Today was an awfully humid, sticky, yucky day in Kent, England. Call me a grouch - I always complain about the weather here. Harmatan Noir seemed like an ideal scent to beat the humid horrors of a Thursday.
I've had a sample of Harmatan Noir for a long time and have always quite liked it, so was surprised at the number of negative reviews of the fragrance. I should say that I am not a huge fan of mint in perfume. Even some very good mint focused perfumes like Frederic Malle's Geranium Pour Monsieur and Cartier Roadster have me on the fence.
Harmatan Noir opens with a very sweet shot of mint, too sweet, but it gets cut very quickly by a light smokiness and what smells like incense to me, before mellowing out into a green-and-mint tea with a touch of musk.
The Harmattan is a dry and dusty trade wind that blows from the Sahara and affects mainly West Africa. Smelling Harmatan Noir, it strikes me as neither very dry nor dusty (it's dangerous to think too literally, I know) and, thinking about it, not very dark either. So the name is a misnomer to me. If anything, I find Harmatan Noir to be quite a fresh and uplifting perfume, perfect as a pick me up for the sort of humid and warm weather I experienced today.
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