Bvlgari
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The rum and bitter orange combination hits with immediate vigour—there's a boisterous warmth that feels almost boozy and slightly peppery, the citrus cutting through with a crisp, sharp edge that prevents the alcohol from becoming cloying. Within moments, you're enveloped in something simultaneously inviting and subtly unsettling.
As the volatiles settle, the cocoa bean emerges with genuine chocolatey depth—not a synthetic sweetness, but something closer to bitter Dutch cocoa—whilst the orris absolute adds a delicate powdery veil that softens the composition's edges. The fragrance becomes increasingly comforting here, developing an almost skin-like quality that feels personalized.
The ebony and tonka bean base asserts dominance with quiet authority, the wood's dark, slightly smoky character preventing the tonka from dominating as pure sweetness. What remains is a warm, woody embrace with subtle cocoa-powder undertones and a whisper of vanilla—intimate, deeply textured, and remarkably sustained.
Bvlgari's Man In Black Essence is a fragrance that refuses the comfort of straightforward masculinity, instead threading a darkly decadent path through boozy sweetness and woody depths. The rum and bitter orange opening announces itself with spirited warmth, but this is no celebratory aperitif—the citrus reads austere, almost medicinal, grounding the alcohol's more syrupy impulses. What makes this composition compelling is how Alberto Morillas positions the heart: cocoa bean and orris absolute create a peculiar marriage of creamy bitterness and powdery florality, transforming the fragrance into something almost confectionery without becoming saccharine. The base drives the obsidian nail home—ebony wood's dark, resinous character mingles with tonka bean's vanilla-like warmth, but here tonka behaves differently than its typical gourmand incarnations. It becomes structural, almost austere, binding the composition's disparate elements into a cohesive woody-spicy whole.
This is for those drawn to deliberately unconventional fragrances; the type who appreciate that complexity needn't announce itself loudly. It's equally suited to evening wear as it is to contemplative autumn afternoons. The wearer is someone comfortable with contradiction—someone who wants to smell like an expensive leather armchair with a glass of aged rum, a box of luxury chocolates left slightly too long in the sun, and old books stored in cedar. Expect intrigue rather than immediate gratification, and a fragrance that reveals new facets across its lifespan.
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4.0/5 (99)