F by Ferragamo pour Homme Black Salvatore Ferragamo 2009 Eau de Toilette

Ferragamo Black has been an authentic discovery of surprising beauty for me.
It has been the first Ferragamo fragrance that I have tried and it has awakened in me an interest in trying other fragrances of this brand, including those for women. Perfumery -in this case, brands- continues to surprise me, thanks to Venus and Nefertum

The beginning of Ferragamo Black is exquisite: an explosion of quality based on lavender, apple and pepper. I feel the herbaceous note of coriander and maybe some sage. I also sense the undeclared presence of cardamom and maybe nutmeg. But if the opening already denotes an unusual complexity and a set of balanced notes, its superb development and drying is yet to come,

When resinous labdanum and leather (not declared on the file) make an appearance, the fragrance becomes more masculine and stately, like when an Oxford history professor comes to the Dean's residence for dinner.

Ferragamo Black is intense, sensual, complex, luminous and deep, mysterious and brilliant. It has an unusual sillage and duration in today's perfumes, with great quality in its nuances and notes. I hope it hasn't been reformulated and lost this beauty.

F Black has a strong longevity and medium-high sillage and projection.

Smells great and sexy with lots of tonka bean rounded by sweet lavender and some pepper.

Remembers me of Chanel Allure Pour Homme.That's a good surprise from this house.

Updated January 2014

For the sake of heaven, how come I waited so long before buying it? I do have several Ferragamo colognes in my collection, namely Uomo and its siblings, still F and any of its flankers, for a reason I don't know, never fit in the shopping basket. But, recently I had a chance of ordering some testers and F Black was available for a couple of bucks, so I blindly bought it, and I gave it a true SOTD wearing.

First off, F Black comes with an original bottle, mine is miserable without a cap, which might happen if you accept to buy testers, and contains a pale grey juice supposedly with oriental woody tones. On my skin, F Black opens up with an explosion of sweetness and freshness from fruity apple and pungent lavender, all the way. It smells good, I get the crispy apple unquestionably. Originally, the sweetness and sourness of the green apple are stronger than the lavender smell and they stand above it, yet a few minutes later it tones down and the lavender boosts in all its aromatic and harsh aspects. Ain't bad in any aspect, rather it is a bold, deep, punching loud, and dark lavender, more herbaceous and less flowery, far away from Davidoff Cool Water, for instance. The opening is amazing, is posh, is fruity and spicy, at least my bottle and batch are.

The heart introduces a good amount of black pepper, which adds some spiciness together with coriander seeds, all that in your face. The mid note of coriander begins to come through very pleasantly and seems expertly blended in the way it reveals itself. I do not get too much spiciness, the black pepper is dosed consciously and well mixed with coriander. The first time I wore it, I did not notice a fresh, clean and soapy accord in the heart with a certain powdery sweetness almost like the atmosphere of the lipstick, yet today it manifests itself in a remarkable way.

The mid-notes then seamlessly transitioned into a beautifully delicious dry-down. which is a combo of sweet and spicy with a bit of a powdery note that usually comes from labdanum or amber accord. The profound and sensual association of labdanum and tonka bean in the dry down mimics the masculinity of the warming heart notes and rounds out this amber and woody cologne. Still along for the ride, the lavender note remains present, but more subtly and smoothly. Aside from the punchy opening this one seems expertly blended and has the feel of a niche quality product.

I agree with other reviewers who find some small similarities with Chanel Allure and YSL La Nuit de l'Homme. I mean, F Black is not a clone of those colognes, however, it reminds Allure in the opening and then turns int YSL La Nuit de l'Homme in the heart and drydown. Notwithstanding, F Black is a nice fragrance per se with its personality. The notes I get most are lavender, black pepper, and tonka bean.

F Black has been created to be worn for evenings on the town and special occasions, anyway, today I'm rocking it at the office and did not get any disappointment. It's a cologne that fits perfectly with the colder months, Fall and Winter seasons, daytime, evening out, and rainy nights. The sillage and projection are average in my opinion, and the longevity is very good, I get around 8 hours on clothing. Overall this is a great cheapy to have in your collection, so if you can get past the lavender-heavy opening, you may be pleasantly surprised. Honestly, it doesn't blow me away in any particular aspect but rather is well above average across the board. No regrets.

-Elysium

Only had it for a year, but I have a love/hate relationship with this one - as many others do. I really do not like the opening, it's very very strong and for me it's lavender/pepper all over. I've learned that I really do not care for lavender, so this is why it's a uphill battle for me. On the plus side, after an hour or so, the scent does become better for me, It's still a strong scent, so do not over spray. I find myself reaching for this one, when it is really cold outside, as in below 0 degree Celsius. I would go with 1 or 2 spray max. Have used it for work/college and casual settings. It is cheap, around 25-30 euros/ 100 ml and the longevity is crazy..... I can smell it the next day.

After a lot "top ten, top masculine, top seductive, top......whatever" videos and hyped by Jeremy, after a very good discount to 16 EUR for 100ml TESTER, i decided to push the button.
I expected something bold or piercing, something a bit daring maybe. Something like intense version of Sauvage EDT or Fahrenheit, something spicy-oriental with western touch like TF Black Orchid or Tuscan Leather or Guerlain Ambre Eternal. Or maybe Bentley for man Intense........but what i got is creamy, mild peppery-sweet-fruity scent, that didn`t punch me at all. Even my girlfriend, who likes only fresh and delicate fragrances, said that this one is very pleasant for cool weather. Nothing offensive.
Wolf Of Wallstreet........not at all. More like Labrador Of Wallstreet.
Don`t get me wrong, i love sweet and calm scent, i love this one too. Bottle is uncomfortable but interesting, not stylish. To me it is very good signature scent, appropriate for office, for family meets, for date out, versatile. I skip it only in hot days.