Black Sea
by Martine Micallef

My first foray through the house of Micallef has been a felicitous one! BLACK SEA is a real beauty to my nose. Although at the very opening I thought that this might be a run-of-the-mill sandalwood/cinnamon oriental, as the perfume developed, and the saffron emerged to play a central role, I became more and more smitten with this scent, which definitely seems unisex to me.

The blend is perfect, with none of the notes overwhelming the others but saffron always shining through. I do not find the clove at all loud, and I am hypersensitve to clove, so that means something... In the end, I have to say that this is one of the better saffron orientals I've sniffed, and I do recommend it to anyone who loves saffron as a note in woody oriental perfumes. I do not think that this is the most revolutionary or original composition, but the drydown is just great! Excellent longevity, too.

5th October, 2011.

The best of the bunch of Micallef "Seas" on my skin, but underwhelming, all the same. I like it, but don't love it, though was relieved that it wasn't as sweet as most of the other Micallefs I've tried.

5th September, 2009.

M Micallef Black Sea

Husband and wife Martine Micallef and Geoffrey Newman established M Micallef in 1997 and Black Sea is one of their earlier efforts. This is a spicy scent which manages to not be overpowering on me. Right from the top the spices come out to play as clove and pepper show up first. They give way to the saffron; soft, smooth, and exotic. The saffron leads the way into the heart which is predominantly gaiac. The mix at the interface, between top and heart, of saffron and gaiac is breathtakingly beautiful and I wanted it to last longer. It seems like these two notes are olfactory soul mates to my nose. The gaiac is joined by an incense note as the saffron fades away. This part of the development suffers because of what came before, it is fine and it isn't jarringly out of place, I just wanted this to be something more. The base is vanilla with the gaiac and incense also sticking around in the background. I like Black Sea but there is a moment there where I thought this was going to be incredible.

14th March, 2009.

Pink pepper, clove, saffron
Muguet, carnation
Cypress, gaiac wood, sandalwood, cedarwood
Incense and ciste (labdanum)
Vanilla
This is luxury. The scent opens in a distinctive way. Most scents have a bright and crisp opening. Black Sea starts as very rich, dense, soft and cushiony. It is like encountering the base of the pyramid at the beginning. Then the clouds thin somewhat, and interesting notes emerge: clove from the spice and carnation; and resinous wood tones. The scent becomes a bit soapy and like a barbershop (the clove-y spice). And then it gets rich again, quite beautiful. The vanilla brings out a sweet note. Finally that burns off and some deep cedar notes remain. I’m not a fan of vanilla, but I can say that this is a lovely scent.

18th February, 2009.

To my nose, it starts out smelling of burnt tire mixed with hairspray. Then, it turns into a rather common aquatic. Bottom line: Nothing special.

15th February, 2009.

According to Micallef’s website, Black Sea has “lemon, spices and Mediterranean flowers”, however I did not find any of those notes when I smelled it. Rather, Black Sea has an odd clean/soapy scent with notes of carnation, clove, cedar and maybe a little saffron if I try really hard to get there. Another way to describe Black Sea is that it smells like very expensive church incense. Please don't take this the wrong way but I can see this being popular in Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union.

8th July, 2008.