Armani Privé - Cuir Noir Giorgio Armani 2011

It's been a long time since I truly loved a TV series - and I almost didn't expect it to happen again. But then the devil himself got involved, quite literally. 'Lucifer' - that's the name of the series - is about just that. Bored with the monotony of his job down in hell, he goes incognito - in the guise of a dapper nightclub owner with the last name 'Morningstar' - on a sort of 'vacation' - fittingly to Los Angeles, the 'City of Angels'. Here he encounters bad people, a man-crazy psychotherapist named Linda, and the tough LAPD detective Chloe. It sounds silly and downright stupid, but it's a pleasure to watch and sexy, funny, simply: fantastic.

The Welsh actor Tom Ellis plays the lord of hell wonderfully smooth and Mephistophelian - and his distinctly British accent among all the Americans adds to the charm. (So is the devil actually from the UK?) His bored, predatory swagger, his gestures, facial expressions, his way of speaking, and the - mostly black - wardrobe, all of it is almost arrogantly self-assured, cool, and perfectly intimidating in a seemingly effortless way. The series' devil is a bit like a sarcastic, sly James Bond - and in a time when vampires and zombies have become dream men, it was only a matter of time before the embodiment of evil would also have to serve as an object of desire. And Tom Ellis does this as Lucifer Morningstar fabulously.

What does the devil smell like? Sulfur would be expected (and not very pleasant), incense surely counterproductive. But one like him here - Armani Privé's Cuir Noir, black leather at its smoothest and most elegant - yes! Relatively unabashedly sexy (Rose! Oud! Clichéd, yes - but there are reasons this pairing is repeatedly used), confidently feline (Leather! Shiny black car seats!) and a little bit unsettling (the combination of overtly sweet vanilla and something slightly charred has proven effective). And when Lucifer strolls through the naturally parting crowd past the endless line in front of his club behind the barrier, he is not surrounded by sulfur, but rather a hint of Cuir Noir.

Conclusion: already fantastic is that introductory scene in the pilot episode when Chloe's little daughter asks him his name, and he replies: 'Lucifer.' She, excited: 'Like the devil?' He, smiling: 'Exactly!' The elegant, the dark, the ironic - all of that is in Cuir Noir. And even without knowing or even liking the series - devilishly good.