male side but still perfectly unisex, calm and sensible rather than dramatic and overblown, pleasant rather than delicious, quietly impressive rather than stunning. Sweet but not cloying, not harshly marzipan-scented, and nicely mellow throughout. Absolutely nothing that I'd call dark or adventurous, though. Reminds me strongly of Grand Soir and Envol de Cartier, which shows you how solid and classy it is. But just not all that exciting to my nose. Performance is moderate on all counts. Really nothing at all to object to but it would have to leave me gasping with pleasure to justify SL bell jar prices, and it simply ... doesn't. Would happily wear any time but "just fine" is not enough at this end of the market.

With one stroke, this satisfied my hunger for a lavender based scent as well as a tonka dominant scent, hence knocking Guerlain's Tonka Imperial off my want list and saving me wads of cash. After an almost futile search of finding a lavender perfect for me in a Goldilocks fashion of none too herbal, none too sweet, this is my perfect lavender over L'erbolario (too herbal, too sleep aid but a true lavender) and also from the same house, Gris Clair, which a very very kind member here sent me samples of. This is a smoky, sweet and dark lavender on me and fits its colour very well. I smell everything all at once and yet I would not describe it as a linear scent. All the ingredients just seem to dance around each other in perfect step. Sillage and longevity are very good, but I have not had an issue regarding both when it comes to Lutens, to my great benefit!

Some nice lavender in the beginning smells clean and fresh with some citrus, but quickly turns into something herbal, musky and even a bit smoky. It's even slightly powdery and slightly sweet. While it's quite unique, it never feels "off" or niche in the way that ambitious new fragrances tend to be. It's nice, more manly than I expected but with a soft feminine touch from the lavender. Really ideally unisex. The lavender is a real winning surprise here, dark and luscious, totally different than traditional lavender. It's not my absolute favorite from Serge Lutens, but it's still quite lovely. ~7/10

I have a little over 1/2 full 2011 bell jar I’m willing to swap for something of equal value or to sell. While I do find it lovely, it’s not the type of almond/Tonka I was hoping for. On me I’m getting more anise with musk and Tonka with a lot of lavender. Sort of like if Lolita Lempicka had lavender rather than ivy. I love lavender but this combo just isn’t working with my chemistry. The longevity and projection is fantastic! Update- it's been swapped

I like this one okay, but not quite as much as I thought I would based on the wax sample. I think I might be warming up to it, but my first impression wasn't very enthusiastic. Edit: It's hilarious looking back at this review because I ended up loving this fragrance and usually put it in my top 3 Serge Lutens and one of my favorite perfumes overall. October 2021.

Like @ceeceelee stated, this is a very familiar scent - mainly because I find it VERY similar to Rochas Man, like, dupes. It also has a resemblance to New Haarlem and Pi. It's nice, but I have sold my bell jar as I don't believe I would reach out for it at all.

Eh, Serge Lutens has a few that are a lot better. And a couple stinkers, too. This one neither made me swoon nor rage. It's the dreaded "Have I tested this one before? No, yes? Hmmm, seems familiar."

this starts off as a heavy, musky lavender which reads as traditionally masculine. after a minute or two the tonka becomes much more prominent and there is a smokiness as well. during the drydown it's mostly just lavender and tonka, with hints of almond and smoke. the almond is pretty-it helps soften the other notes a bit, which are fairly strong on me. i like this one, but it's not a love. i am curious to try this on my boyfriend though...

Few years ago I blind-bought a bell jar of Fourreau Noir, and regret it badly. It smells like harsh & strong gentleman fragrance. Too musculine for me. It also reminds me of Mugler Angel, yes, vintage Angel sans patchouli!

Fourreau Noir makes me consider the possibilities of copying and repetition. Part of a series, variation on a theme? Uninventive, deliberate, derivative? Sequel, flanker, gender counterpart, homage? However it’s come about, Fourreau Noir smells remarkably similar to Chergui. A little less raspy and a bit cooler and herbal from the lavender. It’s syrupy, sweet and woody. It’s a spin on the coumarin accord of Chergui, a range that Sheldrake and Lutens do very well. Sadly, it holds no surprise here, but then again, I’m not a great fan of Chergui. Worse luck, Fourreau Noir has a large helping of the same masculine contemporary notes linking ‘freshness’ (I can’t quite use that word without qualifier) and wood that Chergui has. This capitulation is what turned Chergui for me, and it does the same to Fourreau Noir. It fact, this is where the similarity of the two is to be found. Sheldrake and Lutens manage to make many distinctive perfumes in what might seem a small range of spicy syrup (see Arabie, Cedre, Cuir Mauresque). But in both Chergui and here in Fourreau Noir, the perfume makers cede the middle ground to convention and, despite Fourreau Noir’s lavender, which could be a logical entree to the world of the contempo-homo (my stage name for the state of current perfumery for men), Fourreau Noir winds up fairly faceless and undistinguished like Chergui. Clearly, I’m not hiding my preferences, but to take a step back, how are we to view Fourreau Noir? Lutens don’t group it with Chergui in their “Sudden Sweetness” series where Chergui is found, but the composition is similar. The generous thing to do would be to paint the two as a Bernard Chant/Estee Lauder gender pairing such as Azuree/Aramis or Aromatics Elixir /Aramis 900. Less generous would be to call Fourreau Noir a retread. from scenthurdle

Received a solid sample of this today. At first sniff, once the wax had warmed up on my skin, very impressed. Smells like 'my sort of thing' in general. Actually, it brought to my mind some cheap but gorgeous incense I bought some years ago in a 'head' shop - no idea what it was called, it was a weird one not commonly seen around. Not a Nag Champa or church incense smell, I felt about the incense sticks that maybe the manufacturers were using some old 1970s perfume ingredients - heavy perfumed but not 'spicy' or vanilla oriental. Argh, so hard to explain! Anyway, Fourreau Noir smells to my nose very similar to that incense. I straightaway put FN in my 'want' list in my Fragrantica profile (yeah right, once I win the lottery). Then I went for it, applied to neck and wrists and wore it out and about in the cold air. I know this is frag is termed 'unisex' and anything goes if you like the smell yada yada, but I strongly had the sense that I was wearing aftershave - some kind of nice 1970s era aftershave of a certain type (younger man smell perhaps?), but obvious aftershave all the same. This fragrance smells totally 'male' to me, it reminds me s l i g h t l y of the original male Joop in its general feeling, I'll remove it from my want list, would maybe be nice to smell on a man.

This is the dirtiest scent ever! I mean it in a good way. I have a feeling that not all the notes are listed here, because on me it is extremely animalistic, very musky and has the ultimate feeling of eau de dirty pants. When I just sprayed it on myself, I thought - aha...smokey smoke with a lavender suppressing an arrogant citrus, totally masculine.But after 15 minutes, running around the house I thought:"did I clean the rat`s cage?" the answer - yes, I did, In 5 minutes the abominable question popped in my mind again. I did, I did!!! really! It took me a while to understand that this unmistakeable musky, dirty, ratty scent is coming from my wrists and my sweater. The lavender was still there, but it was a wallflower. Animals had their mayhem. I don`t know if Furreau Noir played a bad trick on me, but guys - no vanilla, no tonka beans, period. I still think it`s a charming masculine for very, very brave men.

This one is indeed very long laating and atarts off with a very steong Lavender. The lavender isn’t really dry in this one, rather sweet and musky. I don’t see a female rocking this one, it has a barbershop vibe due to the lavender. It reminds me a lot od of MFK Masculin Pluriel wxcept that it is not as woody therefore less masculine and sweeter. I am happy i got it smells very expensive. And Sillage ia amazing. Spray one on my right hand and another on my left around 5:00 now it is 11:30 and it still smell very stron alrhough. I Washed my hands couple of times. One more thing, i do own Vetiver Oriental SL among many SL and both have this shared DNA almost like a musky base which is strong rich and lasts for long. Ladys muat tey before buying, this is unisex but leans to Masculinity.

Beautiful, cozy, masculine gourmand. It takes this almond cookie like smell, and spices it with an herbal lavender and incense combo that make it resemble spiced cookies, like Biscoff or maybe even ginger snaps to a degree but done in a masculine way. I even get a slight coconut note, but in a gourmand way rather than a solar, sunscreen tuberose way. I’m not a gourmand person, but I’ll always have a soft spot for certain gourmands that contain almond, pastry, powdery vanilla and/or cherry even. They just evoke a sense of coziness in the fall/winter that I can’t describe. Fourreau Noir is probably the best example of my type of gourmand, however too bad it’s hard to get, and not to mention a small fortune.

This fragrance has grown on me considerably since its release some years ago. Easily the most approachable of the three Lutens lavenders, Foureau Noir is essentially a fougere minus the green and herbal elements, and, in typical Serge-Sheldrake fashion, had a few gourmand elements added in. Lavender, coumarin, musk, almond, and anise are present to my nose, the lavender lasting quite deep into the drydown. There are some links with the rest of line: a certain meringue quality in Rahat Loukoum and Vetiver Oriental is here, and the lavender has a similarity to Gris Clair. Also, with Chanel's Jersey, though that one is far more demure. A scent to visit if you're looking for a warm, wearable lavender.

Surely one of the most interesting releases among the "latest" Lutens. A dark gourmand that, while still maintaining a quite dense structure and presence, it never gets too sweet or heavy. Lavender on top joined by a bold tonka/musk base that's powdery and slightly smoky at the same time. Not as groundbreaking as I espected but a completely enjoyable ride throughout...Very nice. Good projection, satisfying lasting power. One of the best names for a fragrance in years. Downside: A little disappointment, if I can call it so, comes during the drydown where, most of the latest Lutens, verge towards crudeness. Rating: 7/10

Syrup lavender. Tonka beans are quite sweetening the lavender overly well and leaves the blend kind of cloying. The lavender became kind of milky although it was already known that it is quite a calming and relaxing flower but now it became calm and tender. Actually i find it a bit weird yet new, and i don't know wither if it's overly cloying or tiny cloying! it is just confusing cause the lavender weakens a bit after few minutes of applying which makes it an almond milk sweet blend yet you keep on detecting hints of lavender. It's ok, but remains a weird blend.

i adore this - but immediately i realized..this smells exactly like Fragonard Grains de Soleil which I super love so i am fine with that! Sexy sweet that screams oriental and melds perfectly with my chemistry I want to smell the lavender in it..will give it some time - I smell sweet almond mostly and tonk...dark and pleasantly musky UPDATE: i sprayed my wrist again although it hadn't faded, and I can smell the lavender this time...I am loving this somewhat complex scent more and more as the day passes

Think of JPG’s Le Mâle after ditching the Navy and his paramours at port, growing a beard, and retreating to the wilderness. I imagine a log cabin, wood stove, only a dog for company—or maybe just a fearless squirrel unafraid of this large, burly man sharing its mostly untouched domain. The leaves change color, then fall, soon cloaked with a thick layer of snow. Inside that single log cabin dotting the landscape, a tea kettle whistles, and the smell of Fourreau Noir fills the air.

Yesterday I received a wax sample of Fourreau Noir and, as I suspected beforehand, I love it. I can smell the tonka, the lavender and the almonds, plus something slightly smoky, don't know what it is. In my opinion it is rather bold to put lavender and tonka in one perfume, especially when they are both quite prominent, but surprisingly it works very well. Chapeau! Edit: my bell bottle is already here :-D. But I have to wait until my birthday *sigh*...

I was very kindly given a sample of this yesterday. It has a warm lavender feel, to me lavender can often be cold, but paired here with Tonka it has become smooth and round. It smells like the colour of the juice so that is very fitting. I can imagine this on a man or a woman but the main image it conjures up for me is of the creamy skin of a 1920's or 1930's starlet, dark smoky purple satin, cigarette holder, smoke, dim nightclub.

Lavender tends to be too strong, soapy or medicinal for my taste. In this perfume however, the lavender is a perfect background to the tonka bean and musk. It almost seems like there is a touch of maple in this. Slightly powdery on the drydown and smells like vintage cosmetics and face powder It s very elegant and fresh enough that any woamn, any age can wear this anywhere. Definitely someone's signature scent.

The second I put this on, I thought, "This smells like Dad did when I was a kid." Someone mentioned in a previous comment that it was similar to Aramis which was my Dad's favorite cologne for years! I don't like this for myself. It's too masculine for my taste and it just smells like so many basic aftershaves. It might be nice on a man. It doesn't smell bad, it's just very unremarkable.

This is a review of the wax sample. I had trouble reading the grey on dark grey lettering and mistook the name as "Fourrure noir", then immediately compared it to vintage Weil Zibeline, a perfume by furriers and for fur. They both have that nearly toxic bitter almond note, which in both cases I took for heliotrope. Whatever. Fourreau noir is old school, and darkly glamourous.