Year: 2014
Notes: Turkish rose, amber, Indian oud
Comment: The Night is a Dubai and Paris exclusive
After the release of Portrait of a Lady, it was inevitable that this French niche house would pander towards the Middle Eastern market, in the form of an oud offering. While most fragrance houses use synthetic oud in their creations, The Night comprises of an "unprecedented proportion" of natural Indian (or Hindi) agarwood oil.
Upon first smelling it, one is unable to question such a claim. The opening is very true to the characteristics of genuine high-quality Indian oud oil – voluptuous, raunchy and faecal. With a heavy emphasis on this ingredient, the barnyard aspect dominates for quite some time, before a demure rose accord gradually emerges. Although the oud aroma is strong, it does eventually settle down to allow the rose and emerging amber to fully breathe. With the rose and amber working together, the drydown is sweeter, mellower and more approachable. Sillage is moderate but its tenacity is very good.
It would be very easy to accuse The Night of being a flanker of Portrait of a Lady (after all, both were composed by Dominique Ropion). But, disregarding the woods, rose and amber theme that links them, the two are unique enough in their own right. For one, The Night is largely about oud, while Portrait of a Lady focuses on the rose. Also, The Night is structurally sparser than Portrait of a Lady – being devoid of additional embellishments, such as fruits, spices and heavy synthetic musks. But, if nothing else, one would deem The Night to be the woodier and more masculine of the two.
When comparing it to, say, Mona di Orio's Oud, The Night is a heavy-weight that, with regards to the amount of genuine oud oil used, puts Mona di Orio's creation well in the shade. However, in terms of originality, the tables are completely turned. Where Oud ventures into unfamiliar and groundbreaking territory, composition-wise, The Night sadly adheres to the tired and clichéd olfactory path. Based on Ropion's skills, as well as the prohibitive cost of acquiring large quantities of this material, one would have expected something more unique.
Essentially, it's a standard rose-oud affair, using genuine Indian oud oil, blended impeccably but with a sky-high price tag to match (and naturally so).
Upon first smelling it, one is unable to question such a claim. The opening is very true to the characteristics of genuine high-quality Indian oud oil – voluptuous, raunchy and faecal. With a heavy emphasis on this ingredient, the barnyard aspect dominates for quite some time, before a demure rose accord gradually emerges. Although the oud aroma is strong, it does eventually settle down to allow the rose and emerging amber to fully breathe. With the rose and amber working together, the drydown is sweeter, mellower and more approachable. Sillage is moderate but its tenacity is very good.
It would be very easy to accuse The Night of being a flanker of Portrait of a Lady (after all, both were composed by Dominique Ropion). But, disregarding the woods, rose and amber theme that links them, the two are unique enough in their own right. For one, The Night is largely about oud, while Portrait of a Lady focuses on the rose. Also, The Night is structurally sparser than Portrait of a Lady – being devoid of additional embellishments, such as fruits, spices and heavy synthetic musks. But, if nothing else, one would deem The Night to be the woodier and more masculine of the two.
When comparing it to, say, Mona di Orio's Oud, The Night is a heavy-weight that, with regards to the amount of genuine oud oil used, puts Mona di Orio's creation well in the shade. However, in terms of originality, the tables are completely turned. Where Oud ventures into unfamiliar and groundbreaking territory, composition-wise, The Night sadly adheres to the tired and clichéd olfactory path. Based on Ropion's skills, as well as the prohibitive cost of acquiring large quantities of this material, one would have expected something more unique.
Essentially, it's a standard rose-oud affair, using genuine Indian oud oil, blended impeccably but with a sky-high price tag to match (and naturally so).
