Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole Review (Amber Jobin) 2021 + Falling Weightless Draw

Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole

 Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole image courtesy of Aether Arts Perfume

If you know anything about Burning Man, the “global ecosystem of artists, makers, and community organizers” who meet yearly in a fantastic makeshift city in the Nevada desert, you know that the unexpected is to be expected. Artisan perfumer Amber Jobin is a diehard Burner; her ongoing Burner series takes its inspiration from the event and has resulted in some of her most memorable and imaginative fragrances, such as 2014 Art & Olfaction award winner John Frum.

Aether Arts Perfume Black hole is the 3rd in the Pandemic series

Amber Jobin image for the PANDEMIC series

Her newest addition to the line, Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole, (the third in the Pandemic series which includes The Space Between and Contact) poses an inherent contradiction: turning an exploration of the unknowable into fragrance. But Black Hole is more than an intellectual exercise of creating something out of the ultimate nothing; it is also a sly olfactory rendering of “all the craziness that was/is 2020-2021.” Jobin writes on her webpage for Black Hole, “It’s enough to make you feel like you fell down a black hole and have emerged into an alternate universe. Maybe some things are the same, maybe everything is different, and the only constant is you.”

Aether Art Perfume Be Boulder by Amber Jobin

Amber Jobin, image courtesy of the perfumer 2020

So, what does nothingness smell like? One might assume that the answer would turn out to be nothing more than an empty bottle, a sort of jokey perfume version of the emperor’s clothes. But Jobin approaches the scent without smugness, offering smudgy, sooty notes that suggest something obscured and inchoate.

Unexpectedly, the first thing I smell is horehound, which, if you are not familiar with it, is an old-fashioned flowering plant used particularly in the 1800s and the early twentieth century as a candy flavouring. Its smell and taste are somewhere between root beer and spearmint. The physical effect of the opening notes contradicts cuddly memories of penny candy stores with a chilliness that is underlined by a metallic ping. Jobin lists “licorice gunpowder” in the notes. But these initial aromas smell more like the gun, wrapped in licorice and mint. A few minutes later, Jobin’s gunpowder note – which she has used to great effect in Gunsmoke N’ Roses – comes out distinctly with facets of charcoal, black pepper and smoky black tea.

Smoke image via rawpixel

On second application, I get the black licorice more immediately and assertively, and I reassess the fragrance after a more generous application. This time, Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole is much darker and occluded. Right after the tire rubber-sarsaparilla smell of black licorice and pepper, that metallic notes gleams again, this time accompanied by an aggressive smack of vetiver and some patchouli that smells of lightless forest floors. Black Hole becomes cloudier, smokier, and I almost feel like the light in my bedroom is exhaling itself as I write.

burning man 2017

Burning Man 2017, image by Amber 

And yet, Black Hole is not in any way disturbing or melancholy. It gives off a strangely soothing quietness, like the cool silence that follows closing a door on street noise and too-bright sun. And I begin to notice a circularity in the perfume’s construction; the minty-root beer note of the beginning surfaces again, while the gunpowder runs throughout the composition, threading the other notes like black beads.  Just towards the end, I pick up a subtle tang of oakmoss. But overall, what I smell is like the afterglow of gunfire: you can still see the outline of the light flare hanging in the dark, the smoke moves in slow motion, and the air is both acrid and sweet.

Perhaps the smell of nothingness is not void but absence, the residue of what was.

Notes: licorice gunpowder, smoke, oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver, pepper.

Disclaimer: Sample of Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole kindly given to me by Amber Jobin. My opinions, as always, are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Editor’s Note: Amber Jobin won the Art and Olfaction Award for John Frum, 2014, and was a 3x top ten finalist for Love for Three Oranges (2016), Saffron (2017) and was one of seven independent perfumers who created a perfume for CaFleureBon Project Talisman collaboration Touchstone, which celebrated our 7th anniversary. -Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief and art director

Thanks to the generosity of Aether Arts Perfume, we have a 2ml  extrait to give to one registered reader worldwide. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what intrigues you about Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole based on Lauryn’s review and where you live. Draw closes 12/15/2021.

Follow us on Instagram: @cafleurebonofficial @elledebee @aetherartsperfume

This is our Privacy and Draw Rules Policy.

We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so like ÇaFleureBon and use our blog feed, or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


13 comments

  • The most intriguing thing is the “absence” that you’re talking about. I can’t imagine the smell of something that is no more. This one would maybe be an answer to that. I live in Poland.

  • Lauryn! ❤️❤️❤️ Brilliant review! I Adore Aether Arts Perfume! All of Amber Jobin’s work is truly wearable art! I love how these fragrances stimulate the mind and imagination just as much as the senses! My favorites are the Exoplanet series that explores what life/scented vegetation could smell like on other planets, etc. Also, her scents exploring tech are fantastic. I would Love to experience Black Hole!!! ❤️ This part of Lauryn’s review is brilliant: “afterglow of gunfire: you can still see the outline of the light flare hanging in the dark, the smoke moves in slow motion, and the air is both acrid and sweet.
    Perhaps the smell of nothingness is not void but absence, the residue of what was.” ❤️ Thank you for this wonderful opportunity! USA

  • And yet, Black Hole is not in any way disturbing or melancholy. It gives off a strangely soothing quietness, like the cool silence that follows closing a door on street noise and too-bright sun. And I begin to notice a circularity in the perfume’s construction; the minty-root beer note of the beginning surfaces again, while the gunpowder runs throughout the composition, threading the other notes like black beads. Just towards the end, I pick up a subtle tang of oakmoss. But overall, what I smell is like the afterglow of gunfire: you can still see the outline of the light flare hanging in the dark, the smoke moves in slow motion, and the air is both acrid and sweet.

    Perhaps the smell of nothingness is not void but absence, the residue of what was.

    Notes: licorice gunpowder, smoke, oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver, pepper. A beautiful description by Lauryn intrigued by the notes especially Patchouli, smoke and licorice. A house that I am not familiar with but I am intrigued to delve further. Thanks a million from the United Kingdom

  • On second application, I get the black licorice more immediately and assertively, and I reassess the fragrance after a more generous application. This time, Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole is much darker and occluded. Right after the tire rubber-sarsaparilla smell of black licorice and pepper, that metallic notes gleams again, this time accompanied by an aggressive smack of vetiver and some patchouli that smells of lightless forest floors. Black Hole becomes cloudier, smokier, and I almost feel like the light in my bedroom is exhaling itself as I write. A very descriptive piece by Lauryn fascinated by the notes especially smoke, vetiver, patchouli and licorice. Thanks for shedding light on this house and perfumer. Thanks a lot from the UK

  • carlos_lager says:

    Wow! Gunpowder, smoke pepper, patchouli… That sounds awesome. Really interested in sampling this. Thank you for another great review.
    Greetings from Austria (EU)

  • wallygator88 says:

    Thanks for the great review Aeryn.

    This is such a cool fragrance. The concept of nothingness is interesting to look at from an olfactive perspective. I for one would not have associated any of the notes with it.

    I do like how the review compares this to the subtle silence that follows closing a door/windown on street noise.

    Cheers from WI, USA

  • Mmmmm where could I begin? Amber jobin is intriguin un itself! I feel really atracted for the different and original (and also weird) creations and this is one of them! I like when lauryn says that the light in her Room is exhalting itselfs because It makes me imaginé the smoky bomb that black hole must be!

    My name is Edgar (parfum_sindromico) and I follow you from Tenerife (Spain, EU).

    Regards to all and congratulations for tour amazing posts!

  • Oh wow. I love experimental and evocative scents. I also love the silence of closing the door to the world as Lauryn described. I would love to win this. I am in the US.

  • From Lauryn’s review Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole seems to be a dark perfume, but not melancholy, as she says in her review. Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole definitely is intriguing because of the gunpowder, licorice, smoke notes. I learned about horehound, which I had never heard of before. Thanks for the draw and review. From USA.

  • sephrenia300 says:

    Really fascinating review Lauryn! What intrigues me the most about Aether Arts Perfume Black Hole based on Lauryn’s review is the idea of what “nothing” smells like – the idea that the answer is mentholic, metalic chilliness, with a tinge of gunpowder makes a lot of sense to me. Menthol gives the impression of cooling air, and gunpowder is of course powered by a rush of air. Both evoke different aspects of air and nothingness, while smelling distinct and alluring. I live in the US.

  • Oh my, this sounds amazing. I remember horehound candy, I love it, and gunpowder and smoke! These sound amazing to me. I would love this. In maryland.

  • Lauryn explores the idea of capturing “nothingness,” which I find really compelling, but I’m also intrigued by this perfume’s licorice note. That’s a smell that can really grab my attention or be off-putting—entirely depends on how it’s combined with the other elements of the fragrance. Great review that piqued my interest.

    I’m in the midwest, USA.