Orris Noir (2006)
by Ormonde Jayne

Orris Noir was one that I tried a while back, and really didn't care for, as I imagine I had a preconceived notion it would be an iris forward fragrance. It is not, but after returning to this, I more fully appreciate what it accomplishes.

It opens with a blast of peppered bergamot. As the pepper fades, and the fragrance shifts into it's middle, a distinct rose note is used as a bridge. The rose is soft and pink and powdery, and announces the iris that appears shortly thereafter. The rose also introduces the other florals that dominate the mid notes - jasmine is what I smell most distinctly as this point.

The base is resinous, with myrrh and gaiac over the remaining orris.

The Noir of the name was possibly the other thing that confused me initially, as I don't find this very dark. It is a smooth floral over very quiet iris with an oriental slant. Quite nice!

21st May, 2011.

I also smell rose in here, like Suga does. I first smelt this one in London with Linda herself who picked it out for me to try . I like it ,it's a quality oriental .Velvety and pretty potent .I understand the 'noir' bit - it's spicey ,resinous and ambery but the iris is a little weak ?

5th July, 2010.

If you like this but don't have the money, consider Cabaret (the "women's" one). Basically, these dry down to fairly rich, woody rose fragrances. Nice, but not my thing at all. I'll give it a neutral for this reason. Sillage and longevity seem to be at least very good.

9th April, 2010.

Am I the only one who smells rose here?

After the initial disappointment of finding Orris Noir to be neither orris nor noir ( a statement echoed by the reviews before me ), I've revisited it and have come to appreciate Orris Noir for what it is, rather than what it isn't.

What Orris Noir is, in my opinion, is a smooth, warm, floral-oriental fragrance. The top notes are a pleasing mixture of fruit and spice; the pepper being most noticeable to me. After the top notes, I find the tone of this fragrance very muted, as this low-sillage fragrance clings to the skin. Here, a hushed accord of rosy, ambery florals predominates, a hint of spice and incense lingering on and giving character to the first few hours. Deep into the drydown the amber takes over and takes a turn towards something both woody and vanillic, and one of this fragrances positive traits is a succesful balance of sweet and dry.

The sillage, as aforementioned, is very weak, but I find the longevity decent here.

It's not a favorite of mine, given similar but better fragrances elsewhere, but it's not bad at all.

30th January, 2010.

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 advertising.

17th December, 2009. (Last Edited: 29th November, 2010.)

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!

4th February, 2009.