Lumière Garçon

can we even call this a dupe at this point? luminous night was a limited edition mostly released for the middle east and now that it is discontinued the only way to get it is to pay outrageous ebay prices of 300 euro+. it's the replacement! ever since i had my sample of luminous night i fell in love with the unique presentation of dates and incense. it sparked within me an insatiable thirst to find a quality juice similar to it lol. look up dates + incense + amber on fragnatica, it's such a unexplored note combination. i know fragrance world released a dupe for LN already with a hilarious bootleg lookin bottle. didn't hear much good things about the scent aswell. i couldn't stand the shameless copying of the bottle so i skipped it. however this? to my surprise the presentation was so out there compared to many designer + niche fragrance costing over 150+. no joke. the outside box was a very big wood square. and then there was another box inside with difficult to remove felt paper covering a sturdy white wooden textured box. in layed with more blue felt on the inside where the fragrance sits. the bottle itself has an interesting glass shape and the cap is also wrapped in felt. it's hilariously big for how light it weights. it feels flimsy and not secure, do not trust it.. its a nightmare. i will give it props for actually trying to make it presentable this time! IT LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING OIL FILTER LOL ok now to the fragrance along side a sample of luminous nights. this exceeded my expectation. it is a much smoother much more based out version of luminous night. no im serious. i know ppl often say like ''ah this dupe is like 80-90% similar''. scrap that. it's literally an improved, smoother and based out version. here are the main differences side by side: - the opening is more pepper forwarded instead of balanced with bergamot. the basil/bergamot is still there. just a slightly more pepperd opening compared to LN. Its a preference difference. - once it settles a very prominent, smooth, almost buttery sweet date note shows up. combined with a much more easily to pick up hazy sage and a hint rosey/green geranium becoming a sort of ''soapy bubblegum'' accord for me. in LN the dates is obviously there too but theres much more of it here. even tho both are quite linear, lumiere garcon is the superior blend. - the main thing that sets it apart fully is the enhanced incense. its right there with the dates from start to finish. the base is obviously much more rounded compared to LN with a warmer sticky amber combined with an very middle eastern style incense smoke on top of a masculine textured sandalwood. there 100% is some unlisted tonka bean here cuz im getting a very almondy creaminess that's not present in LN. most likely put in there in effort for more base. i can tell right away this will last longer as i did 3 sprays on myself it wraps me around a nice inviting cozy scent blanket. this just has way more lift but its not like explosive... i had fears about it cuz thats often what the middle eastern dupes houses seem to aim for. this didn't do that, surprisingly effervescent with a better silage and better longevity. this is genuinely improved and screams quality. at this point i'd call it an original creation since LN is inaccessible for most people and the scent profile was already rare to begin with. even if you had the money, it'd be foolish to buy LN over this. I got it for nearly 50 + shipping in europe. just haven't found many stores that sell it yet. i hope this one gets the love and recognition it deserves. from just walking around the house with it, i already got my first genuine compliment from my sister. saying that ''i smell like a rich arabian business man'' lol my search for a middle eastern smokey dates scent has finally came to an end! peace out.

WOWZAS! Okay this stuff smells unique and amazing, and I have no idea what is going on with it lol. Never smelled luminous night, but this one is incredible. Not sure how the performance is going to be, but off the jump it smells like sweet incensie pencil shavings in a way that is so awesome I can't possibly describe it properly. I'll try to dive deeper at some point, but off the jump, I will tell you that this does get my mushroom stamp HUGE time, especially if you can find it for a good price, because as I understand, it is supposed to be a cheapie. Punching way over its weight, though, for the price it normally goes for right now. Even if you have to pay a little over normal, this stuff is a blind scoop for sure. A FEW HOURS LATER AND AFTER A LITTLE NAP: After my little nap (lol) I expected nothing on my arm as with almost every scent, which this was similar, but the remaining sweetness was ambery and not bubblegummy which is a GREAT sign with a cheaper fragrance, because some tend that way. As far as respraying after a shower and letting it develop, it is even more incredible than I thought originally. I guess the pencil shavings vibe I'm getting is the incense which is so smooth and works so nicely in this perfume. As it dries down, the fruit takes a back seat a little and it becomes a little more masculine, but it doesn't vanish all together. The incense comes up front, but it doesn't get out of control at all. This stuff is just so nicely balanced, and what a brilliant and beautiful smelling combination and composition. I hear it is more incense-heavy than Luminous, and I feel it is oh so slightly dominant, I don't think incense is overdone in the fragrance. The best comparison I can make is Gucci Intense Oud in the way it smells like pencil shavings, but GIO is distinctly dryer and floral in its composition, where LG is fruity (dates are the perfect choice) with an underlying sweetness that keeps it balanced and pleasant throughout. This is such an interesting one. I wouldn't say it's an outright no-go for the office or something, as long as you're careful about your sprays, but it is definitely composed with evening and dates (not the fruit) in mind. I recommend everyone just buy it lol (if you can spare 35 bucks for a gamble). When I bought it online last week, the only place I could find it was BestBrandsPerfume and I got their last 2, but today I looked to buy another couple bottles and it seems like it's everywhere suddenly for as low as like $35US on FragranceBuyCA. I would recommend everyone give it a shot, and at worst, you'll have a cool, unique banger on your hands to sample whenever you want. Consider it nose education. I'm buying a bunch because it's not really possible to go wrong at this price right now. One of the top 2 or 3 bang per buck fragrance buys I've ever seen in my life. Maybe number 1.

Wow! Almost exact clone of Luminous Night. I'm a big fan of the whole The One line and Luminous was the only one I wasn't able to get a full bottle of, but this is pretty much exactly the same as my decant. It obviously won't be for everyone, and I think you have to take reviews of (even minor ones) hyped fragrances with a grain of salt - a lot of people have never stepped outside of the designer realm, then see a YouTuber recommend something like this, blind buy it and are immediately disappointed because it's not fresh/blue/sweet. This is exactly as some others have described it. Lightly herbal with prominent basil and softer sage, unsweetened dates, a fair bit of incense on dry sandalwood (not creamy like in Santal 33 etc) sitting on top of The One DNA. It's legitimately great but obviously a niche fragrance with middle-eastern leaning - and dry sandalwood can be notoriously 'dusty' when you shove your nose into it, which probably puts other people off. Not every scent is meant to have your face pressed against it... If you do that with this or say, Overture Man, you're not experiencing the scent as other people do or even as you will throughout a wearing. Slightly an aside about the brand, but not enough people are talking about the bottle itself. It looked weird in photos but in real life it's beautiful. The design calls to several other brands (last generation Bulgari, Floraiku, etc) and the bottle is HEAVY glass - it feels like a piece of weaponry in your hand. I bought several FW and French Avenue releases back in 2021/2022 and their presentation has improved significantly since then. They've switched to metal instead of plastic and are using heavier, better quality glass. Even their dupe of Oajan feels *exactly* like the original PDM with the heavy metal bottle. I've also noticed the performance has improved, as they were once infamous for having scents that fade in under an hour. Really impressed. Finally, "maceration" is a weird myth that for some reason continues to be propagated in the fragrance community. What people are actually referring to is 'maturation', and it doesn't have nearly the effect that some people like to pretend it does. It's totally inexplicable why not one knowledgeable person has come forward to correct the terminology.

I haven't had the opportunity to get my nose on D&G's The One Luminous Night, so I purchased this as it's the first high quality direct attempt at a clone from French Avenue which is Fragrance World's premier line up. If this is indeed a close clone of the original, I can clearly see why they chose to name it Luminous Night, because the opening is exactly that! Vibrant, luminous, bright while still indeed being heavily sweetened by the date accord used. That's what makes this fragrance, and most likely the one that it is cloning, so very appealing to the masses. The little bit of bite from the herbal tones combined with the pepper make it feel almost effervescent upon application. But there's no confusing this as a fresher fragrance, and that's thanks to a base heavily anchored in amber accords, labdanum and resins along with the slight hint of roughness and the smoke toned hues that the incense gives it from early-mid to full-dry down. Overall this stuff is honestly Very high end designer/Elixir or even lower end niche both in the quality of the packaging and more importantly the quality of the juice!!! Any well known brand out there could release this in the $200 price range without any issues considering the quality, performance and profile of this particular fragrance, and I think I like what these Middle Eastern houses are doing for the market. I hope they continue to make it more competitive and bring quality and performance up to a higher standard. As a clone alone I can't comment as I haven't smelled the original, but if you want a very sexy, mass appealing and luminous night time oriented frag, then look no further!!!

So, I'll start this story with how in love I am with The One EDP from DG, but found the performance severely lacking, so my quest for a similar, sweet/ambery fragrance started. DG got REALLY close with The One Parfum but still thought something was missing. Now, I'm not going to say, "this is The One EDP but better" – I reckon this is more of a Middle Eastern twist on that fragrance. BUT OH BOY, THE AMBER NOTE ON THIS THING IS INTOXICATING. Even better than the OG IMHO. Think of it like this: The One EDP with a maxed out amber note due to the dates (it is NOT a standalone date note; its sole purpose is to amplify the amber) AND replace the tobacco with the smokiness from the incense. Oh man, am I loving this fragrance. The opening, as others have said, is kind of herbal/citrusy, but it immediately fades away, giving the spotlight to the stars of the show (the amber, dates, incense). This fragrance evokes a sense of "addictive calmness." Truly a captivating experience if you love amber-centered fragrances. Just a word of warning: you SHOULD NEVER smell this up close – like nostrils-skin close – because it WILL give you an awkward/funky smell. This fragrance is meant to be enjoyed in the air (at least 2cm from skin), a task at which it completely excels. If you do so, the experience is nothing short of divine.