Sea Moss Sunspel 2009

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7.4 / 10 122 Ratings

A perfume by Sunspel for women and men, released in 2009. The scent is spicy-fougèreartig. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Spicy

Fougère

Sweet

Gourmand

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

French lavender

Clary sage

Jasmine sambac Mimosa

Mimosa

Broom

Calcified Doorstop

Heart Notes

Coffee

Rum

Cigar

Base Notes

Bourbon vanilla

Oak wood

Tonka bean Oakmoss

Oakmoss

Patchouli

Sandalwood Vetiver

Vetiver

Perfumer

Pissara Umavijani a.k.a. Ploi Umavijani

Ratings

Scent

7.4122 Ratings

Longevity

8.092 Ratings

Sillage

7.494 Ratings

Bottle

7.781 Ratings

Value for money

6.654 Ratings

Submitted by KatharinaG, last update on 05/20/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Fourreau noir

Mystic Sugar

Encelade

Black Comme des Garçons

Vétiver

Vétiver Tonka

Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions

02/05/2025

ArkangeL
152 Reviews

ArkangeL

2

New Haarlem Rhapsodie

The Dark Rhapsody. Such a ruminative title for a strikingly familiar fragrance. If I'm to be honest, I purchased Rhapsodie Noire because of its constant comparisons to Bond's New Haarlem and it delivered just that... mostly. New Haarlem is a heavy load of pancake syrup dumped into a cup of black coffee and poured liberally over a stack of pancakes. Don't forget the vase full of lavender centered in the middle of the table. Similarly, La Rhapsodie Noire is a gourmand fougere with emphasis on vanilla-rum coffee. Sweet, but not syrupy. Despite 4 flowers being present in the top notes, this is not a floral fragrance. In fact, the floral notes are smothered by the lower half of the composition. If you're asking yourself, "do I need this" because you love New Haarlem. The answer is no. They are so close, that it would be redundant to own both at once. If you should happen to run your New Haarlem dry, then give La Rhapsodie Noire a chance. You may even like it better or find it more balanced.

09/04/2024

7
Sillage 7
Longevity 8
Scent

Jomas
32 Reviews

Jomas

1

Love the prologue, not so much the finale

The overture to the black rhapsody is marvelous. Unsweetened pot of coffee, poured by delicate hands on a precious wooden table, inlaid in mudejar style. It feels like there's a hint of oud in there, but I couldn't swear to it. It resembles Aoud Cafe (Mancera) in concept to me, but it's smoother and lacks the whiff of root vegetables present in Mancera.

At this point I start praying to the gods that the scent is linear, the most linear of them all. Alas, it isn't. It has the merit that that splendid opening lasts long enough, maybe half an hour, after which the juice begins to sweeten, and the quartet of notes that, even in combinations of two (lavender with tonka, tobacco with vanilla) tend to give me a hard time, takes over.

The other fragrance that comes to mind with all these four stated notes is Naxos (Xerjoff), which I loathe with a passion, honestly. La Rhapsodie Noir lacks the excessive and aggressive sweetness of Naxos, it's smoother, better homogenized and more subdued.

If I manage to get over the disappointment generated by the fact that, after the perfect opening, it evolves into a direction not exactly to my taste, I have to admit that I don't dislike the drydown either. I'm surprised it doesn't enjoy greater popularity, given that a lot of other tobacco-vanilla-drunkards of much poorer quality (just to name Jazz Club (Margiela)), are worldwide hits.

Average to good performances, it doesn't make it to the wish list, although the thought did cross my mind for a moment. But Aoud Cafe, which I had long forgotten about and which La Rhapsodie Noire brought back to my mind, might enter my wish list. As raw and unfinished as it is, it's evolved much more to my liking and, while the sample lasted, has delighted me head to tail with every wear.

03/27/2025

6.5
Scent

Redrot
27 Reviews

Redrot

1

an evening cafe

You're sitting at an outdoor cafe table in the evening. You've got a half cup of strong, sweet coffee left and a flaky, buttery pineapple-preserve-filled pastry you haven't started in on yet. Someone is smoking a couple tables away. Your table is bathed in a pool of warm electric light while the city beyond is shrouded in dark velvety night.

Often perfumes in the 6-8 star range are nice, but forgettable. This is not that. I've never smelled anything like this, but it loses points for me on the sweetness. I'm not afraid of a gourmand, but this is too strong and too sweet for my taste.

05/20/2025

ClaireV
731 Reviews

ClaireV

1

Good, simple coffee-tonka scent

Parfums Dusita is a brand that does its best work in the herbal-aromatic vein (see: Issara, Erawan, Le Pavillon d’Or) because the perfumer, Pissara Umavijani, brings a Thai sensibility full of exotic herbs, woods, and spices to bear on traditional Western tropes, such as the fougère or the ‘oriental’. And it is this touch that makes La Rhapsodie Noir sing.

La Rhapsodie Noire comes by its coffee note honestly, via the interplay of sunburnt lavender and sage that produces a similar effect to the topnotes of Eau Noire (Dior), minus the immortelle, which removes all danger of maple syrup. The impression is therefore of a waft of dark, fresh coffee on the air on a hillside in Southern France, rather than the sticky, burnt ‘coffee shop’ glop that plagues most coffee fragrances. It is gently herbal and aromatic rather than gourmand, which is what makes it a really elegant wear.

Belying the complex notes list, I find this fragrance to be almost stylishly simple. The grainy coffee darkness loosens gradually into a creamy, medicinal tonka bean paste, itself quite aromatic and rugged. It is ultimately similar to other aromatic-herbal tonka bean fragrances I love, like Eau des Baux (L’Occitane) and Lothair (Penhaligon’s), their main charm lying in that tug of war between the spicy vanillic warmth of tonka and the insistently sharp prickle of aromatic notes (cypress, lavender, black tea). La Rhapsodie Noire is a more refined distant cousin of these scents, but a member of the family nonetheless.

03/21/2025

8
Pricing 8
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Raluko111
350 Reviews

Raluko111

1

Gorgeous coffee with rum fougere

A beautiful, purple chocolatey fougere of lavender, coffee with rum, tobacco and oud. The lavender in the opening makes it a bit intimidating, a bit masculine, but it sweetens with time. It's the type of fragrance I've dubbed "wrist glue," because my nose is constantly seeking my wrist when I wear this. I bought a full bottle instantly, but my sister ended up stealing it from me. Absolutely gorgeous, feminine leaning fragrance that is one of the most well-crafted gourmand perfumes I've ever sampled. I'm due for a full bottle purchase this summer, when I plan to visit the Dusita store in Paris.

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Incepe cu un buchet de flori in care lavanda predomina, dar si celelalte flori se ivesc pe ici, pe colo, ca intr-o hora iute Ciuleandra style. S-a schimbat atat de des pe bratul meu, si nu puteam sa cred ca a trecut prin atatea etape doar in primul stagiu. Apoi fetele mele s-au mai linistit un pic si s-au asezat la o cafea cu rom si o tigara. Au aparut si admiratorii lor, intai domnul tonka cu vanilie, apoi si lemnoasele. In stagiul dry-down o dulceata de flori cu santal si vetiver te mangaie pe suflet. Da! A persistat 9 ore pe brat, mult mai mult pe haine. Siaj moderat, dar mie asa imi place, nu vreau sa umplu o camera cu prezenta mea, ci imi doresc sa fiu descoperita de cei de care aleg sa ma apropii.