Drakkar Noir (Eau de Toilette) by Guy Laroche

Bottle Design:
Pierre Dinand

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Drakkar Noir Guy Laroche 1982 Eau de Toilette

7.6 / 10 1008 Ratings

A popular perfume by Guy Laroche for men, released in 1982. The scent is spicy-woody. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Fresh

Fougère

Green

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Lavender

Lemon vervain

Artemisia

Basil

Bergamot

Lemon

Rosemary

Heart Notes

Coriander

Juniper

Carnation

Jasmine

Cinnamon

Base Notes

Oakmoss

Patchouli

Cedarwood

Fir

Leather

Sandalwood Vetiver

Vetiver

Amber

Perfumer

Pierre Wargnye

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.61008 Ratings

Longevity

6.8853 Ratings

Sillage

6.7846 Ratings

Bottle

6.2853 Ratings

Value for money

8.5581 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet · last update on 01/05/2026.

Source-backed & verified

Interesting Facts

The fragrance was awarded the "Fragrance of the Year – Men's Prestige" prize by the Fragrance Foundation in 1985. Drakkar Noir is said to have been fashionable in lesbian circles in the late 1980s as a kind of fragrant identifier.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Drakkar Noir After Shave

Dakar Eau de Parfum

Lomani pour Homme

Dakar Perfume Oil

Duc de Vervins L'Extreme

Philippe II

Reviews

88 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/14/2021

8Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

ChicoRoch1
163 Reviews

ChicoRoch1

Very helpful Review 9

Buy Vintage

Funny thing is when Drakkar Noir first came on the market in 1982 i never paid any attention to it. However all these yrs later i find myself searching all over the internet for an early 80s bottle because I've come to love Drakkar Noir. Simply put it was one of only two fragrances in the 1980s where every man owned a bottle. The other scent was Azzaro PH. I own 3 vintage bottles. 1 from 1991 and the other 2 from 1993. Very masculine and the oakmoss at the base really packs a punch. A true 80s powerhouse with good longevity. I get about 7hrs of wear which is sufficient. The very first formula contained patchouli which made it really stand out above all others but in 1989 the patchouli note was removed for SOME reason which made the fragrance have a detergent kind of vibe at the base. That's why i search high and low for that very first batch. Hopefully I'll come across it.

04/18/2023

8.5Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

HugoMontez
81 Reviews

HugoMontez

Helpful Review 12

Timeless masculine icon

This classic 1982 fougère is really fascinating, especially looking at a distance. At that time, masculines were starting to make a turn with the recent animalic fragrances (Kouros, Antaeus...). So everything was strong, powerfull and invasive.

Of course we already had citrus colognes (i.e. Eau Sauvage) or mossy green fougères (Polo, Paco Rabanne...) but nothing came across fresh and masculine as this one. And the reason why Drakkar noir is inexpectedly fresh is beacause of dihydromyrcenol, used in detergents to increase the sense of freshness and cleaness, but until then, not so much used in fragrances.

The perfumer Pierre Wargnye took a classic fougère structure and added dihydromyrcenol, turning it really fresh and clean, something not very easy to achieved at the time. It was a instant best seller.

The fragrance starts off with lavender, rosemary and lemon. Fresh, aromatic and a tiny bit of citruses. It has a creamy shaving foam aftertaste and that's why this became on of the most influential and classic barbershop fragrances.

As it dries down, the fragrance became more woody, a bit mossy and lightly leathery, but never reaches the full leather scent. Just enough to bring more depth.

Pierre Wargnye was a great perfumer with some classic fragrances in his catalog. Drakkar Noir was his first masculine and perhaps his most famous but he was in the team that created L'Homme and La Nuit de L'Homme, and he created Boss Number one or the underrated Baldessarini Cologne.

Drakkar Noir is probably the Sauvage of the 80's, meaning it was very popular along young guys, very appealing, masculine and sexy! But also, very influential and original. Pierre Bourdon took inspiration for his Green Irish Tweed and Cool Water, turning the scent less barbershop and even more fresher.

But talking about Drakkar Noir, it is still a great value for the money, a great barbeshop fragrance, pretty much timeless, and easy to wear. Guy Laroche never had such a bit hit after this one. Horizon was a flop and discontinued years after, although a great aquatic scent, it didn't bring the originality and still mainstream appeal that Drakkar Noir have and this is one of the few examples of a flanker surpassing the original, which ended up being discontinued during the 90's.

I have a mini 15ml bottle from the 90's that has a bit more oakmoss than the today's version, although, even the current one is good enough, just a bit cleaner. The performance is really average. Don't expect a bomb cause this one never was. But it's pretty solid 5-6h and, if you overapply it, you might get an 1 or 2 hours plus.

This is a classic and a must have fragrance. Super inexpensive, still relevant, masculine, herbal, fresh and clean, a pleasure to wear.

4/5

07/15/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 7

loud, blended fougère

I love a good fougère. I think the genre is underrated, and still recovering from a bad spell that lasted from the 70s to the 90s. The ubiquity and heavy-handed use of Paco Rabanne pour Homme, Azzaro pour Homme and eventually Drakkar Noir in the US in the 70s-80s as well as the association with a troubled era of masculinity made people run screaming from the aromatic fougère. Then Cool Water and the like made the more traditional lavender/coumarin fougère seem stale.

To Drakkar Noir. It’s bland and it’s loud. It’s the fragrance equivalent of battleship grey at volume 10.

10/04/2023

10Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

LordDrakkar
20 Reviews

LordDrakkar

Very helpful Review 8

Sauvage from 80s

My go to perfume for going out, I fell in love with this barbershop classic and it still continues to amaze me. Whenever I go to a club or go out somewhere, he is with me, I carry him all the time in my backpack and he is always ready to delight me and everyone around me. Best of all, no one wears it out there, most of them wear sauvage, dylan blue, etc., they all smell the same, and if you want to stand out in a crowd of the same scents, this is a great way.
I hope it will never be discontinued, fragrances like this are like gold in the sea of new ones that are all the same and without charisma.

Do you love the smell of shaving foam? If so, go get Drakkar!

04/24/2022

8Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

manlyscents
96 Reviews

manlyscents

Helpful Review 10

*The* 80s Classic

Classic fresh dark fragrance that was enormously popular in the 80s. Opens with citrus, lavender, and juniper berries, then goes into soapy leather. Was a powerhouse, but the reformulations toned it way down, so now it blends quite well with current sensibilities, if you care about that sort of thing.

Warning: reformulated version needs 8-10 sprays minimum.

Masculinity Level: the vintage version was Don Johnson barrelling down Ocean Drive in a white Ferrari Testarossa. Reformulated he's driving a Mazda.

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