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Scents of the Night

Are there perfumes that are made just for day, and others for night? Mysterious or intimate creations that only truly reveal themselves on the skin during the evening? The night is indeed a formidable source of inspiration for the following perfumers... Here is an olfactory investigation of the elixirs of the night.
Report by Nicolas Olczyk

 

A perfume only for evening, why not? In the universe of care products, the night has been the inspiration for products for a long time, a few of which have become prestigious commercial successes. Today, the night has become an important trend in fragrance as well. Among recent launches, there is Ambre Nuit, an Oriental men’s cologne from Dior and Nuit de Cellophane, a sweet flowery fragrance from Lutens. But also La Nuit de l’Homme, a perfume of temptation and desire from Yves Saint Laurent, highlighted by the dark and seductive look of actor Vincent Cassel.

In perfumery, however, this trend has been around since the dawn of time. In 1928, the night inspired a perfume that met with resounding success worldwide: Soir de Paris. Ernest Beaux, the perfumer who created Chanel’s famous N°5, imagined for Bourjois a nocturnal melody with powdery and vanilla flowery accents. Five years later, the theme of the night inspired Guerlain to create a fragrance whose pretty name was also that of a successful novel published two years earlier: Vol de Nuit. A perfume of green and amber accents, it has a mysterious alchemy whose intimate warmth seems to only be revealed on the skin. As far back as 1912, L’Heure Bleue with its particularly sweet and powdery wake evoked that uncertain moment when day turns to evening. Behind the poetic name, some saw in the idea of twilight an allegory of a suspended world where nothing is yet decided (shortly after, a war broke out that would destroy Europe).

This theme of twilight is also present in several current creations. In 2009, actress Sarah Jessica Parker launched a fragrance called Twilight (amber, jasmine, musk) and the Bath & Body Works brand presented Twilight Woods (a delicious woody fruit scent). Behind this trend there must also be a wink to the literary saga Twilight, still playing out its success at the cinema.

Midnight is also a source of inspiration. For Cinderella, midnight is the moment when everything shifts, when dreams and reality meet. In perfumery, this idea is found in the publicity for Midnight Poison by Dior or in L’Eau de Minuit (Lempicka).

Many creations also use the words ‘night’ or ‘soir’ (‘evening’). Night is often used for richer or deeper versions of an existing fragrance (Calvin Klein, Armani, Donna Karan, celebrity brands…). The word ‘soir’ evokes more poetry. Aside from Soir de Paris, one can rediscover the famous cyprus Eau du Soir (Sisley), Pour Homme Soir (Bulgari), a pretty taffeta of woody musks and tea, or the flowery rose of Ce Soir ou jamais, the last perfume created by Annick Goutal before her death in 1999.

La Lune (‘the moon’), the name of a recent perfume by Dolce & Gabbana, also appears in the names of perfumes: Hanae Mori evokes it with Magical Moon, Karl Lagerfeld with Sun, Moon, Stars, Armani with Pierre de Lune (Armani Private collection) and the alternative brand Memo with Moon Safari.
As for the word ‘nuit’ (‘night’) itself: it seems inexhaustible, from the Nuit Noire of Mona di Orio to Nuits Indiennes of Scherrer to les nuits arabes of By Kilian (Arabian Nights collection). On the nocturnal theme we can also evoke Blu Notte (‘blue night’) by Bulgari, Belle de Nuit by Fragonard, Messe de Minuit by Etro. And there are so many others that we could… continue all night.