Patchouli Noir by Aftelier Perfumes
Dear Perfume Posse. Stop everything you are doing. Right Now! Go and get yourself a sample of Patchouli Noir by Aftelier Perfumes. Seriously, as a card carrying perfumista, you need to at least try it. It may not change your mind about patchouli but it will definitely make you think long and hard about what it is that you didn’t love about the note. Here it is done the same but totally differently.
Getting a parcel from the inimitable Mandy Aftel is ALWAYS a cue for excitement. The woman who has spawned a generation of natural perfumers, written must-read perfume tomes and created a museum for interested parties and scent students, is a force of nature. Every year we get a new and astounding fragrance from the Aftelier Perfumes house. 2025 sees the release of Patchouli Noir, her 51st fragrance in the Fragrantica archives. That is an amazing achievement.
Patchouli Noir by Mandy Aftel
Patchouli Noir is created to be a solid perfume but initially comes in EdP and extrait as well. Mandy has supplied me with samples of each. I’d like to talk to you about the solid right now. It comes in a Mandy Aftel designed sterling silver compact-like case. It holds 8ml of solid fragrance in a textured beeswax and jojoba medium. The application of which feels like a religious anointing or spiritual marking, so sensual and centering.
Initially the scent is very soft and reticent but as my body warms it a dark woodiness that sparkles like dawn catching the dew on a forest canopy shines. It’s both beautiful and deep. I often speak of fragrant chiaroscuro, the high pitched brightness counterpointed by low keyed darkness, and Mandy is one of the most able practitioners of this duality. Like smelling a Rembrandt.
Final dry down is a curiously shorn headshop patchouli. It still has all the fixings of hemp wearing beaded beauties but is cleaner and less grungy. In this solid form it wears sheer and warm for hours. Very close to the skin but still noticeable. Because it’s still a morphing version of patchouli and goes through some low key but interesting changes right to the end, I never get nose blind to it. Soooo good.
Do yourself a favour and get some Patchouli Noir on your skin.
Portia xx
I’ve also loved Honey Blossom, Vanilla Smoke and more over the years here at Perfume Posse.
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