À la Nuit (2000)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

A la Nuit starts spectacularly and then undergoes a rapid devolution through the seven stages of fragrance doubt. Well not really there are no seven stages of fragrance doubt that I know of, but A la Nuit as it dries down does bump and thump it's way downward. The opening is a great balanced accord of pretty jasmine and the right amount of musk underneath and that will be as good as it gets. In a short time the fragrance reaches the dreaded "old lady perfume" stage where I start having serious doubts that any male other than Quentin Crisp could pull this one off....not even Mr. Crisp now considering. As the jasmine continues it's pitiable fade it submits to a leathery tryranny of musk and with the jasmine leaving I lose interest. Jasmine Full by Montale a scent I relish is another jasmine that does an ignominious fade but in Jasmine Full's case as it dies it's slow or not so slow death it stay true to it's lovely jasmine heart.

29th December, 2011.

Superb rendition of pure jasmine - for both men and women. On men it will mix with body oils to "masculinize" it - is that a word? - in about an hour. Long lasting - an evening's worth easily.

This is the sort of cologne one would expect a gorgeous Northern Italian model to wear - Botticelli face and form - soft, gentle, yet quietly masculine and refined.l

This is at the same time both the king and queen of jasmine scents.

10th May, 2011.

Oriental-spicy floral with a bunch of diverse varieties of jasmine spread along the trip as an olfactory backbone surrounded by spices, balsams and resins, with a green-citrus presence at the opening and in the base. Apart from a star jasmine the key elements are honey and cloves with their sweet-spicy-bitter accord. The composition is oriental but in an exotic way because of spicy fruits and green elements. The strong spicy presence impresses a slightly bitter undertone to the sweetness and balsams. There is a touch of exotic sultriness in the final outcome that turns the concoction wearable even in the tropical climates. I detect some fruits in the dry down side by side with flowers, woodsy musk and balsams (honey, vanilla, benzoin). This is basically a womanly creation less dense than Chergui or Fumerie  Turche but with notable sillage and longevity.

18th March, 2011.

I really ought to love this, but sadly as with other Lutens fragrances l've tried, the sillage is poor & it only lasts about an hour on me. lt's a warm, yet green jasmine, with honey & benzoin in the base. lt's very pretty, but l like my jasmine much more in-your-face, so for me this doesn't come close to Montale's Jasmin Full.

2nd February, 2011.

I tried this scent when I ran out of Creed's Jasmal and before I got hooked on Love, Tears, Surrender by Kilian. Funny thing is..although they're all indolic scents they all smell slightly different! I found A la Nuit to definitely be a Jasmine scent however I seem to detect either a note of Gardenia or Lily of the Valley in it. Beautiful..just different! Also the animalic notes make it different than other "fresh" Jasmine scents...like a night-blooming Jasmine @ midnight in the heat of Summer. Pretty but I've smelled others I like more!!

3rd December, 2010.

Years ago I was in Egypt and I loved a nice scent I perceived in the garden of the hotel. I later discovered it was a tree of jasmine, indian jasmine. When I first smelled A la nuit it struk me how a perfect reproduction of indian jasmine it was!! True jasmine at night, when the heat of the day leaves space to the fresh wind of a parfumed egyptian night. Perhaps the only problem of this Lutens is that I would not spend so much for a soliflore.

31st May, 2010.