Lancome Magie Noire Review

Note that I have a bottle of the original formulation from the 80s and mine is very strong compared to the current formulation.

I have a large EDT(clear glass 7.5ml bottle, white mushroom stopper) sample that my mother got as a makeup artist in the early 80s and it is the kind of fragrance I might wear once a month, if not once every two months. It's almost inappropriate to wear in the daytime, even more so than my Cabochard in fact, and thus I've worn it out about twice now. I have worn it around the house frequently however.

The scent is very hard to describe. It's most definitely a spicy mossy, animalistic oriental but if one were to wear it long enough they're notice there's no top, middle, basenote format which makes it near-impossible to compare. A common trait it shares with Cabochard that I mentioned earlier, what is supposed to be the basenotes ended up coming out the strongest.

There is no 'reapply throughout the day' with Magie Noire. For one thing, it's more suited for night wear and considering it is so strong layering more on will make this potential sillage monster overpowering. It really lives up to the name Magie Noire(or black magic in French) and it's an ever-changing fragrance and this could also depend on the wearer.

If someone was considering buying a vintage they'd notice the packaging is a bit... Particular. Most of the old bottles prior to the most recent formulation seem to have been influenced by art deco in some way. The current one isn't very inspiring and if it was purchased, it'll be because the buyer wanted it purely for the fragrance.

As for the price on the larger versions, it is most definitely worth it since you probably won't use it an awful lot unless you went out every night to some fancy dinner and it'd last a good while considering the size.

As for the age group I'd recommend it to, the absolute last group I'd recommend it to is anyone under 30-35. It fully defies the current fragrance trend(sweet gourmands and strong florals) and while it is very sexy, it's more of an old fashioned sultry sort such as that of Lauren Bacall and Marlene Dietrich. It's also one that is of an acquired taste and I can very easily imagine many young women wrinkling their nose at this! I remember getting a whiff of this when I was 13 and loved sickly sweet scents and I was thoroughly disgusted with it though seven years later I'm disgusted with my Viva la Juicy and prefer my leather chypres.

By all means, try the testers in stores but on card. This isn't everyone's cup of tea!