WHAT I SMELL:  Noir Exquis opens slightly sour at first, quickly moving to a gourmand breaded pastry that is covered with a hazelnut glaze.  After a couple of minutes, the perfume begins to grow and it smells just like Coffee-mate Hazelnut Non-Dairy Creamer.  After a few more minutes the perfume takes on a slight hair spray note, making the perfume slightly prickly, but it also makes it feel like it’s covered in raw sugar, meaning that it’s sweet without being saccharine sweet.  After some more time, a maple syrup note creeps in and it melds with the existing nutty structure.  Thankfully, after 30 minutes, the whole structure seems to tame.  The sweetened hazelnut becomes quieter and the perfume takes on a more woody sandalwood and patchouli note tinged with a burnt amber.

From the L’Artisan Parfumeur website:

The inspiration for Noir Exquis is an unexpected rendez-vous in a French patisserie.  Two people meet over a coffee. In this delicious atmosphere of patisserie and coffee, hushed looks are exchanged. This delightful rendez-vous is the beginning of a new story with Noir Exquis.

Noir Exquis is a work of contrast and the unexpected. The addictive note of coffee, combined with the warm and comfortable notes of maple syrup, glazed chestnuts and orange blossom, brings an intriguing juxtaposition to this fragrance.
Rich and velvety, Noir Exquis connects these two persons during this moment beyond time and place.

Opulent and gourmand, Noir Exquis is a fragrance with a warm and charismatic aura.

Notes: Glazed chestnut, Coffee, Maple syrup, Macassar Wood 

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  I can’t get this out of my head…Coffee-mate Hazelnut Non-Dairy Creamer

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE NOIR EXQUIS: creamy, sweetened, breakfasty (is that a word?)

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT NOIR EXQUIS:  Kafkaesque, Bois de Jasmin, Megan in Saint Maxime

BOTTOM LINE:  If you like flavored coffee creamers in your morning coffee and like gourmand scents, this may be for you.  Personally, I don’t want to feel like I just rubbed a breakfast pastry over myself.  In the end, the perfume does quiet down, but it still radiates this artificial creaminess.

• Bone Rating:  2.5 out of possible 5 bones
• Scent:  Oriental Vanilla
• Nose:  Bertrand Duchaufour
• Classification: Unisex
• Expense: $120 for 1.7 oz. eau de parfum