Red Is The New Black (Scent Review: Tom Ford Noir)

Tom Ford Noir is a party scent. If I were going out for New Year's Eve, I would probably wear this. Nowadays, I am more the quiet stay-at-home type, but I will still wear it. Somehow, this scent suggests opulence and festivity to me, and maybe that's just my projection, but hey, that's how I feel. Noir is probably one of the most overused description for 2012, and here it makes sense, and at the same time it doesn't. Noir most times mean black, and this scent screams more red than black to me. And obviously, maybe I associate red with this perfume because it reminds me of Guerlain Habit Rouge. Everyone else in the world has pointed out the similarities, but Noir is more the modern child of Habit Rouge. It's younger-smelling, brighter, more alive. As much as I love Habit Rouge, there's something about it that's "flat" to me, while the burst of bergamot in Noir makes it more youthful. Noir starts out flowery, with the deep rose and iris in the beginning. There's something mysterious about it, and then it brightens with the aforementioned bergamot, and it comes alive. That floral heart is unique for a men's fragrance nowadays. It isn't original, but in today's aquatic men's fragrance market, it's downright revolutionary. But what I love most is its drydown - the musk, the leather, the opponax creates a modern, plastic (in the best sense of the word) mix. You thought the scent has already peaked, but it is still evolving. I love that at the end of the night, it gives you that feeling of sex - there's a dirtiness there. I may be alone in bed at the end of the night, but I don't really smell like it. Now that's the best party ever for me.