The 2013 black-bottled reworking of Pasha de Cartier: citrus and green notes over cedar and amber.
At a glance
Pasha de Cartier Édition Noire, usually shortened to Pasha Noire, is a 2013 eau de toilette from Cartier and a reworking of the house’s 1992 classic Pasha de Cartier. It is a fresh, woody aromatic: citrus and green notes over cedar and amber, in a matte black version of the Pasha bottle.
Parfumo lists it as still in production, alongside the original it was built on.
Creation and context
The original Pasha de Cartier (1992) is a woody aromatic with lavender and mint in the opening; Now Smell This and Parfumo both date it to 1992, and the Cartier house page describes it as the base of a long flanker line. By the early 2010s it was two decades old. Fragrantica, Parfumo and Now Smell This all date Édition Noire to 2013; Now Smell This lists it among Cartier’s launches that year with Baiser Volé Essence de Parfum and Eau de Cartier Zeste de Soleil.
Fragrantica credits the fragrance to Nathalie Feisthauer; Parfumo names no perfumer, and Cartier does not publish a credit, so the attribution rests on one source. It is not among the works Fragrantica lists for Mathilde Laurent, Cartier’s in-house perfumer since 2005.
Fragrantica describes it as a “reinterpretation of the legendary Pasha de Cartier” that combines “fresh green citruses and powerful deep resins”. The Scented Devil blog puts it more bluntly: Cartier “revived interest in the line” with a “modern fresh woody ambrox makeover”. Both agree that the aim was to bring the Pasha name into the contemporary fresh-woody style.
The composition
Cartier has not published a formula. Fragrantica and Parfumo agree on the core below; Fragrantica’s longer pyramid is given after it.
Fragrantica adds mint, black pepper and watery notes at the top, iris, violet and heliotrope in the heart, and cloves in the base; these are not confirmed by a second source. The mint is the clearest link to the 1992 original. According to The Scented Devil, Édition Noire keeps some of the original’s fougère elements while shifting the balance towards a modern woody-amber base. In this context “amber” means a dry, mineral, ambergris-like effect of the kind that synthetic materials such as Ambroxan produce, not the warm, resinous vanilla-labdanum accord of older ambery fragrances. It is what gives the base its clean, mineral dryness.
Why it matters
Édition Noire is a textbook example of how a house renews an ageing classic. Rather than reformulate Pasha de Cartier, Cartier kept the original on sale (Parfumo lists both as in production) and added a darker-packaged, fresher version, with the recognisable bottle as the link between them.
It also opened a second branch of the Pasha line. Édition Noire Sport followed in 2015, and the black bottle now stands beside the original as a line of its own.
Reformulation and editions
The main flanker is Pasha de Cartier Édition Noire Sport (2015), dated by Fragrantica, Parfumo and Now Smell This. Fragrantica also lists a Pasha de Cartier Édition Noire Eau de Toilette dated 2019 and credited to Feisthauer, with a note list close to the 2013 version. Separately, Fragrantica lists a Pasha de Cartier Parfum (2020) by Mathilde Laurent.
According to Fragrantica, the bottle keeps the Pasha shape in matte black with a metallic stopper bearing Cartier’s triple-ring motif, presented in a red box. No IFRA-driven reformulation has been documented.
Wearing it today
Expect a bright citrus and green opening, a brief green middle and a clean cedar-amber base. Parfumo users rate its longevity and sillage as moderate, so it works well for the office and daytime.
If you want the classic lavender-and-mint Pasha, choose the original; if you want something fresher and more aquatic, try Édition Noire Sport. Test the original and Édition Noire side by side to hear what the 2013 version kept, the mint and the aromatic freshness, and what it replaced.