Billed as a woody Oriental scent, this relative newcomer to the fragrance counter arrives in a sleek black bottle with a gold label and little gold bolo tie. With its sensual name (Black Orchid) and gold-and-black exterior, you are already partway in the mood for this scent before you remove the top.
I love this scent, but mainly because it has a lot of what I like about retro-scents to it. It's complex, textured, full of notes that kind of swirl together in a way that makes you study the fragrance instead of just slop it on. The manufacturer claims that you can find the notes of black orchids and black gardenias in this scent, which are lost on me, since I have no idea what they're like. But there are strong notes of jasmine and citrus and they're supported on a base of both patchouli and sandalwood. This is the sort of Oriental fragrance I like, sort of reminiscent of incense but more floral. There's even a bit of vanilla in this "dark" fragrance, but just enough to draw out the patchouli and sandalwood.
In an era of lightweight perfumes, this is heavy stuff. If the average perfume is wine, this stuff is whiskey.
It's definitely sensual and romantic, the sort of perfume that you would probably not want to wear on a job interview or into a confessional.
For perfume lovers who like the richer scents but don't quite want to plunge back into the Way-Back-Machine to wear the retro-scents, this is a great find.
I think of this as something more suitable for night-time wear or formal occasions, times when you are wearing high-heeled shoes and times when you want people to notice the highlights in your hair.
