For years, I’ve been writing about my favorite fragrances, most of which contain the same notes:
- amber
- vanilla
- benzoin
- tonka bean.
Spicy oriental scents are what I gravitate towards. Yes, there are a few exceptions like florientals, but mostly I stick to variations on the same theme.
Guerlain Angélique Noire
Back in November when I was in Boston to re-red my hair, I needed to go to Neiman-Marcus because they supposedly carried makeup from Victoria Beckham. I lost my Ash dark grey eyeliner that I use to tightline my eyes in Maine. Once I got to Neiman’s, I discovered they only sell Beckham cosmetics online. But not to make the trip a total waste of time, I wandered over to the fragrances. I had a long conversation with a very nice SA who introduced me to several new-to-me scents from Creed and other brands, but they were not quite me. I wandered off and found another SA at the Guerlain counter who convinced me to try Angelique Noire from their L’Art et La Matiere (the art and raw material) collection.
Angélique Noire was introduced in 2005, so in terms of fragrances, it’s an “old” scent. It’s a scent that can take a while to take a shine to. As I mentioned above, on occasion I will drift toward a floriental scent, and that describes Guerlain Angélique Noire.
What makes Angélique Noire unique is the angelica, a green, fresh, spicy, and herbaceous top note that you either find intriguing or a total turnoff. Angelica is often used in perfumes to hold other notes together by adding depth and complexity to the scent. It’s musky and woody which is a key reason scents containing Angelica are often considered gender-neutral. Angelica is distilled from the seeds as well as the root of the plant. The seeds yield a fresher, greener aroma while the roots give a scent an earthy quality. I think Angélique Noire uses distillate from both parts of the plant.
Another distinctive property of Angélique Noire is vanilla. Angelica and vanilla serve as polar opposites in the fragrance, a yin and yang situation. While Angelica is bitter and fresh, vanilla is deep, sweet and warm. Odd, right? Right. Nevertheless, that unusual pairing gives Angélique Noire a sophisticated, sexy and distinct scent.
These are the notes in Angélique Noire:
- Top Notes: Angelica Root, Vanilla, Cedar Wood
- Heart Notes: Sambac Jasmine, Caraway
- Base Notes: Angelica Seeds, Pink Peppercorn, Pear
The accords are, in order of prevalence:
Note some of my familiar, preferred notes and accords among the lists.
Since Angelica is the top note in the opening accord of Angélique Noire, one may be drawn in to the mystery of this scent or forced to back off. When I first tried a sample at the Guerlain counter that the SA sprayed on my wrist, I wasn’t at all sure of my reaction. Honestly, it seemed repellant at first, but after a few seconds, it became distinctive, inviting and even calming. I was sad that SAs no longer give out samples of expensive fragrances because there’s no way to tell how it will wear on you. I asked the associate how much Angélique Noire, an Eau de Parfum with 3.3 fl. oz., cost, and I was somewhat surprised when she said $395. Whew, I guess I haven’t kept up with luxury fragrance prices!
When I got home I looked again, and it was less expensive to buy Angélique Noire from the Guerlain website, $295. Little did I know that $295 was the pre-holiday price (not that $295 was cheap!), but the price is now the same as at the high-end department stores. Boo.
Because there was no way I could justify spending that much money on perfume right now, I decided to buy a decant. I bought a tiny spray vial from Scent Decant, an online retailer that is considered trustworthy, for less than $10.
I used it up in two occasions. I wasn’t sure if the fragrance projected and lasted on me because I acclimated to it quickly and couldn’t tell if it had disappeared completely after the initial spray.
Not one to give up, I kept looking online. eBay had lots of “full size bottles” (3.3 fl. oz.), but they were waaaaaaay too cheap ($33-60 range before the holidays) and they came from China. ‘Nuff said.
Red Carpet Affair from Juliana’s Perfume
As I continued searching for an affordable bottle of Angélique Noire, I found some discussions among fragrance enthusiasts about dupes for the brand. The first one I came up was from Juliana’s Perfume.
I had to order the fragrance as they seem to craft their fragrances to fill orders. In fact, tonight when I tried to go to their website, it said that they’re closed until January 24 at 5pm PST/8pm EST. A unique way to work, but I guess it works for them!
I paid about $35 or maybe $39 for 40 ml/1.35 fl.oz. of their Red Carpet Affair. Juliana’s Perfume said it would arrive in a few weeks. It ended up arriving earlier than I expected.
Red Carpet Affair smells very similar to Guerlain Angélique Noire. I think it’s a little sweeter in the opening, but still has the Angelica key note. It also smells more powdery to me than the original, but I can’t be sure based on my 3 occasions of wearing Angélique Noire.
All in all, I’m pleased with this dupe. In fact, I think I will take it with me to Costa Rica.
Dark Angelica from The Dua Brand
After I had already ordered Red Carpet Affair and was waiting what I thought would be a few weeks for it to arrive, I read about The Dua Brand of fragrance dupes on the Shop.com app. I was able to get a discount with my Shop money so I decided to go for it. I ended up paying less than $20 with the discount and shipping. Plus, it arrived within a couple of days.
Their dupe, Dark Angelica, arrived a couple of weeks before Red Carpet Affair, and I started trying it immediately. All of The Dua Brand’s fragrances are “Extrait de Parfum” which is supposed to be stronger than eau de parfum. Although I thought that would be a good thing, it didn’t seem stronger than the EDPs. To my nose, Dark Angelica also smelled a lot like Guerlain Angélique Noire, though maybe not exact either, though close enough. It had the bitter, herbaceous opening and was somewhat powdery. It’s nice. Dark Angelica smells almost identical to Red Carpet Affair.
As I mentioned, I bought Dark Angelica on the Shop app, and I used my Shop cash and saved money. Actually, it turns out I saved more than I thought. On The Dua Brand website, Dark Angelica containing 1.1 fl. oz. is priced at $60!, but that’s before their 33% off as well as $10 off for first purchasers if you give them your email address.
If you’re curious about The Dua Brand, as I wrote above, they’re currently having a Birthday Sale of 33% off with either of these two codes: DUA33 or DDL33.
My Thoughts So Far
I’m glad that I wasn’t a complete fragrance snob and that I tried the two affordable dupes for Angélique Noire. I like and wear ’em both! Nevertheless, I am still considering buying another decant maybe from
My only complaint is that the scent(s) doesn’t have great sillage (projection) nor does it seem to last for hours and hours, the way other people described both the original and the dupes. I don’t know if it’s my sense of smell diminishing (I don’t think it is because I still smell scents that other people can’t) or else it’s my body chemistry not latching onto the Angelica/Vanilla scents. At any rate, I will bring one of the dupes with me and see if the hot temperature makes it smell more when I wear it??
Have you tried Angélique Noire? Or any fragrance with Angelica? If so, please do tell me what you thought!
Or, have you tried any fragrance dupes from Juliana’s Perfume or The Dua Brand? If so, thoughts?
I have tried the Mugler Womanity dupe from the Duabrand and it is very similar. A long time since i owned the original but it immediately took me right back, strong and quite longlasting. I am currently saving to buy the Tom Ford Vanille Fatale dupe from Duabrand
Don’t you love it when a dupe actually almost delivers? I can’t justify spending the $$$$ on Angelique Noire, so I was thrilled when the Duabrand turned out to be close enough 🙂 Thank you, Jane, for taking the time to weigh in xo
Hi Allison,
I recently bought a small sample of Angelique Noire and while it isn’t something I’d normally gravitate towards, it does have quite a lovely mature, elegant take on vanilla and is easily likeable. Like you, I was interested in a full bottle until I saw the price point (THAT MUCH for 50ml!?) and came across your article in my search for a more affordable dupe option. I wore the sample last night to a party, but I felt like the smell was gone within an hour easily. When spraying it at first, I imagined I was going to have complaints with having a strong sillage and figured with the vanilla it would have some staying power, but it’s undetectable very quickly. I tend to be very allergic to scents and tend to spray the majority on my clothing rather than skin, so I can’t say skin-chemistry is burning the scent off. I can’t smell the scent at all on my dress this morning, in my car along the seatbelt or in the room I sprayed it in, so there has been no lingering scent. I wouldn’t blame your sense of smell or body chemistry, I think this expensive perfume is definitely lacking for the price point. Beautiful smell but disappears like a fart in the wind.
Thank you, Rachael, for weighing in and for making me feel better, that it’s not my fault!! I have about a million fragrances so I haven’t worn the AN dupes in a few months. For some reason, they feel like autumn/winter scents to me. And like you, Angelique Noire isn’t a fragrance I would normally be attracted to (frankly, I don’t smell the vanilla in it), but a sales associate introduced it to me and it seemed so different from my usual gender-neutral oriental scents that it captured me for the time being. But I am very glad that I only bought a couple of samples, now long gone, rather than spending the big bucks on a scent that vanishes in thin air. In fact, no one ever noticed or complimented me when I wore the real AN. So in the meantime, I’ve moved on to another scent that doesn’t last forever, but it so lovely I wear it for me (though I have had a number of women ask me what perfume I’m wearing!): Les Bras de Morphee by Hellenist. What scents are you wearing these days?