Reviews of Noir Epices (2000)
by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

It started off promising enough, with a very spicy opening and no indication of which direction the composition would go. This was something I really liked and was eagerly expecting to be impressed. Unfortunately, it evolved into a boring (and almost clean) scent, with faint traces of pepper, woods and patchouli still being detectable.

All those references to perfumed soap were spot on…

[Original submission date: 10 April 2008]

Brooding, sensuous, mysterious... Citrus and floral top note; bold spices in the middle; woody and rooty base — a near-chypre in my book, except for the lack of oakmoss. This is a haunting fragrance to wear, and not for the timid. It has a definite presence and a notable sillage. Best for evenings out or romantic ones at home, but fine (judiciously applied) for daytime socials. A scent of confidence, self-assurance, allure, and animal magnetism; be all that, or use with caution!

Oh man -- there is so much clove in the middle of this, it jolts me. It only really subsides way into the drydown and this is the stage I like best as the woods and patchouli soften. The opening couple of hours are a bit too camphorous and almost medicinal for my liking -- smells as though you may be treating a chest infection or something bronchial at least. It is not a scent I will wear regularly because the opportunities will be limited, i.e. not good for warm weather or an office environment imo. For ultra spice diehards only.

Well Shiver me Timbers and Clove my Peppers!
Black Spice is one strong badass scent with outstanding power and longevity. Surprisingly so, even for an EDP.
Could this be the 21st Century's niche upgrade of Aramis?
Alas, it does not fit well with my skin chemistry ( or perhaps I OD'd too much on Aramis back in my early 20's) hence the neutral rating, though I can see how for some hardened pirates, this could be true love at first powderkeg explosion.

Ummm...
Everything L'aventurier said, plus, that there is a huge wood smell lurking in the basenotes. For the first few hours there's just too much going on, but as the wood emerges victorious, the scent becomes defined.

I'm not really a fan, however, I did get compliments, so, take it for what it's worth.

Frederic Malle Noir Epices

Frederic Malle's ideal to let perfumers have the freedom to create has produced, for me, one of my favorite houses. One reason I like these perfumes as much as I do is the sense of the unexpected I get every time I wear one. Michel Roudnitska in creating Noir Epices in 2000 displays all of the creativity envisioned by M. Malle. As I've come to sniff so many things; the most common beginning to many, many fragrances is citrus married with bergamot it becomes almost rote for my olfactory synapses to start to fire that way as soon as the first note of citrus hits my brain. Noir Epices was one of my first refreshing experiences that made me realize there are so many more wonderful things to pair with citrus. Michel Roudnitska creates a stiletto sharp citrus paired with geranium over all of this is the metal tang of aldehydes evaporating madly. Then peeking around the edges comes a beautiful rose to make this one of my favorite beginnings to any scent I've worn. As the aldehydes make their departure the titular spices enter the fray. First up is a sharp pepper paired with clove then the zing of cinnamon followed by the mellowing influence of nutmeg all mixing together on my skin with depth and power. The base is the only ordinary thing about this scent as patchouli ushers you into a cedar and sandalwood finish that is smooth and somewhat familiar. It is only at the base that I find anything pedestrian about this scent and perhaps with the fireworks that have taken place before one needs a little familiarity to bring one's feet back to earth. Michel Roudnitska has created a thoroughly modern scent that lives up to all of what Frederic Malle must have hoped for when he created Editions de Parfum.

Excelent and bold. A modern Mitsouko for men, with an aldehydic orange note instead of a slightly more femenine peach note, and with more rose in the heart. A bit fussy but needs time to work. Very good longevity and sillage.

It's hard to explain how this smells without actually sending you in the wrong direction. Nutmeg, clove, orange, rose? My advice would be to take all the descriptions in everyone's reviews here and put them altogether to get a good sense of this stuff. I guess I can add that NE also kind of synthetic, and smells like a makeup bag, or plastic, or.... man I don't even know. Noire Epices is so unique that I'm not even sure whether I like it or not. I mean I know I can pull this off, but is it really worth the effort?

Noire Epices is such a strange and dissonant scent that I'm not really compelled to wear it (and I'm a person who likes weird smelling fragrances). So I guess NE is at least good for when you wanna smell different. I might also add that it's more feminine than masculine, but not in girly way; it's more of a womanly smell. I personally think that there's way better stuff out there but this is still worth trying because it's just so damn funky. It takes the right kinda person to pull this off. A definite "try-before-you-buy."

6.5/10

Blackened spice this is. Somber scent and on me slightly clove dominant. Spicy with no noticeable sweetness. I detect a rose note peeking in and out but very subtly from the top to mid notes.

To call this fragrance severe would be inaccurate. One reviewer termed it intense....and that is an accurate statement. It is intense, especially with the cedarwood & sandalwood. The woods give this a dry,edgy smell on me and I could get to like this better with multiple wearings.

This is a drastically different scent than I'm used to wearing, but different sometimes is a good thing. Thumbs up.

I don`t like it at all, in any part of the duration. Sharp, aldehydic top notes are just a big bleh to me, and the drydown doesn`t take this anywhere interesting. Smells a lot more like a classic Chypre with a clove-cinnamon shot, than a distinguished, spicy Oriental. It`s also more feminine than masculine to my nose, although it classifies easily as in unisex category.

Could have some groundbraking qualities as in tension to marry the vintage chypre along with traditional oriental spices, but it smells artificial and boring.

Floral and spicy oriental. A bit brooding and the clove is a little daunting. More like a fragranced soap and ends up feeling one-dimensional.

Noir Epices: huh!? plastic? even Comme des Garcons do bearable plastic notes...i didnt get this one a bit..the intial hour is synthetic plastic notes...settling down to mildly powdery spicy notes which reminded me of CDG2. i think ill need some time on this one considering many adore this scent.


Noir Epices is composed by the great Michel Roudnistka and the notes listed are "nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and pepper, Michel Roudnitska's scent is topped with orange and geranium and backed by precious woods, including sandalwood and patchouli. A woody oriental, a near chypré, its sensuality is elegant, never lascivious."

i give it a neutral only coz i think i need to give it more time..especially since my peers here on BN think its a great scent..but, if you ask me now..i'd give it two thumbs down.

Well, I just described this scent in another review as an "in-your-face spice orgy", so I should probably put it here too. Noir Epices is a spice orgy in the best possible way; sparkling, nose-tingling and bright. It's a big, statement scent on opening - a little too big for my tastes, a kind of "wow, what just came out of the bottle?" feeling, but the overly sweet opening changes quickly - the orange and cloves jump out to dominate after which the scent settles to its true character.

A few hours in, a warm, sweet and still somewhat citrussy glow remains. It's one I'm putting in the keepsies pile and will take out on cold winter days.

Chalk one up for truth in advertising. Noir Epices is just that: dark and brooding, like Byron's Manfed in a particularly grim mood. The nutmeg, black pepper, and clove blend with a clean rose note to produce a melancholic heart accord that is as beautiful as it is sober.

The pepper and clove hang around to join the patchouli and woods in a rich, yet utterly sugarless drydown. I get a whiff of barbershop a few hours into the development, but it's not enough to cheapen the scent at all. Instead, it adds a tinge of nostalgia to this already moody composition.

This is a gripping fragrance, and also very formal to my nose. Malle markets it as unisex, but I think it would take a very special woman to pull this one off. Moderate sillage and projection, and reasonable staying power.

A dynamite, chic, woody-oriental with chypric undertones. Subtle yet striking aldehydes produce some of the most compelling top notes I know. Sharp, metallic, quick and enduring. No vanilla or obvious sweetness, just intense, vivid spices and the adequate minty-rosy geranium, all glowing softly and evolving like a beautiful dream into the dry, warm, woody base. Cerebral, exotic, elegant, sensual, and ultra-sophisticated; it’s focused, somewhat austere, and within that lies something voluptuous with a heart of gold. The spices remain vibrant and cool as the other side of your pillow, never devolving into the tiresome affability of so many other spice prominent fragrances. It also covers all of Edmond Roudnitska’s fundamentals of a great perfume: character, diffusing capacity, delicacy, clearness, volume, and persistence. Wear it any time, especially when you want to get the job done. Noir Epices (Black Spices) will never let you down. For reference, Noir Epices shares a certain mild rustic commonality with the great JHL by Aramis.

Rose and I don't go together, so I didn't like the opening of Noir Epices at first. However, the drydown softens and is very nice, and even though I prefer less harsh scents, I really like Noir Epices. Relatively speaking.

I've worn this several times and it's taken me a long time to finally feel comfortable writing a cohesive review. Noir Epices is a big, beautiful, voluptuous perfume (and when I first smelled it, that was the word that flashed into my head... "perfume!"). It has taught me a totally new way to enjoy citrus in a fragrance. Once again, expectation faced reality in a battle in my mind because before experiencing Noir Epices first hand, I imagined something along the lines of a spicy, peppery, smoldering woody incense or even, something more in the direction of Comme des Garcons Original, and this is nothing like either of those.

The orange in Noir Epices is so facinating because at first, I would NEVER have guessed this was orange, but rather an aldehydic burst opening a luxurious chypre from a more opulent time. But now that I know it's a star ingredient, it's there in full glory. At the opening, this orange feels like a golden oil, and the spices are encapsulated, hovering inside, enshrouded in a luxuriously thick, rosey, citrus suspension. Soon the oil begins to "melt" and the spices are left exposed, prickling the nose more as the dense citrus opening subsides, giving the finely ground spices a more starring role (I actually sneezed a pepper sneeze when smelling this: I FEEL these spices poking the inside of my nose!). But they are so beautifully woven into the citrus/floral mix, it's REALLY difficult for me to see where citrus/floral ends and spice begins. This to me, is as feminine as a fragrance can get... but it is a dark femininity, sharp at times, like brightness seen through amber colored tinted lenses, always maintaining an air of mystery and opulence. It is exquisite.

This scent, like the (2) other FM scents I've tried, defies conventional description. As a male, my initial reaction was: "what the f**k!?" It was alltogether too sweet, a little too flowers, things like that. Give it even just a few minutes, and the spice played to me, and I was transported away from my desk to someplace where I could smile. This scent reminds me of my grandmother, and yet I would still wear it, even though I'm more of a fan of 100% male frags. That said, I think it's an amazing balance of homme and femme. One minute it will smell sweet and mustily feminine, and another minute it will smell deep, intriguing, and manly. Definitely something to wear to be noticed.

I think Noir Epices might be inappropiately or misleadlingly named--the spices in it may be black, but the color I associate with this tangy, spicy chypre is more along the lines of orange (or red or yellow). The spices seem more like a device to enhance the tangy/citric accord, and I wish the balance of notes were the other way around (at least to my nose). Also, this reminds me very much in the drydown of Diorella, though Diorella is more understand and not quite as spicy. A well-constructed fragrance, but not for me.

I love the opening of this scent. spicey with the orange notes to brighten it up. I mellows to deeper richer softer spice This is perfect November scent. cruncy leaves, cooler air, the promise of Christmas.....

I love the powerful, beautifully structured, and refined fragrances and this is certainly one of the most impressive ones of that type I’ve encountered. It has a depth and a starkness that sets it apart from almost everything in contention. It opens with a strong orange, geranium, and spice accord—almost unbelievably deep, smooth, warm, and rich. The orange and geranium do a magnificent job of completing the olfactory range and establishing a base for the spices. And aldehydes—well, the whole top of the pyramid sparkles as a black diamond (if there were such a thing) would sparkle. I find that these aldehydes that are layered with such deep and dark of notes are quite forceful and unique, and I approve because I love aldehydes. I don’t get “sweet” from the accord as others do—my skin reveals cinnamon and pepper in abundance even in the top notes and “sweet” is not a consideration. The mid notes continue the spices—clove, cinnamon, pepper, and nutmeg. The middle is quite different from the top notes primarily because the aldehydes have worn off and the scent has gained a smoother texture making for a more serious depth and darkness. Even with the darkness, the scent retains its warmth. By the mid notes the patchouli becomes noticeable—it apparently has always been there—overwhelmed by the spices at first—but now that it has revealed itself, I can see that it has been and continues to be the binder that holds the scent together—at least on my skin. Here is where I realize that, above all else, this is a patchouli fragrance. Twelve hours after application, my skin is still rich with a discreet patchouli / sandalwood emanation.

I'm sorry to say that this is one of the most unpleasant fragrances I've tried so far.Very,very sharp.Smells a bit like an overly perfumed soap.I do however like the rosey opening of this scent.Maybe a chemistry issue,but overall not for me.

I expected something dark and spicy, but got a blast of geranium, followed by carnation, with a touch of clove and oranges. It reminds me a little of my mother's pomanders, only soapier. The base is pleasantly aromatic, but the geranium dominates too much for my personal tastes.
I'm also surprised this is unisex. I can't really imagine a man wearing this at all.

Love it ! Some of you have described it better than I can. I find it soft, warm, powdery, intriguing. I dont think it is sweet like most vanilla perfumes. The first 30 seconds it was a bit sharp. I sprayed in on in the bathroom the night I got it, and the next morning the bathroom itself smelled wonderous. I tried it on my husband, but he finds it a bit too delicate to use for himself.

..a thawing fruitcake from a few Christmases ago...
No thanks.

Compelling and mysterious and discreet and somber. Seriousness in a bottle, with a healthy measure of impeccable taste thrown in for good measure. (But not for the faint of heart, friends.)

All the right notes but, but, but, just too darned sweet. If only FM had toned down the sugar to about half this would have been perfectly outrageous.

Joe

I guess I'm the only one who finds this to be a rather clean scent. Despite the name, I find it rather bright and sparkling. It's like champagne with subtle spicy undertones. There's also a metallic accord in Noir Epices that reminds me of dry cleaning. I prefer it to Musc Ravageur but not something I would wear often.

Severe is a great word to describe this scent. It strikes me as a cross between a chypre and an oriental scent. It is an "oriental" scent without the softening, warming, or sweetening basenotes like vanilla, tonka, civet, musk, and so on. It's striking.

At first sniff the topnotes do smell much like a gun barrel - a sort of dusty, piercing, metallic smell that I think comes from the orange, spices, and dry floral notes. As it dries down, the spices come into the fore - cinnamon, nutmeg, clove - but unlike most scents where these notes are present, here they are laid bare, like smelling them raw, as they are about to be put into a dish, and not when the dish is cooked and completed. This gives them a dirty, fierce quality. The base, if you can call it that, is similarly bare, angular, and stark. The woods come into the picture and blend with the spices, but I still wouldn't call the scent warm, as is the case with many woodsy scents. Instead, it's hot-and-cold: hot spices and dry woods with a cold metallic quality.

I consider this one of the most unusual, unique, and avant garde scents I have tried…and I go out of my way to try the weird ones! It's not for everyone, that's for sure, but it routinely makes my top 10 list.

Sharp spices, candied orange peel and an unexpected powdery floral sweetness (I'd say rose) make a musty, soapy vintage perfume. Not bad, just not anywhere near what I'd like to smell like. Too conventional and sweet and floral, even though it's supposed not to be.

This is a perfume of intense contradiction. There's a pleasantly sharp, thoroughly unreasonable note in it. It should be warm, an orangey-spice scent followed by warm woods, but it is not. It's like looking at a warm fire in the hearth while you're still outside, bundled up in furs in the snow. And for this reason, I love it!

I got this as a generous sample from Editions de Parfums after taking their 'test'; they suggested Iris Poudre, I suggested Noir Epices, so they sent me both. I generally like spicy orientals, but this is quite distinctive - very masculine, with a cutting edge, and quite a pronounced orange top note. It's the only very spicy fragrance I know that is also cold and distant. It's growing on me...

OK, after a couple of months of wearing all 3 of the Editions I ordered. I have to admit that this one is the closest to my heart .. in fact, possibly closer than Habit Rouge and even Une Rose. It's again, like Une Rose, deceptive in its intensity and strength.. because like Une Rose it's a very disciplined animal. Almost like passion based on a mathematical or architectural formula but with the formula well-thrown away once the creation or the journey starts!!
I've worn it in heat, in cold, in rain and in sun..
and it's never behaved... it's always been alive, conversing with me, making me notice it on myself and ultimately making me believe a bit at a time in BEAUTY, Passion, the passing of age and that inexplicable feeling of sadness that all contact with art engenders.
it's the Edition I wear the most often (followed by Une Rose)...
It's a good scent for an artist, a musician, definitely NOT for a fop, a flirt, or a politician.
Nothing very safe here (and not in that same wild unsafe sexual way that Musc Ravageur possesses)
It's really an invitation to rediscover some poetry in life.
Pretty intense stuff with a cool cool attitude

I have only tried a small sample of this scent and may need time to "get" it. It strikes me as rather heavy and somewhat masculine at first sniff. I would perhaps wear it to a funeral or other such solemn occasion, but to me it is rather a joyless creation. Certainly not a mood -lifter and just too dark and melancholy for my taste.

I understand the direction this fragrance is trying to take but I find it just doesn't get there. It is a bit too harsh and in your face, the edges seem jagged and its just barely holding itself together as one unified smell. The notes are however well matched (spices, fruits, woods). I believe with more refinement this could be a fine scent.

I think this is a fabulous, heady and sophisticated scent full of long lasting undertones but unfortunately my partner doesn't like it on me. Damn shame. Will have to wear it when I'm away travelling. I heard it was a favourite of Catherine DeNeuve amongst others which is good enough for me!

This is a great fragrance in the FM line. This is one of the most chic Orientals I have come across. It starts with notes of almost crystallized orange. As it dries down, I get exotic spicy notes with a metallic accord. This is a wonderfully made fragrance dominated by floral notes and rich exotic spices. Wonderful.

When I sampled this long ago, I thought I'd like it. There's a danger to only testing this lightly (a dab from a vial). When I sprayed this on, from a very generous sample supplied by Malle, I wondered what I was thinking back then. This is very spicy, much more masculine then I remembered. It sort of reminds me a bit of Arabie, but without Arabie's subtle sweet undertones.

"Doctor, if I may, that is one severe scent," uttered my valet the other morning, "sort of like the smell of the finely engraved barrel of your custom shotgun right after being polished." I shouldn't have been startled, for he has long known that it is alright with me if he speaks his mind; after all, he had a point. Noir Epices is sharp, cool, and calculating, in the same way that Iris Silver Mist from Sheldrake/Lutens is. Very dry, yet deep, ebony woods and crisp, dry spices. There is said to be a hesperidian note in this scent somewhere, but it just isn't clear to my nose. Apparently not to my valet's, either. In any event, this is a richly made fragrance perfect for a sober and/or solemn occasion.

Wicozani

a brown refined woolen pinstripe suit of a magician

I am embarrassed to admit that when I first smelled this I thought it was revolting. It seemed like a harsh spice scent without the warming quality of vanilla to mellow it out. However I began to wear it and have now actually grown to like it quite a bit. It's highly unique and few fragrances can match its dark blend of spices and herbs. The fragrance seems to revel in an almost medieval darkness. Absolutely wicked and a must-have for those who want something that is totally and utterly profound. This fragrance makes a compelling case with its audacious blend of quality ingredients.

Wonderful scent!!! Soft creamy shimmering spices and flowers. In general, it's quite an out-of-body scent up to metal-like undertones. Very different, complex and pleasant oriental fragrance. Highly recommended.

Frederic Malle has brought the art of perfumery back into the world! The new compositions of true perfumers are astounding. Noir Epices is perhaps the best of the fragrances I've come across recently. It smells like Giorgio for Men (which was sadly discontinued years ago) with more spicy and woody notes. It seems like it would work best in autumn and winter, but sparingly it could be used for any evening or romantic setting. Michel Roudnitska, a perfume genius who was born and raised in the industry, created this gem.