Aramis Black
Aramis (2015)

This is dry and rather unusual, containing some notes I've never heard of before, i.e. elemi and lentiscus. The cognac note is also original and stands out to me.

Not redolent of Aramis, nor particularly black - more like the ur-Sauvage. Thin, chemically - what really does it hope to achieve?

Dry and thin but ultimately a very fresh and pleasant scent. I get the cognac, sweet woods, berries and floral, in that order. For being as light as it is to the nose, it does seem to hang around and not become just another skin scent. Unique and nothing special all at the same time, if possible. I don't think I have anything else to compare this to.

The dominant impression I get is a berry-like quality, for the first half hour or so. There's a bit of this and that too, such as some kind of "fresh" aroma chemicals, but it's pleasant on some level. Over time it gets better and it's a very nice blend, not too "synthetic" or harsh in any way. It's got a bit of a "bite," perhaps from the grapefruit or elemi or mastic or juniper, or some combination, but it's also powdery. It's not ambery, vanillic, or animalic, and it's just a touch musky (no detectable lavender). I get little sweetness here but it's not especially dry. There's no strong leather or cognac, or really much of anything. You might think that you are smelling something, but then it seems to shape shift into something else. I could see this being cloying if too much is used, but the spray is a fine mist, so you might want to use just one spray the first time. This is better than nearly all the recent "masculine" designers I've tried, but I can't say I am nearly certain I will like it in subsequent wearing. However, it's possibly I'll really enjoy it in the future, so I'll have to update this review at that time. As another reviewer says, there isn't much if any similarity to Aramis, but this is certainly not like the calone-rich New West for Him, IMO.

Liquid "asiatic" silence, urban elegance, smooth suede, a sort of Ulrich Lang Nightscape-like "muffled-aqueous-mystic" atmosphere, a solid "kind of minimalistic" essential scent, despite nothing actually sounding groundbreaking under my profane nose. According with my personal high consideration on the prestigious Aramis House I hardly could assert to dislike this "shady" new generation juice, anyway (as well as yet by me declared about Aramis Gentleman) the problem in here is that I don't see that quite original twist of innovation that has countersigned this pioneering brand in its gorgeous past. In this case I detect a nice and distinguished spicy-leathery "liquid"/light (moody) scent which seems an ideal combination of Cartier Declaration for men, Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme, Kiton Black (resins, cardamom, tonka, amber, vetiver etc) and La Nuit d'Issey by Issey Miyake (by introducing specific facets of each one of the previous juices). Liquid frankincense, "lemony" grapefruit, aromatic juniper berries, fluidy spices (mostly cardamom imo), mineral-breezy-salty-aqueous elements, dark casual patchouli, soft suede and vetiver. Frankly I miss the boozy touch from cognac, catching may be just hints of sweet spiciness in the middle of a woody/leathery/incensey/spicy saltiness. I get a sort of vague kind of anisic (fennel conjuring) faint undertone and a virile citric/woody simil-organic saltiness (vaguely) a la Chopard Heaven For Man. Leather gradually emerges in a more marked way in the middle zone between the central and the bottom phase (kind of velvety, shadowy, "ambiental", "fluidy" and enygmatic) and I have to finally admit that the leather touch is quite refined, salty and smooth as usual for Aramis (finally I get a minimal touch of the original Aramis's leathery woody nature but overall in a polished and cleaner way, purified from heavy oakmoss, mirtle oil, aldehydes, hesperides etc). Dry down is basically a sharp shadowy combination of vetiver, green aromatic notes, suede and liquid resins, a modern metropolitan concept of minimalism combining severe elegance and lounge bar "aseptic" refinement. A more than decent new release from Aramis.

This was a let down. No relation to classic Aramis and nothing to do with the color black.

I was expecting something dark and lovely, instead I got a resinous balsamic generic jus. The drydown is pleasant though, a sweet skin musk reminiscent of New West.

Undeserving of the black moniker. Ditto the legendary Aramis title.