Reviews of M2 Black March (2006)
by CB I Hate Perfume

Starts out intriguingly earthy but quickly morphs into an intense accord of BEETS. I know this vegetable too well to smell anything else, and while the picture painted is vivid, it's not a smell I want on my skin.

***Edited to add: I finally got around to retesting. Not downright scary like last time, but still not something I think I'd wear. Reasonably convincing smell of raw earth, but the drydown just smells dirty and not in a fun way. Rotting flowers.

I have no idea how to rate this one. The most disturbing perfume I've ever worn. The earth smell is raw and dark and the airy flowers that float over it only emphasize the strangeness. I heard this scent compared to "fresh graves" and can't get the image out of my head. I want to retest it, but I'm honestly scared to put it on my skin. When I wore it, it lasted for hours and every time I sniffed it I felt my hair stand on end.

Well, this smells like most of the CB oeuvre -- which is to say thin, somewhat sweet, slightly green. This has the virtue of being non-offensive. It doesn't irritate me, and it does smell reasonably like damp earth and green growing things. But there is nothing here to get me enthusiastic. Rather pallid.

This is exactly as others here have mentioned. The black Earth smell is super-potent, and any florals pretty subdued on me shortly after putting in on my skin. Maybe an atomizer would have helped this. However, after the few florals did disappear, it was a bit hard to stick with it. Although interesting in the sense that they can make a scent that smells like this, a small sample will be plenty for me to smell once in a while for artistic appreciation. I can't imagine anyone wanting to smell like this...but artistically, pretty amazing stuff!!!

Hmm. This evoked with vividness my grandmother's utility room of 1958, cold and dark and dank in winter, with mold and dirt in the corners where the wintry rains have leaked in. Very pungent soil and damp and mildewiness. After awhile the smell of the wet soil in her potted plants nearby became more obvious, with promises of life stirring in the living plants and the rich soil.This is a very strange walk down memory lane, and interesting and original in its own way; but as a perfume? I can't imagine wanting to smell like this, but am glad I have a sample in my perfume musuem. Maybe for old gardeners now stuck in nursing homes it would be a welcome reminder of the soil, but otherwise I can't think of a use for it.

Mossy-green, wet, with strong dirt undertones. An idealized but perfectly natural rendition of earth in spring thaw--just what it claims to be, and as such, a remarkably evocative achievement. But soon enough (too soon?) it dries to a pleasant, nondescript floral-sweet scent (is it the "sap" advertised in the notes?)which I would call a bit anticlimactic. If it is meant to suggest a bloom after a thaw, it is not quite there--but the attempt is very laudable.

Wearability would depend on how much you might want to smell like the damp corner of a greenhouse. Which is pretty cool, if that's your thing.

The same wet gardeners mold note shared with "to see a flower" and "winter 1972". That note is very surprisingly natural. that makes me smile as i wonder how it is obtained; from distilation of well composted forest soil? Black march, compared to the "to see a flower" and "winter 1972" is bit boring.Goes quite flat on that note; to the end a bit sweet greens. But of course worth a try and can be used in layering.

This is a water based perfume. This means it contains some perfume oil and water - no alcohol. As such, it lasts longer but has no (as in zero) sillage.

It really, REALLY smells like autumn. Damp earth. Fallen leaves. At first. It evolves and becomes a bit sweater, but it still smells like nature, although perhaps a bit later than the month of March (in Northern USA/Canada).

This is something that would be nice to mix with water and spray around your house, to give it an outdoor natural scent. It is nice to wear once or twice to try it, but I'm not sure you'd want to use this as a fragrance except for kicks and giggles.

What an incredible perfume! Like those before me, I consider this scent a work of art. How can you start out so earthy and end so ethereal and bloom-y? My initial impression was one of cold, wet, pond scum...then quickly onto dark, rich, and soaked earth, and finally a bloom of spring flowers. Amazing journey! CB I Hate Perfume calls this scent a Metamorphosis scent. Yep, it'll take you for a ride all right. I was so struck by how closely this resembled water and earth, that I almost felt cheated when it turned bloom sweet and the dirt disappeared. It happened quickly too...within 10 minutes. Other than the novelty of this changeling scent, the drydown is very nice if not a skosh generic. I do think this is FBW, but I'm not sure I wouldn't waste it all playing show-n-tell on all my friends.

What a strange experience wearing this scent is. Truly it is more like a work of art than a fragrance for personal wear. In fact, I don't imagine many (myself included) would want to wear this as a fragrance. It starts off smelling like rich, damp, black earth with all the facets of that smell - you can almost see the small plant shoots and insects. Then, it takes a cold turn, for some reason calling more to mind damp, cold soil in the late fall or early winter, with dried, decaying tree leaves playing a role. Finally, it ends on an almost green note, the smell of the soil in the spring. Here the smell of freshly sprouting leaves comes to mind. At this point, it is light, but still present.

As someone who has worked with his hands, often digging and planting, this scent brought with it many embodied memories of times past. The smell of clearing the trees to build our house; the smell of planting azalea bushes as a landscaper; the smell of digging in the hard, cold earth near the end of fall. For that reason, wearing this is an emotional experience. I'm just not sure that many of these are emotions I care to relive. If the goal of this is to mimic the smell of nature at various points throughout the year, then this fragrance succeeds. However, if the goal is to provide something that folks will wear to smell good, or feel good, then I'm not sure it succeeds.

I was so enthralled by the description and concept of Black March but the scent itself, well, to my nose it's mostly a watery, pale version of the earth note common in obscure perfume oils. I guess I'm too fond of rich, warm scents to really appreciate CBs cool, airy, watery, ethereal concoctions. Not that there's anything wrong with Black March, it's just not all I hoped it would be.

This is a remarkable scent. It starts out like black earth. Wet balck earth. With flowers. But not really flowers. There is something strange about this scent. Its not a typical perfume. It works like art. It is ethereal. The top notes of dirt and green something, slightly floral, fade into a pretty range of floral basenotes. It layers nicely with other scents. Finally, it is a perfume water. No alcohol. Very much worth your time. Get some.