“For Her MUSC NOIR has a mysteriously dark and seductive quality about it that is rare and unique.”

Narciso Rodriguez

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There’s a level of honesty that can be uniquely evident when three long-time female friends gather around a table.

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Therefore, I was prepared for some very blunt feedback when I tested Musc Noir in the company of two fellow Narciso fans (who also just happen to be two of my most incorrigible mates).

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Disdain was the first reaction of Elze, Metallica-loving lawyer, busy mum and devotee to the classic black-bottled Narciso Rodriguez. She was having none of the promotional blurb.

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“I have four kids, I don’t have time to be f**king mysterious.”

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At first whiff, however, she changed her mind, quickly falling in lust with the plum note in the opening. The plum performed well on all three of us, defying our low expectations. After all, who hasn’t had that perfume gifted to them... the cloying mix of plum jam and vanilla, with some celebrity signature plastered across the front? Instead, this plum is juicy and complex, with an umeshu-like, boozy undertone.
 

Elze was disappointed when the plum note moved quickly, to be replaced by an intense heliotrope. Sarah, a musician-turned-tour producer, was thrilled. A fan of the jasmine-laden 2016 release, Poudree, Sarah's idea of heaven is dousing herself in sweet, powdery florals (an act of feminine rebellion, she claims, against the decades she spent in a tour bus with sweaty bandmates).

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The heliotrope note performs like a dusting powder - the sillage of the floral slowly fades, but the fragrance hangs close - and musk in hand, it pirouettes towards the finish.

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Boy, did I have high hopes. I’m usually found wearing Fleur Musc, which is all pink peppercorn zing and lush florals to start, moving through a very fine musk before closing with a rich violet and rare amber. I do love a good finish.

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Bibliophile that I am, I'd been excited by the suede note listed in the marketer's description for Musc Noir. I had hoped for one redolent of vintage book bindings, pungent with age. Instead, the suede is akin to that of Donna Karan’s Liquid Cashmere — an inoffensive, limping leather. It’s the nice girl next door, trying on some sexy boots to see if she can walk in them... and not quite succeeding.

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All in all, the three of us were happy enough to wear it for one night, but only Sarah said that she would be likely to buy a bottle. “Mysteriously dark and seductive” she is not, but MUSC NOIR is certainly wearable, and a must-try for the plum note alone. 

 

Rating:  3.7 / 5