Coeur de Noir
Beaufort London (2015)

As a lover of smoke, but one who finds some of the other smoky Beaufort stuff unwearable in polite society, this is a capable Gothic leather with a seductive twist beneath the swirls of smoke. A "Phantom of the Opera" leather, if you will.

It is first and foremost a dark, smoky leather with an ink facet and a gently sweet base. The leather is harsh to start but settles into a soft suede, darkened by the pleasant ink accord touted by the notes pyramid. There's some earthy, cedar-y backing in the base that might suggest tobacco.

I don't think "rum" is distinct enough to merit listing in the pyramid. That said, the "paper" element is certainly there (an "old book" aroma established by the gentle vanilla swirling with the earthy notes).

Coeur de Noir's shortcomings are the same shortcomings that recur in the Beaufort line as a whole: a penchant for dramatic effects rather than compositional nuance and completeness. In the transition between opening to drydown there seems to be something missing that could take this from a good scent to a great one. Structurally, Coeur de Noir almost seems to be missing a mid altogether.

This does wear somewhat differently on folks. On me, it's quite smoky to start, with lots and lots of birch tar, but that smokiness dissipates quite quickly for my wife, who gets to the dark, creamy suede base much sooner.

The turgid liqueur, the ink, the smoke-leather-cedar; they've all been done before by Comme des Garçons.
Coeur de Noir adds some powder, ginger and weak aromatics but they're not that new either.
Originality isn't everything though, and this could be alright - if it were done with brio, but really, it's not.

My first review should be for Cœur de noir, which is maybe the most unique perfume I've encountered until now.
Cœur de noir was one of the first ones I sampled, but it pretty much stays unrivaled in my heart. Though people seem to experience the opening notes in many different ways, for me it's as Pocketvenus wrote in their review: "it's like the birch tar is a wild, black beast that needs to rage at you for a bit before calming down".
After the first explosion, you do need some time to let it calm down. Leather and tobacco and maybe something herbal appear then, and it's a beautiful, dark smell, like laying down on the road under pouring rain (while wearing a leather jacket, obviously. you came here riding a bike.)
Only then appears the warmth of Cœur de noir. Tobacco and vanilla notes make the dry down incredibly comforting, something like a chosen family.
Because of its incredible longevity, you have to imagine a very slow evolution of the scen. It's a part of what I like about this one: you have to be patient to get the whole story. It's strong, some would say unwearable for most of the dry down, but what a pleasure to wear.

I usually dont wear leathery perfumes as they change in a very different on my skin and smell like something else.

I tried this one yesterday and i was blown away. It opens with a very srong ginger, rum, vanilla scent. After it cools down its all about leather, vanilla, tobacco and cedar. So complex and so unique. Paper and tar are there but they kick in in doses.

I would not wear it in hot weather or in the morning. This is a mysterious perfume that you would wear in special occasions and in a cooler weather. Just cant stop smelling it.

"Smoke gets in your eyes" - a line from a song, I believe. It's true, here. The opening is all smoke, and wood; tobacco and tar. The base notes are backwards. They arrive right up front.

Then a strange ink note comes around - I like it. Actually, I like the whole thing so far. I also get a charcoal-distilled, booze thing here. It reminds me of Jack Daniels, the taste of it, from back in the days when I imbibed such things. Papery-leather is next. Paper, that lined a cedar chest for many years.

CDN is fairly linear. It doesn't do much else, develop more flavors. I'll give it four stars, because every now and then I rather enjoy a loud, smoke-bomb.

Birch tar beast

If you like birch tar, Coeur de Noir has it in spades. Opens with a suckerpunch of the stuff and a worn biker's leather jacket with a dusting of dry ginger powder. I love the smoky phenolic character of birch tar, but at points it is overpowering. Other notes do peek out during the dry down, in particular, the leather gains a nutty quality and becomes smoothed out with vanilla. CdN eventually grows more tame and enjoyable for me. I would have liked it much more if the other notes were more prominent. It's like the birch tar is a wild, black beast that needs to rage at you for a bit before calming down. I'd have rated this higher if it hadn't given me a smarting headache.