Show all reviews
For a scent named after a dusty Saharan wind, Harmatan Noir's opening is more than a little surprising: a mint so sweet, you could mistake it for a cordial desperate to be diluted in ice cold water. The effect is bracing, but also more than a little crude. Thankfully, things soon begin to settle - a hint of clove tones down the mint overload - but the journey to the drydown rapidly becomes predictable and dull. You've smelt it all before: smoky woods of a sort you can find in dozens of masculines in every high street perfume counter. I think I can detect wisps of what Harmatan's initial ambition may have been - there are fleeting moments when it aspires to the headiness of mint-flavoured sheesha tobacco - but it hasn't got the guts to live up to its evocative name.
03rd December, 2009