The Night

MASTERPIECE WITH A CATCH ..... let me explain why. (Review after using this perfume for 6 months) I would like to start off saying that this perfume is Overhyped but rightly so and there is a reason why this fragrance is overhyped. It’s a combination of YouTubers who got free bottles and the sheer beauty and elegance of this perfume combined. The night has simple composition but its still very complex in its nature, the ingredients used in this perfume are basically Assam Oud, Rose, Saffron, Incense & Patchouli, but the blending of this perfume is on another level, hats off to the perfumer Mr Ropion and his team who created this masterpiece. This perfume will be an all time coveted gem for Oud & Rose lovers. This is middle eastern perfumery handcrafted to perfection in my view and the sheer beauty and elegance of this perfume is probably one of the best in class. There comes to a time for a perfume connesuier’s journey, that even niche perfumery does not impress him and things like this perfume industry does. **About the scent profile:** This perfume starts off with Indian Oud which has been fermented, this Oud note is beautiful if you are used to smelling Indian oud or familiar with Dehnal Oud attars then you are in for a treat, after 30 - 45 mins approximately, the beautiful rose kicks in and this combination of this rose and oud is to die for, its an absolutely amazing combination when done correctly. Even though this Rose and oud combination has been done to oblivion this one kicks arse and is probably a the end game boss of Rose oud saga and I am taking about NG+++ end game of Rose and Oud done. The dry down is also very reminiscent of a rose where it has been wedged inside an old book, and you get this dusty, dry rose with a woody backbone, it reminds me of old times, where a boy gives a rose to a girl and she keeps in her favourite book and that rose dries down but still retains its dusty rose smell. The mid stages is faintly similar to an amped up portrait of a lady and at the later stages of the perfume and I am talking about 6 - 7 hours the pachouli, incense and Oud is prominent but not overpowering. The master-craft of this perfume is when you can experience the different layers of this perfume where the transitions from the top, mid and base is done flawlessly, there is a reason Sir Dominic Ropion is a master perfumer because unlike French perfumery where there is instant gratification with the smell of the perfume, this is a middle eastern perfume crafted by a very gentle hand and a highly refined nose, when you apply it you need to let it do its thing and not sniff it straight away because middle eastern perfumery is about the journey which you experience. I have tried a sample of the old batch and the current batch, this perfume is absolutely amazing when it was in the earlier release dates, all the YouTubers who got their free bottles are correct that this perfume lasts easily 24 + hours and has a great projection for the first few hours. However there is a catch, if you buy the current batches, its tone down with the projection, currently from my testing of the 2023 batch, this perfume is strong for the first 1 - 2 hours, but it quickly becomes a scent bubble for the entirety of the life of this perfume. My recommendation would be to apply it on clothes about 3 - 5 sprays and it will give you a similar experience with the old batch with 2 - 3 sprays, don’t take my word for it, see if you can get a sample and apply 1 spray on skin and 1 on clothes, time it and compare it for yourself. Perfumes like the night and similar fragrances deserve a case study in detail because here in Australia it can cost upwards of $2000 + and the unique thing to study about this fragrance is when they have reformulated this fragrance and what causes this fragrance to sit close to the skin while the older batches of this fragrance had a very strong opening, mid and base. The night’s composition works like middle eastern perfumery at the start till 2 hours, later it acts like French perfumery, this can not happen with ordinary perfumes, this is a sign of master perfumery and the beautiful transitions, The very end stages of this perfume which is after 20 hours or so, you will experience the pachouli which is very much similar to the pachouli used in Portrait of a lady, the oud has become dusty and woody but very subtle along with the rose. Longevity for this perfume is more than 24 hours on clothes. This is truly a masterpiece of a perfume but here the centre of attraction is the Perfumer with the way he has made this perfume, because there are a ton of rose & oud perfume in the market but what you pay here for is the craftsmanship and the different transitions of this perfume, this is the end journey of your perfumery, if you fall in love with this one then every other perfume would be judged by a very high standard. Closing thoughts If I had to spend this kind of money on this perfume at the moment, then I would spend it on a very high quality Dehnal Oud attar first , a high quality rose oil and saffron and layer it together and this would have been my opinion after owning this bottle after a month, however the more I wore it after resetting my olfactory senses by not wearing any perfume for a week, I truly understood the elegance and magnificence of this perfume, I tried this perfume treating it like a middle eastern perfume where you apply it and dont sniff it straight away like french perfumes, the perfume blooms incredibly amazingly and its more about the journey with this fragrance than the instant gratification perfumes with so many perfumes these days. This is a masterpiece and if you can afford to buy it, then I would highly recommend to get it and you are in for a journey because this perfume you wear it for yourself and not because you want others to appreciate it and in my opinion this perfume is like poetry when you understand its depth you appreciate for what it stands for. Regards, Sam

This is as addicting in the later stages as it is repulsive in the early stages. The first time I got to try this in a niche store in my hometown and as this store is like a playground for me, I tend to just spray a bunch of interesting fragrances until I cannot smell a thing anymore and everything smells the same. Then I complain about everything smelling the same and I leave. This stood out. I could smell this, even after spraying all these other fragrances. What I was able to smell I absolutely did not like, so I quickly dismissed it as "never again" and moved on to other fragrances, which I thought would suit my taste better. A while later I came back and for some reason decided to give it a try again. Not only that - I also kept the sample card inside my pocket and only got it back out when I was at home, hours later. What I smelled then, convinced me much more. So much in fact, that I gave it another try and got inspired to write this review. The opening is anything but pleasant, not only to me, but also to most friends I gave this to. It's pungent, it's strong, personally I get a lot of civet notes although I'm not sure if that is just the skanky Oud. It almost has a sour smell to it and although not fully fecal, it's certainly challenging and completely unpleasant to many people, including myself. I get this weird combination of Civet, skanky Oud, sourness and some floral elements that remind me of a very strong 80s style French floral that many people will find "too much", "weird" or even "grandma"-ish smelling. This strong and strange opening will most certainly steer many people away from this and if your nose has never experienced anything like it, you might even feel offended by it, dismissing this as disgusting and weird, while not understanding why anyone would like this, how this can possibly called a perfume and what the point of this is. In the early drydown this evolves into something completely different - it smells Oudy, woody, very elegant, pleasant, even soft. I even get some soapy qualities from it, almost smelling as if you used Oud oil and then put some soapy scent on top, or you used Oud oil and then took a quick shower. The occasional funk does still appear, however only rarely and much more bearable than in the opening, it plays with your nose and it's almost a bit interesting and pleasant as it gives you a perspective on how much this scent evolves. The intermediate noses might find this fragrance too much, not very pleasant but they give credit to the blend, the ingredients and they see its' place in the fragrance market and while they don't like this or would want to own this, they do understand why people find this intriguing. The late drydown doesn't change significantly anymore, and this is where it gets interesting anymore. The funk disappears, you're left with a beautiful, very natural, Oudy-woody scent that smells quite magical. If you've ever been to a country where Oud is more present culturally, you will recognize this. It smells like malls in Dubai, like burning Oud in Indonesia, like a piece of Oud Wood that some random fragrance enthusiast held under your nose for you to smell. It smells like nature, like a starry night outside in a warm country, like a rich sheikh who uses Oud oil so much that it almost becomes part of his natural skin smell. It soft, yet very long lasting. It's not complex, in fact it's quite the simple blend, and yet it has something completely unique and different to it. The problems emerge when we talk about the price. Frederic Malle has never been a cheap house and The Night is no exception. 1150 Euros for 100ml is not only steep, it's completely exorbitant, borderline ridiculous, and after diving deeply into this and almost falling in love with it, I quickly had to stop, clear my mind and ask myself where this price tag comes from. The blend is simple, the presentation is decent but not as opulent as, let's say, Roja and while ingredients must play some factor here, I cannot help but wonder if this skanky Oud, especially from the beginning, can be so expensive to justify such a price. I do have to admit that I'm nowhere near an expert in Oud and it is a complex subject to master, however from my understanding the skank and funk usually comes from bacteria "infesting" the Oud, making it essentially less valuable than the very high grade ones. Not worthless - nowhere near it, but also not so expensive to justify almost 1200 Euros a bottle. So I'm left a bit torn. I do love this and if you get past the opening, this is fantastic, I'd even argue that many people would love this in the mid to late drydown and many people wouldn't even understand how this could have such a challenging opening after only smelling the drydown. It is beautiful, the ingredients are without a doubt expensive, however 1200 Euros is very hard to justify and I would most likely much rather reach for something else. Roja? Possibly. Maybe a bunch of Amouages? A whole lot of middle eastern Ouds? Heck, even Oud oil or Henry Jacques if you're feeling fancy? All of these will probably set you back less than this. The only way to buy this, in my opinion, is either through some very good grey market deals or if you're ridiculously rich.

It seems to me that the five entries into Frederic Malle's Desert Gems line, The Night, The Dawn, Promise, Hope, and The Moon, are meant to be the brand's attempt to set the new and final benchmark for Oriental/Arabian oud perfumes done in a Western style. I'm not sure that I could argue he hasn't achieved the goal. They are certainly some of, if not the best, Western-bent Oriental/Arabian ouds I have smelled in a very long time. Of the four I have been able to wear and spend time with, The Moon being as-yet, The Night is probably my favorite. As far as I can tell with the four I've worn, none of the Desert Gems are treading terra incognita. They are simply masterfully done using deft execution by some of the best perfumers with the best materials they can lay their hands on. It shows. It also shows in the price tag, for that matter. What the Desert Gems seem to have creatively achieved is the special ability to place an image firmly and clearly in your mind's eye. Abstraction has its place, but many of history's great perfumes are quite literal; it takes tremendous talent to create something that most everyone who smells it sees the same image in their mind. This is why The Night is my favorite. Its evocation of the pitch-black sky of night meeting the dark-orange-turning-onyx sands of the desert, stripped of golden light by absence of the sun, is chillingly accurate. This is achieved by removing nearly all of the "heat" and "wetness" from the oud accord. Whatever material Malle and Ropion agreed to use is exceptional. It is so smooth, seamless, and easily wearable - which altogether are difficult characteristics for oud to have. It's much easier to present oud in all of its funky, animalic, porous, jagged, sharp, woody, turned-fruit glory. The opening notes of rose and saffron certainly help tee-up the oud for this effect. The saffron lacks any warm and sweet qualities and instead presents itself as hay-like and floral. The very gentle rose note is also not a warm and sweet red rose, but a dry and cold pink rose. They work together brilliantly. Buttressing the massive oud is a base of very dry amber and smokey frankincense that also fills in the "holes" of the oud accord very well, giving it that seamless quality like an expanse of desert in the night that stretches on for eternity. In the final dry down, the amber and smokey frankincense is like the near-dead embers of a wood fire in the desert: cool, and getting colder still, the aromatic smokey fragrance of the burnt desert wood lingering in the air. Again, and therefore, I have to detract from many of my fellow enthusiasts here in describing this perfume as warm, a quality we always expect of ouds and ambers. Think of Dior's Leather Oud, a smoldering cauldron of near impenetrable heat, and this is inarguably the exact opposite of that (and no leather as well, that I can tell). Once you smell warm-to-hot oud, you recognize that The Night is not one. Like a cold and dry desert night it behaves that way on skin too, reinforcing the point. It's a balmy spring day here in California, and normally I wouldn't dare wear an oud of this type in this weather for fear of suffocating myself and others for miles around - but not The Night. It is remarkably well behaved and restrained because of its cool and dry character. It would definitely be ill-advised to wear this in the high heat of the summer, but a cool summer night? Certainly. With a bit more heat and humidity it might even be magical. To this point though, for people going to wear it for the first time, start with two sprays, wait, and then go from there if need be; just like a desert at night, its enormity of size can easily overwhelm. Final thoughts: while I said the Desert Gems don't really have anything new to say about the Oriental/Arabian oud genre, then went on to say how nice it was to have a cold and dry oud for once, again though, that's nothing new - and that's fine. We don't need a new perfume trying to rewrite the book every week. The Night is meant to give you a picture of the cool desert under a black sky and to achieve this with a brilliant blending hand and excellent materials. It does this, and it does so extremely well. What an amazing piece of work.

I wrote a review on this a while back but was unfortunately going from a mis-labelled sample. Now that I have smelled what I know to be the real The Night I must concur with what (almost) everyone below has been saying - on one's first time wearing, this comes off as animalic and fecal to stratospheric levels. It is without any disrespect to the fragrance or to Hindi oud as a material that I can say this unequivocally shares a lot of olfactory space with farmlands, livestock and yes, manure. It is a nuke of uncompromising egesta - something which I suspect should make many fragrance fanatics water at the mouth. However, on repeated wearings the subtleties of this fragrance rapidly become apparent, the fecal connotations do (believe it or not) fall away: The Night seems very shocking when first applied, but like most ouds it very quickly adapts to skin and, whilst still retaining its animalic nature, it quickly slithers into the incredibly black, woody, earthy and pseudo mint-like note which positively glows with a dark aura. I love this quality of the scent, and it is very easy to get if one can put aside connotations with excrement for just a moment. It becomes dense, rumbling and huffing with this strange dark-yet-glowing smell and then, quite unexpectedly, a crimson rose opens up and the resultant oud-rose dyad continues on and on like an ocean of bloody petals. The drama of the scent is very difficult to overstate - it's operatic, loud and brazen but floral and intoxicating at the same time. Beyond the appreciation of most, it's almost alien in how utterly strange it is, even when compared to many other natural oud-roses, this just hits an entirely new level. It's a frenzy of oud and rose petals which, once applied, never ever seems to fade or die on the skin. Despite its challenging nature, this stalwart longevity (and the rich red rose) do give the scent a strong companion-like feel, something to be kept for one's own narcotic, filthy pleasure. I'm not sure I can go so far as to cede this as wearable in public - I'd have to try it out but I do worry I'd end up killing someone. If you want to plunge into a sea of infinite darkness and don't mind creeping over a few bombs to get there - this fragrance is for you and it lives on skin for over a day and on clothes indefinitely (until washed). While I do think I probably prefer Promise, I still think this is the greatest achievement for Frederic Malle! Little update: Oud Maximus by Bortnikoff is extremely similar to The Night, for those who are interested but don't want to break the bank!

There have been several tributes to deep oriental fragrances by the world's finest perfume houses in the last two decades. Frederic Malle launched four perfumes with Arabic labels, namely The Night, Dawn, Promise and The Moon. With list prices ranging from €225 (10 ml) to €2200 (250 ml), The Night can hardly be called an affordable perfume. Malle claims that the best available raw materials have been used to achieve the best possible perception of an oud perfume. I can question that, at least with regard to the oud distillation process that has been used. The Night oud note is just to barnyardy for a top-quality oud oil. This perfume is a powerful oud and rose fragrance with saffron flavours, an incense frame and an oud and sandalwood base. The Turkish rose scent is clearly perceptible in the top notes, as are nuances of saffron. But the oud in the heart sets the pace and creates an animalic and leathery foul ambience. Frankincense can also be detected in the background. The sandalwood only becomes more evident later and during the dry down phase. Is The Night fiery and dark? Yes, it is, but only in a mild way if you are used to Middle Eastern oud scents. I think newcomers to these dense, woody oud scents will find it intrusive or even "barnyard" to say the least. People who test it with me, complain of a faecal smell. You won't find any sweetness to soften the initial scent conflict for your senses. Be prepared to enjoy "The Night" for a long time. Don't use more than two sprays. It will last for more than 12 hours and will be reasonably shower-proof. The good news is that when it dries down, the scent is heavenly. I have already used this perfume four times in the last week. Although I am a lover of intense (aggressive?) oriental perfumes, I realise that "The Night" will at least evoke mixed feelings in the opening phase. I am sure that many users will hate it. The good news is that I can really feel the perfume growing inside me with each (very expensive) puff from the atomiser. Can I say that I really love it now? Yes, I can! Can I say that my wife still hates it? Yes, I surely can! My opinion: Beware of the initial stale smell in your nose. I learned to love The Night only after using it a few times. It's semi-dark, dense, and after thirty minutes the oud becomes wonderful while the strong Turkish rose is still there. The finish is quite fantastic and the power is tremendous. For its price, however, the perfume should be kept in a bank safe. Never buy it blindly.

So, first time I tried it was on a test strip in a local fragrance store, I was prepared for something awful before I put the strip on my nose, but turned out it wasn’t as bad as everyone say it is; I pretty like it, but not enough because of the price. 2 days ago, I found a guy who is willing to share me a 10ml decant for only like $72 (full bottle is only $690 for 100ml). The decant just arrived 20 minutes ago, and this time, I think I fell in love with it and I want a full bottle right now lol (who wouldn’t since it’s more than half a price cheaper than the retail). It opened with a barnyard smell indeed, a bit animalic too, but after 5 minutes, here comes a naked and raw POAL, without the spices, just POAL for what it is, add in the oud and BAM, The Night. Dominique blended this so well that the oud is not harsh or off putting to my nose. To be honest this is super wearable and it screams opulence, I would totally wear this like every other fragrances I have, since I’m a guy who only likes nuclear fragrances lol. Performance, half a sprit from my 10ml decant projects like crazy, I hover my nose above the spray spot about 10cm (4 inches) and I can still smell it, it’s that strong. For longevity I have no doubt this will stick to my skin for days even after shower, so does the sillage, it will leave the longest trail. For the price, I will not buy it at retail price, but for $690? Hell yeah of course. Please sample this if you can because this stuff is what I want my POAL to be, the original POAL to me smells like Khuynh Diep Medicated Oil, a type of oil us Vietnamese use for various treatments, that’s why I can’t stand it. To recap, if you love dark and animalic fragrances that acts like a nuclear weapon, you can’t miss the chance to try this stuff, and please try it in your skin, it’s addicting. Update: After some wearings, I find the dry down too much like POAL, like 85%. After all the praising above I think it will not worth a full bottle because the similarities it shares to POAL, must be because my nose is used to the stanky smell so it got rid of it. But still, a beautiful fragrance. Performance wasn’t like I expected it to be either, about 16 hours with above average projection, could be because of the decant’s atomizer.

A lot of the critiques below are based on the fact that it ́s an expensive fragrance, possibly unobtainable, therefore crap. Too simple! I tested this fragrance recently in Berlin and fell totally in love. It was just a question of time before I had to have it. Fragrantica should be the website where this kind of desire should find some understanding. First of all we all share the same passion and should know what it feels like when we get a hit, the scents may actually speak to a subconscious level in our deepest selves. Seondly because real oud in the generous amount you find in this perfume certainly has its price, most people don ́t see the difference between the synthetic oud most brands use when creating "oud perfumes" and the real thing. This little treasure starts off like a full blooded oud should, rather offensive for most people, but then, in the next hours the magic happens! Rose and amber spread their wings and take off on a journey that lasts for almost 24 hours. Fragrances on this level touch me deeply and keep changing every time I wear them. I now know what the real "oud heads" keep raving about and it took some time to get there. Oud is definitely an aquired taste. Anybody with a real passion for perfume, and ouds in particular, can understand that this kind of experience doesn ́t spring from cheap materials. Malle ́s perfumes all vary in price, depending on the cost of the raw materials, so let ́s be grateful that less expensive scents have not become more expensive to finance experiences like The Night. After all, nobody is forced to buy a perfume, so saying something is foul or crap simply because they cannot afford it is unfair. I can't afford to buy a Tesla (maybe because I spend my money on perfumes?), but I still won't claim it's a bad car.

Al Layl (The Night). Another well-crafted perfume by Ropion under Malle's creative guidance. This one is among my favorites, possibly my favorite take on the traditional Hindi Oud and Rose pairing. These Mukhallats make use of heavier oud profiles, often soaked for too long, but that helps to ground these compositions better and prevents the rose from taking over. There are many amazing takes on this style, most using higher-quality ingredients. This perfume, however, is all about craftsmanship, not about the ingredients. This is where Ropion's touch makes the difference. What he brings to the table with his take, is restraint in excess. He gives you a full taste of the Oud, the Rose, and the Saffron, yet knows how to round things up, how to extend the lifespan of these materials, to stretch the composition, and to pamper their asperities. The rose is quite shy with this one. The oud is the star, dry, on the barnyard side of things, spicy, a bit smoky, and with an almost betel leaf bitter flavor. Ropion uses synthetics to lift these facets, and various musks, amberwoods, and sandalwood to make it last forever and to mellow it down a bit. And it does shine with a warm, ambery glow and a creamy sandalwood touch in the far dry down. I personally never found this perfume off-putting one bit. It was an instant love for me, and I sampled it way before I even got to delve into natural ouds. I would never find pleasure in such an oud on its own. I find it too heavy and "feral". These types of ouds are ideal for blending. And also cost-efficient. And that is proven here at full potential (except for the cost-efficient part). I wish these perfumers could access higher quality, natural materials to work with at their own speed. Maybe one day. IG:@memory.of.scents

Goated goat. Has a rather strong oud opening for around 15 minutes, in which you I can sense all the different facets of oud, including the stinky ones that people describe, but then it settles on a sweet rose held up by the oud in the back. The oud is very well blended with the rose in the middle, and stays like that for an extreme amount of time. Every time I get a whiff, it smells slightly differently. I would say it is very linear in the end, but am very happy it is. Incredible fragrance, but prohibitively expensive. Frederic Malle claims it is expensive because of the materials, and I do believe him given he doesn't control the prices of the brand and there are other incredible fragrances for affordable price from the house. Dominique Ropion was impressed he managed to put in 21% real oud in it. In the end, is this something worth getting? For me? Almost yes. Managed to get a discount and don't regret it. To you? I hope not because you will be able to do something way more productive with the money instead. Worth sampling if you like rose and aren't avert to oud. Even a small vial might be more than enough to keep for special occasions. I don't need more than one spray. If you really like the rose and don't care for the oud, Portrait of a Lady has the same rose. It is however enveloped in more notes and it doesn't dominate as much as in The Night. Edit: I can confirm that the drydown on both Grand Musk by Pana Dora and Octavian by Electimuss is 90% similar to The Night. You can smell the difference at the start, none of them are alike but they do settle into a too similar base in my opinion, and that happens only after 1-2 hours.

This is a tough one to review. I purchased a 3ml decant and am wearing exactly one spritz as I type this. IMO this is the most glorious Oud scent in my collection. I am riding a thoroughbred race hose, that has been working up a lather for the last 24 hours. The scent is rugged, yet reserved. This scent is NOT a Montale Rose/Oud. This scent is NOT an Oudh 36 Nuit. Those scents slap you in the kisser. This scent takes both of your ears and pulls you in close. This is NOT the scent of a gentleman. This is a scent of a hero with more than a few rough edges. If I had unlimited funds, I would mos def purchase the largest bottle of this juice I could find and seriously consider abandoning every other bottle in my collection...and I have some really nice scents. What a work of art this perfume is. I am damn-near speechless. Update: Just scored a 90% full, 3.4 oz bottle for 1/2 retail price. :-) Update 2.0: Received my bottle and am I ever pleased. Worthy of note, compared to my 3ml sample, this juice is significantly darker and when comparing them size-by-side, the full bottle juice "seems" to be slightly deeper. Not sure if Malle reformulated this product, but my eyes clearly see a difference. Regardless, this bottle is one of my most prized scents on my shelf. Update 3.0: I am loving this perfume with all of my being. Indeed, I just received a 1ml vial of Cambodiya Oud Oil from Oudimentary and want to tell you that the Frederic Malle is 2x as potent and room-filling as compared to the oud oil. The Night is my most prized bottles and every time I spray it, I am transported...

It’s been almost a decade since it’s release. The composition’s main focus of oud and using such a high dosage of it. The difference between the night and many other oud perfumes I would say Ropion’s ability to dose and extend the life and presence of the oud in the fragrance so for the whole duration it’s there you can smell oud quite clearly. Others who have tried to copy this arguably suffer that the rose takes over or the synthetic woody ambers take over. The night has struck so many cords right, it’s the right amount of rose to oud where the oud is much stronger thus giving an elegant appeal had this been reversed it would’ve felt like POAL + OUD. The sillage and duration are excellent although I find sillage to go from enormous to moderate over the span of the fragrance so the initial blast is quite strong but then relatively quickly settles into a nice bubble. I would say this one decade later I still haven’t found a better oud perfume that can dry down like this. I’m still looking for what can dethrone this masterpiece but to no avail. Alas the achilles heel of this fragrance is the price even in the grey market at $800 I find the ask quite steep as I’m almost through my first bottle of this and heading into the next. If you haven’t smelled this, try before you buy and look at the reviews for such a debatble fragrance in terms of note and price you can see some really quick and dismissive reviews. I would wholeheartedly ignore those and put more weight into more thoughtful reviews and critique of what is one of the greatest works of this century.

Al Laylå (The Night); already opens in a thunderous way with a rubberized Saffron intertwined with a dark and sharp Rose already welcoming an 'Oud of extreme quality that permeates and dominates the perfume throughout its duration, an 'Oud Hindi: dark smoky and sweet animalic corral that mixing with Sandalwood with Incense acquires an aspect of smoky wood slightly sweetened by a delicious Amber harmoniously balancing the fragrance, a powerful charge of Turkish Rose shares this domain with the 'Oud; And all in high resolution due to very high quality natural ingredients. The Night is a naturally fragrant world in itself; unlike the perfumes called 'Oud out there, which contain, at best, a trace of this precious raw material, if any; The Night is built with a potent amount of 'Oud Natural Indian never seen before in spray perfumes, which Dominique Ropion has blended with an equally generous amount of Turkish Rose and Amber. An overdose of very natural organic palatable roses! A perfect interpretation of the traditional and luxurious Arab Perfumery! The Night is of indescribable opulence, undoubtedly one of the most potent, precious and imposing perfumes in the world with an unprecedented concentration of 21% pure 100% Natural Indian Oud oil. The end result is a work of art of a realistic naturalness of a wonderful bouquet of Roses and sweet smoky dark wood; Most powerful! Arabesque 'Oud Rose Amber Woody Smoky Perfume SENSATIONAL and with Exceptional Performance! 🪵🌹🔥💪🏻

Frédéric Malle’s The Night is a fragrance that doesn’t whisper—it roars. It opens with a rich blend of Turkish rose and saffron, immediately transporting you to a world of opulence and spice. The rose is lush and velvety, while the saffron adds a golden warmth that hints at the exotic. At the heart of the fragrance lies Indian oud—raw, animalic, and deeply earthy. This is not a softened or Westernized oud; it’s intense, primal, and unapologetically bold. As the scent develops, frankincense and sandalwood emerge, adding a smoky, resinous depth. A touch of amber in the base rounds things out with a warm, slightly sweet finish. This is a fragrance that evokes the spirit of traditional Eastern perfumery. It’s rich, dark, and mysterious—perfect for evening wear, cold weather, or moments when you want to make a powerful impression. Warning: The Night is extremely strong and projects massively. A single spray can fill a room and linger for hours. It’s not for everyone, especially those new to oud or sensitive to bold, animalic scents. This is a fragrance that demands confidence and restraint. With a price tag that often exceeds $1,000, The Night is one of the most exclusive offerings in the Frédéric Malle collection. The cost reflects the rarity of the Indian oud and the craftsmanship behind the composition. It’s not an everyday scent—it’s a collector’s piece, a statement of taste and refinement. Rating: 10/10

Frederic Malle are real tricksters passing off what is in essence a very very traditional Middle Eastern Gulf ‘khaleeji’ perfume (old school for gulf standards... think Aramis for Saudi) repackaging it and whacking on an eye watering price tag for Western buyers. I love the smell but if you like this type of scent why not just visit Arabian Oud store during Ramadan sale season and buy ‘Majestic Special Oud’ for £175 which is a rose Oud combo (ignore the gaudy bottle shaped like an urn, juice inside is great). If you want a more ‘masculine’ superbly traditional premium Gulf Oud-musk combination then just go to Arabian Oud store during sale season and buy the recently released ‘Special Oud’ in the wood effect box with gold Arabic writing on the front (also £115 on eBay from Kuwait) or the more expensive ‘Blue Oud’ in a vase like bottle coloured blue and yellow.. Both of these are stupendous and without such an offensively high price tag. If you want a super cheap version of this with the same style (at least for the first 10 minutes) then just buy Rasasi Faqat al Rijal online for £25 and be done with it. That way whenever you need your khaleeji Oud fix you can just take a whiff of the bottle and keep the small fortune in your pocket for more important things in life. Win! Edit: I do agree that Aoud Cuir d’Arabie Montale is in the same ballpark and much better value.

Anyone who dislikes potent and dirty/animalic fragrances should stay away from this. This is nothing like western ouds, especially ones that use synthetic oud. This uses real oud....and a lot of it. Not a pleasant oud, but a raw animalic one that'll become the very beautiful oud people enjoy in the dry down. In the background is Portrait of a Lady. It's lightly there in the opening but you won't really start picking up on this for a couple hours. The opening itself is very potent for the first 30-60 minutes. It will remain potent for another 3 hours after that. Very noticeable for 8-10 hours after the initial spray. You'll notice a little on your skin the next morning and it'll reactivate once you take a shower. If you do want to wear this scent out, I would certainly spray this several hours before you go anywhere. Only use one spray unless you want everyone to notice your presence. I typically wear this with 2-3 sprays of POAL which is drowned out from the opening for the first hour. I'm not exactly sure how far this scent actually projects, but it certainly has a very dense arms-length field to it. I would say this is one of those "must try" fragrances like Aventus. You must try this to understand what real oud actually is. Give it a couple solid wears because you might get addicted to it.

This 2022 batch that I own opens with a beautiful note of Turkish Rose intertwined with a note of high-quality saffron, followed by Indian oud that is no longer as cheesy and fermented as the first batches I smelt earlier. 🌹🪵Here, the oud has become almost medicinal and smoky, like an oriental bakhoor blended with incense, amber and the noblest Mysore sandalwood. The fact that the composition has become less barnyard and less skanky makes the fragrance less evolutionary, more linear, but much more versatile and easy to wear at the same time, even in a closed environment, if you know how to play with the number of sprays. No more than 3 small sprays, otherwise it’s a disaster and you risk choking yourself or annoying those around you.😅 It’s really one of the most powerful perfumes I’ve ever worn and even after 6 hours on my skin, which generally absorbs perfumes quickly, it continued to diffuse and run like a marathon runner. I don’t think you can do better than this composition in the oud field of niche perfumery, but having said that, I still have to explore brands such as Elegantes London or artisanal perfumery with brands such as Areej le dore, Ensar Oud, Jinx, Jinkoh Store and other brands whose names I still don’t know.😊 9/10 in my book.📓📝

I love oud fragrances and especially rose-oud's. I have never really smelled anything quite like this. Once I put my nose on it (I have a 2 ml sample, not a bottle), it didn't remind me of anything I have tried before. Granted, this is very expensive as well as hyped (rightly so?), and I am still a very novice nose. I may be falling victim to the hype. Maybe I wouldn't love it so much had I never seen any reviews, etc. But I do love this. I probably have never smelled anything with this quality of oud in it, which is a part of it. Very cheesy and fecal in the opening (which was amazing). Dries down well over a few hours to a very wearable fragrance (meaning you don't need to worry about the top oud notes offending anyone). I would certainly wear this to an office, out in the evening, etc. I applied it around 5 p.m., and when I woke up the next morning, I could still smell it on my arm. It is unisex to me, not leaning in either direction. If you love oud and rose, you owe it yourself to at least try a sample. You won't be disappointed. 10/10.

Why so much hate? Because of the high price? I have sampled probably up to a hundred and probably more creations that beared the golden OUD spell, and still, most of them failed to touch me. Even some of the most expensive and luxurious. There's this boring tune that you keep hearing and it bothers you in all of them. It's when you notice that all pop songs are written on the same tunes. It's about those, that are failing to try to be an individual while copying others. As a creative person myself, I can state that it is a painful and visceral process of creating art that you believe yourself in. And it comes in a hight price for you. But then, it begins to live a life of it's own. The night is a true genius of Ropion to me. He nails those thorns and pettals perfecly. And he has proved himself. I only wish I could some day afford of actually having a bottle. But the experience is of a cost of nebula of stars. Round, visceral, animalistic, dirty, gritty animal, that reveals ilself as an angelic soul.

This is very beautiful if you’re into the funk. Off the top, that’s all you get but the dry down takes a nice turn when the rose starts to shine. I love it, and am happy to have it in my collection. But I don’t find myself reaching for it very often. I smell the cap more than I’ve worn it, just to be reminded that “oh, this is beautiful, but I don’t want to wear this today”. I don’t think it’s worth the price tag, but it’s definitely quality. It’s not at all similar to Montale Aoud Cuir D’Arabie as others have stated. Not even close. There’s definitely something very unique and special about this one. I also don’t really get the comparisons between this and POAL. Of course, some of the notes are similar, but there’s no ignoring the oud here. It’s based around it for sure, and is constant the whole time. They’re both beautiful, respectively, but to my nose, they’re two different ballparks. At half the price, this would be a must have, but for what it’s worth....it’s not worth it.

First when I smelled it I was like: Girl, that's smells like actual manure :D But after a year I gave it another try and whooaaa, this shit is soo good!!! You kinda just need to let it sit on your skin for about 20-30 minutes so this fecal strong note will fade out and you are getting the most gorgeous masculine rose scent you ever smelled. It's like a Portrait of a Lady but for men. Lovely-lovely. However, there is a huge dissapointment: it doesn't have a big sillage. Like projections is around 20-50 cm. What??? I really don't understand people saying it's a nuclear bomb... For my nose and nose of my freinds The Moon and Promise are much stronger. Promise in particular so strong that people could feel my presence in the night club from 3-5 metres :D Like for 1400$ I'm expecting the fragnance to be noticeble at least. May be this is just my skin... Overall I would defenitely get it anyway if the price would not be so extra-high