Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
05/05/2020
Drseid
819 Reviews
Drseid
3
All About Balance...
Nombre Noir opens with nose tingling aldehydes and smooth rosewood with just a hint of slightly sharp, citric lemony orange bergamot before transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart fine white floral jasmine takes the fore with slightly dark rose, slightly powdery carnation and smooth yellow floral ylang-ylang in support. Additional support is provided by an ever-so slightly waxy orris butter and lemony-green geranium with a tinge of mildly sweet honey. During the late dry-down the florals all gradually recede with the rose now most prominent, turning slightly powdery as it joins a very subtle natural woody accord through the finish. Projection is average, as is longevity at around 8 hours on skin.
The elusive Nombre Noir has taken on near-legendary status over the years, being touted by some prominent names in perfume (one in particular) placing it as one of the all-time greats. I always wanted to try the perfume, but alas, the price of admission reached stratospheric levels in relative terms, making obtaining even a small sample a decent sized investment. Well, I finally "bit the bullet" and got my hands on a decant to try out, and here we are... This is one of the rare instances where I hoped I would dislike the composition due to its lofty cost, but alas, it really is *incredible* smelling. The first thing that grabbed me was the jasmine. This is some very good quality stuff that is not unlike the fine jasmine used in X for Men by Clive Christian, but even higher quality. The rose, which ultimately becomes the focal note in the perfume transitions so seamlessly from the jasmine I barely realized what had happened. In fact, the entire composition is about class, finesse, restraint and most of all balance. It is the balance of an amalgamation of its laundry list of high quality materials that makes Nombre Noir such an absolute marvel. I barely mention even a small fraction of the ingredients primarliy because they all complement each other so well and just meld together perfectly. So in the end, instead a hopeful pan, I ended up with an immediate hunt for my own admittedly crazy expensive bottle. The bottom line is the extremely rare and long since discontinued $1350 per 60 ml bottle on the aftermarket Nombre Noir is a near-perfect chypre from the great, late perfumer Jean-Yves Leroy that approaches a "masterpiece" rating of 4.5 to 5 stars out of 5 and an easy recommendation to at least secure a small sample. Everyone needs to at least sniff Nombre Noir once in their lifetime.
The elusive Nombre Noir has taken on near-legendary status over the years, being touted by some prominent names in perfume (one in particular) placing it as one of the all-time greats. I always wanted to try the perfume, but alas, the price of admission reached stratospheric levels in relative terms, making obtaining even a small sample a decent sized investment. Well, I finally "bit the bullet" and got my hands on a decant to try out, and here we are... This is one of the rare instances where I hoped I would dislike the composition due to its lofty cost, but alas, it really is *incredible* smelling. The first thing that grabbed me was the jasmine. This is some very good quality stuff that is not unlike the fine jasmine used in X for Men by Clive Christian, but even higher quality. The rose, which ultimately becomes the focal note in the perfume transitions so seamlessly from the jasmine I barely realized what had happened. In fact, the entire composition is about class, finesse, restraint and most of all balance. It is the balance of an amalgamation of its laundry list of high quality materials that makes Nombre Noir such an absolute marvel. I barely mention even a small fraction of the ingredients primarliy because they all complement each other so well and just meld together perfectly. So in the end, instead a hopeful pan, I ended up with an immediate hunt for my own admittedly crazy expensive bottle. The bottom line is the extremely rare and long since discontinued $1350 per 60 ml bottle on the aftermarket Nombre Noir is a near-perfect chypre from the great, late perfumer Jean-Yves Leroy that approaches a "masterpiece" rating of 4.5 to 5 stars out of 5 and an easy recommendation to at least secure a small sample. Everyone needs to at least sniff Nombre Noir once in their lifetime.
