The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Fruit d'Amour Black Liquorice launched in 2018 as part of Emanuel Ungaro's Fruit d'Amour Les Elixirs collection, a trio that explored the apple story as a forbidden fruit through different fruit interpretations. Purple Gardenia, Black Liquorice, and Pink Blackberry each offered their own take, with Black Liquorice standing as a confectionery-leaning entry built around an unmistakable anise character. The brand announced it as a scent for women who chase their ambitions without flinching, leaning into alchemy, bravery, and skill as guiding ideas. The composition aims to feel modern and fresh, layering fruits and florals over an oriental base.
Black licorice carries anise associations that can read medicinal or polarizing, and the way it sits between orange blossom's softness and heliotrope's powdery sweetness gives the heart an unexpected roundness. The anise presence reads as candy-shop warmth rather than herbal bitterness, and the contrast against the cooler top notes makes the shift from top to heart feel like stepping from one room into another. The plum blossom and pear sorbet up top introduce a cold fruitiness that hits the senses before the warmer materials arrive.
The evolution
The first thirty minutes are bright and almost gourmand: pear sorbet melting into plum blossom, the bergamot offering a clean citrus edge underneath. It smells like a fruit stand in cold air, slightly surreal, slightly sweet, with the plum blossom adding a floral dusting that softens what might otherwise feel too sharp. Then the licorice arrives, and the temperature changes. The orange blossom cushions the entry, but the anise character of the licorice note pushes forward quickly, sharp and almost salty-sweet against the powder. Heliotrope adds an almond-musk haze that makes the whole thing feel warmer, more enclosed. This is the loudest phase, the one people across the room notice. The sillage votes across community platforms split between intimate, moderate, strong, and enormous, which suggests the projection behaves differently depending on skin chemistry and the environment.
Cultural impact
Black Liquorice sits within Ungaro's Fruit d'Amour Les Elixirs as a confectionery-leaning oriental vanilla built around an anise note that divides wearers. The licorice thread runs from the opening through the drydown, and depending on how someone reads anise, the whole composition can feel like a cozy candy shop or something closer to a polarizing herbal confection. There's no middle ground for many wearers: either the licorice is the reason they reach for it, or it's the reason they pass. It wears as a designer fragrance with clear niche sensibilities, the kind of scent that gets noticed by people who pay attention to what's been put on.
