Rose de Nuit

I had this picked up for me by someone in Paris without having ever sniffed it, and then had buyer's remorse the entire time I waited for it after reading the reviews here. By the time it arrived I was ready to list it for sale at a greatly reduced price unopened. I'm happy that I did not. I'm a vintage person -both in my perfume preferences and in my age - and I have lots of experience with and love for animalic rose chypres. La Nuit, Paloma, Knowing, Pierre Cardin, Magie Noire - those heavy hitters and others live in my perfume cabinet, most in parfum strength. Rose de Nuit is a perfectly deserving resident. It *is* fairly quiet, although spraying will increase sillage, as it does with all of the bell jars that I own. It's certainly not the blow your hair back powerhouse that my 70s and 80s frags are - which means I can wear it in public unlike most of those. It holds it's own with them in it's beauty though. The beeswax notes make me swoon and set it apart as it's own scent, and the musky amber-sandalwood dry down is lovely. I'm not sure that you need this if you already have some example of a rose chypre. If it's a category that you love as much as I do though, this will not be a disappointment.

The opening in one word: weird. Rose de Nuit seems about the abuse of a rose. Whatever freshness a rose can give, is totally smothered in beeswax, jasmin and apricot, the result being a very strange fruity darkness (with occasional weak yet harsh shrieks from the ailing rose), ultimately refering to decay. After about 15 minutes though, the delicate and fresh rose starts to fight back with help from tingling sandalwood. As sorry as I felt for this mistreated flower in the beginning, I now start to feel exhilarated for its successful comeback. When you are prepared to endure the first agonizing minutes, a lovely, no, a real beauty enters the stand, not unlike the proverbial underdog finally getting the chance to be justly appreciated for its superb qualities: this is a classic!! Standing ovation please. (Review is about the solid perfume)

I just received 32 solid perfume samples of the Serge Lutens line. I just put this on my hand, it reminds me of civet again, or maybe it is indolic jasmine... with a faint hint of dusty rose coming through... Not something that pleases my nose.

I tried wax sample. I could not tell what was in it besides rose without pyramid but it was really heavy, old and unpleasant.

Okay, I like to write about the nuances of fragrance as much as anyone, but I'm not getting the impressions that everyone else is getting. It's a rose and jasmine duet--one of my favorite pairings in fragrance--and neither outshines the other. This dance is accompanied by a rich, yet subtle note of honey--obviously the beeswax--and a delicate apricot note that curls up through the jasmine and rose. I think where people might be picking up skank is the jasmine, which may be a touch indolic, but that just gives it texture. This is an elegant fragrance that can be worn by any gender. You don't have to enjoy animalics to appreciate this one. If you are looking for the ethereal Serge Lutens experience of a fragrance like De Profundis or a dynamic experience like Frederic Malle Synthetic Jungle, which goes through huge transitions from opening to drydown, I think you might be slightly disappointed. The only real change is that the apricot delicately highlights the rose for a brief moment while all the other notes settle, and then they all dance together perfectly on my wrist. This may be my favorite rose fragrance yet.