Coco Noir is the eau de parfum Jacques Polge composed for Chanel in 2012, echoing Coco and Gabrielle Chanel’s stay in Venice. The house describes it as a modern amber with luminous notes: bergamot opens onto rose and rose geranium leaf, and patchouli and tonka bean draw the base.
A disappointed reception in 2012: Victoria of Bois de Jasmin acknowledges the elegance of the composition but regrets its timidity, and Angela of Now Smell This finds nothing black in it, only a polished fruity patchouli she would have called Coco Pourpre.
What critics say
A disappointed wait at Bois de Jasmin
On August 1, 2012, Victoria of Bois de Jasmin recalled the perfume’s Venetian inspiration and said she had awaited it with rare impatience. From the first spray, she recognized the fruity patchouli that then dominated feminine perfumery.
She praised the elegance of the composition, but its timidity disappointed her and she set her sample aside. Replying to a reader, she added that a perfume bearing the name noir should truly be noir.
“Coco Pourpre” for Now Smell This
On August 20, 2012, Angela of Now Smell This expected a darker Coco, in the spirit of a femme fatale. She found purple fruit, soap, and patchouli, and suggested it would have been better to call it Coco Pourpre.
Beneath this layer, she made out a heart of green rose and geranium leaf that she found alluring, but which fades after an hour. What remains is a fruity, musky patchouli, more finely calibrated than those of mass-market counters, but of the same family.
From the same line
- Coco
- Coco Mademoiselle
- Coco Mademoiselle Eau de Toilette
- Coco Mademoiselle Intense
- Coco Mademoiselle L'Eau Privée
- Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu
- Coco Eau de Toilette
- Coco Noir Extrait
The whole line on the blog: Chanel’s Coco: the whole line, from 1984 to 2026
More perfumes from Chanel
Also composed by Jacques Polge
- La Vie est Belle par Lady PinkLancôme
- We Are All AlienThierry Mugler
- Diva Eau de ParfumEmanuel Ungaro
- Rive GaucheYves Saint Laurent
Similar perfumes
Similar notes and family, from other houses.
- ZafferanoAcqua Di Parma
- Shalimar Eau de ParfumGuerlain
- Le NectarChloé
- Patchouli ElixirRéminiscence
- JOY de Dior IntenseChristian Dior
- SamsaraGuerlain
- Trouble in HeavenChristian Louboutin
- Chloé Le ParfumChloé