Nuit de Noel

It's a freezing and dreary day. Not just every day however. It's Christmas Eve. And a proper one I might say, since there's a lot of snow around. And what's more, I got all lucky in my "thematic" shopping this morning. I stumbled upon a near mint antique bottle of Nuit de Noël in a flea market, complete with its jade shagreen case, tassel and stuff, and since I've always thought of it as one of the most elegant packagings ever made, I grabbed it without further ado. I guess that wishing it was full too, would be sort of pushing my luck. With a solid piece of history in my coat's pocket, I think that having a couple of drinks while sniffing it wouldn't be such a bad idea on this cold winter day. So, pretending that it's 1922, I enter an old bistrot in the city's most popular square, and order a glass of fine cognac. From where I am, I can see a girl sitting on the stairs of a building's entrance, lying opposite to the bistrot's side windows. A cascade of fiery red hair is bursting from her beanie. She's like a torch burning in the snow... She has placed her bag on the cold and wet marble and she's sitting on it. She holds a small paper bag in her hands and looks excited. I wonder what the cause of her exhilaration could be. I take a sip of my cognac and smile. What she takes out of her small paper bag makes my heart miss a beat. I recognise the plain black-capped rectangular bottle. Or, to put it better, I recognise its label. She opens it and dabs a few drops on her wrists and on the sides of her neck. Now if this is not a coincidence, then it has to be fate signing at me. Encouraged by the spirit of the day, I decide to be a little more daring than usual and find out which of the two. ... "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Her amber eyes widen with surprise. "What?..." "Your Christmas Eve." "What about it?" I sway my bottle in front of her eyes. "Hey! This has the same name, but it's so more beautiful and looks so old. What is it?" "The grandmother of yours. Care to meet her?" She accepts my offer for a drink. After all it's freezing outside. ... "Oh my God... This is magical..." Although the perfume is long gone, its soul is still lingering. And sometimes an echo can be louder than the sound itself. She remains silent with her eyes closed for quite a while. Although I suspect where she might have been drifting, I ask her anyway. "I was trying to imagine some of the hands that once held this bottle and some of the words that were whispered because of its content being worn. Anyway, my bus leaves in four hours. Can you stand me being ecstatic for this long, oh my noble stranger?" "Noble stranger" is how we agreed calling each other, to maintain some of the mystery that is weaved with this special and magic day. But in any case, I tell her that I could possibly stand her more likely for four years, if she could be that dramatic the whole time. She smiles. "OK, my turn now." Although she has it dabbed also on her wrists, she lifts her hair, tilts her head, and invites me to sniff her neck. This upretentious and impulsive gesture warms my heart. But I guess this is what this girl is all about, warming people's hearts. I go for the sniff, and... I don't know if it's her gesture, the perfume itself, the surrounding festive atmosphere or any combination of them, but what I smell almost brings tears in my eyes. I struggle not to kiss her neck, but it's my apparently cold nose tip that spares me the struggle, cause it touches her skin slightly and startles her a bit. She steps back and sees my nearly teary eyes. "Hey you dummy... Stop spoiling me! Do I smell that good?" "You smell like the angels working in Heaven's pastry shop, while a forest wood fire is roaring in its fireplace..." ... She won't stop giggling and laughing heartily for the whole three hours we'll spent together. She won't stop sniffing her wrists either. She looks so happy and carefree. It's time for her to leave and catch her bus. We walk outside and we stand for a while, staring at each other. I don't know what to say. She doesn't seem to know either. She hesitates for a moment. Then she leans towards me and with her frail hand tracing my cheek, her lips brush mine for an instant. And by this fragile token of affection, I know that her scent will remain on me forever. She turns her back and starts to walk away. After a few steps she stops and turns her head back. "I'm Maria!" she shouts, before vanishing in the crowd. I stand still among hundreds of people who are walking around me hastily. I light a cigarette and lean my back against a wall. I close my eyes and try to imagine what she might be thinking when she went outside for a couple of minutes to buy a pack of cigarettes. I close my eyes and try to imagine her surprise when she'll discover the flacon in her bag... ... I hope you're happy beautiful Maria, wherever you are. I never saw you grow old. I never saw you become distant. And you never saw me either. Your icon remains immaculate in my mind, just like this little wonder that made our paths cross, that cold winter morning, 28 years ago. Your laughter is still ringing in my ears. And like a friendly and beloved ghost, you shall visit me once more this year, on the same day that I will allow myself a dab of the perfume that is you. Forever young... Forever happy... Forever my Maria from the Christmas of 1986. My beautiful Maria of Nuit de Noël...

I have been wearing NdN for many years, and have it in every formulation except the most recent. This is perfume magic. It is almost impossible to describe NdN with the usual pedestrian perfume terminology. Is it, for example, sexy? Well, I wouldn’t say it is not sexy, or unsexy. But, to call Nuit de Noel sexy is somewhat like describing Katherine Hepburn as sexy: of course she is, but that does nothing to evoke the essential Hepburn. Like Hepburn, Nuit de Noel is too smart, too complicated, too contradictory, too elusive, and too unique, to be merely sexy. Or sweet, or lovely. Nuit de Noel is like any great artwork: it cannot be easily understood, appreciated, or dismissed. It is not for sniffing or sampling or testing. How does one sample great art? That would be like listening to outtakes of a great concerto, or looking at postcards of a great painting. Here is a perfume that changes over time, changes with the seasons, changes with the weather, changes with your mood. Changes with you, as you age and change over the years. Always, it is deep and rich, always smoky and dark. But, it is, how can I describe this: like a contrapuntal movement in music, notes appear independently of each other, yet are paired, connected by tonal quality, but disconnected. Every once in a while, one voice is lifted above the chorus, ringing clear as a bell: Jasmine! Rose! Ylang ylang! And all the while, the deep tenor of the oakmoss can be felt beneath your feet: Boom! Boom! The amber is sweet, warm and resinous. With the sandalwood, clearly Mysore, the amber and oakmoss create a very solid, lasting and balanced drydown. The original extrait in the old Baccarat bottles is the most powerful, and otherworldly. This juice is dark and oily, redolent of dark forests at night, inky with oakmoss, rich and earthy, lasting as long as two or three days, wearing closer over time. The EDT is a friendlier, easier, less distracting version of the extrait. This could be called lovely, and I enjoy wearing this one to work and to play, with a particularly sweet and narcotic ylang ylang. Warm, boozy, smoky, and, yes, sexy. Although this perfume cannot be all things to all people, it is everything to me.

There should be a picture of Nuit de Noel in the dictionary next to the word vamp. Maybe this isn't supposed to be a sexy fragrance, and it doesn't really give off that vibe on its own per se. However, pair it with an otherwise sexy, especially classically sexy outfit (i.e. little black dress and heels), and it takes the whole thing to a new level. When I think sexy, I don't usually think oakmoss and ylang together, but it is, especially when rose and sandalwood are added. It's mature in the sense that the wearer needs to be self assured, but it's not "old", if you're my age (20s), a big personality is required to pull it off. Maybe you need that to wear this at any age, it's not a perfume that will go unnoticed. Lovingthealien's review is spot-on, I think. This represents the 1920's, but only in an overly glamorous, slightly exaggerated way. That's not a bad thing, I love the excessive side of the 20's, it was the epitome of glamour, aesthetically speaking anyway. And if Nuit de Noel has anything to do with Christmas, it is indeed a goth Christmas. It's one of the darkest perfumes I've smelled without even trying to be, but it's also warm enough to be somewhat festive (for someone who doesn't usually do festive). I get the Catholic Church incense note, and oakmoss reminds me of colder weather in general. The florals complete it, it's one of the smoothest chypres ever at the opening, and then it morphs into more of a floral-oriental. The base is very similar to Tabac Blonde. I'll be honest- I didn't like this or any of the Carons that I sampled on first try, I actually found them kind of shocking and unpleasant but strangely addictive, like, I couldn't stop sniffing the vial or wearing the stuff even though I thought I probably hated it. It was the first line of perfumes in a long time to challenge me that much, but a few days later I was head-over-heels in love with each of the Carons I tried and Caronade in general. They all have an attitude. They don't need you to like or approve of them, they enthusiastically challenge the status quo, and Nuit de Noel can't be properly worn without at least a bit of cynicism in your nature. A legit flapper perfume for sure.

My flacon of NUIT DE NOËL in the EDT came in today. It is a full tester flacon dating to the 1970's, so I'm guessing the oakmoss and musks are authentic. Interestingly, the atomiseur is not hand-pump-operated, but rather is powered with an internal aerosol, in the modern fashion. Initial spray on my skin yields brilliant, nose-prickling aldehydes of the vintage Chanel No. 5 variety, strongly tinged with a boozy/rummy nutmeg almost recalling spiked eggnog, perhaps. The opening aldehydes have that "vintage hairspray" smell, much like Worth JE REVIENS. Then a brilliant sheen of swirling, indistinct floralcy remains for some time, reminding me of the carnation in L'AIR DU TEMPS along with abstract concepts of rose and muted ylang. It all dries down to a bittersweet aromatic/oriental quality closely related to that of Molinard HABANITA: a faint, discreet sweetness alluding to vanilla and benzoin, but made bitter with a sombre myrrh and a viney geranium, laced with a nuance of toasted nuts and dried orange-peel and a faintly ghosted cinnamon. Some might even read the bitterness as being nicotinic, like freshly dried tobacco leaves. In farthest drydown, one sees the whole mixture is balanced on a tender deermusk/oakmoss/benzoin base, which recalls anew the nutmeg of the takeoff. Monsieur Daltroff has somehow managed to conjure up the olfactory impression of a dozen lit candle tapers... we smell the melting wax, the golden heat along with a delicate smoky nuance. THIS is undoubtedly the "Christmas" the name is describing. NdN is a lovely scent, maybe not dazzlingly complex, exactly, but straightforward and shapeshifting in the pre-1960's style. As others have mentioned, it does not smell like any Christmas I can think of, but instead is trying to capture, probably, the sombreness of a midnight mass in a Catholic church. It also seems to defy olfactive family categorization, like VOL DE NUIT and HABANITA do: an ambered, sweetish base pointing to Oriental, but with upper notes that seem to indicate an aldehydic floral chypre. If you are studying perfume history, you'd do well to obtain some NUIT DE NOËL.

Wow, this is insanely beautiful. It doesn't make me think of Christmas, despite the name, but if you love a floral chypre, you would be ecstatic to get a bottle of this from Père Noel. The rose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang are always present but so suffused with oakmoss and (real--this is vintage, after all) sandalwood that there's no real sweetness, just a bit of powdery, emerald-green floralcy, in a superbly cohesive blend. Whenever I smell a great vintage chypre like Caron Nuit de Noel or Guerlain Mahora, I start hoping that this scent profile will become popular again. I don't hate gourmands--far from it--but I miss the days when ladies smelled more like gardens and forests than cakes and candies. Update: Hours into the wear, it's still perceptible, but that doesn't mean I didn't refresh it. This fragrance is oddly addictive. I'm going to upgrade the longevity because I just noticed that this is an EDC--it's easily as strong and as long-lasting as a contemporary EDP, perhaps stronger than most. If you're a fan of Ysatis and White Diamonds parfum, or OG Coco EDP, or even Mitsouko, keep your eyes peeled for a vintage bottle of this. I probably won't acquire any more when I use up my bottle, but that's only because I put myself on a perfume budget, at least until I use up some of my existing fragrances, which could take a long time. But if you are a fan of Guerlain Mahora and lavish amounts of real oakmoss, you're going to want this vintage gem. Update: Four hours into the drydown, the sandalwood really begins to sing on the skin. It's divine. I am also reminded of Sisley Eau du Soir, 1990 vintage.

The goth-est Christmas ever. This stuff is the 1920s in a bottle. Not the real 1920s, mind you, but the overly-made-up-so-you-can-see-their-features-in-black-and-white-movies kind of 1920s. It smells antique, but not a familiar kind of antique - almost like a fictional depiction of the past, such as in Nosferatu. Instead of aldehydes and powder, you are treated to (or forced into) civet, ylang-ylang and the incredibly alien and luxurious mousse de saxe base. Though a bit beguiling in the top notes, it reveals a very somber, yet comforting, funerary bouquet. The aroma that follows, the "mousse de saxe" base, is truly the love-it-or-leave-it moment for this fragrance. I was immediately stunned by its complexity. There is a distinct chypre element present, but it's wrong. Instead of the forest floor, it reminds me more of a cabin in the forest. When you attempt to relate the name to the fragrance, it sort of comes together. This is the kind of Christmas one would find in Grimm's fairy tales - The warmth of the fire, fur blankets, and dried herbs are merely a part of the larger setting of the twisted, treacherous winter forest outside. Perhaps this is what Christmas felt like in Russia in the 1800s. The vintage extrait literally takes my breath away, but even the very most modern version of the Eau de Toilette is a positively excellent and wearable fragrance. Vintage jewelery optional; depression mandatory.

This review is for the parfum (from a decant). I'm afraid I may never be able to get my eager hands on the parfum in full bottle form. I haven't tried the EDT, but have heard it's quite weak in comparison. I am tempted to give it a try though... So, the edp: this is an oakmoss bomb!! Beautiful, brown syrupy juice filled with feral oakmoss. But, it doesn't stop there: heady, sweet ylang ylang, boozy cognac, whisky, and spicey mulled wine...and powdery musk to knock your socks off. I have no idea how all of these disparate notes work together, but somehow they do, and it is magic. Had I simply blind-sniffed this, my initial reaction would not have been "Christmas." Though I agree that (at least in edp form) this is best for chilly months, it actually strikes me as quite naughty...but in a louche, languid sort of way. I picture sipping a few old-fashioned highballs with a person of interest, followed by heavy petting in front of a fire...but I digress. This is strangely addictive and soothing. It evokes that warm, tingly (and slightly tipsy) feeling you get inside when you've had a great meal, some great wine, and some robust conversation with friends. I wish I could speak more to the notes and nuances, but I just find Nuit de Noel so evocative that I would rather speak in metaphors than try to overanalyze it. It's magic, potent, and one-of-a-kind.

I have been curious about this fragrance for some time, as I have the impression that it is one of the more "you either love it or leave it alone" types of fragrance. I just received a sample of the perfume (extrait) which was a pleasant surprise, as I had thought I was going to get an edt sample. I had no idea what to expect, and as soon as I put it on I just thought "you were made for me!" This one knocks me over with its luscious, dark and spicy beauty. I am going to have to purchase the extrait, when I save up the money, lol! This is a sample of the modern formula parfum extrait. I am not going to bother looking for a vintage, as they are way out of my price range. I love this but my only concern is that after four hours it completely disappears, on my skin. I would think that the parfum itself should be more potent and long lasting than that? Perhaps this is the curse of reformulation, then (either that or I have the skin chemistry of Godzilla, which is what I am beginning to suspect). I still want it, and plan to have it with me, always.. This has been a great perfume year for me! From January until now, I have been completely swept off of my feet by two beautiful classic perfumes, Guerlain's Jicky and now Caron's Nuit de Noel; both are passionate loves that I will take to my grave! Le Mouchoir de Monsieur, your review is magical!

NdN Edt Oakmoss, Ylang, Jasmine and Rose..there are those florals peeking from the Oakmoss. Refined, chic and lovely. She tells her story slowly, languidly, like a worldly mature woman that has experienced life. The sandalwood enters and drys out the mossy floral. A cinnamon-spicy warmth of wood gives it a slight exotic touch. In 2016, this scent is very foreign, yet in 1920s it was a hallmark of comfort and celebration. The mousse de saxe base rises and most of the oakmoss has receded at the end of the tale. Its creamy vanillic amber leather musk gives it some body and a slight edge of understated sexiness. She isnt for everyone. But to the ones willing to understand her story, give her a few tries (It took me 4 wearings to get a good handle on it because NdN changes with the seasons, chemistry, location, etc.) and you will be rewarded. Sometimes the oakmoss takes center stage but when the florals dominate over the moss..its gorgeous. Ive never experienced winter flowers...but its done here. It isnt glam but it is seductive. Hauntingly gorgeous.Blooms in winter Hopefully one day I can experience the vintage extrait. great for: Oakmoss lovers Sophisticated woody scent Vintage perfumistas Men could wear it Not sweet at all.

A Caron masterpiece I've been lusting after a vintage bottle of the EDC for some time now and today all my hopes/expectations for this classic have been met (and I might add, exceeded). I'd have to call this a chypre floral since the florals are dry, not sweet like an oriental. The EDT is basically a warm, woody/spicy fragrance with a floral heart. The first note was a sharp citrus accord, probably bergamot, which was quickly replaced by the floral notes. Not a whiff of aldehydes present to my nose. Warm, dry, and almost leathery in their undertones, these floral notes have a languid, dark undercurrent (seems as if that was a specialty of the house in their day!) A dark, spicy, smokey tone envelops the floral notes and turns what should be a sweet heart into an intriguing, complex blend that is absolutely seemless and breathtakingly beautiful. The oakmoss and sandalwood accords take the florals to a whole different level of complexity. The incense-like spiciness continue into the drydown, which is amberous, musky and really luscious. Not a casual fragrance; this demands respect. What a masterful combination of notes. Sillage strong, longevity very good, about 9 hours on me.

I have a 1ml sample of Nuit de Noel pure perfume. While I'm very pleased I was able to obtain this, I am now very worried because I have fallen deeply in love with Nuit de Noel. I need a full bottle (28mls of pure perfume comes in a gorgeous black flacon), but to own it would cripple me financially. I'm a sucker for Christmas inspired scents, but this one is so dreamy and creamy it's something else. This could be worn all year round, I don't find it heavy, it's snuggly, cosy but not overwhelming. If Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles is a walk in a wintry pine forest ending in front of a log fire, Nuit de Noel is a house at Christmas, where the scent of freshly baked all spice cookies wafts from the kitchen into other rooms - there's definitely a log fire burning away in the background and there's some kind of liqueur being drunk...to be honest, I'm a bit lost for words. Forget long winded reviews, let me just say yum yum. *Happened to read that Marilyn Monroe wore Nuit de Noel, so that was quite an interesting revelation! Update: I caved in and managed to find a vintage sealed bottle on eBay for half the price of a new bottle. Waiting in anticipation for its arrival.

Nuit de Noel is no Christmas as we know it. It is a strange, apprehending and unnerving fragrance that brings forth a variety of notes all slightly off key and not what they should be. It is an unfloral-floral, a savoury Vanilla, a wintery Chypre a Western oriental. It is in fact a foreigner abroad, the perpetual expatriate. It gathers around itself all the talismans of celebration and success: a little animalic, some rose, jasmine, oakmoss and leather. But rather than a self confident Paris dressed woman at the height of Eurpoean chicery the effect is of a lonely glamourously tragic gin-soaked figure carving out an existence in place of living a life, somewhere far off and unhappy. This is a precise and beautiful perfume, done great disservice by reviewers who perceive only its sweeter and more flowery notes. They are like the local diplomat who intentionally misses the melancholy in the eyes of his colleagues wife, just to save inconvenience. Like many sad smells it is eminently wearable, during festive season, Spring or Fall and by female or male. It has found itself a pride of place in my growing empire of fragrance.

This is a review for the vintage 1950s fragrance, which I bought in a splash bottle with the bakelite cap, and decanted into a glass spray. Oh my God, what a beautiful fragrance. I can’t believe how good this is. It has a weird, unpleasant but compelling resinous top note that reminds me of the opening notes of Royal Bain de Champagne (my RBdeC bottle is also vintage, 1960s - don't know if the modern reformulation is the same but mine gets crystals around the spray from the incense). Then something edible kicks in, like marzipan or frangipane cakes or the gooey filling in almond croissants - even my anosmic husband could smell it. Then after 30 minutes, there is a great bloom of soft flowers - so well blended I couldn't pick out individual notes. The drydown is soft and creamy and marron-glacé-ish. Wonderful. It is, to me, very sexy - Caron fragrances are very private, like silk underwear - they don't go advertising themselves like floozies, they're for the private pleasure of the wearer - and those lucky enough to get close enough to her to smell them!

This is a perfume that goes on with an explosion--big aldehydes, florals, woods, you name it. It quickly calms down then, smelling of ylang-ylang, sandalwood, and some vanilla. The base gets woodier, and muskier the longer you wear it. All the notes as they drydown have this powdery, blurry, almost ephemeral thing going on--yet Noel is not outright powdery. It lasts a good long while, 8+ hours, and you will be able to smell it all day, but it doesn't have incredible sillage that will choke people, especially after the top notes die out. I mostly like this because of the way it makes me feel. I feel like I'm in an old house, built on the edge of town, with a lot of wood fixtures, and forbidding but enticing staircases, with resins and incense burning on tables but windows open to let in crisp autumnal air. There is stained glass giving everything a surreal color, and there is oil-painted pictures on the walls of the house. I'm wearing leather boots and a wool dress, and who I will find in this house, I do not know. (This is for the EDT, new bottle.)

For those wondering about the name it's fairly clear to anyone raised Roman Catholic of a certain age. The perfume has a rich "incense" note that probably comes from the amber and oakmoss. For anyone who's gone to midnight mass on Christmas eve it brings back every memory of incense, women dressed in their best wearing Chanel No 5 and Shalimar--the most wonderful sensual experience that one can have, particularly with a pipe organ vibrating your bones as you hear Jesu Joy of Man's Desire or Hark the Herald Angels Sing. (I digress.) This is one of the few scents I wear as perfume, which means you must treat it with care and a bit of suspicion. The sillage is amazing and it lasts forever--perfect for the kind of parties where you'd wear pearls or mink but very definitely a grown-up perfume--not the kind that would have pink-themed ads. Wearing this requires taking yourself seriously and being able to recognize the right occasion. When treated with respect it may not love you but it will elevate you.

I absolutely love this one. The first time I smelled it I thought: oh no, what I have I done. It smelled dated. At the time, aldehydes and indolic yellow florals were tough notes for me, and I was so confused about how this could be a Christmas scent. I could smell the mouse de saxe base, which I adore, but it was buried underneath. Upset with having wasted a good amount of money on a mini, I stashed it in the back of my cabinet. Five months and a new found obsession with Chanel No°5 later, omg, I get, and I love it!!! The aldehydes really shine in the winter, and evoke snow for me. The warm florals add a cozy richness that blend beautifully with the incense. The mouse de saxe smells both earthy and chic, like you would wear this scent if you had Christmas at an expensive resort in Yosemite or something. Perfectly composed and timeless. Between Yatagan, Tabac Blond, and now Nuit de Noel, Caron is my all time favorite house. If they release this beauty again, I’ll be the first to buy.

The version that I have is the vintage parfum. What this has to do with Christmas night, I’m not sure, but it’s lovely nonetheless. It starts out as a strong, sharp, aldehydic, classic chypre with notes of leathery violet or violet-scented leather and oakmoss. It’s dry and non-sweet, with very little in the way of overt floral notes except a hint of ylang-ylang. Sillage is moderate, and longevity is at least 6-8 hours. It has the feel of so many vintage perfumes where the top notes have become pared down to their essentials, revealing the structure underneath more clearly than probably was intended. To me, this is one of the wonderful things about sampling vintage perfumes. Time has taken the knick-knacks out of the room so that the elegant design and craftsmanship of its furnishings and architecture are revealed. Nuit de Noel is a beautifully crafted and very wearable fragrance for a lover of vintage chypre-type fragrances.

I just get all the notes in this wonderful scent starting with the Jasmine, then Ylang Ylang the rose and so on. I love the amber underneath the creamy floral - it just reeks class and dressing up in your best - this is a very classy fragrance and in some ways does remind me of Christmas - obviously to do with the dressing up part and the fragrance! But for me there is more than that - this isn't something my mother would wear (heck I had to forcefeed her perfume) - but it does remind me of being very small and watching for santa over the snow covered field - there is something very past about this fragrance - but I cannot put my finger on it at all. I am a Caron fan and I bought this blind after reading the reviews on here - and I am very glad I did - one for the deepest winter and definitely for Christmas! Warming, alluring, enrobing! Great silage and long lasting! 5*

WARNING! The GIANT OAKMOSS THAT ATE RHODE ISLAND is on the loose!!!!! In all seriousness, Nuit de Noel is a mature delight. It is heavy on the oakmoss, but as I am especially fond of that accord, I do not fear the giant oakmoss, but instead embrace it. I was quite fortunate to obtain a vintage partially-full bottle at a tag sale, for only 50 cents. (Apparently, the newer formulation is not hugely different, according to the reviews.) It opens with a blast of ylang-ylang, then the oakmoss (with a woodsy touch) takes over. The drydown is a musky incense. I do detect hints of rose and jasmine, but they are not at all sweet. This fragrance is slightly bitter, actually, in a pleasant way. Longevity is impressive, while the sillage is moderate. Initially the sillage is almost overpowering, but then it quiets down considerably.

This fragrance is magical. haunting, and it just elevates you to a higher realm. Thank goodness the new formula still captures the magic of the original one. Created by one of the great alchemist of essence: Ernest Daltroff. Please, please forget that its name is translated to the night before Christmas. It will make you think of pine trees, gingerbread, apple pie. But no, Daltroff was French, and lived in France in the early 1900's. He probably , IMO, was conveying the feeling of the smell of the beloved woman, during that time, in Paris, on such a magical night (Europeans feel that Christmas Eve is the magical time for the adults, Christmas day for the children). To say it's scent is beyond exquisite is an understatement.

Ralph Ellison references it in his novel Invisible Man (1952): he calls it "Christmas Night" and uses it to evoke the pure desirability of a beautiful woman. It works perfectly on that level (as well as to set up a Christmas-sex metaphor he repeats later in the narrative); Nuit de Noel is beyond sultry and my absolute favorite right now. I just bought an ounce of the extrait at the Caron boutique in NYC during a rare sale, and I could not be happier. (It might be French Christmas, but it's not American Christmas. For that, I wear Farnesiana.) N de N is such an amazing fragrance that it vaguely reminds me of my late beloved grandmother in Soir de Paris and I STILL feel downright seductive in it!

A softer less urbane version of Chanel no 5 this fragrance has a certian country elegance to it picturing oak trees lined side by side riding in a open horse drawn carrige to an elegant southern plantation full of white magnolias or going to a ketucky Derby wearing your finest. The opening has a aldehydic note next is the scent of bergamot and at it's base is rose gives it a powdery texture unlike chanel no 5 caron's nuit de noel avoids the clinical amount of Aldehydes and sharp citruses and adds a warm amber note that is inviting. this is perfect also winter and christmas eve parties.

This is a classic fragrance! I love the warmth of the scent, it is so welcoming, so re-assuring of a lovely time. It does remind me strongly of Chanel 5 but even nicer and warmer. I really think this is such a powerful fragrance which has such of longevity life on your skin. Ylang-Ylang and musk- just dreamy- a passionate fragrance! Forever Unique I tried it again in 2019, and I can smell the rose very strong, and the amber as well:-) such a complex fragrance! Love it.

typical Caron perfection in a soapy floral aldehyde with bite; spicy, floral, soapy and in the dry down I smell civet on my arm; seems less of a chypre and more of an aldehyde, maybe because a sweet flower like ylang is balancing the woody bitterness of oakmoss; I loathe oakmoss and am not getting any in this other than a dry sharpness that keeps it soapier and from getting overly sweet and cloying, bright; the base is civet madness (vintage bottle). LOVE IT

I absolutely adore this scent in all it's smokey dark sensualness. Upon first spritz the floral top notes of rose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang make a brief appearance before they become slowly wrapped in the smoke and fire of incense mixed with spices and a hint of sensual musk. Hours later the incense mellows and sweetens mingling with dark woods and musk. This juice is magic on my skin, my signature scent at least for now as I can be fickle.

Yes!Yes!Yes! This is love...I must agree with some here, this reminds me of an old-fashioned Christmas. An old world real fir Christmas tree decorated with handmade gingerbread men ornaments and candles for lights. A victorian Christmas. This just reminds me of baking cookies, Christmas potpourri, smoky/incense, just delicious! Most likely what I will be wearing for Christmas day. Happy Holidays!;)

Oh how I love this, the most gorgeous oak moss I have ever smelled. I have a sample of a vintage version, and now I need to seek out a bottle of this. I don’t think it smells like Christmas, it’s too green, then powdery. Maybe walking through the woods right before a snow storm in January, but not Christmas. Regardless, I love it, I must have it, it is so hauntingly beautiful.

I wore this exclusively for a very long time, almost to the point that my own nose was "numb" to it and it became a part of me. All I can say is it is unique in this day of foody-fruity scents, and males loved the scent on me. It never felt particularly floral to my nose, much more chypre.

Oh my!! This is pure pleasure! The opening of it is all about the rose.After 15 minutes is a total change and the amber appears to win over the delicate rose. I really like this,so intrigue and not too floral.

If you haven't smelt a brand new extrait of Nuit de Noël containing the genuine De Laire Mousse de Saxe and lots of vintage Mysore sandalwood oils in the mid-80's, you cannot understand what "loss" means.

I wore this during a recent cold snap. It absolutely shines in very cold weather. Its nice other times but damn its magic around freezing temperatures

Like a warm, beloved woman's hug. In an antique house.

At first blast I just get mustiness, it smells old. That’s fair, I guess, my bottle IS old. But then. A moment later I get smokey incense, it’s mysterious, churchy, and still old but, like, antique. Not musty old. Peaty smoke, like good scotch. Animalic, warm, and cozy. Not sweet, not soft, yet still cozy. Lofty but approachable. And then...old dusty books? But like in an old lady’s house. But a classy old lady, not a Baptist one with potpourri in her bathroom. Actual mysterious frankincense. I waited WAY too long to try this based on what it smelled like in the bottle. A new winter go to I didn’t realize I had. Half an hour in I get a little crisp cleanness, like new untouched snow. Gets a little sweeter on the dry down, vanillic. Doesn’t last as long as I’d like, and the best phase (the smokey, incense-y one) doesn’t last nearly long enough. That part’s gone in half an hour. I have the lotion/cologne concentration, though, so maybe others perform better? This doesn’t have huge silage, either. I form my opinions and write my reviews without first looking at the notes/other people’s reviews. Looking now, though, is this the same perfume everyone else has??? Mine is old, perhaps it’s gone “off” (though apparently in the best way possible), but...quite a difference. I get NO floral notes in this. Even the difference between vintage/new formulations doesn’t seem like it’d make THIS kind of a difference. Hmmmm. 6/10

I know what this perfume was named for. There is an old story about how on Christmas eve all the flowers open and bloom for a brief moment in the dead of Winter. This is that story in a bottle. I want to rename it NIGHT IN A GREENHOUSE. When you first put it on you get an Oakmoss monster. It reminds me of repotting ferns and orchids using peatmoss and old man's beard. Dry stuff that is somehow alive. When the oakmoss gets banished back to it's realm, the sweetest light scent of flowers comes through. Sorry, no roses. But the sandalwood and ylang-yland seem to waft in from out of nowhere. It is very close to the skin. I am using eau de toilette, so the perfume would be much heavier I'm sure. The next time I see someone looking for a dark and different perfume, I'm suggesting this. It does whisper ancient and dark. No sugar cookies or fireplaces. Maybe potted amaryllis bulbs. I'm very glad I got this one. Now I have to wait for cold weather to wear it properly. It seems out of place in the heat of summer and I don't think it would agree with spring.

This perfume is warm, cozy and delightful like a loving embrace, while at the same time it manages to exude the charm and elegance of an upper class evening event. Caron's interpretation of the Christmas night is absolutely beautiful: warmth, grace and wealth, tradition, happiness and endless style. I would definitely attend this dinner party. As for the notes in Nuit de Noel, sandalwood and oakmoss tend to dominate the composition, while the creamy flowers (rose, jasmin, ylang-ylang) keep somewhat in the background and add a feminine touch to the heavy oriental composition. I actually detect some similarities to Chanel Coco, but Nuit de Noel is less pungent and spicy. It also resembles Estee Lauder Eau de Private Collection, but it's thicker and more oriental. As a strong oriental, I recommend this perfume for evening wear and (although I do not usually advocate age discrimination and there are always exceptions) I think this perfume would suit someone 30+ a bit easier. You need some guts to match this aristocratic beauty.

The opening of Caron's NUIT DE NOEL packs a powerful punch: a bunch of aldehydes, oakmoss and florals assert themselves with the initial spritz. It's a rather confusing sort of brouhaha, in fact. Within minutes, however, things calm down quite a bit. A dark murky, slightly alkaline period ensues, with flowers--above all ylang ylang--peeking out here and there amidst the musky fog. In the drydown, the mustiness becomes dustiness, as though the moisture of the moss has all evaporated away, leaving behind the remnants of a dried floral arrangement. Or perhaps dried roses pressed in books as keepsakes. I like this drydown, soft, powdery, rose-laden and nostalgic. NUIT DE NOEL is not a boring fragrance at all, nor is it like anything thing else that I've tried! I would have to agree with another reviewer, however, that this is a chypre floral. And the Christmas Eve reference altogether eludes me...

"Nuit de Noel" (despite the name) has nothing to see with Xmas Eve as the intention of the Nose behind it was to create a beautiful feminine fragrance to be worn on that special occasion by all those ladies who wanted to smell "good". What to add that hasn't been already written... Well, it has been (ach!!!) reformulated but...It hasn't been killed - completely! - compared to other wonders from the past. I keep on using it some times; on me - if used with care - it's nice ; ) But due to its rich formula I find it more suitable for the cold season, than for summer... although the alchemy between a fragrance and the "holder" is always an incognita. A charming one!

There is nothing in this scent that reminds me of Christmas. It's a slightly sour, sherbety, powdered floral scent in the top notes with a good dose of indole in the heart notes. It has a general musky mustiness in the drydown which gives me the same feeling as L'Heure Bleue, though this isn't as melancholy. It does have a 'quiet' feeling which may be the Christmas Eve reference, and it's most definately nostalgic. This is not boring, by any means but it is an acquired taste, as it smells a bit like an ancient clothes chest which has been opened. The old make up, the tang of sweat, the faded floral posies. Another scent for the corpse bride........

Hmmm.. Piece of heaven. Since i love ylang, oakmoss mix, this satisfied my passion. It has that elegant ylang rosy blend with oakmoss to add that earthy factor but not too much, it's like balancing it with amber, musk, and sandalwood. A vintage blend of eternity. I loved this fragrance as i am referring to the vintage formula and i wish the new formula is never different than the original. Edit (8th April 2018) The version i reviewed was the vintage one & the version i am having now is the new version while it's identical to vintage but the staying power is hideously bad, it stays no more than a 45 minutes.

I was lucky enough to find a tiny black bottle of Nuit de Noel in an antique shop, with the juice intact. It dates to the 1920s or 1930s and is a beautiful little piece of Art Deco history. The oakmoss in old perfumes is so aching lovely. I am reminded of the smell of fireplaces as you lay a new fire, the ashes of the old fire cold but fragrant. It's got a sexy, powerful powder heart with a classic rose so unlike the chemical modern roses you smell now that you just want to weep. The ylang-ylang is sweetly vanillic. Nuit de Noel deserves its name, a perfume of home and hearth, full of promise and grace.

It's Christmas and I am wearing Nuit de Noel EDP. I bought it in Paris in one of the Caron boutiques the day before yesterday. I compared it to the Extrait and it is exactly the same, except the Extrait should surely last longer. The EDT does not last long on the skin, but it is beautiful and to me, does smell Christmassy. 76 euros isn't cheap and the Extrait is 4 times the cost for a much smaller amount. Does anyone know if the EDT can be bought in a good London store? Les Senteurs only sells the Extrait (in the pretty Baccarat bottle for £199).

I came across a beautiful vintage black art deco bottle of this perfume today and I was wowed. It is so rich and warm. Spiced rum and sweet amber mingling with a touch of musk, cocoa and tobacco is what came to mind. I think the vintage cologne would be a wonderful fragrance for a classic gentleman as well (especially those favoring Taylors). Evening fragrance for certain. Absolutely enchanting.

The incense-like opening does, in fact, remind me of Christmas Midnight Mass. Suprisingly for a spicy incense scent, it remains fairly close to the skin. As it develops, the incense fades into a rich, velvety spiciness, warming further into a powdery light spice mix. Interesting, complex and delicate.

What I mainly pick up on is a huge, creamy ylang ylang note (and also something that reminds me of bergamot, which is not listed in the notes). Most perfumes with a lot of ylang ylang are sexy, but this doesn't seem sexy at all. Instead, it is rich, stately and old fashioned.

A present, modern Nuit de Noel. It was nice and bitterish on me, with a bit of lily and a bit of musk, and closer to the end (2nd or 3rd day) the scent got a little wood in it.

To my nose, it results sharing similarities with Guerlain Habit Rouge EDP, with civet and musks. Simply stunning.

This is christmas plum pudding and a smoky coal fire in a bottle. So don't wear it on the beach or in summertime

Christmas Eve begins with nutty Christmas pudding, ends in church full of incence.

I very much enjoy my life, which has so far included perks like “going to school for almost 20 years”, so in practice I’m very happy with the slot in time in space I happened to be born in. But sometimes it’s nice to pretend to live like a totally different kind of person in (a romantically idealized version of) another era, and fragrances like this one definitely help with that! Nuit de Noel was introduced in the 1920s, and it still very much smells like it, although the current incarnation must be vastly different from that distant original. But it does have a truly vintage feel to it, at least to my nose, which does have a stubborn tendency to equate “vintage” with “lots of oak moss” - and there’s no shortage of that here! Which is something I don’t mind if it’s done as well as it is here: it’s so elegant, warm and spicy in a classically feminine way. And I do like the way it makes me feel like that (very different) kind of person for a while, but on the whole it’s not the kind of scent I naturally reach for. So while sampling Nuit de Noel was a pleasure, I can’t really say anything more meaningful about it, and I’ll leave it behind without regrets.

One of the only Carons I've tried that doesn't play well with my skin. It smells like shreiky evergreens, oakmoss on steroids, and peanuts on me.