Lavender Noir Phoenix Botanicals 2013 Perfume

**Brand & Perfumer**
How does one become a perfumer again? A few possibilities:
a) You study chemistry and take the route through the lab
b) You complete your studies at ISIPCA in France
c) You do it "just like that" autodidactically
d) You train for 7 years in herbalism, research for 9 years in ethnobotany, and then go to learn perfumery from none other than Mandy Aftel.

Irina Adam chose d). And together with the ten years that have already passed since the founding of Phoenix Botanicals, she has been able to gather half a lifetime of perfumery experience. I am pleased to say: You can smell it!

**Scent**
Lavender Noir is almost cheekily close to Fig, but since I gave that a solid 10 points, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. And it’s not surprising, as Fig also boasted of the lavender motif. A dreamy forest gourmand!
For lavender, I am often a little scent-blind except in flower form, but at the beginning, I recognize it well. Then forest honey rushes in, rather dry, smoky, and mushroom-forest spicy. Darkly sticky, a slight urine note hints at itself, but it is absolutely harmless and gives the scent depth. I am very curious how other people perceive this phase.
In the heart, a sweet pastry wallows, which gradually reveals itself as gingerbread print. Normally, I would stamp the perfume as unbearably Advent-like and toss it in the corner, but Lavender Noir remains delicious. Perhaps it is the green counterpoint that dances quietly around the central honey-forest sweetness.
I would be cautious with a unisex recommendation, but I really like it, really, really well. Not only for a natural perfume does the black lavender indulge in its almost all-day longevity. Sillage also in the lush green range. Great!