Licorice

Bvlgari

The first impression is deceptively floral—gardenia blooms with a creamy richness that soon reveals something darker underneath.

Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle

Vétiver Extraordinaire is exactly what its title claims: an intensified study of a single material, built around a concentration of 25% pure Haitian vetiver oil.

Hermès

Brin de Réglisse is pure Jean-Claude Ellena: four materials, no excess.

Mancera

Dark confectionery meets the oud tradition in one of Mancera's most playful and confrontational dualities.

Nina Ricci

Memoire d'Homme opens unusually — licorice, grapefruit, and pomelo together create a dry, slightly bitter citrus that sets it apart from the standard 2000s aquatic-fougère playbook.

Lolita Lempicka

Illusions Noires Le Premier Parfum is the original 1997 in mourning dress.

Oriflame

So Fever Her opens with an assertive triple: black currant's deep jam, bergamot's citrus brightness, and pink pepper's dry bite.

Bvlgari

Jasmin Noir Eau de Toilette takes the richer EDP formula and opens it up with gardenia, lotus, and green notes—a lighter, airier interpretation of the house's signature.

Dior

Hypnotic Poison Extrait de Parfum departs sharply from the original EDT's coconut-plum sweetness and opens instead on bitter almond and licorice — an almost medicinal, assertive intro that reads as darker and more singular.

Guerlain

Sour cherry opens tart and faintly candy-like, almond adding sweetness that makes the combination read as marzipan touched with fruit.

Givenchy

The 2013 Eau de Toilette of Play for Her opens with a bright, slightly tart rush of white currant and peach that reads fresh rather than confectionery.

Montale

The name is a deliberate misdirection — no oud appears here.

Cartier

Eau de Cartier Vetiver Bleu is a Mathilde Laurent three-note exercise — mint, licorice, vetiver, and nothing else by design.

Lolita Lempicka

Illusions Noires Au Masculin is the 2001 Au Masculin recast in shadow.

Zara

Blood orange opens bright and sharp, with ginger and cardamom giving the citrus a warming edge rather than cooling it.

Carolina Herrera

Gold Myrrh Absolute begins with black pepper and immortelle — a dry, herbal-spiced opening that signals something medicinal and dark.

Giorgio Armani

The Remix takes the aromatic spice direction and complicates it with an unexpected element: lily of the valley threading through a heart otherwise occupied by nutmeg and cardamom.

Yves Saint Laurent

Black Opium Intense 2019 opens with an unusual pairing: absinthe and boysenberry, giving the first impression a brooding, slightly herbal sweetness that sets it apart from the coffee-and-vanilla Black Opium formula most wearers know.

Avon

Named after the iconic bossa nova composition, Garota de Ipanema opens with pear, apricot, and Italian mandarin — a ripe, warm-weather fruit accord that suggests the heat and sweetness of a Brazilian afternoon.

Yves Saint Laurent

Fanny Bal's 2021 leather is a polished, modern recasting of the discontinued Noble Leather — softer, sweeter, less driven by dried fruit.

Yves Saint Laurent

A 2017 limited bottle re-release of the 2014 Black Opium with the formula left intact — pear and pink pepper open onto coffee, almond, jasmine and licorice in the heart, then vanilla, patchouli, cedar and cashmere wood land in the base.