Japon Noir (2007)
by Tom Ford

With Japon Noir, I get a sweet and smoky accord of jasmine and patchouli that is accented with spices, mostly cinnamon. There's ginger and citrus up there in the top notes too, but it's fleeting. The drydown is dominantly earthy patchouli and amber that is quite leathery and powdery. Not bad at all.

I don't get the name at all, but I do like the scent -- it reminds me also somewhat of DIA for Men -- there is definitely something fruity happening amongst the rather incensey spices. Longevity is outstanding on me -- sillage is ok. Some rather nice surprises in the drydown.

If I had tried this 2 years ago, I probably would have poo-pooed this as an "old lady" scent. Now, I find myself drawn to this kind of perfume. It's not a fruity floral, that's for sure. I tried this alongside Tom Ford's Champaca Absolute which was a stark contrast -- flowery, toothache-ingly loud and sweet. Japon Noir is more musky, dusty, and subtle, not sweet and loud. In the opening, I get neroli, mandarin, and patchouli. An hour later, it starts to resemble what I remember of Amouage Dia for Men or Must de Cartier (for women) -- musky? Three hours later, it was kind of cinnamony and musky, almost like a cinnamon latte from far away, but up close you can really smell the stinky musk. Sillage was pretty good for me. Longevity on my skin, not so much. But my sweater sleeve still smelled of it the next day. I'm not sure what Japon Noir has to do with Japan. It doesn't make me think of Japan very much at all. More of an old Victorian townhouse than an island country in Asia.

Smokey Fruit Loops though there's no real fruit in this. Like a deeper, more smoky Blenheim Bouquet. Otherwise, I get no development.

Japon noir starts out with a sharp, cool, clean citrus/ginger accord, almost with some cleaning/hygiene product vibes. Then dry, woody spices (nutmeg and clove?) start to dominate. At this stage the scent feels weirdly flat and muddy, like hitting a few random piano keys close to each other, creating a false chord and then repeating it over and over without any melody to accompany it. I thought it would stay like that, but then the melody did appear: sweeter, fresher, brighter notes of jasmine and vetiver accompanying the spices. At this stage, it's rather interesting and exotic, enough to keep for further investigation.

Notes include: spice bouquet, purple patchouli, porto noir, jasmine, leather, amber and vetiver

Strange that most other reviews I've read, mention this as a quite spicy scent(!?) On me, this scent is all about smoke.

It goes on smoky, stays smoky and dries down to a woody/smoky finish. About 30 minutes into the scent, the smoke took on a 'candle wax burning' note: the smell that you inhale when you blow a candle out and the wet wax mixed with the smoke from the extinguished wick mix together. That summarizes the smell of Japan Noir.

Reminded me of Gucci Pour Homme's smoky moments (minus a lot of the wood) and Idole by Lubin. The name Japan Noir threw me (I thought it was going to smell like Japanese temples...it doesn't).

Longevity was average. It sadly, however, did not get very complex after the initial smoke blast. I got a light sprinkling of leather and woods. But it remained the identical smoky smell throughout the entire time. I got NO vetiver or jasmine or spice at all - if it's there it's buried underneath the smoke on my skin.

Smoky scent lover note - Japan Noir is just your thing!