Just woke up, can still smell the NH. Still smells like creme brulee. Nice smell but not for me.
Spotlight Fragrance: January: Bond No. 9 New Haarlem and Dior Eau Noire
- Thread starter maxman
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I've only sampled NH once - just got in my decants so I'll have more experience with it soon - but I've seen people describe By Kilian Taste of Heaven as New Haarlem without the coffee. Not sure I'm ready to make that comparison but I do love the lavender in TOH.
Put the Dior Eau Niore on the back of my hand when I laid down in bed to read last night - what a wild fragrance. I was amazed at the fenugreek/curry note that was much more prominent than I expected. Had planned to wear this one to work today but I'm going to be stuck in a car for an hour or so with coworkers - think I'll wear something a little less bold. Not sure what to make of the sweet and spicy Eau Noire yet. Woke up in the middle of the night and it had dried down to a mellow vanilla. Definitely need to give it a full wear before I draw any conclusions - this one is definitely outside what I have any experience with.
Showered, put on Eau noire. Very nice curry cilantro notes, much more interesting and daring then the fairly linear NH so far
I received the Eau Noire and New Haarlem yesterday, thanks again, Rick! Just applied the Eau Noire, and am liking the opening maple syrupy immortelle blast. It's already calming down after half an hour, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops in the dry down. My initial thought is I want to wear New Haarlem tomorrow, then Thursday I want to wear both, one on the left wrist and one on the right to get a side-by-side comparison. Then I want to do a side-by-side with Annick Goutal Sables, which also has that immortelle, maple syrup note. Right now, I can tell Eau Noire is similar to Sables, but I can also tell it is not the same, so I am interested in seeing how they do side-by-side.
I've really enjoyed reading all of your comments so far in this thread. What a great idea, Marc, to have so many of us trying scents, some of which for many of us are new scents, and trying them at the same time so that we can enjoy discussing our perceptions together here.
And thanks once again to Rick, Randy and Garry, our vendors who are doing such an excellent job of helping us get these frags in affordable sample/decant sizes. I encourage all of you to check out their sample/decant inventories in their vendor threads:
February Freebies vintage juice group buy and more
Garry's Sample Shop January Update!
Archerfire Decants - January 14 Update
Also, each of them may have more than one thread in the Vendor forum as they offer specials and splits from time to time, so look for their threads, started by Archerfire, gaj90027, and rickboone1.
I've really enjoyed reading all of your comments so far in this thread. What a great idea, Marc, to have so many of us trying scents, some of which for many of us are new scents, and trying them at the same time so that we can enjoy discussing our perceptions together here.
And thanks once again to Rick, Randy and Garry, our vendors who are doing such an excellent job of helping us get these frags in affordable sample/decant sizes. I encourage all of you to check out their sample/decant inventories in their vendor threads:
February Freebies vintage juice group buy and more
Garry's Sample Shop January Update!
Archerfire Decants - January 14 Update
Also, each of them may have more than one thread in the Vendor forum as they offer specials and splits from time to time, so look for their threads, started by Archerfire, gaj90027, and rickboone1.
I'm wearing the Eau Noire today. I also pick up a curry vibe from it. At other times, it reminds me of spice cookies with a little coffee note behind it. It reminds me a little bit of Caron's L'Anarchiste, although with LA, the spices remind me of Celestial Seasonings Orange Spice tea. Either way, while both are interesting fragrances, I'm not sure this is how I want to smell. I wore New Haarlem in the evening yesterday. While I found the opening notes a little off putting, after an hour or so, it really mellowed and became more enjoyable. I plan to wear it again in the next day or so and I'll see what my feelings are after a full day with it.
Mike
Mike
getting to the woody, spicy part of Eau Noire. Loving it, but I don't think it is an everyday scent.
ok, the cedar/leather/vanilla in the drydown of the Eau Noire is heavenly
I wore the Eau Noire today. The initial sweet coffee blast is somewhat reminiscent of New Haarlem, but it came back down to some different notes pretty quickly. I'm digging how the sweet coffee notes juxtapose with the woodsy/spicy notes. Not nearly as heavy/syrupy as New Haarlem, that's for sure. I haven't detected any curry as others have noted, though. All in all a nice, quite complex frag that will take me some time to deconstruct. It goes through some nice changes.
It's great reading other opinions of these fragrances as I am trying them--it really helps to nail down just what the heck I am smelling!
Thanks for putting this together!
It's great reading other opinions of these fragrances as I am trying them--it really helps to nail down just what the heck I am smelling!
Thanks for putting this together!
I will have to keep your 2 reviews in mind when wearing next time. I've had a hard time breaking this one down. This is probably the most complex I've tried yet (don't know if that's saying much since I've only been at this for 2 months or less, and I haven't tried that many overall). It's been fun trying so far. I've worn it twice I believe.
Honestly, I normally can't always pick out the notes either, but the notes in Eau Noire are so different and so unlike anything i've smelled that they kinda jump out at you.
I really enjoyed the Eau Noire yesterday. It lasted all day and into the evening. The immortelle/maple syrup note remained throughout, and it continue to make me think more of Annick Goutal Sables than New Haarlem. It seemed like a slightly smoother, more elegant version of Sables. But I'll wear those two side-by-side tomorrow, and may discover I'm totally off.
New Haarlem today. I can certainly see the similarity with Eau Noire, but the much stronger, sharp coffee note in New Haarlem makes it noticeably different, to my nose, and I like the coffee note!
I could see having both Eau Noire and New Haarlem in rotation, but as someone said, I do have a fragrance "sweet tooth", with a strong preference for gourmands and orientals.
What a great pairing for the Fragrance Spotlight month!
New Haarlem today. I can certainly see the similarity with Eau Noire, but the much stronger, sharp coffee note in New Haarlem makes it noticeably different, to my nose, and I like the coffee note!
I could see having both Eau Noire and New Haarlem in rotation, but as someone said, I do have a fragrance "sweet tooth", with a strong preference for gourmands and orientals.
What a great pairing for the Fragrance Spotlight month!
Probably a day late and a dollar short, but finally got to try the Bond 9 New Haarlem today. The creamy vanilla with a bit of cocoa I pick up reminded me a bit of A*Men (without the mildew) and Animale Animale (but less synthetic and with better note separation). I swear I pick up a bit of immortelle in this as well. Also a nice coffee note, with a very nice, brief lavender at the opening. Overall a bit on the sweet side for me to love, but I would rate it a definite like and one of the better "gourmand" type fragrances I've tried.
So i've worn both samples now and I'll give my impressions...
Apparently I am not into gourmands, The new haarlem I tried yesterday and it smelled like I had spilled a caramel macciato on myself. Opened with overwhelming coffee which settled down a bit and a caramely/maple syrup scent took over. There seemed to be a bit of cinnamon or something in there to keep it a bit interesting. If i put my nose right to where I applied it I could get a bit of a green herbal scent. It wasn't bad, I tought it was a pleasing scent and if you love coffee or have a girlfriend who does then this scent would be great... just for me, I was not too excited about smelling like i just got off an 8 hour shift at starbucks.
I am wearing the Eau Noire today. It went on with a confusing mix of scents, I was smelling coffee for sure but some peppery note as well. After 30 minutes it settled down and it reminded me of sambuca with espresso. I could smell the sage clearly when i put my nose to where I applied it. After 2 hours the cedar took over in a big way! I was almost overwhelmed by it, does this stuff have a ton of Iso E super in it? The coffee moves to the background and the impression of the herbs and licorice are still hanging on. Right now the cedar is fading (thankfully!) and its becoming a sort of coffee/vanilla/anise scent. Very much like new haarlem with some anise added. I really like the herbalness added to eau noire more than the pure sweetness of new haarlem, but I'm not a fan of this scent either. Perhaps its because I don't like coffee much...but then everyone likes the smell of coffee...
Apparently I am not into gourmands, The new haarlem I tried yesterday and it smelled like I had spilled a caramel macciato on myself. Opened with overwhelming coffee which settled down a bit and a caramely/maple syrup scent took over. There seemed to be a bit of cinnamon or something in there to keep it a bit interesting. If i put my nose right to where I applied it I could get a bit of a green herbal scent. It wasn't bad, I tought it was a pleasing scent and if you love coffee or have a girlfriend who does then this scent would be great... just for me, I was not too excited about smelling like i just got off an 8 hour shift at starbucks.
I am wearing the Eau Noire today. It went on with a confusing mix of scents, I was smelling coffee for sure but some peppery note as well. After 30 minutes it settled down and it reminded me of sambuca with espresso. I could smell the sage clearly when i put my nose to where I applied it. After 2 hours the cedar took over in a big way! I was almost overwhelmed by it, does this stuff have a ton of Iso E super in it? The coffee moves to the background and the impression of the herbs and licorice are still hanging on. Right now the cedar is fading (thankfully!) and its becoming a sort of coffee/vanilla/anise scent. Very much like new haarlem with some anise added. I really like the herbalness added to eau noire more than the pure sweetness of new haarlem, but I'm not a fan of this scent either. Perhaps its because I don't like coffee much...but then everyone likes the smell of coffee...
I didn't care for either, either. Roger, Roger.
I applied the Eau Noire twice last night as I found it very light and fleeting. The coffee note was a lot less sharp than the New Haarlem in a good way. It ended up fading pretty fast into a light anise/licorice/sweet vanilla and I could hardly smell it after a couple of hours. I put the rest of my vials of Eau Noire and New Haarlem into atomizers and will give both another test next week. I was really hoping for the curry note in Eau Noire but didn't smell anything remotely spicy.
I'm really glad to have tried both of these scents all the same!
I'm really glad to have tried both of these scents all the same!
I tried both the New Haarlem and the Eau Noire dabbed straight from their bottles first, then transferred them both to atomizers for the full day wearing. For me, it made a big difference spraying them on, both in longevity and in picking up more of the scent notes.
This morning, I did a side-by-side for a couple of hours during my morning workout. Not much, just enough to sniff each up close. I noticed a lot of similarity with the maple syrup note, but the similarity sort of ended there. The NH seemed much sharper with the prominent coffee note and lavender was also more pronounced.
I still like both, and look forward to comparing Eau Noire to Sables.
This morning, I did a side-by-side for a couple of hours during my morning workout. Not much, just enough to sniff each up close. I noticed a lot of similarity with the maple syrup note, but the similarity sort of ended there. The NH seemed much sharper with the prominent coffee note and lavender was also more pronounced.
I still like both, and look forward to comparing Eau Noire to Sables.
Finally have the chance to give the Dior Eau Noire a full wear. Sprayed this on the back of my hand the other night and was overwhelmed by the fenugreek/curry notes - was a bit reluctant to wear it. But I'm finding that I like it a lot more when my nose isn't mashed into the fragrance. Allowed to bloom and dissipate those curry notes are much better balanced in the whole composition and, surprisingly, I like it. Not sure if I'll ever love this one, but I'm definitely going to give it a few more wears.
Added: Put this on about 8-9 hours ago and it's dried down to a really nice vanilla/anise note. Definitely not as "scary" as it seemed when I was sniffing it up close on my hand.
New Haarlem, on the other hand, was love at first sniff. I've only recently sampled some gourmands and have been surprised at how much I like the sweeter fragrances. Here, the sweet coffee and vanilla heart is great: rich, vibrant with good sillage and very good longevity. The lavender in the opening and the patchouli (?) in the base keep it from becoming boringly linear. I found this so easy to like, I'm afraid I'm going to grow bored with it - but for now it's very high on my list.
Added: Put this on about 8-9 hours ago and it's dried down to a really nice vanilla/anise note. Definitely not as "scary" as it seemed when I was sniffing it up close on my hand.
New Haarlem, on the other hand, was love at first sniff. I've only recently sampled some gourmands and have been surprised at how much I like the sweeter fragrances. Here, the sweet coffee and vanilla heart is great: rich, vibrant with good sillage and very good longevity. The lavender in the opening and the patchouli (?) in the base keep it from becoming boringly linear. I found this so easy to like, I'm afraid I'm going to grow bored with it - but for now it's very high on my list.
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just as an FYI, I put both of mine in atomizers before wearing. I cannot get a good "read" on a frag dabbed on...for some reason all I ever get it top notes out of it.
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