Black Violet (2007)
by Tom Ford

Sweet flowers with a bit of citrus. This becomes one of those cloying perfumes. Way too fruity and too over-the-top.

Strange and a little raspy at first, this eventually sorts out to a very subtly resinous place after passing through some violet-evocative notes. I say "violet-evocative" because this is not the modern take on violet, which is more about violet leaf than it is about the elusive floral violet, which is nearly impossible to distill from the plant and must be hinted at through the use of ionone and other synthetics. The "violet" in this fragrance takes after the floral side in spades. It is well balanced, however, with citrus and other fruity notes in the top, and nicely anchored in a mossy-woody base. This gives the scent the feel of a chypre. It's a fairly deep take on the title player, but then most of the Special Blends are at least somewhat deep and dark. This one, though, does manage to end on a subtler note. It becomes quite soft and elusive at the end. In my book, it's one of the better ones from this series.

Although I don't agree with Vibert that this one comes across as "tacky" or "trashy" or even "cheap," I must agree with him that it a) can be somewhat cloying and b) lacks any of the sharp green violet notes that I'd expected. There wasn't a hint of bitterness or crispness here, only a very sweet, almost incense-like fragrance whose drydown was far better than its torturous first half hour.

Disgusting? By no means. Unisex? That's debatable. For me? Probably not, though I do find it fascinating in its complex drydown.

Will have to sleep on this one -- in the meantime, it still boils down to a thumbs up, if only for its complexity. That said, I will NOT plunk down the buckaroos for it -- the fragrance, although fascinating, does not (IMHO) merit the absurd price tag.

Sorry - no objectivity here! Sweet and cloying from the get-go, with a cheesy synthetic fruit opening and a chalky, saccharine-soaked heart accord that just has to be a joke. I'd hoped that some of the green bitterness of violet leaves would appear to temper the unrelenting chemical sweetness, but it never did. Tacky, trashy and cheap, Black Violet vies with Etat Libre d'Orange's puerile and disgusting Secretions Magnifiques for the title of Worst Scent I've Smelled This Year. Utterly disgusting.

Starts out citrusy, more citrusy than I like, with some candied violets. Then the citrusy and green notes transform into a classic chypre where the violet too is greener and less sweet and barely detectable. I feel the warmth of cumin and the earthiness of patchouli although none of these notes are listed. Unlike anything else and quite beautiful, magical somehow. Yes, I do buy the name "black violet" - thic could be a night-blooming black violet with a very faint scent blooming in an enchanted forest full of satyrs and fairies.