Ombre Noire

This contains a lot of the notes I love, like fig leaf, tobacco, spicy and boozy notes. All collected in one fragrance, what can possibly go wrong. Well, it is (as far as I know) discontinued and now hard to find. Prices are still pretty low for a fragrance of this quality _if_ you can find it. I love the fig leaf opening that turns into tobacco and cinnamon notes and finally settles as a boozy, woody scent. It is so well put together that I can't find anything that I would like to change. The only negative thing I can find is the performance. If the longevity and sillage was just a little bit better. This scent makes me long for the cooler autumn days.

A niche fragrance of remarkable quality and subtlety. My blind buys from Lalique are definitely a success.

Smoky incency tabacco with sweet fig brandy. this is at least to my nose ;D can't wait for the cooler weather to wear it and not just spray it on the hand ;D

Not sure why, given the notes, but it just smells like ginger root. Not like the sweet and pleasant smelling ginger accord found in LV l'Immensite or Sospiro Vibrato. It's like acidic, medicinal smelling, photorealistic ginger root. Not a fan.

This is beautiful, rich but not heavy, complex but not fussy, and sophisticated in a way I associate with Lalique. I've blind bought this, Encre Noir, Encre Noir a la Extreme, Encre Indigo, and Pour Homme (Lion), and been very happy with all of them. The taste level is very reliable across the board. The only one I was less satisfied with is Encre Indigo Sport - but even that is just fine on a hot summer day when you're trying not to smell bad, as opposed to actually trying to smell good. I keep a bottle at the office for just that reason. This is the best batting average of what I consider winners, of any house I've been interested in - and that includes CDG, Chanel, Hermes and Guerlain. Factor in the price tag and this is absolutely my favorite house for value for money. If you like any of these, you should probably check out the others. Conversely, if any of these make you shudder in horror, the others probably will too. PS I read somewhere that Bentley (I recommend Bentley Intense) is made by Lalique, and Intense has a similar taste level, quality, appeal, and value for money. A word to the wise. PPS: I'm 62. If you're in your 20s, these are probably not the fragrance profile for you - but who knows?

Beautiful, Dark, slightly smokey and powdery, rich, Boozy, sweet, deep. A very mysterious yet inviting scent! Lalique does it AGAIN!

Very warm syrupy resinous scent with a strong tobacco accord. Its got a honeyed like vibe and almost a toffee like sweetness underlying it. Its very well rounded for cold and cooler weather. Its not off putting and good foe day or evening Its a nice scent. But very average sillage which I dont mind but the longevity is lacking for me. If I caught a good deal Id go for it, but its not aomething id see reaching for often.

I find the opening really off-putting. Screechy oxidized bergamot in a 90s men’s designer perfume kind of way. It’s reminding me of Nishane’s Wulong Cha in that respect. Maybe the drydown will be redeeming… Not really.

My kind of noir! A lot of light and shade in this one, it’s got fresh aromatic notes paired with heavy, darker notes and the result just smells very complete. Dark and woody with real depth and a lovely bright opening. Excellent value for money and a great cool weather fragrance all round!

It's a bit spicier version of Une historie from Moubassin. The bottle of this one is more luxurious, although both of these fragrances are leaking from the collar lol. Apart from that, Moubassin is a bit fresher, this one is a bit darker, both have poor longevity. Just go for whichever one is cheaper and easier to find. Both are great value for money and one of the best scent profiles in my opinion.

This is an incredibly warm and charming fragrance for men. It’s Office appropriate. It is Guy’s night out at the pub. It is sitting by the fire pit holding your lady to keep her warm. There is nothing harsh or loud or brash about it. This is not for hype beasts or peacocking. It’s a quietly confident and inviting gentleman. It is smooth and well balanced and the boozy notes are comforting and high class all the way. Like other Lalique fragrances, this is damn good and a bargain. It hits the nose with the type of sophistication you expect from a bottle costing four times more. Get it while you still can.

So we come to the fifth of the five Lalique reviews in this series and the first that isn't technically an Encre Noire flanker, but in my opinion may as well be. Ombre Noire was released in 2017 and this time it is the turn of Karine Dubreuil-Sereni on nose duties to deliver. Like the other four, this was a total blind buy and I deliberately didnt look at a lot of reviews for it online before I tried it on skin so I could make my own judgements. The immediate reaction on spraying was that this is a radically different beast to any of the Encre Noires and is not enjoyable at all for the first four or five minutes. I really, really wasn't sure on this in the opening and couldn't for the life of me see how it would or could ever be something I'd ever wear. Half an hour later and I was chuckling to myself at how wrong I was. Wow. I've had some crap fragrance takes in my life but that one was a doozy. Ombre Noire goes full on villain and then has its own incredible, soaring redemption arc just in the first twenty minutes. It is a wild ride. It is a bit confused and chaotic at first. There is a peppermint note that just floors you because you aren't expecting it and it seems to jar with whatever else is going on. What is going on here????? But as it calms it cools - figuratively and literally - and you get the booze and patchouli. The mint works off the patchouli and it all goes a bit good vs evil, battle of the planets for a while while it goes back and forth. The booze is really good single malt. The searing, peaty, aggressive kind that they sell in special, hushed alcoves in airports. I don't think it is cognac, as the notes suggest. Not to my nose anyway. So if the top is calming patchouli and some mint, the mids is a no man's land battlefield of whiskey and tobacco (curiously not the smokey kind but the leaf, it is fresher and not burned which is sort of surprising and I think a nice touch) fighting the green accords, the base is cedar (not sandalwood; another interesting choice that stops this from going a bit derivative, love that) and some myhhre and tonka beans to add a smooth sweetness that the whole experience needs. I get 4-5 hours off this so perhaps surprisingly it has the least longevity of the five but it isn't an all dayer layer and doesn't need to last you 12 hours. The drydown brings more of the cinnamon and rich tobacco to the experience as the boozy note start to recede. It is one of the most clearly stratified fragrances I have encountered: the head, heart and base are distinct and easily discernable on their own, but work together superbly. The accords here are all at once super intense and quite aggressive, but also soothing and calming. It is, by any stretch of the imagination, a really really fine bit of perfumery. THIS is the sort of fine fragrance I love. I would have given you some seriously long odds on me saying that when I first sprayed it. Not for the first or even tenth time whilst reviewing these five Lalique "Noires" I am at a loss to understand how and why this only costs US$30-35 a bottle. I'd happily pay three or four times that for this and again, I'd have given you long odds of me saying that on the chaotic opening sniff. Would I wear this? Absolutely yes. It is a formal fragrance that would be a bit of a stretch to wear to the office unless formally dressed but as a formal evening thing it is absolutely magnificent. Perhaps not as a suit and tie thing but evening out or something, for sure. If you are going to wear this with a suit, it is definitely not a tie and formal shoes kind of suit, but a dark suit with a dark shirt and slip ons sort of thing. Ombre Noire isn't an easy wear, is by some distance the least unisex of the five and almost certainly the one with the least mass appeal, but it is thoroughly absorbing and the movement on the skin and the way it goes back and forth is really fascinating. This is one you wear because you love it and care not even one jot what anyone else thinks. Right up my street in fact. Three Word Summary - Glorious Dark Chaos. Scent - 9/10 Drydown - 10/10 Sillage - 7/10 Bottle/packaging - 8/10 Performance - 6/10 40/50 the second highest score of the five and I'm as amazed as the rest of you about that.

the comments about the faulty caps and atomizer rings are true. the atomizers themselves leave juice all over the nozzle. i understand these are relatively cheap scents but they gotta up the QC in all honesty.

I got a decant of this almost a year ago and it didn't do much for me at first but after testing it a few times this year, it's really growing on me. Today when I sprayed it that cognac note hit immediately and became the star of the show. The previous times I wore it, the mint note was too sharp but this time, with the cognac. Wow! I finally get it. Really good fragrance.

Fascinating woody scent with warm spicy,brandy,cinnamon and frankincense components. The perfume itself is excellent. Unfortunately, I bought Encre Noire L’Extreme and Ombré Noire, and their caps are both defective. The bottle caps were very tight and difficult to open. When I finally opened them, I found that the nozzle bases were stuck inside the caps. Lalique has poor quality control over the bottle caps of its perfume products. I hope my next Lalique would be normal .

This is a masculine signature scent of the highest order. It achieves the trifecta: a boozy warmth, a dry tobacco-leaf heart, and an opening so green it borders on shadowy. The synergy is, quite simply, mind-boggling. However, chemistry demands precision. This is not a blind buy. The molecular weight is substantial; this requires a mature nose accustomed to complexity over instant gratification. It is emphatically not "kids' stuff." It is a fragrance that must be worn, not sprayed. 8/10. Points deducted only for its demanding nature, not its composition. Perfect for a formal evening when you require an aura of quiet confidence, or for dating when you wish to be remembered as the man who smelled of dark wood, old books, and a very fine cognac. A fantastic specimen.

Beautiful fragrance. I don't pick up any of the top notes described up above in the opening, just a lot of resins and some spice. Develops into more of a spicy boozy tobacco with a touch of cedar. Mediocre projection but maybe my nose is just blown out by now.

This should rather be called Ombre Verde as this is not a black fragrance, like at all. For me this is waaay to green! Dense deep green. By the notes I thought I would love it, but unfortunately it's just a like from me, not dark enough, not mysterious enough, too green.

This is my least favorite in Lalique's "Noire" lineup. It's still not awful, but very sweet and lacks the "Encre"/Inky qualities that make the rest of the line cool and unique. Smells like a boozy dessert, and it's well done, it's just not my cup of tea

The complexity you get at this price point is madd. Dark, doomy, dry, kind of herbal sharpness, earthy, green facets, rich and a very mature goth classic blend. That subtle sweet touch saves the wearability of this. But truly tells a story, glad that this doesn't over perform. The subtlety really compliments this scent profile keeping the mystique.

Smells exactly like an echinacea tincture on first whiff, herbal, medicinal, very green, too green, dries down into something ambery and nice but still no thank you.

A 25 dollar classy fragrance, well balanced spice woody and earthy notes, easy blind buy. Leans masculine, very woodsey.

Is there really merit towards masturbating this cologne?

If you like cognac, its good

At the end of the day people are going to like what they like and for me this fragrance is beautiful though I have to agree with some of the reviews on fragrantica that this fragrance does not last very long on my skin That's why I have to keep reapplying every 4 to 5 hours even on my clothes it doesn't really last that long but the smell is gorgeous

Needs mascaration

For me, Encre Noir, Ombre Noir, and Encre Indigo are the Lalique trinity. And this Ombre Noir is simply nestled among my Chopard Malaki's. Everything is gorgeous for the festive month of December; every day is a celebration, even if you're not actually at the party yet, but it's all about the celebration. - Encre Noir, Ombre Noir en Encre Indigo zijn voor mij de Drie-eenheid van Lalique. Daarnaast staat deze Ombre Noir bij mij gewoon tussen de Chopard Malaki's. Alles prachtig voor de feestmaand december, iedere dag een feest ook als je nog niet concreet op het feest bent, maar alles om het feest draait.

Lalique You're known for your glasmaking chic Other than that I couldn't say any mo(i)re Except that I really like Encre Noire Some gentlemen lament that you smell like curry So naturally I started to worry 40€ sounded to me like a deal Worst case scenario I'd smell like a scrumptious, indian meal I finally got you & opened the cap One spray later, I was transported onto Santa's lap He smoked tobacco out of a cinnamon pipe As he downed half a bottle of 'gnac in one swipe I warned him to cool it with the consumption Or he'd die of a myocardial infarction

Can I just say... It's MATURATE, folks. Not "macerate." The "macerating" process is done by the perfumer before the juice gets bottled. Anything past that is simply 'maturing" the juice. As in, letting it age. And while we're here, stop saying "photorealistic." "PHOTO" is visual. Is that not obvious? When you smell something, are you seeing it? No. Just say realistic and stop sounding re tar ded

Do not blind buy this, it smells nothing but spices