Exciting and exotic scent will certainly prove an acquired taste

Author's Rating:

Pros: Unique, woodsy and mysterious scent will grab your attention

Cons: Might miss its mark for unisex appeal, too heavy for bedtime

The Bottom Line: 
As it does not smell like other colognes on the market, Black is worth exploring. For this reason it may be an acquired taste. Heavy lapsung tea scent is appealing.

Author's Review
A long time fan of Bvlgari's various fragrance for women, a recent trip to the boutique found my boyfriend taking the plunge for "Black", one of the most unique scents offered from the always original house of Bvlgari.


Black's Packaging:

It is housed in a rather sleek but utilitarian circular bottle, encased in an extremely thick layer of black rubber. Unlike so many other upscale perfumes and colognes that puzzle you with their near Rubik's Cube packaging, Black's attractive yet squat design is easy to grip and you won't scratch your head for hours hunting for the nozzle only to release the spray in the opposite intended direction. (Or does that only happen to me?) The bottle would travel well but is remarkable enough to leave on display. The design and packaging get high marks for appearance, and though Black is marketed as a unisex fragrance it looks much more at home on the masculine side of the shelf.


What Bvlgari and others say about Black:

On their terribly difficult to navigate and exceptionally pretentious flash-enabled website, Bvlgari states that Black "...is a supreme exponent of the metropolitan concept. Black is about shapes designed to be lived, shapes designed to be admired, shapes designed to be dressed." Sephora, a brick and mortar cosmetic/fragrance boutique and online retailer, states that Black "is designed for both men and women, Black is Bvlgari's ultimate tribute to the fragrance world. It expresses the pure essences of metropolitan design. Black is about New York, Berlin, Hong Kong or Tokyo's smoking sidewalks, their smooth, concrete buildings and steel platforms. Black is a metropolitan attitude, a choice that allows freedom of expression that is not trend-spotting but self explanatory. Black is not looking for universal approbation".

Well Ok. Hmmm. I always get a good chuckle from fragrance descriptions. They always manage to use the most words possible to express the very least. So Black is about shape, metropolitan attitudes and smoking Asian sidewalks...?! Perhaps, but here's the skinny on the scent in plain English...


The fragrance:

The top notes:
Black tea (Lapsang tea from Ceylon), rosewood and bergamot

The middle notes:
Cedar, oakmoss and vanilla

The base:
Amber, sandalwood and musk

It's a long-lasting scent that I would describe as VERY intense and smoky with wood notes. It's certainly more of a musk than a floral or citrus scent, and though I've heard it described as 'spicy' I would still rely more on the 'smoky' descriptions. This is NOT the kind of unisex fragrance that you spray on after a shower for a powder-fresh 'clean' kind of scent. Remember what Bvlgari says. We aren't talking about lilies of the field here. It's "concrete buildings and steel platforms." As a fancy loose tea drinker, Black's scent is familiar to me. Inhaling Bvlgari's Black is not unlike the sensation one gets when smelling black gunpowder teas; these are the darkest of black teas, and Black has accurately recreated the potent Lapsang Souchong tea effect with this powerful smoke-tinged fragrance. It is a heavy scent and this means 1-2 sprays will do you just fine for hours. Expect others to take note when wearing Black. It is not your father's cologne...


Ingredients:

Alcohol Denat (SD Alcohol 39C), Aqua, Parfum (fragrance), Benzophenone 2

My boyfriend has reported no allergic irritation caused by wearing Black. I have not tried Black for myself, but as I'm extremely prone to rashes and various irritations caused by perfumes I am happy to report that Bvlgari fragrances have not caused me irritation in any way.


Other Black products:

To layer your scent for optimal wear Bvlgari also offers these complimenting products in Black:

Bi-Hydration Fluid
Body Lotion
Deluxe Bar Soap (with dish)
Deodorant
Shampoo/shower gel

No one in our household has tried these products so I am unable to review them here.


Sizes:

Black is offered in a 1.33 oz Eau de Toilette spray and a 2.5 oz Eau de Toilette spray. These retail for approximately $45 and $65 dollars. Other sizes may be offered (including minis or samples) but these are the common sizes sold and available.


Unisex?

One of the most exciting things about perfume is their compatibility with your particular body's composition. What smells divine on one person may be downright offensive on another. Sure, there are the tried and true fragrances that seem to work on everyone. But most of us don't want to be carbon copies of our friends and neighbors. Finding that unique scent that works best for our body is one of the best things about perfume shopping. This is why Black is so intriguing. It will not be ignored. Upon being introduced to Black, I found myself going back to the sample over and over...trying to place what it was that felt so appealing. So the fact that Black is unisex means it should have a relatively broad appeal. But I think Bvlgari is off the mark to make this scent desirable to both men and women. Nothing about its scent is feminine to me. Though not your typical girly-girl, I admit I would never be caught wearing Black. It seems to me that its smoky appeal is designed for men and for men only. But for the ladies out there who want to avoid the sickening sweet florals or heavy citrus scents that flood the market, this selection from Black may be the ticket. Bvlgari seems to be almost daring us to like this one. As Bvlgari admits, it's not looking for universal approbation. Whether Black requests our praise or not, they've at least come up with something original, mysterious and even a bit of a head scratcher. This is not Calvin's "One". Do you like it? Do you love it? You'll know pretty quickly if it's for you whether you're a girl or a boy. But this reviewer imagines it for the male of the species.

My bottom line on Black:

I believe this cologne is aptly named...it's either black or white. No gray area of indecision. It will definitely stir emotion one way or the other. You will either love it and choose to make it your own or quickly understand that Black is not for you. The first time I smelled Black I was at a loss of words to place its scent. If I seem repetitive about this statement it's only because Black is SO unusual. As soon as I realized this mysterious fragrance smells nearly identical to Lapsang tea I felt it would make a nice addition to my boyfriend's cologne collection. It's a little too heavy to wear to bed, and as he enjoys showering and applying fragrance directly before bedtime I did ask that he not pick Black for a nighttime scent. It is simply too strong. It lingers. However, even though it is an intense scent it does not smell overly 'perfume-y' or give either of us 'perfume headache'. If Black was a little more earthy it might run the risk of smelling like a stick of incense, but it balances its notes in such a way to avoid the patchouli wannabes. It is beautifully woodsy and has an exotic edible-like base. And I must note that it does smell, well, expensive. From what I've found, no other scent on the market smells remotely like Black. So it's a welcome find. My boyfriend's other colognes, Dunhill's "Desire Blue", Perry Ellis' "360" and Kenneth Cole's "Kenneth Cole" all smell lovely, but occasionally I cannot tell them apart. They all have clean scents and seem appropriate for both day and night wear. But they tend to get a little boring. Not so with Black.

If you're in the market to try something new and have grown weary of the standard fare, I would recommend giving a sample of Black a try. With its gunpowder tea scent and unforgettable lingering woodsy flair, Black's admittedly 'metropolitan' cologne is impossible to ignore. I've managed to go and on about Black--something that would have been difficult to do if writing about Bvlgari's many competitors.