Serge Lutens A La Nuit: fragrance review and musings

Dedicated to the night and voluptuous, feminine women everywhere, A la Nuit by Serge Lutens is probably the most life-like rendition of night-blooming jasmine in all of perfumery. The narcotic, star-petalled flower hypnotizes all who come into contact with it on a warm summer's evening, when the air is filled with promise of romance and sensual abandon. Heady, sweet, laced with honeyed and resinous notes that weave their own web of seduction, A la Nuit employs several different varieties of jasmine: Moroccan, Egyptian and Indian. Surrendering yourself to its temptation is akin to reaching erotic zenith...

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Jasmine is plentiful in southern Europe and northern Africa from where Lutens was inspired; lush, narcotic, dense with clotted cream at night-time, making the heart ache with its sweetness, fresh and bubble-gum worthy with green dewiness in the mornings. But while we, perfume lovers, like to mock and taunt each other about the fecal reminiscent particulars in it, specifically the combination of moth-balls indole and peachy-creamy lactones, plus many other wonderful and weird chemical additions that talk to our sensitive human hormones, hearing it being invoked by your beloved in an intimate setting can turn into unsettling quickly. How stimulating is the invocation of #2 in the bedroom? Not particularly for most, I'd wager. Let this be a lesson to test this glorious specimen of true jasmine first, before plunging headlong into it.

Created in 2000. Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental 
Perfumer: Chris Sheldrake 
Fragrance Notes A La Nuit by Serge Lutens: jasmine, grenadine, beeswax, musk and benzoin. 

July Blog Sale

We're having a clearance in time for the holidays and there are full and almost full bottles of niche and luxurious perfumes for those lucky who will contact us first. (First come, first served)

Please email me using CONTACT, with BLOG SALE in the title of your email, to get the full list of things available and the information needed. Thanks for your attention!

Berdoues Cologne Grand Cru Assam of India: fragrance review

If travel-inspired fragrances usually hint at the region via their name mainly, then Assam of India corresponds to...India, naturally. As one might surmise it's an evocation of black Assam tea, typical to India, in this case aromatized by a tantalizingly mouthwatering citrus top note that evokes the bergamot addition of Earl Grey tea. Being a firm devotee of this very aromatic blend, the lacing of the southern Europe citrus fruit a welcome addition to the peaty scent of classic black tea, Assam of India by Berdoues didn't have to fight an arduous fight to earn a place of pride on the vanity table.

The perfumer set out in search of these black Assam tea leaves grown at a very low altitude – sea level – that reveal an exceptional character that mirrors India. It is the result of the unique blend of citron from Menton, tea from India and sandalwood from Mysore. The citron from Menton is characterised by very fruitful branches that bear up to twice as many lemons as other varieties. Its half-acid, bitterless flavour gives its essence intense aromas.

Berdoues Assam of India is exactly the sort of thing to pick up on a hot and sweltering day, spraying from head to toe to revel in the tannic and citric notes that cut through the humidity like a scimitar. Beautiful, extremely cute bottle too!

Has the Cash Cow Run Out?

" [...] since peaking around 2011, the business has "seen its heyday and now is not very much in vogue with the consumer or with the trade," according to Bart Becht, chairman/CEO of Coty, the company that churns out fragrances for Lopez, Beyoncé and Katy Perry (who released Mad Love on June 21, a follow-up to 2015’s Mad Potion). Though year-over-year sales for individual fragrances are not released to the public, Coty’s net fragrance sales declined by 9 percent on a reported basis in the most recent holiday quarter, driven by slowing sales of its celeb scents. At Elizabeth Arden, the dip amounted to 9.6 percent."

This is but a small excerpt from a longer article appearing in The Hollywood Reporter about the (apparent) waning of celebrity fragrances' appeal in the market. Since I have been erroneous once before concerning a similar discussion on their impending ebb, I will withhold judgment till I actually see this with my very own eyes.

 Still I found two comments from professionals in the industry to be most relative to the discussion: '"When the market is saturated, people’s attention span is limited," says Marian Bendeth, founder of fragrance consultancy Sixth Sense. "If that name is regurgitated in the media, it sets up demand. If they take a break, God help you." It also doesn’t help if the star lacks a style following. "The biggest driving force in what makes a consumer purchase a celebrity item is whether the star is a fashion influencer," says Marc Beckman, CEO of advertising and representation agency DMA United.'

Thierry Mugler Innocent: fragrance review

Mugler's Innocent seems in retrospect to be the perfect alternative for people who like gourmand fragrances, love sugared almonds, love fluffy compositions with a tang of sour-sweet fruit on top, but do not appreciate a masculinity factor, in this case the prominent androgynous quality of the intense patchouli of the original Angel. 

Don't get me wrong; I love Angel for all those reasons and have come to appreciate how a teensy-tiny bit of application from afar (or, better yet, using the gorgeous body products) can enhance my neuron pleasure responses. But Innocent is just easier to wear every day, easier to wear during the warmer weather, and, still with a light hand application, easier to feel less conspicuous wearing it.

The scent itself is a succulent mix of Jordan almonds, egg-whites meringues and praline, floating around an intensely sweet & tart note of blackcurrant, like blackcurrant jam but without the stickiness. Instead the feeling is one of copious amounts of musk underpinning the composition into a cloud-like, duvet feel of goose feathers falling softly on nude skin. 

It's a sensual perfume, no doubt because its original skeleton is one that puts lots of flesh over the handsome bones, but it's a benevolent sensual and with the eerie melancholy of a beautiful anime boy with blue eyes and dark hair...

More musings on Fragrantica.