Bois Noir
Robert Piguet (2012)

Big, bold, fizzy wood blast up on top. There are hints of sweetness that bounce around... Patchouli moves in closer, mixing with the wood. Sandalwood moves in too, adding a more edgy, fresh wood smell. The whole thing then, becomes rather linear. Fresh. Still a tad fizzy. Not overly aggressive in nature. The fizziness almost reminds me of an aldehyde nature... The base has a balsamic edge with yet another bright, fresh vibe, that I am guessing is the cistus. Overall, I think this is a fabulous, unisex frag. Just not overly creative. It's safe.

I'm disappointed, this smells like a generic, synthetic wood approximation, with some added sweetness. I have really been enjoying the Piguet samples, but their forte seems to be florals, not woods. The initial opening has a promising gourmand aspect, but the uninspired heart quickly takes over.

The scent bubble from this smells better than it smells up close. The smell projecting from my chest retains some of the sweet, powdery gourmand aspect from the opening. The smell up close on my wrists is the disappointing, slightly harsh synthetic.

Wood, wood, wood; dark and rich and shadowy. Initially I get cedar and sandal, then a nice guiac. In the drydown a touch of patchouli. A nice opening, with a brooding drydown. A tad synthetic. The performance can't be faulted: good sillage and projection with over nine hours of longevity. For autumn. 3/5

Piguet Bois Noir has an almost mystic-hypnotic "fragrant" (darkly boise) opening and (unfortunately) a more materialistic woody-synthetic dry down. I detect olfactory points of "junction" with scents as Armani Cuir Noir (darkly woodsy, resinous and mystic too but more leather oriented of course), Acampora Nero (less synthetic and sharper), Les Liquides Imaginaires Fortis, Aqua di Parma Leather (just for several of its facets), Dior Leather Oud (finally more leathery-animalic and less properly boise) and more, anyway in Bois Noir is specifically a dark boise vibe (and a synthetic resinous woodiness) to be clearly dominant. The opening is effectively darkly compelling, immediately woodsy, aromatic, silky-leathery (just a touch) and velvety with a dominant influence provided by cipriol oil, fir resins, labdanum, dark woods (patchouli in particular) and cistus absolute (a touch of frankincense too??) while the dry down (still suede veined and not far away in the evolution process) projects a more dominant agarwood resin-cedarwood centered (synthetic) woodiness nowadays almost common and overly "beated". Along this final stage some banzoin balm seems to come up with its soothing vanillic effect which slightly veils the minimal suede support arousing a more boring common obscure woody balminess. Anyway, a nice juice probably too much expensive for its real value. I prefer far more Casbah of the same line and anyway seem so far the times in which the Piguet's performances used having names like Bandit, Futur or Cravache.

Dark woody stuff turning during the drydown into a woody-incensey thing vaguely reminescent of some of the Duchaufour's works. That's it. If you like sharp (yet not overpowering) woody frags, go ahead. Smells ok but reminds me of 55 thousands other compositions available of the market. Sort of Montale-ish type of woods + some incense.

Smoky and Woody, peppery in the opening, good sillage and duration...