Note Pyramid
Crystal Noir
Gardenia is a difficult flower to put in a bottle, and Antoine Lie built Versace Crystal Noir Eau de Toilette around it in 2004, surrounding it with spice to keep it from turning soapy. The opening is all heat. Cardamom is cool and aromatic, ginger dry and fizzing, and black pepper sharp and biting, and the three together make one of the more distinctive starts in mainstream perfumery. Nothing about it is sweet, and anyone expecting a conventional white floral will be surprised.
Gardenia then arrives, creamy and waxy and full, with peony keeping it light and orange blossom adding a clean honeyed brightness above it. The spice from the opening does not disappear; it runs underneath the flowers and gives them a warmth they would not have on their own, which is the whole reason the fragrance has stayed in production.
Amber, sandalwood and musk make the base, resinous, creamy and soft in turn, and they hold the gardenia in place long after it should have faded. In eau de toilette form this is the lighter way into the scent, giving good presence for a few hours and then settling close to the skin for the rest of the day. It reads feminine, it belongs to the colder half of the year, and it is at its best in the evening, though this concentration is restrained enough to be worn to an office without causing trouble. Anyone who has found the heavier version of this scent too much should start here instead.
Versace is an Italian fashion house, Milan based and founded in 1978, with fragrance, interiors and hospitality sitting alongside the clothes. Donatella Versace has been in charge of it since her brother died.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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