Estee Lauder Sensuous Noir

From Estee Lauder: Intensely rich. Mysteriously seductive. Fragrance type: woody, floral chypre

Sensuous Noir becomes Estee Lauder’s flanker to the original Sensuous (2008). I liked the original Sensuous and I also like Sensuous Noir, but Sensuous Noir is entirely forgettable to me, and while I like it “ok”, it’s just not something I will wear or what I was hoping it would be. While I like both fragrances I find Sensuous Noir to be more derivative and ‘samey’ as other fragrances on the market already.

Sensuous 2008 was the more original launch for a mainstream brand. Sensuous Noir is that sort of typical woody floriental with a clean patchouli base that one can find anywhere. Estee Lauder categorizes Sensuous Noir as a “woody, floral chypre” and I’m so tired of this completely off base description. Sensuous Noir is not a chypre. If Sensuous Noir is a chypre, then so are Flowerbomb, Dior Midnight Poison and Bond No. 9 Lexington Avenue and Success is a Job in New York.

It’s no accident I just listed off the four fragrances above. Sensuous Noir reminds me strongly of Dior’s Midnight Poison, it also reminds me a bit of Flowerbomb in its candy woody sweetness and there’s some similarity with both Bond No. 9’s except that I think the Bond’s are much better. I did a side-by-side comparison of Midnight Poison and Sensuous Noir in which a household member couldn’t detect much difference. I can tell them apart, easily, but they are quite similar overall.

I’m actually annoyed because I expect more from Estee Lauder. I think Estee Lauder is a fabulous company. Almost every fragrance from Estee Lauder usually brings us good quality and oftentimes well above average fragrances completely deserving of adoration and fans. I have immensely enjoyed everything from their Private Collection. From my youth I enjoyed White Linen, and it turns out the White Linen flankers are pretty good. Pleasures, Knowing, Cinnabar, Youth Dew, Alliage, Azuree and many others are excellent fragrances which stand the test of time. Sensuous Noir, to me, is just a derivative mass market launch, adding nothing to a sea of sweet woody patchy orientals.

In Sensuous Noir I also smell this “cheap, plastic, sweet synthetic musk” which in my head I call “cheap-o synth musk” that I can’t get past. Oddly enough, the other perfume brand in which I always smell this cheap-o synth musk is Ormonde Jayne. I have no idea if this note is, in fact, musk, it could be the scrubbed clean patchouli, but, nevertheless, I hate it.

Of course I still think Estee Lauder is a fabulous company. It’s possible I’m being too hard on Sensuous Noir. After all, Estee Lauder IS a mass market company and Sensuous Noir IS intended for the Flowerbomb-Midnight Poison wearing crowd. I suppose Estee Lauder needed to jump into this particular market, they needed a sweet, woody, floriental in their arsenal. I guess my only consolation here is that I like Sensuous Noir better than Flowerbomb and Midnight Poison. There’s a nicer and stronger woody note flowing through Sensuous Noir that eventually, upon dry down, cuts through the cheap-o synth musk note.

I usually think of Estee Lauder as a leader and not a follower. I’m reacting to the fact that Sensuous Noir is definitely a follower among the mass market launches with Sensuous Noir. If, perhaps, you want to wear something along the lines of Flowerbomb or Midnight Poison, but can’t wear either, then maybe you should check out Sensuous Noir, because it is better than both, even though it’s similar.

Good points: the 30 ml / 1 oz bottle is terrific. The bottle itself is cool. I liked the beige Sensuous (2008) bottle, too, but this purple one is nice.

Notes: Crème noir, spiced lily, molten woods, purple rose, black pepper, honey, amber and patchouli.

PS: It's possible this will be a huge seller for Estee Lauder. It closely follows current trends/tastes and yet it's a notch above the rest.

Bond No 9 Lexington Avenue: A Review

Lexington Avenue is the third fragrance created by Bond No 9 in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation.

Judging by the first two and now the third in this series I’m not so sure Andy Warhol himself would like any of the fragrances that Bond No 9 has created in his namesake. I’m just guessing this because he was buried with a bottle of Estee Lauder Beautiful. If Andy Warhol loved Beautiful so much perhaps his tastes would lean towards Broadway Nite or Chelsea Flowers but I digress. The second fragrance in this series, Silver Factory, is one of my favorite Bond’s, so I was eager to try Lexington Avenue.

Lexington Avenue is so named because Andy Warhol lived in several apartments on Lexington Avenue, specifically in Murray Hill, in the early 1950’s. At this time Mr. Warhol was working as an illustrator at a shoe company called I. Miller. Hence the design on the bottle of seductive heels and boots. For lovers of perfume and shoes, the bottle alone might be something worth owning, it’s rather whimsical and charming.

Bond describes this scent as a floral woody chypre. Claude Dir is the perfumer and the list of notes are as follows: blue cypress, fennel, cardamom, pink peony, iris, crème brûlée, pimento berry, patchouli and sandalwood.

Yes, I too, was a bit perplexed by the list of notes. I couldn’t imagine what it would smell like. Especially with the crème brûlée note, I worried it would be a sickly sweet confection.

Lexington Avenue opens rather softly. I ended up applying quite a lot because I really wanted to be able to smell it ‘clearly.’ Turns out, it starts off quietly but in a matter of 10 minutes it began to warm up on my skin and become much more obvious. After about 30 minutes, I wasn’t completely able to describe the fragrance yet, and knew I needed to wait at least 3-4 hours to form an opinion but I already knew I LOVED it.

Overall it *is* a floral woody chypre with a twist. The cypress, fennel and cardamom are most noticeable in the beginning, with a slight “anise / licorice” scent and while it is a lovely start, this all morphs into the final gorgeously blended perfume which I can only describe as slightly reminiscent of Chinatown but much much better. Once dried down the sandalwood is apparent and it’s just altogether smooooooth. I think the crème brûlée note serves to add a creamy deliciousness, not overly sweet and not in the gourmand category in the least. This is a floral woody chypre just peeking through a keyhole into the gourmand category. I also get an overall impression of the spicy notes, the cypress, fennel, cardamom and pepper being draped over an evergreen forest. It’s a very calm, comforting and peaceful aroma. I imagine it being an absolute joy to wear in the crisp fall weather and most definitely in the winter. There is a ‘sweetness’ to Lexington Avenue, it is not a very dry spicy scent, but I would think that anyone who likes Chinatown and Nuits de Noho, really ought to try Lexington Avenue. I’m going out on a limb here, but in a way, Lexington Avenue reminds me of a very subdued, sophisticated, always decadent Aunt to Angel by Thierry Mugler. I am most definitely ordering myself a bottle and am so looking forward to the fall when I can start wearing this gorgeous fragrance.

Lasting power is average, on me, about 4-5 hours.

Sillage (aka scent trail) is small to medium, which means a person standing right next to you can probably smell it, but it doesn’t project more than it ought to.