GIVENCHY
L’INTERDIT TUBEREUSE NOIRE

2024

tuberose absolute
burnt tuberose petals
roasted coffee
vetiver
patchouli

‘Disrupt your senses with GIVENCHY L’Interdit Eau de Parfum. Available as a limited edition, this first release of the Forbidden Flowers olfactory saga captures the elusive scent of burnt Tuberose petals. Sulphurous by nature, Tuberose enhances the iconic Eau de Parfum with a smoky facet that is as addictive as it is forbidden. At the heart of this limited-edition fragrance, the immaculate whiteness of sulphurous Tuberose conceals a devastating charm. One of the world’s most fragrant flowers, its heady, erotic scent intoxicates anyone who crosses its path… At the iconic heart of L’Interdit’s white bouquet, Indian Tuberose Absolute provides the addictive sillage of this new creation. Thanks to an extraction technique that captures the uncapturable, Givenchy pushes olfactory boundaries and unveils a unique new facet of Tuberose. Each bottle encapsulates at least eight hand-picked Tuberose flowers and an original accord of burnt Tuberose petals. Combined with roasted coffee notes, the composition leaves a magnetic scent on the skin while a base of Vetiver and Patchouli enhances its addictive sensuality. Flirting with the dark side, L’Interdit Tubéreuse Noire Eau de Parfum is as captivating as those who wear it. Experience the thrill of the forbidden with L’Interdit, a fragrance that invites you to defy convention and embrace your singularity.’ – Givenchy

I think that L’Interdit is among the better designer lines at the moment and Tubereuse Noire continues that trend, albeit not the most excited way to go for a flanker.

Basically, what I get from this is a focused, dedicated tuberose fragrance with some sweetness. The sweetness isn’t very defined or interesting; I don’t get any ‘roasted coffee’ for example; it’s just the generic, slightly bubblegummy Sephora-isle sweetness that permiates almost all these types of designers. In the drydown I feel that it goes (too) sugary.

The tuberose on the other hand, feels more recognizable as tuberose than is often the case with designer florals. Much much sweeter than great tuberose fragrances, like a Frederic Malle Carnal Flower, but you do get the sense of actual tuberose in here, which is nice.

According to other reviews this is supposed to be ‘smoky’, which also matches the notes, but I don’t get anything smoky or daring. If anything, it’s less earthy than I expected too, so it stays in the straight-forward, sweet, sugary floral direction from start to finish. A bit more mature than some other popular designer lines, due to the tuberose focus, but nothing more edgy than that.

I’m not the biggest tuberose fan and less so with the designer-bubblegummy styling, so I’m not drawn to this flanker specifically, but it does a really solid job for what it is. Fans of L’Interdit will not be surprised, nor let down by Tubereuse Noire. That beign said, I’m not so sure if I like this better than most of the other flankers, like L’Interdit Rouge or Rouge Ultime though, but I’d have to revisit and properly review those to be sure.