Matière Noire

Louis Vuitton names five materials for Matière Noire: patchouli and agarwood, whose animal notes are intensified by blackcurrant, set against narcissus and jasmine. The house does not say in what order they come through; Kafkaesque, who wore it at its release, first smelled blackcurrant and a fruity patchouli, before the narcissus.

The dark woods

The agarwood came from Laos, the house specified at launch. It stresses the wood’s animal notes, which the blackcurrant sharpens, and pairs it with patchouli, the perfume’s other dark wood, for what it describes as a blend of dark wood and white flowers.

Narcissus and jasmine

Against the woods, Louis Vuitton sets the whiteness of narcissus and jasmine. At launch, its detailed description also named jasmine sambac, rose centifolia, cyclamen and incense; the current page no longer lists them and speaks only of sacred notes.

The benzoin and aquatic notes the market often attributes to Matière Noire appear neither in the launch description nor in today’s.

What the label declares

The ingredient list published by Louis Vuitton has twenty-six entries. It names no fragrant material on its own: agarwood, patchouli, narcissus and jasmine remain inside the word parfum.

It shows three UV filters, a solubilizer, an antioxidant, vitamin E and three colorants, violet, red and yellow, alongside the regulated allergens: benzyl salicylate, citronellol, linalool, benzyl benzoate, anise alcohol, geraniol, farnesol, limonene, benzyl alcohol, benzyl cinnamate, cinnamyl alcohol, eugenol and citral.