Reviews of Bulgari Black (1998)
by Bulgari

Rubber, pavement, and vanilla. Lots of points for creativity and a cool bottle, but the juxtaposition of notes is just too extreme on my skin. I think I'd prefer it on a man.

I bought this blind and sold it after a couple uses. It's a decent fragrance, strong, and very unique. I thought it's what I was looking for but honestly it just didn't work on me. Urban and fairly one dimensional, unique but doesn't offer character.

I agree with eugenie about this one. It's very nice, but there's nothing about it that knocks my socks off. I expected to really like this as I was very intrigued after reading many of these reviews for it here on BN. I was hoping for, but got absolutely NO rubber, leather or anything rough and tough like that. Instead it was a predominantly vanilla scent on me. In my opinion it's very tame. It wouldn't be the one I would reach for if I was trying to make a statement. The sillage is good and it's definately a unisex scent.

I was anticipating the smoke and burnt rubber notes to be prominent (based on the Basenotes reviews), and indeed they are. However I wasn't expecting the sweetness in this one. It isn't a cloying sweetness by any means, but there's something in there to give it a slight airy or "perfumey" presence. There's also a hint of an old worn leather jacket in there (or perhaps it's my imagination, given that this fragrance reminds me of Harley motorcycles and black leather jackets).

So I was expecting some nasty viscous black liquid to spray out of this bottle, but I was pleasantly surprised with Bulgari Black. Don't get me wrong, I would never wear something like this, however I could see how someone could pull this off.

I'll give it one thing... it IS original!

The scent of a biker bar's parking lot. Motorcylce exhaust, asphalt, chrome and the leather upholstery. Sweet and smokey and reminds me of a subdued Egoiste. Very unique and takes some getting used to.

i have had my bottle for 2 years and have never worn this in public and never will. not a bad scent but it does not make me do backflips neither.one dimensional and a bit short on longevity.

Am I missing something here? Having read many reviews, I expected to love this. Instead, I...rather like it. But it's far more conventional than I had been led to believe. The rubber, which I was dreaming of, is faint enough that I might not have noticed it had I not been specifically looking. The tea is pretty, especially in the (lovely) drydown....but overall, it's a fairly ordinary, pretty but not spectacular vanilla oriental w/entirely too much old lady floral in the first couple of hours, after which it becomes a somewhat more masculine version of Shalimar, but less spectacular and barbaric. Am I the only one who feels this way? I wanted to love this so much....

I used to be a big fan of Bulgari colognes a few years back. I got this one from an uncle of mine, who received it as a gift and thought it was way too heavy. Well, I tried it and I must say I quite like it. I mostly smell the vanilla, nothing too special, but wuite alright if you like sweet smells. not much staying power, though

When I first smelled a sample of Bulgari Black, I loved it, and bought a bottle on impulse. Although I don't mind the scent now, I find the vanilla dry down quite cloying and that puts me off. If there was more going on, once the rubber/smoke note fades, I might have enjoyed this more. I am not the greatest fan of vanilla at the best of times, but I do admire this mainstream scent for being a little out of the ordinary. If anything, I prefer wearing this in hotter weather, even though the vanilla would lead me to think it would be better in cooler weather, but for some reason it doesn't work like that on my skin - heat seems to bring out the smoky/rubber accord more, which I prefer.

Meh...Its alright...simply doesn't smell as wonderful as a lot of people like to make out...

A lightly vanillic semi-smoked black tea (or hong cha, red tea in Mandarin). Not special.

I have mixed feelings about this one: whilst the rubberish note makes it somewhat unique, it also ruins it for me...should replace this with some white tea notes, and maybe perhaps some guaiac - it would suit the fragrance better.

Its very urbane-smelling, a modern take on a tea perfume, quite palatable, and very acceptable.

Something about it screams out "MAINSTREAM"; I'm by no means a niche devotee - there are plenty of fantastic mass-market and semi-exclusives out there, particularly in classics, but there's something in this that just says to me "I'm mainstream, but its ok, coz I'm not 'usual'..."LOL.

Well, thats my honest opinion. spot on 5/10.

Cheers.

TurkishRose and some others are right on the money: NOTHING SPECIAL, but very deserving of that 'black' name.
It is smoky vanilla, much like Escada Magnetism and others, but it is noticably different. What do you notice? that it is nothing to write home about.

this one is smokey and dark. its more suitable on the mens.too rubbery ,used to like it some years ago not anymore.

I can smell the rubber but it's not offensive. I thought it would be more edgy but it's just nice enough. Nothing special in my opinion.

It's been said here that this one isn't all that black, and I agree. I had high expectations from this one but it's just a very pleasant fragrance. I can't smell the rubber, which is much more evident in Dior PH for example, and although I admire Menardo's works, I think that one is more Bulgari (meanning "nice fragrance") than Menardo.

Lilly-of-the-Valley and new tires. Odd combination. At first I liked it's smokiness but then the rubber settled in. Definitely masculine, not unisex as I first thought with my sample.

It does smell like rubber, like a sweeter and more wearable verison of the CdG Synthetics series (Garage and Tar, mostly). I don't mean "more wearable" as a compliment though, it also makes it less interesting. And it's very faint and fading fast on my skin. I need to try it more though.

Rubber is prevalent at first but it dries down fairly quickly to a much more pleasant smoky vanilla + leather. It's a great urban scent but won't really stand out in a crowd. Slightly synthetic-smelling, thanks to the rubber. It's inoffensive--I would consider wearing this (albeit lightly) to the office, but there are better chic urban scents to be found.

A scarily convincing imitation of one of those latex condoms that comes packaged in artificially sweetened lube. After a while, the condom makes its exit and is replaced by an even sweeter vanillic talcum powder. Completely perverted, which I admire, but the sweetness is just too nauseatingly tenacious for me to stomach for long.

Doesn't smell like burning rubber so much as tires and tea mixed with vanilla. Not a bad scent, but it had almost no longevity on me.

Well... not my style. It smelled like plastic inside a new car. Try smelling a Twinings' Lapsang Soochong tea plus extra vanilla... is almost the same smoky aroma!!!

"Sir, either you're wearing your rubber latex underwear again, or you've spilled a considerable amount of Russian Caravan tea on your person." As usual, my valet had a point, for these were my thoughts as well, but the truth was that I was trying a new fragrance again for the hundredth time, [b]Bulgari Black[/b]. I was prepared to be startled, but it wasn't as bad as I thought, certainly more tolerable than that headache-inducing CDG2 Man. The resemblance to black rubber latex mixed with vanilla is unmistakable, but after a while you also begin to appreciate the smoky tea note. At this point, if you're a tea lover like my valet or I, Russian Caravan will spring to mind, as opposed to Lapsang Souchong. The Lady of the house is traveling presently, and this is a scent that I shall need her approval to wear anything other than very discretely. For this reason it must deal with a neutral rating for the time being.

Wicozani

Yes, "steel-belted radials" can be an acceptable note. I also was reminded of a family friend, a machinist who always had a stogie (short cigar) in the corner of his mouth. Despite the apparently negative associations, I like smelling Bulgari Black on my husband once in awhile, partly because I admired Bulgari's departure from the ordinary. I'd also notice and admire any woman who had fortitude to wear this routinely.

Although I like it, I think there is too much vanilla (at least it smells like vanilla to me) for Black to be a men's fragrance, although they say it's unisex. Particularly when time passes and the top notes are gone away. The vanilla (?) in the base notes are too strong. (for a man)