Bulgari Man in Black
Bulgari (2014)

Bvlgari Man in Black by Bvlgari (2014) was not terribly exciting when I first smelled it a decade ago, and that hasn't changed much. The original Bvlgari Man by Bvlgari (2010) was a fairly boring mess of pepper, citrus, woods, and whispy violet that had me falling asleep, while this one adds more pepper, amber, and patchouli; results from this make for a dustier and rounder take on what Victor & Rolf Spice Bomb (2012) set out to achieve. Alberto Morillas is once again playing it very safe here, as he did with the original, making a fine-tuned black tie scent for the guy not daring enough for guaiac or oud wood scents, but wanting something a bit more stand-out than another aquatic or blue somethingorother type shindig.

The opening reminds me most of Spicebomb, but eventually this scent takes on qualities closer to Prada Luna Rossa Black (2018) with the patchouli and tonka. The boozy spicy facets and touches of vanilla make this more sophisticated than just about anything Victor & Rolf can muster, who are on their own something of a modern take on what Wolfgang Joop (another German designer) tried to establish in the 1990's. Tonka, benzoin, the usual cashmeran musks playing at a suede leather tone, and some surprising floral tones in the heart really wrap this up, but not in an interesting way. The woody ambers here pose as the aforementioned guaiac wood, although I smell nothing like that myself.

This is better than the original Bvlgari Man to be sure; and if I had to pick one over the other, I'd definitely grab this one. Man in Black would spin off its own flanker line in the same way the original Bvlgari man went into themed flankers of its own in later years, meaning there are damn near a dozen different flavors combined now, most of them completely forgettable or simple party tricks you'll wear a handful of times, then offload the bottle onto someone else out of boredom. A serviceable signature is this, every bit as middle-of-the-road as most Prada Luna Rossa (2012) flankers as well, just somehow with less unified vision than any of them. A blasé-blah scent with dependability as its only redemption. Neutral

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

I've gone back and forth on Man in Black, but revisiting it today, I find that it's held up well.

To my nose, the aptly named Man in Black focuses on dark leather and spice with a rum-infused tuberose-tonka undertone to add a touch of creaminess and soften the edges. In the scheme of modern scents, this does not strike me as espdcially sweet or gourmand, especially in the opening when the spices and booziness and leather feel prominent. The sweetness, as the name hints, is of a dark sort, with a slight molasses aura.

Comparisons to Spicebomb are not wrong but are exaggerated to the point of being misleading. Spicebomb goes in for a prominent, doughy tonka that is kept firmly in the background here, and the addition of tuberose alters its effect. The spices here have a very subtle flicker of animalic bitterness (the sourness you sometimes get in cedar is detectable).

Certainly not a phoned-in effort, and feels considerably more interesting than Bvlgari Man, which preceded it, or the flankers that followed it, with Black Orient being an exception. Black Orient follows the same trajectory but replaces the tuberose with a unique, dry, papery rose and amps up the woods in the base.

The worst you can say about it is that it "feels" synthetic - not in a scratchy way, but in the streamlined feeling that often suggests reliance on isolated molecules rather than complex distillations. It's a smooth blend.

Don't give much attention to reformulation worries. I've got a 2014 batch on hand and this performs comparably to the current stuff (which is to say it performs modestly; it has never been loud).

This is just a slightly different take on Spice Bomb. I got bottle in 2020 so not sure how badly reformulated this is but performance is extremely bad. Weak projection for the 1st hour, then the spiciness dies and you're left with a very weak (skin scent) base.

Would summarise this as a bargain bin department store fragrance.

The first thing I thought of when I smelled Man in Black is "department store."

The note pyramid contains some of my absolute favorite notes, except for two notes that when not put into the proper ratio can completely derail the train for me, and that would be iris and tuberose. With its boozy, pencil-shaving notes from the rum and guaiac wood, there are some similarities to Gucci pour Homme (2003), one of my favorite designer scents. The cardamom and cinnamon give this a nice, cool spice to it, and the base is a spicy oriental; well done, but not groundbreaking. I rather enjoy the entire formulation...except for the iris and tuberose. They just seem to be two vocalists in the choir who sing everything a quarter-step sharp. I'm enjoying the whole vibe of the fragrance while trying to not pay attention to the iris and tuberose. That said, as Man in Black dries down, the tuberose starts to fade (it's the note that bothers me the most), and the iris turns its volume down to an acceptable level. After thirty minutes or so, I can actually enjoy the fragrance without any real issue. Towards the end, this has an iris/vanilla-dominant odor that's "okay" at best.

Performance is good, longevity is decent, not sure about sillage. This is not a unique scent, in my opinion, but it's well-designed, and a nice option for the colder months. I see this as a date night fragrance, unless your plan is to let the people in the office think you're a lothario. This isn't a blockbuster by any stretch, but I can't really knock it as being poor. I'll give it an unenthusiastic thumbs up.

This one was interesting for me. I put it on both my wrists and my chest, and both smelled different. On the wrists I more or less got what I expected. A little rum, but not terribly boozy, and some sweetness and dark spices to go along with. On my chest though I got an interesting sweet and powdery yet sour and sharp combo that I wasn't expecting. It reminded me a bit of the USA Smarties candy. Interestingly enough, that's the same feeling I got when I tried Tom Ford's Black Orchid (which was mistakenly put in the men's section of Sephora). I'm not sure what could have caused the diverging scent profile, but both scents were interesting in their own right. Nothing truly special either way however.