Noir Epices Frederic Malle for women and men

Frédéric Malle NOIR EPICES opens with a bitter orange-rind scent, but then rose geranium swiftly sweeps in, along with a smattering of spices, the most dominant of which to my nose are nutmeg and cloves.

This is a pleasing blend, which I would characterized as a spicy floral or floriental, given the strength of the geranium. I find this perfume more masculine than GERANIUM POUR MONSIEUR, ironically, but it is definitely suitable for women who like their geranium spiked with nutmeg. The strong orange-rind opening also contributes to the masculine slant of NOIR EPICES.

Not nearly so dark or spicy as I'd have surmised from the name, but NOIR EPICES is a very nice perfume all the same!

Noir Epices opens as a mature, spicy orange. The first half an hour or so is citrus and fresh, with a light dose of pepper and cinnamon. In the background, we have geranium and rose, and with time the spices are more and more prominent.

It is quite 'noir'- probably one of the few citrus scents that is not cheerful and bright and manages to be both fresh and heavy at the same time. Quite strange when you decompose it like this, but this is how it works!

I must say this is not the best FM scent I have tried and is not even in my favourite five... It is a bit too tart and not really up my alley, and composition-wise it is well crafted but not really an outstanding fragrance.

Catherine Deneuve's favorite perfume.Fantastic!!

I was able to afford a bottle of 50ml - slightly tart and austere, at the same time comforting, nothing artifical about it, just well made and delicious from the start to a beautiful drydown: my favorite, but beware, one spritz is enough...

the only frederic malle scent i like. i really don't understand any of the others. but noir epices is g-g-gorgeus. subtle but tenacious. an amazing aura of spice and citrus. love this one.

This darling is now no 1 on my wishlist. I have a sample that I treasure dearly.
When I wear this I'm in spicy heaven topped with orange jam. I imagine myself impersonating a little devil with tiny horns, having a blast in an alternative club among decadent artists where air is heavy with tobacco smoke. I wear stiletto heels and I giggle at the funny and amazing performance on stage of Snow white and 7 dwarfs. The show is over and I'm near to passing out on a big couch that resembles a furry snail with one song in the background. (google parov stelar shine if you want the song I hear there)

This fragrance is a very emotionel.I have a different smell :)

A very faint wispy oriental on me. I get citrus notes on a light base. Low sillage, this is one to wear just for yourself.

"Epices" means spices, drugs but also smells. "Noir", well I guess everybody knows. I think this name is for a bunch of reasons completely fitting and for others i find it a bit misleading. If you think about Noir Epices as Black Spices it's perfect as the scent is turning around an important clove note joined by black pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg, but if you think about Noir Epices as Black Smells you could be disappointed as this composition has an intense radiance throughout but expecially in the drydown. Don't get me wrong, this is a SUBLIME perfume but it doesn't perfectly match my taste (Rose Note?)

Noir Epice is a spotlighted candid-white-skin-femme-fatal coming out from a smoky cloud with a black velvet dress and rose-red lipstick. I think I already saw this movie.

Noir Epices is definitely beautiful but a bit stereotyped quasi-old-fashioned female scent. Maybe a man could give it a nice twist.

Rating: 7/10

This gives the impression of oud, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little synthetic oud in the formula. Anyway, there has got to be something ambery in here, regardless of the "official" note pyramid. It is sweet, heavy, and syrupy. This, combined with the spices (with other notes in support) create a dried fruit type of quality. The rose that's supposed to be a top note hangs on for a very long time, but that may be due to my skin chemistry. I don't get much in the way of clove or cinnamon, but rather it's peppery with some soft, warm spices in the background. The geranium also isn't as strong here as in many other "men's fragrances. It seems like something a person would wear if he wanted to impress others, especially if he were a leader or boss of some kind. It lacks dynamism and is a bit simple, so the aficionado who seeks complex, dynamic fragrances may be disappointed. If you want a complex, spicy fragrance, I suggest sampling Versailles Pour Homme. This is the kind of fragrance that smells great when someone passes by you who is wearing it, so if that's what you want to accomplish, this is one to consider.

Quite a multi-faceted fragrance, reminds me a little bit of Chanel Allure but much more interesting.

Starts with slightly orange zest and rose. At different times of the day, I will only get woods, cinnamon, nutmeg, or just cloves. So you get a bit of everything from the get go. Very 3 dimensional fragrance; this is what Chanel Allure markets itself to be.

Surprisingly, I do find this slightly sweet (not tonka or vanilla sweet though), so its not as rough as some people suggest, although I do agree that the spices does not seem to be processed or mixed together for one unified smell.

i can see the beauty of this one.

it is geranium pickled in spices and sugar, very intoxicating, kind of dark indeed.

it is another masterpiece from the Frederic Malle line, however, myself not being a great fan of geranium, I would skip this one.

This is a little masculine though I can imagine a dark-haired woman with the somewhat gothic personality pulling it off.

update: the air conditioning was almost off the other day so it was around 25 C in the office and noir epices turned a lot warmer, cozier and juicier :) i loved it by then :)

Very strange stuff! Why do it so complicated? Not a fan!

In dedication of the late, great, Robert White.

Back in the early 80s and way before the often OTT 'PC' effect took hold, I worked at Ford's factory in Amsterdam where we made Transit vans. The very noisy all-male environment reeked of sweat; smoke; paint; welding fumes and rubber.

Nice.

No, don't jump to conclusions just yet -please read-on...

Annexed to the factory was a Health and Safety office and - THANK GOD!! - our H+S officer was female and incredibly HOT!! She could have been on a 70s Roxy Music album cover - probably the second album with that black panther. This lady was a real sex-siren, and when she occassionally strutted onto the shop-floor for H+S related matters, the entire work-force went totally bonkers: work stopped abruptly and packs of men bored shitless by assembling vans all day started to follow her: a frenzied troupe of overall-clad satyrs holding their wrenches like they were steel todgers! Then the animal noises started: some were barking like dogs, others 'eee-awing', and some just grunting. It was mental! They're probably all on SSRIs now.

One day, just as work started, I cut my hand, and immediately I had to report this 'industrial injury' to her: an obligation that made the men I worked with intensely jealous as it meant that I was able to be in her office early that morning. As she leant forward to inspect my wound, I sat fascinated by glimpses of her obvious 'full-kit', and I could hear the men outside behaving just like those chimps on a Discovery channel nature programme when they start beating branches...men can be sick...and I sat there spell-bound by the unexpected intimate nature of the situation in which I was now immersed - my loins in a tangle - and the cloud of the divine perfume she wore, with its heady notes of sandlewood and patchouli, seducing my olfactory nerve synapses - just like this creation - "Noir Epices"!!

So thanks Michel: it was heaven to go down memory lane again with this beauty you've created!

'Good perfumes make you think stuff like this!' (Robert White)

Andyray

For a descriptive account - top notes..base notes...etc, look at all the good reviews below.

Ps Big thanks to Robert White for the quote from his must-read review of "Santal de Mysore" by Serge Lutens.

This review first submitted 06/24/09 00:21:01

A little more daring in FM's line for a day time fragrance. Lasts well on me. Great for night time too.

As much as I hate to be the dissenting note on an obviously well-loved fragrance, I have to say this didn't work for me at all. I was very excited to try this interesting spicy scent but it failed on me. It was never a bad scent, starting strong on the florals and parading through to the base notes in good order, but overall it held a note that really reminded me of dog shampoo. Perhaps it's the geranium and orange together, but it came across as bright fake florals over chemistry, backed with rough wood and harsh spice. It’s not terrible, though it wasn't pleasant on me, but there’s also something here that reminds me strongly of the smell of dog hair and chemical perfume combined with flea repellent. Chemical, strong, pervasive and aggressivly 'floral', as if it's shouting at you how lovely and pleasant it is just in case you don't agree. Noir Epices and I don't agree. I had to scrub my wrist raw to get rid of it. Sorry.

This is too much like a Christmas kitchen , or all the spices in your rack.

PS. When I waked up this morning I could still smell the perfume, and it smell delicate... This experience only made me want to test all the perfumes of Editions de Parfums/ Frederic Malle...

What a strange fragrance, strange but still nice. Or better than nice, really uniqe I think. The first thing I smell is the orange, but not orangejuice more like dried orangezest... and there comes the flowers as well. The orange remains almost to the end on me, but the flowers soon fades away and give place to some very clean, heady spices. Hard to describe, but some sort of cold, spiced steam if thats possible? I agree with jeca about that it is an oriental fragrance but in a way western. Dark, intriguing and at the same time light and easy.

It´s a unisex, but I must say that it smells much more, better and complex on my husband than on me. With that said, I still think it smells very good on me, but more than very good on my husband.

The drydown is very likeable. Soft, a hint of powder, sweetness and warmth. Longlasting.

Another beautiful scent, oriental, but light, an oriental scent from a western creator. Warm and spicy, with a hint of orange, that brings airy, "western" note to the composition. I even smell orangeade among oriental spices ;o)

Sandal, precious oils and woods, musks ;o)