Knock me down with a blotter and throw me in a barrel of Pink Friday: for once we have a mainstream scent that actually delivers on its promises! Armani‘s Eau De Nuit is designed to be an elegant evocation of the “moment when dusk blends into night”… and guess what: it pretty much is. My first encounter with it suggested that perhaps Marie Salamagne had spent too much time raiding Dior’s back catalogue – the iris opening owes a considerable debt to Olivier Polge‘s Dior Homme – but other elements soon appear to dispel fears about homage slipping into pastiche.
There’s a well-modulated tea note (shades of Spicebomb… Monsieur Polge again!) as well as a suggestion of an amber base (not unlike that of L’Instant De Guerlain Pour Homme), both of which rest next to the iris with precisely the sort of finesse one would hope to find in the finishing of an Armani suit. A parched, fenugreek-like element at the top of the construction stops the requisite citrus aspect from turning into an after-shave cliche. Cinnamon appears too, bringing heat and sensuality. But unfortunately, there’s also an off-putting marine edge, which only just manages to fade away without marring the overall effect of the scent.
As it happens, wearing the perfume put me in mind of Margin Call, an excellent film about the lives of a few high-flying, financial wheeler dealers hours before the property market collapse which led to the current financial crisis. Whilst watching the movie, I wondered what perfumes would be worn by its central characters: expensively-attired, over-achievers with large salaries and even larger egos. Of course, they probably wouldn’t all wear the same type of fragrance, because, as the film rightly pointed out, not all wheeler dealers are identical to each other: some of them do possess something resembling a conscience. Eau De Nuit is probably what the more caring members of this particular clan would wear, whilst they head to a Michelin-starred eatery for a night-time power meeting, perhaps. It displays sufficient haughtiness to stand apart from the crowd – after all, one doesn’t wish to be associated with riff raff, right? – but its heart is warm and human. There’s hope for it yet.
[Review based on a sample of eau de toilette provided by Armani in 2013.]
Persolaise.
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"its heart is warm and human" – that was enough to leave me hankering after a sniff of this! I haven't been particularly enamoured with YSL's recent launches (I harken to the era of Rive Gauche) so this sounds like a change for the better!
Vagabond, it's no masterpiece, but it's well worth a sniff. I should point out, though, that it's by Armani, not YSL 😉
Drats! I must have been suffering from some serious malady when I typed that, oh dear. I feel so silly right now :/ In that case… well I don't think I've ever really liked anything from Armani, to be honest, so this might be the first one 🙂
No need to feel silly. Even the smelliest of vagabonds is allowed to make the odd mistake 😉
When/if you do get a chance to try this, let me know what you make of it.
Probably not anytime soon, I'm in Singapore for the summer and things tend to take some time to get here!
Enjoy your time back home 🙂
If Eau De Nuit hasn't hit your shops by the time you return, I'm sure you'll find it at the airport.