Eau Parfumée au Thé Noir
Bulgari (2015)

Well, I have to say that this one surprised me. I thought this would be a very easy to wear with no Oud in here but, surprisingly, this has a little bit of that skanky Oud in the background, which is quite good, to be honest.

When you spray this you'll be able to smell the rose with some bergamot and a shy tea note. Love this unisex fresh opening! 10min later the tea will dominate the fragrance and the leather accord appears. There's a good accord here. Like the one you'll find in Black from the same brand or even Midnight in Paris but without the rubber note. Excellent!
The Oud is there basically since the tea starts to shine. Is giving a skanky yet sexy vibe and later on, the fragrance turns a little bit yummy. It's complex and has the three stages very well achieved! The Oud isn't potent (which for those who don't like it is good and for lovers it's pleasant too) but isn't that synthetic so I really appreciate it. Bravo Mr. Jacques Cavallier! Heavenly!

The performance is not beastly. It's suave but I love it that way. I get 7+ hours, although with low projection. It's comforting and I love to wear it on a breezy spring/summer night.

The price is very adequate and you can find a 75ml bottle for less than 50€. The quality is great too!

I recommend it to everyone that likes Rose-Oud combos with a twist. It's different enough thanks to that Tea note.

5/5

My favorite black teas are Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong, and Eau Parfumee au The Noir somehow evokes both.

It opens with pronounced oud and tobacco, that eventually mellows to a somewhat green, aromatic tea, still shrouded by smoke. There is a also a dark, dry, plaintive rose in the heart that provides the shadows to any semblance of brightness, while the base is mercurial, with all aforementioned elements appearing ghostly and uncertain, a bittersweet skin scent that haunts.

A 5 oz bottle is perfect for generous application, as I find that several sprays help you reach that sweet spot where the fragrance carries with you for a decent amount of time

Another highly rated scent... and another disappointment. This is an almost totally forgettable, lightly aquatic feminine fragrance (classified as 'shared') with nothing to do with tea of any kind, except if you're being incredibly generous. It's predominantly a watery rose to start with - and Lord knows that the rise of the aquatic was my least favourite development in perfumes ever - and then it flattens even more if possible: I guess that's what they are defining as 'tea' but if so it's a tea made by people who have no appreciation for tea at all, like a some flavoured tea bag dunked in luke-warm water. Just when you've almost entirely forgotten about it, because it's so close to the skin anyway, a hint of a not very impressive oud-ish note emerges (which I suppose is an artificial oud) with a breath of patchouli. It's like Tauer's L'Eau a day after you've been wearing it. Not offensive, just unimpressive.

Yes, Your Honour, I also came here because of the 5 star review in second edition of The Guide, and there were precious few other reviews there that took my attention.

After repeated testings, EPaTN can be described as a pleasant, workaday, artificial oud. There is rose, which is made to combine well with magnolia and a slight tea note. There is little smoke and nothing groundbreaking here. Although no doubt promising excellent value for money, it's by no means unique as an accessible, westernised oud nowadays. To take one example, I would buy Parle Moi de Parfum's Papyrus Oud over this, although admittedly it's rather more expensive.

So a positive experience, priced competitively, and artistically sound without standing out in any sense. Perhaps errs toward the feminine.

The opening is a floral burst, with a nice magnolia that is prominent on me; a somewhat nonspecific rose is added in soon. Not very bright, but not really dark either.

The eponymous black tea is arriving soon afterwards, a gentle slightly watered-down tea that is not very specific; this is no comparison t the sheer tea force of Bulgari black. Equally, the noir lacks any smokiness of me.

Thins become a tad edgier towards the end - by adding an oud-patchouli combination, but soon it smoothens again. The oud is not very sharp, and fortunately does not evolve into another rose-oud, as the rose is virtually gone when it approaches the base. The patchouli is of the softer variety too. There is a woodsy undertone in the background, which blends with the patchouli towards the end.

I get moderate sillage, limited projection, and five hours of longevity on my skin.

A pleasant, tame and weaker tea creation hat is more floral than tea initially. Some notes are a bit weak and generic, other are more convincing. The performance is limited. Overall 2.75/5

I sought this one out because of the 5-star review it got in the 2018 guide. Breathtaking fragrance - a smoky tea/oud that is almost hauntingly beautiful, with an air of mystery. It leans too masculine for my tastes, so I gave my decant to my husband.

People have talked about how difficult it is to get a good oud fragrance without spending a ton of money, but this one has a lovely realistic oud note, and can currently be found at discounters for well under $100.