Magie Noire, a scent that is nothing short of bewitching. Parisian perfumer Armand Petitjean decided to found his own house in 1935. It would be Lancôme, as the perfumer wanted a name that rhymed with Place Vendôme.
Each Magie by Lancôme managed to answer the desires of women of its era. Magie, born in 1950, was a beautiful aldehydic floral that met with great success among women. Magie Noire, its prodigy “child” born in 1978, would reveal the floral facets of its predecessor and offer them in a gust of wild opulence answering the oriental and exotic desires of liberated women in the 1970s.
Magie Noire, or the Orient dreamed up by Lancôme in the 1970s
The house of Lancôme has always known how to understand women, offering them exactly the cosmetics and perfumes they dreamed of. As a forerunner of perfumes with demonic names, the now-famous perfume house offered its magic potion Magie Noire in 1978. Looking closely at the very concept of Magie Noire, it can be observed that this lovely, heady perfume was among the first to play the “mystery” card to bewitch women. Great fragrances with equally evocative and tempting names would follow, such as Poison by Dior or Opium by Yves Saint-Laurent.
Moreover, initially, in 1977, the first trial of the Magie Noire composition was called Magie des Campagnes. It was renamed and reworked so as no longer to correspond to an ecological aura but rather a magical one, much more in tune with the times. In 1978, Magie des Campagnes thus gave way to Magie Noire.
Magie Noire was thus composed to be a true love potion, evoking for women in love with patchouli and distant lands a mysterious, bewitching aura. Three renowned perfumers composed this potion: Jean-Charles Niel, Gérard Goupy and Yves Tanguy. Three creators who each brought their own specialty to compose a most original, multi-faceted perfume.
According to Lancôme, Magie Noire is the most oriental of all orientals, the most bewitching of all potions; Magie Noire is all the mystery and charm of the Orient in a bottle, ready to bewitch and enchant the senses.
Opulence, flowers and wild scents for a thoroughly irresistible Magie Noire
Despite its reformulation in the 2000s, the intense and unsettling composition of Magie Noire continues to extend its magical effect across the decades. Difficult to classify, yet very recognizable, Magie Noire stands out for its intense oriental and floral surges as well as, in its original version, its overdosed animalic raw materials.
Magie Noire opens first with top notes of bergamot and blackcurrant, offering a lively, fruity start to a heart that proves as feminine as can be. Indeed, jasmine, narcissus, rose and Bulgarian rose become more delicate than ever, as is the case for the great majority of Lancôme perfumes. Finally, sandalwood and amber blend with an overpowering castoreum and an intense animalic note to better convey the depths of this irresistible Magie Noire.
According to Lancôme, women surrender to it as to the most unsettling of passions and men cannot resist its fascinating power.