Nuit de Cellophane (2009)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Sorry, but I almost passed out at first sniff, such was the overwhelming feminine sweetness surrounding the fruits. I can't imagine who this is aimed at really..............blimey the florals are even worse. This is a real dog and the name is a disaster also.

Nuit de Cellophane is a generic fruity-floral offering, which smells like many feminine designer scents based on the same theme. Oh dear…

As I stated over a year ago, this house has long run out of ideas (or enthusiasm) and is simply rehashing former glories.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen…

I’m beginning to wonder if Lutens and Sheldrake are running out of ideas. Their last few releases strike me as retreads of territory that they’ve long since explored: Sarrasins a subdued re-working of Tubéreuse Criminelle’s shocking camphor and white flower accord, this time done with jasmine rather than tuberose; Louve another Rahät Loukoum with the volume dialed down by a half; and El Attarine a more demure Arabie with a rose bow on top. Now comes Nuit de Cellophane, which is a fruity floral. And how original is that?

If the piercingly sweet, chemical fruit note that opens Nuit de Cellophane is meant to be novel or arresting, it’s an hilarious miscalculation, since every vulgar, juvenile fruity floral scent since roughly 1990 has opened with the same thoroughly nasty flourish. I suppose ironic humor has as much a place in the art of perfumery as in any other, but Nuit de Cellophane is a one-liner that goes nowhere special after its pratfall entrance. The remainder of its act is an apricot syrup and polite white flower accord that fades into a bland, powdery-sweet woody oriental drydown. As Lutens fragrances go this one is not all that potent, and I can’t even detect it on my skin two hours after a moderate application. Why, I wonder, did they bother?

A sharp, high pitched fruity-floral featuring osmanthus. It is rounded and softened (over about a 4-6 hour time span) with notes of clean white musk. I enjoy this one on occassion, but do not consider it a "stand out" for Lutens. I'm about 50-50 with it, overall.

Nuit de Cellophane opens on a clean almost soapy note on me, after a while the green note merges and blends into a delicious honeyed fruity floral with a hint of musk This is an unusual Serge Lutens scents but I think for me, it will become one of my favorite summer scents.

Serge Lutens Nuit de Cellophane

A scent called Cellophane Night conjures up memories of my mis-spent 20's in NYC in the mid 80's and the theme nights at the clubs. I can't say for sure but I just feel that somewhere during those days one club must have had a Cellophane Night. When I see a name like that from Serge Lutens and his partner in scent Chris Sheldrake it makes me shiver with anticipation. Nuit de Cellophane is a 2009 release from Messrs. Lutens and Sheldrake and I have to say based on the name wasn't what I expected. Serge Lutens' stock-in-trade has been scents that match lush central themes with other notes that should approach from right angles. The surprise in Nuit de Cellophane is this as linear a scent as I've tried from Serge Lutens. The top of this is fruity floral territory as a melange of fruit mixes with a bouquet of white flowers. The indoles are out in full force here and they are what remain as the fruit recedes fairly quickly. The heart of this is indole heaven (or hell if you're not an indole afficianado) the jasmine and osmanthus seem to come at me in waves and it is here where the scent feels most like something reminiscent of cellophane. I know when I unwrap a package covered in cellophane I sometimes get that plasticky smell and it is the indoles here that are most reminiscent of that. The base is musc and sandalwood and holds no surprises as it is a nice dusky finish to the florals that led you here. While wearing this I kept waiting for the unexpected to make its appearance but it never did. I think this could be a Serge Lutens for people who have been turned off by the weird, I would call it interesting, notes of past Serge Lutens scents. It will have to be for those who love indoles and white flowers because that is the most prominent and long-lasting phase of Nuit de Cellophane. For me, I feel the same way I probably did about Cellophane Night back in the 80's. For a concept that held such edgy promise it just turned out to be another fun night on the town. Ditto that for Nuit de Cellophane.