Black magic is the new black.
Occult the new cult.
Wicked is wicked.
If ever a perfume was created that conjured up images of extreme glamour coupled with supreme sorcery then Lancome’s iconic Magie Noire is it.
It is the Veronica Lake of the Wiccan olfactory world.
Scarcely ever can evil have smelt so delicious and disturbing at once.
Darkly mossy and animalic with a streak of sheer sang froid.
This is bewitchment in a black leotard and high heel shoes.
With more ingredients than a treasured spell and more discords than a coven in revolt it is the High Priestess of unholy scents.
Glorious, gory, insouciant, stylish and incredibly bad, in the very, very best of ways.
Magie Noire is the smell of a dark brooding power abroad in the kingdom.
And as the witching hour approaches The Dandy will be donning a good spritz or deadly seven of the best vintage, warding off prankesterish children and welcoming in evil spirits.
May the potion preserve you until morning is come.
Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions of a suitably otherworldly aroma for tonight … I will be sure to track them all down, try them Spanish Inquisition style and return with my reports in time for next All Hallows Eve.
Yours evermore
The Perfumed Dandy.
The Perfumed Dandy. 
Oh, I love Magie Noire! It has replaced Tresor as my favourite by Lancome! I must pick up a bottle someday.
Dearest Nena
Yes, I think I rather prefer Magie Noire to Tresor too, though I do have a soft spot for that rose jam of a scent!
This couldn’t be more different though: dark brooding and, especially in the vintage, very bewitching!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Another perfume I have meaningful first acquaintance with! I wore this in my late teens, back in them olde days when a young lady’s idea of perfume was something magical, dark and sophisticated! I loved this when I was about 18 – the idea of ‘noir’ was so appealing – femme fatales and the like.
Funnily enough the other evening I felt like an October night of a perfume – not for an occasion but for mood, and I reached for Magie Noire and was happy – crackly bonfire twigs galore – I found it most pleasant. It’s one of those where I know that the aroma will smell dated to those most familiar with fruity/sweet or patchouli-bomb perfumes. It’s one of those perfumes that’s dated, yet, surprisingly people like Tom Ford and niche perfumers like DSH Perfumes are changing general tastes to the extent that Magie Noire might seem contemporary. It’s one of those subjects that can be troubling – what’s dated and does that bring ageism into the equation?! I find those debates interesting. But for me Magie Noire has no connotations of safe conservatism – it’s still moody and autumnal
Dearest Rose
Yes, one wishes those ‘old days’ would return when a first perfume was regarded as must a challenge, a step into the ‘unknown, adult world’ as taking a sip of wine, tasting asparagus, reading ‘grown up books’. Rather than another trip to the childish sweet shop.
Magie Noire does resonate (especially in the vintage) very much of a certain era, though I prefer the term ‘redolent of’ to ‘dated’, which is so often used pejoratively.
I couldn’t agree more, I sense a real change in the market at the moment, the resurgence in leathers, the occasional ‘nouvelle chypre’ the general depth and complexity of many niche perfumes. Perhaps, rather then witnessing the death of the olfactory arts as many proclaim we are on the cusp of a new great age…. perhaps The Dandy is an eternal optimist!
As for Magie Noire though, your reminiscences are perfect and no perfume has ever lived up so fully to its name.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Magie Noire is outside my comfort zone, but I think it’s wonderful. You smell great, Mr. Dandy. Happy Halloween! 🙂
Dearest Lily
I suspect you are not alone in keeping at an arm’s length from Magie Noire, especially these days, and it’s true one would certainly stand out in a crown when wearing the original!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Fantastico!
I love that we both went for Anjelica Huston as well.
The coven is in sync.
Dearest Ginza
Surely Angelic is the most perfect (and prolific) screen witch we have ever had… and wouldn’t a real witch go under just such a pseudonym!?!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Hah, so we chose the same scent for Halloween! I LOVE Magie Noire, and hope you had a Happy Halloween, Mr. Dandy!
Dearest Batkitty
By my counting that makes at least four of us who all independently chose the same scent for our Halloween… coincidence, or something more sinister?
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried Magie Noire – not sure why… I have Magie (it’s not bad but I do not love it) – one of the perfume re-issued by Lancome for their anniversary La Collection but I do not know in what relationship these two are.
Dearest U
Now, as far as I can recall Magie was a warm amber with a slightly powdery musk… the polar opposite of the dark, moss and patchouli and spices and animalics Noire.
I wonder though if they are related in a ‘white witch’ ‘black witch’ way, at least in the imaginations of the people at Lancome?
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I liked it back in the day when my mother wore it, but they have changed the formula since the 80s, haven’t they?
Dearest Calyptique
You are 100% correct, Magie Noire has almost been changed beyond recognition, it is tamer, flatter and much less adventurous now, thoughit still retains more bite than much else on the market.
Thankfully such was the popularity of the fragrance in its heyday that there seem to be an awful lot of vintage bottles on the market still… though for how much longer one can never tell.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I wonder… has the Perfumed Dandy worn J’ai Osé? Just another siren of that time.
Dear Calyptique
I have not, but it is now added to the (600+) long list and hopefully one day its turn will come!
Sandalwood, oakmoss, amber and vetiver? Golly, what a combination!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
J’ai Osé has been discontinued, and its sad scattered survivors are not even always made in France originals…
But I remember it as the best chypre I have ever smelled – it was a spot on fragrance, instant gorgeous limelight. (Probably ubertoxic, 1980s, nobody cared for *that* – but a heavenly piece of art)
Dearest Dandy, you chose a perfume I have personally gone through about 12 bottles of in EdT and parfum since 1983. No other perfume has quite such an effect on my surroundings, and few other perfumes have defined my history quite so much! I’m now down to about 25 ml of the vintage EdT, and save it for Very Special Occasions…;)
Dearest Tarleisio
You are truly to be commended for services to black magic!!
I don;t think I can imagine ever getting through quite so much of a single perfume, even one as spell binding as Magie Noire.
You are so right to hold onto that vintage EdT, the old stuff is undoubtedly the very best so far as this brand of magic is concerned.
Yours, in admiration, ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dear Mr Dandy,
I smelled this years ago in the late 80s and cannot remember it. My nose was unsophisticated back then so I would love to smell it now. Dear old trusty Lancome!
Your friend
IScent
Dearest Iscent
I think you must have been severely congested when you tried this back in that dark decade!
For very few people cannot remember Magie Noire!
I fear there might be a little to much of the ‘skank’ hovering around this in the vintage for your tastes, but do give the newer version a try when you’re next hovering around a Lancome concession, your sophisticated adult nose may well find something it likes!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dear Mr Dandy,
The first ever grown up perfume I had bought for me was Estee Lauder’s beautiful when I was 18. This may well have been an indicator of my taste in 1988!
Your friend
IScent