Scentzilla!

Magie Noire was introduced in 1978, credited to perfumer Gerard Goupy. (I saw on Scent Direct his name listed as Coupy, but thanks to Victoria, I have been corrected.) Googling has turned up nothing about Goupy, so if anyone knows what other perfumes he may have worked on, I would really appreciate the information. Thanks to those who commented on the old blogsome blog post, I was informed he also worked on Lancome’s Climat as well as Cacharel Pour Homme: Thanks guys!

I don’t wear this fragrance a lot. Not because I don’t like it, or because it’s hard to wear. It’s because it’s special to me. I prefer to savor it, and reserve use for only certain occasions.

Magie Noire eau de toilette has always struck me as slightly acetonal. This is not a negative. It lends the scent a crisp urgency. Magie Noire reminds me of dodging the fall rains in downtown Portland, pounding across the wet pavement and over leaf-choked gutters. All in an attempt to elude the brisk air and humid concrete colored skies, as I dart from one shop to another.

The secret to this fragrance for me is how it mutates its not unusual notes. Lichen wears as spice. Rose and galbanum become gold. Wood presents as though it were curing itself on the skin. Patchouli leaves flutter loose from the folds, hinting at trunks of woven treasures from imaginary adventures. Magie Noire is sometimes referred to as an amber oriental. This is not a cold butter amber, nor an incense amber. It’s amber that echoes some distant animal shriek. The echo bounces across the floral, green, and wood notes - never landing, never stopping, just fading off as it repeats itself.

The scent wears on me as darkly sensual, sexy, and powerful. It’s a brilliant piece of art. (Sadly, some of the bottles changes they’ve chosen through the years are not so brilliant.)

It has seemed to me as the years pass by that Lancome is willing to let this fragrance fall into ignomity. What a colossal mistake. They continue to market lesser (in so many ways) scents, letting Magie Noire gather dust and neglect like an unwanted toy. I hope after the reissue of some of their other vintage scents, Lancome will also consider repairing their relationship with Magie Noire. And the effort had better extend to their counter people. When I asked one saleslady about any possibility of reissuing stronger concentrations of it, she looked askance at me like I was joking and said, “Oh, that’s an old one.” Huh. If I worked for Lancome, I’d be proud to show this one off. Like the world really needed Connexion. Or for that matter Miracle, which I will say is nice enough, and which this saleslady eagerly pitched to me instead. Few of Lancome scents can hold a candle to what Goupy alchemized with his Magie Noire. I feel more than a little implacable on this point, so please forgive me if I sound strident.

I wonder though, are there other people who have a favorite fragrance they rarely wear? Do you have some special scent that you use on only on special occasions?

First image of a work by Portland artist Mona Superhero, who creates her works entirely with duct tape. Please click here or on the image itself to learn more about the artist and see more of her works. Last two pictures are from this Saturday. I went out thinking I’d take pictures of some of the few leaves that have fallen thus far in Oregon, but the weather had strange plans. It was only lightly raining, and then it suddenly began to hail while sheets of rain ripped over us. So, one picture of shiny wet leaves, and one of the hail melting in the bark dust.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 6th, 2005 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Perfume Reviews, Lancome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.