Orris Noir (2006)
by Ormonde Jayne

My initial impression of this was "where's the orris, where's the noir". But I actually loved this one. Definately bottle worthy. It pulls off a very nice trick: it uses all the peripheral notes to create an accord that amplifies the very transparent and fleeting iris note. It is like a big chorus taking the weak voice of a child and transferring it accross a thatre. The iris is there but suddenly you realise that not all that you think is iris actually comes from the iris. Excellent!

I find its construction a bit similar to Ormonde Jayne's Man, but this is less herbal, a bit sweeter and overall, better. Anyway, Ormonde Jayne is a niche brand and it is supposed to be very unusual, bold, innovative and different, but actually it's anything but. Their fragrances are awfully generic.

So where’s the “noir”? Orris Noir starts out as a rather bright, sweet, fruity fragrance, quickly supplemented with a hefty dose of powder. A blend of sweet spices emerges after several minutes, transforming the fragrance from fruit punch to baked fruit dessert and moving it toward oriental territory in the process. As Orris Noir develops the fruit calms down and the spices expand, making for much better balance. By the time I’ve worn it for an hour, Orris Noir has become a richer, though not particularly darker, scent.

To me the iris in this scent seems quite restrained – so much so that I’m surprised to find it in the name. By the time it reaches its crescendo Orris Noir is a sumptuous, if not outright decadent, sweet spicy oriental, which eventually subsides into a smooth balsamic-woody drydown. It’s a very nice scent, but its name gets no reward from me for truth in advertizing.

I longed for this for two years since the sample. Now I own and adore it. A classic and totally unique. A perfume with sophistication to be worn day or night.

Another classy fragrance from this fine house, but, it would be kind of hard for a man to wear this as it seems more geared for women. But everything from this house is quality from their products and their service. Even though I know I can't talk myself in wearing a fragrance I feel the opposite gender would be more suitable for, I will look forward to being a future customer with this house in trying some of their other products.

This s power and the Arabian culture in a bottle. I just fell in love with it. I would say its more geared to a woman than a man, but hey this is the 2000's and if women can wear mans clothes than i dont see why we cant wear something gravitating to them. Again price is a killer!