Black Sea
by Martine Micallef

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.

A pleasant woody-spicy fragrance, which suffers from smelling quite soapy once the notes have settled down. I also found it far too soft and ‘polite’ for my liking.

[Original submission date: 22 July 2008]

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.

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.

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.

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.