Captivated by the possibility of some killer sales, I often try to make it into Boston for some shopping at this time of the year. I try not to set any expectations up, but I will usually stumble upon something I don’t actually need, and then have it turn into some treasured object valued both for its beauty and its steal of a price point. Sometimes that turns out to be a cologne, and this is the story of one scent that took me a very long time to appreciate.
A number of years ago I was browsing the scents at the soon-to-be-departed Barney’s at Copley Place, trying to discern what the overriding fragrance from the Men’s Department on the second floor was. They only had the line of Frederic Malle but there were about ten bottles in total, which made it impossible to pin down the specific fragrance I was smelling. In truth, it was the amalgamation of all of them – an impossible-to-replicate hybrid – and when I asked the supremely-uninterested-in-helping salespeople upstairs to help me narrow it down, they were completely flabbergasted and had no idea which one it might be. One quick game of eeney-meeney-miney-homo later and I decided ‘Noir Epices’ was the one that came closest to what I wanted. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that went against my usual favorite notes, more powdery and floral than I customarily preferred, but I was just beginning my fragrance journey, and this one caught my nose at that particular second.
As it settled around me, I went on my shopping way, finding a plaid Kate Spade messenger bag at a hugely discounted price in Lord & Taylor, and though a bag was the second-to-last thing I needed (cologne being the first) I was already on a roll and justified it by the reduced cost. Back on Boylston Street, a few holiday lights continued to burn. The night was cold and otherwise dark, but not unbearably so, and the shopping high left me giddy, seering a happy memory that coupled with the new cologne. There is no greater memory-signifier than scent.
Even so, a week or so later I instantly regretted the fragrance purchase, as it was too much for my olfactory palate at the time. (I favored bright and easy citrus notes back then.) Away from a sparkling night in Boston and plopped down in an office space, the scent proved overpowering and almost obnoxious. ‘Noir Epices’ moved to the back of the cologne cabinet, but every January afterward I would bring it out, and every year it has grown on me more and more, so at this point it’s a favorite for this early part of winter. Tom Ford has his own take on this titled ‘Noir et Noir’ (and a few other connected scenes such as ‘Japon Noir‘ and ‘Noir Anthracite’) and it captures the same essence. I still don’t love it enough to splurge on Mr. Ford’s bottle, especially with the attached cost in Benjamins.
