Perle de Lys Noir (2014)

In 2014, Isabey reintroduced the mystique of Lys Noir in a special limited edition extrait de parfum titled Perle de Lys Noir. The extrait itself—Perle de Lys Noir—is a more concentrated and intensified expression of the original Lys Noir fragrance. Designed to linger longer on the skin and deepen its sillage, the extrait amplifies the most opulent and velvety aspects of the composition. Each note is rendered with greater richness and resonance, transforming the perfume into something almost tactile—a second skin of darkness, floral depth, and woody warmth.  

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? The 2014 version of Perle de Lys Noir is classified as a floral woody amber fragrance for women.

• Top note: citronellol, broom absolute, black lily, linalool, black pepper, isoeugenol
• Middle notes: farnesol, ylang ylang essence, tuberose essence, geraniol, jasmine essence, benzyl salicylate 
• Base notes: benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, amber, vanilla, incense, sandalwood essence, cashmere wood

Scent Profile:

The 2014 Perle de Lys Noir is a floral woody amber fragrance that stages white flowers against a dark, velvety background of amber, incense, sandalwood, vanilla, and modern woods. Its effect is not that of a simple fresh bouquet, but of nocturnal flowers warmed by skin and candlelight: creamy petals, dry spice, resinous smoke, and a soft dark-wood trail. No countries of origin are specified for the natural materials, so it is not possible to identify a particular harvest of jasmine, tuberose, broom, pepper, ylang-ylang, or sandalwood.

The opening begins with citronellol, which smells rosy, lemony, and gently green, like pale petals and freshly crushed leaves. Linalool adds a cool lavender-floral freshness, touched with citrus and pale wood, helping the fragrance feel airy even as it moves toward darker notes. Black pepper gives the perfume its dry, aromatic spark: woody, warm, slightly resinous, and almost fizzy. Isoeugenol deepens this spice with an elegant carnation-and-clove character, suggesting warm polished wood, dark petals, and a faint smoky sweetness.

Broom absolute gives the composition a distinctive golden shadow. Derived from broom blossoms, it can smell honeyed, hay-like, floral, warm, and faintly leathery, with nuances of pollen, tobacco, and sun-dried grass. It makes the fragrance feel less like a formal bouquet and more like flowers growing amid warm earth and dry stems. The note called black lily is an artistic accord rather than a straightforward essential oil from a literal flower. Lilies cannot be simply distilled into a complete natural essence, and “black lily” suggests a deliberately darkened floral fantasy: cool petals, green stems, pollen, spice, and a mysterious woody shadow.

The heart becomes richer with tuberose essence, whose waxy white petals suggest cream, warm skin, sweet nectar, and a faint camphoraceous freshness. Jasmine essence adds a living floral warmth—creamy petals, a subtle green fruitiness, and the faint animalic depth that makes white flowers feel sensual. Ylang-ylang essence contributes a golden, tropical richness of ripe banana, warm spice, and lush petals. Geraniol gives the bouquet a rosy, green-petal freshness, while farnesol adds a soft, sweet, lily-of-the-valley-like floral glow.

Benzyl salicylate forms an important bridge between the flowers and the base. It has a sweet balsamic, warm floral character—often perceived as solar, jasmine-like, and creamy—and helps the floral notes radiate and remain present on the skin. Benzyl alcohol adds a mild sweet-floral softness, while benzyl benzoate is quieter and more woody-balsamic, acting as a fixative that helps the fragile white flowers wear smoothly and persistently.

The base turns the perfume toward ambered darkness. Amber is an accord rather than a single raw material, suggesting glowing resins, balsamic warmth, warm skin, and golden woods. Vanilla adds a creamy, dark sweetness that softens the incense and woods; here it is less a dessert note than a warm, enveloping balsam. Incense provides dry smoke, cool resin, mineral darkness, and a faintly sacred atmosphere, creating the impression of white flowers drifting through a shadowed interior.

Sandalwood essence wraps the composition in creamy, milky, softly sweet wood, smoothing the incense and amber into a close-to-the-skin finish. Finally, cashmere wood is generally a modern woody accord or Cashmeran-like material rather than a literal wood essence. It suggests soft warm fabric, dry pale woods, gentle musk, spice, and ambered skin. Its presence gives Perle de Lys Noir a modern velvety texture: white flowers made darker not through harshness, but through the softness of smoke, cashmere, amber, vanilla, and polished wood.

Bottle: 

This opulent version reimagined the original 1924 “perle” flacon, a shape once distinguished by its soft, iridescent pearlized finish. For this contemporary edition, however, the bottle is transformed into a study in dramatic contrast—its surface rendered in a deep, opaque black. The result is a flacon that feels both modern and timeless, echoing the mystery and sensuality of the perfume it holds. Its smooth, spherical form is simple yet elegant, with the dark lacquered glass reflecting subtle glints of light like polished onyx.

This luxurious presentation is complemented by a striking display case, covered in richly textured ebony-black leather. The tactile surface adds a sense of gravitas and refinement, evoking the kind of old-world craftsmanship that once defined haute parfumerie. Inside, the bottle rests in a bed of luminous black satin, which cushions and showcases the flacon like a piece of precious jewelry. The deep folds of the satin shimmer subtly against the matte finish of the bottle, creating an interplay of texture and tone that feels at once sensuous and sophisticated.

2017 Reformulation:

In 2017, Perle de Lys Noir was reformulated in response to changing fragrance-safety restrictions and ingredient requirements. The revised fragrance, now presented as Lys Noir Extrait, retained the dark white-floral and woody-amber character of the original while giving it a more concentrated, intensified profile. Its later ingredient declaration and exact reformulated composition can be considered separately; Isabey’s description makes clear that the house sought to preserve the perfume’s essential mood of mystery, richness, and nocturnal elegance.

According to Isabey, the revised extrait amplifies the original floral heart through higher concentrations of iris, tuberose, and lily. Black pepper gives the opening a subtle dry spice, creating a contrast between crisp aromatic freshness and the lush white flowers that follow. At the center, lily is joined by Indian jasmine absolute, Indian tuberose absolute, broom absolute, and ylang-ylang essence. The use of Indian jasmine and tuberose emphasizes the perfume’s opulent floral character: jasmine brings creamy, warm, faintly animalic petals, while tuberose provides waxy, nectar-rich depth. Broom adds its honeyed, hay-like, slightly leathery nuance, and ylang-ylang gives the bouquet a golden tropical creaminess.

The base remains warm, dark, and enveloping, built from vanilla, sandalwood essence, incense, cashmere woods, amber, and the intensified floral materials above. Vanilla softens the darker elements with balsamic sweetness, incense contributes a dry smoky-resinous shadow, and sandalwood gives the perfume creamy, velvety wood. Cashmere woods add a modern sensation of warm fabric, soft musk, and pale dry timber, while amber supplies the glowing, resinous depth beneath it all. The result is intended to be a more powerful and polished expression of the original Perle de Lys Noir: still floral and elegant, but darker in mood, richer in texture, and more persistent on the skin.

2017 Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? The 2017 version of Perle de Lys Noir is classified as a floral woody amber fragrance for women.

• Top notes: black pepper,anise alcohol, cinnamal, cinnamyl alcohol, limonene, citronellol, citral, linalool
• Middle notes: amyl cinnamal, hexyl cinnamal, geraniol, hydroxycitronellal, lily, Indian jasmine absolute, Indian tuberose absolute, broom absolute, farnesol, ylang essence, eugenol, isoeugenol
• Base notes: benzyl salicylate, vanilla, sandalwood essence, incense, cashmere woods, coumarin, amber, benzyl benzoate, benzyl alcohol 

Scent Profile:

The 2017 Lys Noir Extrait remains true to the 2014 Perle de Lys Noir in its broad design: a dark white-floral fragrance in which lily, tuberose, jasmine, broom, ylang-ylang, amber, incense, vanilla, sandalwood, and cashmere woods create a rich nocturnal effect. The revision, however, appears more explicitly structured around lily and spicy floral materials. It adds a brighter, more aromatic opening and uses a broader array of muguet, jasmine, and floral-supporting materials to make the flowers more radiant and expansive. The original 2014 formula was already floral, woody, and ambery; the 2017 version seems to make that contrast more pronounced—cooler, spicier white flowers above a warmer, more resinous base.

The opening begins with black pepper, dry, woody, aromatic, and slightly sparkling, like peppercorns freshly ground over warm wood. It is joined by anise alcohol, more commonly called anisyl alcohol, which has a soft sweet floral odor with a gentle anise-like nuance. Rather than smelling sharply of licorice, it can suggest hawthorn, heliotrope, delicate white flowers, and powdery sweetness. Cinnamal supplies a warmer cinnamon-bark accent, while cinnamyl alcohol adds a softer, more floral-spicy effect—cinnamon tempered by hyacinth-like petals, balsams, and sweet floral warmth.

Limonene and citral brighten these spices with fresh citrus-rind and lemon-zest effects. Limonene is juicy, sparkling, and slightly bitter, like the spray released from peeling an orange; citral is brighter, sharper, and more vividly lemony. Citronellol adds a rosy-lemon freshness, like pale petals and crushed green leaves, while linalool gives a cool, softly lavender-like floral lift. These materials prevent the pepper and cinnamon from becoming heavy, making the top feel like crisp night air passing through a bouquet of white flowers.

The heart makes the lily theme more explicit. Lily is an artistic accord rather than a simple essential oil: the real flower’s cool, green, pollen-rich scent cannot be captured completely through ordinary distillation. In the 2017 formula, hydroxycitronellal helps create its dewy, lily-of-the-valley-like freshness—moist white petals, fresh air, and a watery floral transparency. Amyl cinnamal and hexyl cinnamal add sweet, broad floral facets suggestive of jasmine, muguet, and green leaves. Together, these aroma chemicals make the natural white flowers more diffusive and realistic, allowing the lily effect to remain luminous amid the richer tuberose and jasmine.

Indian jasmine absolute gives the heart a creamy, warm, subtly animalic floral richness. India has a long history of growing jasmine for perfumery and traditional garlands, but the precise species is not identified here; its effect is nevertheless one of dense white petals, green fruitiness, and warm skin. Indian tuberose absolute adds its characteristic waxy, nectar-rich creaminess, touched with camphoraceous freshness and the sultry sweetness of flowers opening after dark. Indian tuberose is especially evocative in this context because the flower has long been associated there with evening garlands and ceremonial adornment. Broom absolute supplies honey, hay, pollen, warm dry grass, and a faint leathery-tobacco nuance, making the white flowers feel rooted in earth rather than merely arranged in a vase.

Ylang-ylang essence adds a golden tropical softness—creamy petals, ripe banana, warm spice, and sun-warmed skin—while geraniol introduces the fresh green-petal quality of rose and geranium. Farnesol gives a quiet lily-of-the-valley-like sweetness and helps carry the floral heart into the drydown. Eugenol and isoeugenol supply clove, carnation, polished wood, and a dusky floral spice. Their combined effect is to place a dark red carnation shadow beneath the lily and tuberose, lending the perfume more of the vintage, slightly dangerous elegance suggested by its name.

The base remains velvety and warm. Benzyl salicylate creates a sweet balsamic, solar floral glow, helping the tuberose, jasmine, and lily retain their presence on the skin. Benzyl alcohol offers mild floral-balsamic softness, while benzyl benzoate contributes a quiet woody-balsamic foundation and acts as a fixative. Vanilla adds creamy, dark sweetness—not necessarily a dessert effect, but more like warm balsam, polished wood, and skin. Coumarin deepens that softness with tonka bean, dried hay, almond, sweet tobacco, and vanilla-like grass.

Sandalwood essence wraps the fragrance in creamy, milky, softly sweet wood, smoothing the spice and incense into a warm, skin-close finish. No country of origin is named for the sandalwood, so it cannot be assumed to be Indian sandalwood. Incense gives the base its dry smoky-resinous character: cool smoke, church-like resins, mineral darkness, and a quiet sacred atmosphere. Amber is an accord rather than a single raw material, suggesting golden resins, warm skin, balsamic sweetness, and glowing woods. Cashmere woods are likewise generally a modern woody accord or Cashmeran-like effect, evoking warm fabric, pale dry wood, soft musk, and ambered skin. Together, they create the dark velvet background against which the white flowers shine.

Compared with the original 2014 Perle de Lys Noir, the 2017 version retains a remarkable number of the earlier fragrance’s defining materials. Both list citronellol, linalool, black pepper, isoeugenol, broom absolute, farnesol, ylang-ylang, tuberose, geraniol, jasmine, benzyl salicylate, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, amber, vanilla, incense, sandalwood, and cashmere woods. Its core identity therefore remains unchanged: a rich white-floral composition made dark and sensual by warm woods, incense, amber, and soft sweetness.

The revision’s differences lie mainly in its more developed top and lily accord. The 2017 formula adds anise alcohol, cinnamal, cinnamyl alcohol, limonene, citral, amyl cinnamal, hexyl cinnamal, hydroxycitronellal, and eugenol. These additions make the fragrance brighter, spicier, more citrus-lit, and more explicitly lily-like than the original. The 2014 formula listed black lily as a single evocative accord; the 2017 version appears to unpack that idea through a more detailed lily construction, especially hydroxycitronellal and the sweet muguet-floral materials.

The two lists also show a slight change in emphasis rather than a wholesale replacement. In the 2014 edition, benzyl salicylate appeared among the heart materials, while in 2017 it functions more clearly as part of the warm base. The later formula adds coumarin, increasing the tonka-hay-powder softness of the drydown. Although the exact formula cannot be reconstructed from declarations alone, the 2017 Lys Noir Extrait likely preserves the original’s floral-amber mystery while giving it greater brightness at the start, a more vivid lily effect at its center, and a smoother, sweeter, more diffusive finish.

Fate of the Fragrance:

As a collector’s edition, Perle de Lys Noir was more than a fragrance: it was an expression of elegance, mystery, and enduring Art Deco-inspired glamour. Its 50 ml / 1.7 fl. oz. Natural Spray Extrait de Parfum format gave the dark white-floral composition the presence of a true luxury object, intended to be worn slowly and treasured. Today, Isabey continues this perfume in its re-edited Lys Noir Extrait presentation, described by the house as a more intense continuation of Perle de Lys Noir. As of 2026, the 50 ml Natural Spray Extrait is available through Isabey’s official U.S. website for $245 USD, before applicable tax and shipping