Bulgari Black by Bulgari, 1998

I'm totally new to fragrance, and I'm hunting for a signature as well as 2-3 occasionals. This has signature potential but for now all I know for sure is it's on the buy list.

As a n00b spraying paper at a store you really only have brand, bottle, and category to go by. I shy away from sporty fresh things and gravitate towards the warm. Suggestions of darkness, night, black, and intensity seem like a good place to start. The moment I whiffed this it was instantly on the politely-ask-for-more-samples-than-you're-allowed list. It was the weirdest thing I had sprayed. It was warm, broody and a little confusing.

Then I read up about it here. "Arson at the Local Auto-Parts — Tonight at 9" That can't be what I brought home… I'm a tea drinker who never uses sweetener, so surely I'd see this rubber for the natural earthy tea that it really is? Nah. No fondness for roasty oxidized teas can deny that this smells like rubber. But I can gladly assert that this is not burnt rubber. I don't get an acrid cancer causing fume. Just clean delicious rubber. The sex-bots of 2072 will be modeled after the bio-human specimens from earlier that century who wore Bvlgari Black.

It dries down sweetly and sensually (without spices) but keeps a strange mechanical edge. That's not to say the notes themselves seem synthetic. Think of the current trend in furniture where clean modern techno-shapes are made of reclaimed wood and oiled bronze. The components are natural and tactile even though the overall form points forward. I went into this venture expecting to hate anything that didn't seem earthy and natural. I really like Bvlgari Black despite the fact that it makes me feel like a robot. But this isn't for programed robots (they wear sport fragrances — oh! just kidding!), this is for robots that generate new ideas and were constructed at the molecular level using bio-mimic algorithms on organic compounds. They have as much free will as natural-humans.

An often overlooked gem. A lot of people disagree with the whole unisex tag, but I COMPLETELY agree with it. I mean powdery vanilla? C'mon. When I first tried Bulgari Black a few years ago, I immediately noticed the infamous rubber note in the opening. Like many assessments, I agreed that it smelled like brand new fresh tires. Over the years my nose no longer picks that up, but either way the harsh opening notes fade VERY quickly, like 10 minutes quickly. It's strange, even some who love this fragrance still prefer to let the opening simmer down before they leave the house. I don't mind, but I think its mid is the strongest when the vanilla really starts to pick up and contrasts with the deeper tea notes, just beautiful. It's all ghostly powder and vanilla in the ending, just kind of waving goodbye to you. Unfortunately strength and projection are super poor. This definitely isn't the type of fragrance that you want blasting out like a monster, but it almost sits too close to the skin. I rarely receive any compliments at all, though many claim to so it's possibly just extra weak on my skin. The good news is that you can find it for extremely cheap if you look in the right places.