Poudre Noir

Floral, easy to wear and it’s a nice strength for me. Lots of tobacco leaves and balsams. So it’s dark, sweet and natural smelling. Delicious and slightly powdery. It’s stronger than the other attars I have by quite a lot, so that’s a nice bonus. It’s mainly iris florals and amber resins that together form a deep puddle of purple, black and dark brown with suggestions of white powder. Occasionally it’ll open up and suggest tones of dark red and plums. Imagine the smell of the carpet of an old rug store in India but constructed from beautiful natural oils. At the same time I sense a French sensibility in Poudre Noir which is obviously appropriate given its name. Nice and vintage! I would say it’s definitely not for everyone though. You have to like soft rich floral ambers. Honey note is outstanding as is usual in all of Sultan’s attars. Beautiful thick oil and lots of Mysore sandalwood resulting in a highly polished and exquisite fragrance. I recommend this to collectors of complex fragrances who like incense, favor depth and well blended florals over projection and sillage. Likely the finest tobacco scent for women on the market and a great wear for relaxation before sleep.

A balsamic honeyed floral like no other on the market. Poudre Noir opens with a crunchy lilac and warm resinous florals. I get hints of tuberose and rose while tobacco leaves gently crunch in the distance. The leafy greeness of the opening plays incredibly well with the balsamic honey notes. Like others noted this smells like a soapy oriental incense unlit, still in the box, on the shelf. Poudre Noir isn’t what I’d call feminine but it’s heady, floral and gorgeous. The amber and animalics anchor this beautifully although there’s times where it does feel like super high quality hand soap. It’s just beautiful and as a man I have no issues pulling this off. This is very strong though and a little goes a LONG way. All day performance with a gentle, clean animalic drydown. The soft powdery musks are beautiful.

No matter what I do, both fougeres and tobaccos keep finding their way into my collection (this having come as a free attar alongside an order of Hindi Oud Nasha, my favourite oud). Neither genre naturally speaks to me, but I'm grateful to get Poudre Noir alongside. Regardless, as someone who isn't a natural lover of tobaccos, I must admit I don't think I'll wear it religiously. Poudre Noir is a sweet, floral, powdery tobacco scent - not as big on lilac as you'd expect from the note listing but it is definitely in the purple, flowery powder genre with a rich, sweet tobacco dry down. It's also filled with resins, particularly benzoin, such that the overall impression is one of a soothing sweet balm. It's not overly dry despite being powdery, and is quite "lush" in its orientalism, conjuring the image of some delicately scented lump of rare amber. Soft spices and gentle animalics frolic underneath the tobacco-floral heart, but never encroach or become challenging to the overall profile. It's very nice, and intricately complex and one can immediately sense that the natural beauty of the absolutes used is what's guiding the overall effect and profile. I like it but, as someone who isn't a tobacco fan I naturally don't love it. To me this feels like an oud-free, purplish counterpart to Pasha's other release Aurum d'Angkhor, which is a more golden tobacco-oud scent which shares a similar sweetness. I'd take the now alarmingly discontinued Aramis Tobacco Reserve over either for a powdery sweet tobacco scent for myself, but for tobacco lovers both this attar and Aurum d'Angkhor are worth exploring.

On first application I'm getting lilac, honey and Rose and it smells very nice and floral. Though this one does smell more feminine and old school. The ingredients are beautiful and natural smelling and it's complex. A lot of notes like tuberose are weaving in and out of the main lilac accord. It's a beautiful scent and enchanting, one I would like to smell on a lady than myself.

Another massively interesting opening where I can positively smell the chocolatey benzoin and perhaps tolu from the opening, which is unusual. Then the wet floral accord is like a sweeter hyacinth (lilac) and starts building when settled but with a honied thickness backing it and ensuring that the floral aspect isn't too big. I really like it actually.