Nuit Noire (2006)
by Mona di Orio

I really fell in love with this, and was so disappointed when I heard that it has been discontinued! Reviews are so mixed on this scent, but I like complex and sensual perfumes, so I felt pretty confident that it would benefit from my chemistry, which tends to "sweeten" things. On me it is a rich, multi-faceted oriental that evolves over time. In the first 5 minutes, the animalic component is more noticeable, but it settles into velvety floral and spice and woods, with amber making its way into the mix after a bit. Utterly sensual, sexy but not at all "nasty"...and sadly not available much now. I was shocked by the abysmal rating from Luca Turin, whose taste I generally respect, but then, perfume is such an individual thing. It's definitely on my "5 stars" list.

22nd August, 2011.

Oh man, this took months for me to figure out. My first impression was that Nuit Noire is gaudy. But now it has me forming some further thoughts. Nuit Noire is one nasty sexy bad girl perfume, along with D'zing.

However, if you want a feminine super classy floral with an assertive leathery seductive base, get Cuir de Russie by Chanel.

5th March, 2010. (Last Edited: 18th March, 2010.)

My favorite perfume for my wife to wear for an intimate evening together. It's so strong it practically makes my eyes water, and I start salivating like Pavlov's dog (Not literally, but you get the picture). Strong floral and civit up front that dies down slowly, but never really disappears as the woody, ambery base develops. A near opposite in terms of smells, but similar in strength to another favorite, Angel. Both are up front, in your face, and decadent. Both make great role playing perfumes. A definate try first. Thumbs way up!

9th February, 2010.

I recieved a sample of this from the good folks over at the Perfumed Court after reading it was a "skank" perfume at another website. The opening was huge- civet and jasmine. Ohhhhh, nice! Like slightly floral MKK with the civet being more dominate. Into the midnotes, the civet began to shrink and as time went by the florals and amber overtook the civet and it became a little boring. I could still detect the civet every now and then, but the hot skanky vixen with the heavy black eye makeup and black-crimson lipstick had turned into a more refined proper lady trading in her Catholic school girl outfit for a designer evening dress. An evening filled with hot uninhibited sex followed by a quick shower and a formal night out. The drydown was strange, I must say. Like another reviewer all I got a wierd grape smell... like grape kool aid or some kind of hard grape candy. The longevity wasn't great ( the CK Obsession Men was still going like a steam locomotive on my other wrist- I use this as a control so I know it's not my nose getting fatigued ) , but towards the end you really aren't missing anything unless you really like grapes. I still have to give it a thumbs up because of the AMAZING opening and for what the designer was trying to do here.

20th January, 2010.

I had really high hopes for this. Loving civet as I do and other animalic notes in fragrances, I had hoped this would be right up my alley. Wrong. Every time I try it I end up taking the dish soap to it and scrubbing for my life. The opening burst of lemon and citrus is a little much for me. I mean, it's really citrus. Then, what follows is something I intellectually understand to be civet and animalic notes, I don't recognize it as such. It just smells like "stink". I keep thinking rotten food, like I've walked into the back room of a bad Asian restaurant where they keep the garbage to be taken out. So, basically, this perfume to me is a combination of the lemony-citrus and "stink". I agree with LT in the Guide. Maybe he wasn't being snarky and the rest of the line really is that bad. Still, I've only smelled this one, so I'll give the rest a chance.

16th December, 2009.

Nuit Noire opens with a vehemently animalic accord of civet, and indolic white flowers. Rather like Muscs Koublaï Khän with jasmine and tuberose on top.

As the heart reveals itself the civet falls into the middle ground, making a dark, "dirty" background for the persistent floral notes. The tuberose has mellowed by this point, and has blended seamlessly with emerging woods and spices in a rich, exotic accord that I find hard to dissect into discrete components.

Over time Nuit Noire reveals more and more wood, which brings it into drier and perhaps even darker territory. The floral notes continue to fall away over time, while a very rich amber works its way into the foreground. The drydown is amber, dry woods, and some lingering civet in an unabashedly lascivious combination.

It's said that this scent was made as a tribute to Serge Lutens. In its generous use of syrupy amber and animalic base notes it does tip its hat to scents like Muscs Koublaï Khän and Ambre Sultan, but there's nothing imitative about Nuit Noire. Its development is complex and nuanced, both drier and more balanced than many of the Sheldrake and Lutens orientals. Very, very nice indeed!

10th December, 2009.