Hello APJ Family and Friends,

Recently they had a 20% off sale at Parfum1 and I had been lemming this bottle for a while, so I naughtily purchased. Some people call this Black and some Black Ananda, maybe because the original white bottle was called Ananda.

Black by M. Micallef 2011

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Amalfi lemon, bitter orange, plum
Heart: Jasmine, tuberose, neroli, ylang ylang
Base: Musk, powder, benzoin, vanilla

Before I write about the fragrance I have to tell you the packaging is seriously gorgeous and the bottle feels like a million dollars when you pick it up. The Drag Queen in me adores the cognac rhinestones on the matte black porcelain bottle and the lid is a harem girls dream. Seriously. I know how shallow that is but couldn’t give a rats, this bottle is beautiful.

Black opens prettily perfumey, it is softer and less intrusive than I expected from its packaging, the plum taking dominance over the citrus. There is so much space between the notes, so sheer, a pastel scarf of finest gauzy silk Georgette. My skin gives an interesting brown sugar waft as the opening slides into the heart. Here we have white flowers being slightly indolic, a little bit retro, and the fragrance gets a touch more oomph but is still extremely ambient, a feeling of space and lightness, introverted fragrance that generates the kind of heft that you expect from body products. It’s close and personal. I can tell Black by M. Micallef has used some good product in the juice, the composition is seamless (so sheer it is hard to tell imperfections really) and clean. What I am most reminded of is a less milky Burberry Brit (towards the end of BBs life), it has a similar spare musky/vanillic/floral wash. For most perfumistas I think Black by M. Micallef will be a big fat yawn.

Photo Stolen MySuperficialEndeavours

Maybe as a gateway frag from some of the extremely barely there white musks of Bodyshop etc this would seem a logical step, good for a grown up scent for young girls who have only had those before. Also if you want to feel laundry fresh all day but without being definitively laundry, but close.

Surprisingly for the lack of fragrance Black by M. Micallef lasts well, this is the PERFECT scent if you really want to have perfume but work in a frag phobic environment. Also good for people who don’t really like scent but wear it because ,”It’s the thing you do”. The bottle alone is worth having as a piece of art and looks killer in the bathroom, recently on Perfume of Life there was a conversation about growing up surrounded by people who had The One And Only Perfect Bottle of scent that was displayed on dressers or in bathrooms. If you are that kind of person then Black by M. Micallef could be the bottle for you.

Photo Stolen mararie on Flickr (not the Black bottle)

My question to M. Micallef is how can Black be packaged in this outrageous black, gold and cognac diamond bottle? There is a TOTAL disconnect between the enclosure and the juice. It’s like putting Gendarme into the bottle above when you would expect an Amouage/Lutens/Vermeire/Tauer, weird! It reminds me of the Coco Noir conundrum.

Further reading: I could only find sellers who have written about Black. Sandra on Olfactoria’s Travels does a beautiful job with the original Ananda though
Parfum1 has $115/30ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $7/ml

Are you a Micallef fan? Are there any in their range that you adore? Maybe you’ve tried black? What are your thoughts?

Have a lovely fragrant day,
Portia xx