Narcisse Noir Caron (1960) Eau de Toilette

Version from 1960

Narcisse Noir (1960) (Eau de Toilette) by Caron

Bottle Design: Félicie Bergaud

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Narcisse Noir (1960) (Eau de Toilette) (Caron)

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7.7 / 10 116 Ratings

Narcisse Noir (1960) (Eau de Toilette) is a popular perfume by Caron for women and was released in 1960. The scent is floral-animal. The production was apparently discontinued.

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Perfumer

Ernest Daltroff

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Bergamot, Mandarin, Petitgrain, Lemon
Heart Notes	Jasmine, Narcissus, Orange blossom
Base Notes	Civet, Musk, Sandalwood

Ratings

Scent

7.7 (116 Ratings)

Longevity

8.0 (87 Ratings)

Sillage

6.9 (73 Ratings)

Bottle

8.1 (87 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 09.06.2019

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Reviews

10/27/2017

AromaX
30 Reviews

AromaX

2

The slow thickening of sunlight

Narcisse Noir creates an illusion of a non-existent flower which is quite convincing. The dry green bitterness with oil-paint like nuance evokes the image of narcissus. And the animalic darkness of civet in the base does paint it black. Although reading about this fragrance makes me to think that the original version of this perfume was much heavier on civet than its modern interpretations. But to me Narcisse Noir is mostly about the orange blossom. It represents an interesting aspect of the orange flower which I perceive as a slow thickening of sunlight during a sunset. The color changes from a warm orange glow to a dark orange and almost brown before it falls into the darkness. Warm, sultry, heady and definitely fatal.

09/08/2015

5.0 10.0 10.0 8.0/10

DorothyGrace
72 Reviews

DorothyGrace

2

Improved in Storage

My Narcisse Noir is an eau de toilette, in the current bun topped bottle, and came in a black box with gold spots. It is one of the last produced in that bottle so from somewhere around 2012 give or take a couple of years.

When I first had this perfume it was soap and narcissus all the way; over-poweringly soapy, thick, harsh narcissus, linear, and it sucker punched with its strength; hence I have nearly a full bottle remaining.

Nothing was calling me today but this was at the front of the shelf from where, yesterday, I had pulled everything out looking for Beautiful, so I gave it a go.

It has changed significantly. Gone is the harsh, up-front and brutal narcissus, gone is the bucket of choking raw soap; I was instead greated with a very rich ambery orange blossom, just a touch soapy, a little bit of lemon. It developed some gentle sweet musky notes, a little touch of pepper, a hint of smoke, just a little narcissus, some sweetness I can't put my finger on but maybe peru balsam is a good descriptor, occasionally wafting a dry green note.

A couple of hours later I was left with a creamy sweet wood with a touch of mandarin and a wee bit of animalic musk.

I guess that means my bottle has 'gone off' but it smells wonderful and works so much better for me compared to when I first bought it and indeed the pyramid of notes much better represents it now whereas before there was no match.

02/27/2015

7.5 7.5 10.0 6.0/10

Briarthorn
91 Reviews

Briarthorn

3

Soapy with a captial S

This is for the EDT:

After reading other reviews, I think I have the reformulated version.

It started out with a punch of very sharp and SUPER soapy Jasmine and I think orange blossom. There was a hint of incense but overall a very sharp white floral opening. Not pleasant, kinda generic.

After the warm up, the Narcissus/Daffodil stepped forward. The scent wasn't razor sharp anymore and became Lovely. It was still pretty soapy.

I never really got much of the musk, sandalwood, or vetiver. Maybe the barest hint of sandalwood.

Edit: I have really learned to love the heart of this, something about it reminds me of the heart/drydown of CoCo mademoiselle. That's a good thing. I think it's the balance of the Jasmine, Orange blossom and Rose that make them both sing.
The opening is still WAY too soapy for me. Some describe it as powdery but I don't get that.

Dec
30
2014

04/29/2012

7.5 7.5 10.0 8.0/10

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Greatly helpful Review 8

Musky Singed Velvety Flowers

My bottle of Caron's NARCISSE NOIR is clearly the reformulation--I bought it at parfum1.com (plus my cat, a fully certified civet detector, does not follow me around when I wear it...). But I go against the grain in liking the reformulation, what to me is a deep, dark, somewhat intense perfume which I can really sink my nose into.

The opening feels like singed flowers--I am assuming that this is the effect of the neroli on the narcissus ('neroli' contains 'noir', after all...). From there, NARCISSE NOIR seems to me like a chypre, not a "sweet and fresh" floral fruity perfume!

In fact, there is no point in my experience of NARCISSE NOIR where I can agree with the aptness of either adjective. Neither fresh, nor sweet, NARCISSE NOIR is dark and deep. The orange comes in the form of dried, not candied, peel and imparts more of an oriental than a citrus quality.

The singed flowers mingle with vetiver, thick musk, and a touch of sandalwood in the drydown, with excellent longevity in the edt--a good thing, unless one happened to be hoping for something, sweet, fresh, and fruity, as opposed to musky singed velvety flowers.