Nuit de Noël (1922)
by Caron

A very lovely, very intriguing woody floral-oriental from 1922 by Ernest Daltroff, founding "nose" of the house of Caron. This is a chypre in structure, with a citrus top and oakmoss in the base, but in an oriental base note with sandalwood and vanilla. The heart notes are rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, orris root, and precious woods; the "woods" here may include some things we might usually call spices, notably cinnamon. The balance of the floral notes in the heart is exquisite, with just enough orris root to soften and blur the slight sharpness of the ylang-ylang, yet without making the scent in the least powdery. This is a real classic, and in spite of the floral nature of the heart, not something particularly feminine; the general tone of Nuit de Noël is not very different from, say, PdN New York. This is a real classic, timeless in the original formulation; even the EdP is full and generous, round and redolent. Even if you never wear it, you must smell this to get a reference base for the woody floral-oriental as high art.

This is absolutely gorgeous! I don't really get the reason some say that this scent evokes Christmas, unless it's about roasted chestnuts, plum pudding or some other such olfactory association that doesn't resonate with me because I've never had the opportunity to smell it. It was a coincidence that I bid for and won, not one, but two vintage bottles of this on Ebay this past week (guess it was meant to be). This is definitely a scent that has both masculine and feminine qualities and I think it's the overall woodsiness that makes it wearable for both men and women. I am not a big fan of rose scents and while there is rose, the notes are so well blended that nothing really stands out. The word that comes to mind as I sniff at this is BEGUILING. It makes me close my eyes and swoon because it's so mysterious and undefinable. I'll leave the description of notes to others here on Basenotes that can describe it to you much better than I can. I'll just say that smelling something like this makes me sad that our culture has become so wimpy in the 21st century when it comes to scents. They don't make them like this anymore because most people can't handle it, and that's a shame. Where are all the tough "broads" in this day and age? As much as I admire Luca Turin and his judgement on most scents I can't disagree with him more on this one. There's nothing "boring about it".

INTENSE. Very potent, very retro. Rich and mossy, nice structure, but I'm pressed to find an appropriate setting to wear it...

Julefest in a beautiful little bottle! this scent conjours up memories of the delicious scents of Christkindlmarkt and the sparkling beauty that is "Noel". Warm, nutty, powdery, the Saxon-moss note is divine. It has a definite antique quality which I adore, an era when parfums were rich, smoky and unabashedly
strong. The notes all mix together to create a powdery warmth that is a gorgeous Holiday beauty-special on any day of the year! Said to be a favorite of Bappie, older sister of Ava Gardner. I adore this fragrance! Pure Magic.

Too old and spicy but dry down is powdery and pliable. Some fragrances carry the trends of their period much. So when the period ends they become worn out. They become tagged with the common users of it. This is the smell of a middle aged lady with very thin eyebrows and heart shaped lips with only middle painted. I do not give it thumbs down as the intoxicating spicy Guerlaine fragrances of the period which is completely worn out and reminds me of the very old mummies of the lady i have described are still living on the perk of their glorious stories and this one is more acceptable...

To me, this is somewhere between a floriental and an aldehyde. It definately reminds me of Arpege with more warmth. Somewhere between Narcisse Noir and Arpege. It is heavy and long-wearing. Its sweet smell rises up and hugs you, warming you through a chilling winter day. If happy holiday memories had a smell, it would be something like this.