Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Noir Review

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a Lacoste fragrance to review for this site, so I was looking forward to trying out today’s entry from the Eau de Lacoste L.12.12. line: Noir. Yep, this is the one in the black bottle for all of my non-French speakers. How does this one stack up? What are the ingredients? Does it perform well?

What does L.12.12 Noir Smell Like?

Notes include: watermelon, dark chocolate, lavender, basil, cashmeran, patchouli, and more

Click here to try: LACOSTE L.12.12 Noir Pour Lui Eau de Toilette

My Full Wear Review

The opening of Noir has that familiar Lacoste light/watery/alcohol smell that so many others on this line also share. It’s like they refuse to make anything intense and while this is an EDT, there are plenty of other examples of these sort of scents that have much more body to them, so to speak.

Anyway, Noir opens with some lavender and basil sitting on top of a juicy and non-candy like watermelon. It’s more of a ripe watermelon aroma than something such as a Jolly Rancher. It has a slight sweetness, which is added to by the dark chocolate note. Noir is fresh and light, almost aquatic, but with any sort of sea notes not being present at all.

I find the cashmere note to be quite interesting while I can detect it. It provides a woody warmth that pairs well with the bit of herbal spice provided by the basil note, as well as the smooth calming influence of lavender.

Ultimately, the notes all seem to blend together and I can mostly detect the watermelon during the dry down. It feels like it has some personality of its own, but it gets mixed to something that has trouble distinguishing itself.

Projection wise L.12.12 Noir, is a lighter kind of fragrance. Seriously, the sample vial isn’t a sprayer, and it can be a pain to open the applicator from the glass. The first time I opened it, I spilled nearly half of the cologne in my living room.

With just about any other fragrance it would have smelled on my carpet for days. With Noir? I didn’t even notice it beyond the first two hours and no one else said anything…that’s some light fragrance.

Is it weak? Sort of. It’s longevity isn’t anything to write home about, I got about 5 hours on my skin with a heavy application. It wasn’t loud or going to choke the room but it did vanish, right around that five hour mark.

Climate wise, it’s a good year round fragrance, in terms of its smell. It won’t be out of place at anytime and can stand up to the heat…at least for 5 hours, after that you’re on your own.

I would say that this is a casual scent, maybe for a low key office cologne, but not romantic wear. Although, it is a pleasant fragrance. Noir is geared more toward younger men. Probably teens to mid-twenties.

Overall Impressions of Noir

Overall, do I recommend Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Noir? Meh, not really. It smells decent, but it doesn’t perform well. Plus, I like both Blanc and Rouge from Lacoste better than this one. It doesn’t really stand out to me in the slightest.

It’s nice and has positive qualities, but also pretty unremarkable in how it smells. It has a unique composition, but it ends up smelling quite familiar. Though, I cannot really compare it to anything directly. So, I’ll give it a boost in score for being rather unique.

I, however, can’t give this high praise. It is a designer fragrance, thus pretty expensive, while not at all living up to that price point. I listed some better Lacoste options and there’s plenty else out there on the market, that outcompetes Noir.

Best Men's Colognes

Best Men’s Colognes started back in 2013, as a way to share my learning experiences with different fragrances, as I dove head first into the hobby. Since then, I have written hundreds of reviews and other pages about perfumes and colognes.