Tom Ford Noir Extreme
Tom Ford (2015)

I had many reservations when I first tried Noir Extreme some years ago, but I said to myself the concerns might be unfounded. In the yesteryears of Tom Ford, the brand did a pretty decent job of composing flankers by making sure they were an appropriate homage to the original while being unique enough to stand on their own. I was and continue to be a huge fan of the original Noir, but in that I am largely alone. To my nose and mind, Noir continues to be Tom Ford's most emotional and tender-hearted perfume. It wasn't in the brand's typical vein of slightly over-the-top trashiness and crudeness of the post-modern era mixed with a healthy dose of nostalgia, but rather fully leaned into the retro/nostalgia classicism of the 20th century and this seems to be where it lost people; though I smelled love and tenderness, many smelled their grandfather's or great grandfather's toiletry cabinet. It's no surprise TF discontinued it, as they seem to have minimal reticence to do with any of their perfumes regardless of how good it actually is. This is why the arrival of Noir Extreme made me nervous: the writing was on the wall for Noir's fate, and just exactly how was the brand going to take what I smelled in Noir and make it "extreme"...? My mind replaced "extreme" with "ruined". Was I correct?

Noir Extreme opens with a massive blast of dried and powdered spice, most notably cardamom. There is a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon in here as well, adding some breadth with a bit of darker and deeper shades to the cool and woody cardamom. A difference in new versus old formulations worth noting is that in the old formulations the presence of oranges, neroli, and saffron were more noticeable, whereas in the new formulations they are far less defined. The orange is gone, or perhaps I'm anosmic to it; the saffron is mostly indistinguishable from the cooler and sweeter facets of the spices; there is something sharp and a bit resinous-citrusy present, which could be neroli but more than likely it is the mastic that was just as loud in the original formulations. The floral heart of Extreme is also dialed way back in newer formulations. The effect is profound. The massive woody spices of the top backed by the mastic give a very boozy presentation, like you're trying to inhale very high-proof liqueur vapors. There are just enough sweeter and floral facets present to round-off the booziness, but on the whole it is going to be quite challenging for most. It is dry and strident enough to leave you needing a breath of fresh air after a sniff. While cold flames continue to cook-off the spicy liqueur, a very bitter and earthy tonka begins blooming from the base and takes over the majority of the perfume after the top notes and the mastic dispense fairly quickly. In original formulations the top and the mastic in conjunction with florals was quite sweet in this section, but not anymore. If anything it has become more linear. Though the tonka and ambery woody base is a bit of a non-descript mélange these days - earthy, bitter, vanillic, resinous benzoin, roughly hewn balsams - I do actually think Extreme has been done a favor by it. The original formulation's this heart section was almost too... extreme. And while this newer formulation might be a bit too mild mannered for the intents and purposes of the creative brief, it is significantly more wearable and a bit closer to the standard TF modus operandi of flanker creation (and parfum concentrations as well): subtract. Noir Extreme, today, has significantly less going on than the original Noir, and less going on by comparison to original Extreme formulations, but what is left is a stripped-down and more extreme version of the skeleton of Noir.

So, was I correct in wondering if Noir Extreme should've been called Noir Ruined? No, not exactly. This is too far from Noir to really have anything to do with it, even though the skeleton is there. With perfume just as it is with people, when the flesh is gone skeletons have an incredibly small number of variations. TF probably should have just discontinued Noir and launched this with a different name rather than go through the exhausting and expensive PR-exercise of trying to steer people away from Noir. So then, is Noir Extreme good enough to stand on its own, either as a relative of Noir or a whole new species? Yes, I think so, but not truly, novelly so. In this new formulation there might have been too much subtracted from it to be unique/interesting enough for the spicy-vanillic-ambery-woods category to stand on its own, but I still find it quite pleasant and enjoyable to wear when I want something of this category that I don't feel the need to think about much. However, it would be better if it was, one, simply better, or, two, a bit worse actually. In the original formulation Noir Extreme was a bit "worse" than this new one, but it was certainly more memorable for it. I like Noir Extreme, I honestly do, but it's a bit of a wayward dodo in the Tom Ford brand, and we all know what happens to wayward dodos.

Ultimate intoxication in a bottle…gosh this is addictive, sexy and yet very classy and black-tie ready. This is very, very similar to PDM Herod, but this is more gourmandish and spicy. Pure addiction here, pure seduction, nothing compares. TF has a clear brand aesthetic and this fits right into that vision that Mr. Ford has. This is on the level of Noir de Noir and Tobacco Vanille, easy.

Fantastic fragrance from start to finish. 10/10! Buy this fragrance now and Enjoy!

Fruity-sweet, plummy, and dark spicy woody; it's Femme de Rochas in disguise.
A pleasant bit of code switching, but apart from that it's no great shakes.

Tom Ford Extreme Noir...

Another case of mistaken marketing. This scent is a sweet powdery scent with a touch of woods and spice that dries down to wood, spice and an undercurrent of anise (to my nose)

I can see a man wearing it but despite being tagged for guys, this is for the ladies. This is a boss frag. This is what the the woman smells like that works in a law firm sleeves rolled up, glasses on the bridge of her nose pouring over legal briefs. She drinks Bourbon neat. Works out like a champ everyday, sometimes twice. She is decidedly female, one of few granted a pass to the boys club. And once you smell this scent on her, you know why you might not wear it.

Longevity 4
Sillage 3.5
Price 2.5 (pricey soapy spice but she can afford it)
Uniqueness of your girl: 4.5
Winter/fall
Evenings
Tad too much for summer heat

A beautiful fragrance ruined by reformulation, or rather, moved to the Noir Extreme Parfum bottle to get more money. This bottle is now some weird herbal scent. If you loved the original like me, just buy Code Absolu instead at this time, which is $88/200ml.