Nocturnality

Trust Arquiste and Rodrigo to make a perfume that while might feel quirky it never crosses into unwearable. Nocturnality was a blind buy. And while latex, neoprene and shoe shine can seem too risky, they just provide contrast and a slight boost to the leather. They never steal the show. So, 1970’s and 80’s leather bars. Meatpacking district and Al Pacino Cruisin’ in the night! Yeah, Aramis and Antaeus ARE that vibe. And sometimes, Le Labo Ylang 49 is the sillage of a stranger in the night. Nocturnality almost brings that vibe back (hell yeah) but it feels more recent. After all, it takes place in the mid 90’s. And the leather isn’t the used, rugged and worn vest that the killer hunk wears while he smiles and lets you in. It now has an almost pleather smell to it. Something Neo would wear and not Steve Burns. Leather with a hint of smoke, the cigarette you just flicked down the street. Flowers, nocturnal beasts they say and somehow yes, there’s an air of tuberose and jasmine marking territory; the fresh but slightly rotten jasmine from Ella. With a marked vintage character; there’s hyraceum upfront and center and a civet/castoreum accord that make the animalic embrace feel circular and persistent. I do sense an Oudh like accord, reminding me of the original Dior Leather Oud. The papyrus/incense brings echoes of ELdO Rien. The neoprene and latex comes off as the smell of new shoes in a shoe emporium! Totally wearable and original. After the short shock factor dissipates though, underneath it all it’s a floral animalic leather that might remind you of older creations. As if a 90’s perfume was giving an homage to 80’s perfumes. It’s leathery, smoky and floral, animalic. With a lick of neon lights and pre Y2K aesthetics. It’s what I wanted Times Square to be and what The Deuce would have smelled like had we had a season 4. New York pre cleanup, where the nocturnal animals were having their final prowls before dawn... If Él and Ella (no similarity) were the full swing of debauchery, Nocturnality is the last remains, sensed in the rain covered NYC sideway. Fantastically evocative and totally wearable, with a beautiful sillage and longevity!

I stumbled upon a new niche fragrance store locally (shout out Scented at the Italian Centre in Glasgow! This is not an ad!) and was lucky enough to sample this and decided to purchase a discovery set almost purely to own a small vial of this fragrance. To me, this is a familiar smell - it's the sweaty dancefloor at 4am at the Eagle, it's the smell of booze, smokes and leather meeting leather in the lounge, it's, to me, probably the most masculine scent I've come across. Synthetic elements dance around floral leather and oud, settling into a deeply sexy, evocative glow of homo allure. Not to say only us fellas can enjoy it or relate to it, but I resonate with the story and the selection of notes, it takes me back to places I sometimes miss and sometimes I'm glad I'm rid of! An erotic, blunt but enveloping fragrance that excudes masculinity and excess. I think I'd turn for a woman wearing this though! A showstopper for me.

I had actually expected the fragrance to be a little more daring and dirty, but for my taste it is quite tame and the animalic notes are extremely well blended. Faux leather, a floral bouquet, sterile wannabe oud, and warm resins characterize the fragrance, which is beautifully composed and has great longevity and sillage. Very nice.

So what I got from this was a slightly and well judged fruity opening with a couple of different types of saffron one with spicy floral gourmand facets and the other being more leathery dry and dark supported by a balanced rose patchouli on a bed of musks. So this fragrance is beautiful however it does feel stacked so the notes are on top of each other. It’s a slightly seductive nocturnal so it’s a little too genderless for me. Seductive for me should fit in well defined gender roles for it to reach new heights. This is in the vein of something I would imagine Johnny Depp would wear as Jack Sparrow or Killian Hennessy with that waistcoat he’s wearing all the time. No Tom Selleck or Sean Connery here... Flipping it on its head would I find this attractive for a female? Yes I would but there are many more attractive choices especially within the rose patchouli category. This is like fit for a cute girl trying to look sexier than she really is on halloween and you still don’t look twice. Makes a nice first impression just not keeping me hooked longing for a second encounter.

I like this; but I think I like the idea behind this a little more than the actual fragrance itself. It's pretty sharp to me in the opening but calms down after a while. This is a scent that I don't think everyone could pull off though - not me, for one. This would wear me and not the other way around. Something smells a bit like rose and a subtle sweet note, but overall something vaguely smells like I spilled gasoline on myself and that's the part that I couldn't get away with. And despite all of my random thoughts here, I reiterate that I DO like this!