A Midnight Stroll

A Midnight Stroll is one of many excellent fragrances in Gucci's upmarket Alchemist's Garden collection. This fragrance is, as has been noted below, a fairly straightforward leather incense composition, but it is brilliant in its simplicity. Cade and birch tar combine with a spice and incense blend to produce a classic leather accord that smells very high quality (as well it should at this price point) and has good longevity and projection. As the scent reaches its deep drydown, it is grounded by a cedar-esq aromachemical that lingers for a very considerable time on my skin keeping the leathery aroma alive. This fragrance is simply one of the very best incense-forward scents available today. Whether you, like me, decide that A Midnight Stroll is worth the high asking price is, or course, entirely up to you, but if you do decide to buy this fragrance, you will encounter one of the best presentations out there. The vintage apothecary style bottle with its painted logo is pure class and everything else about the way this product is delivered to the customer, from the box to the atomizer and even the bag (if you get it from Gucci) is clearly intended to make you feel good about parting with the asking price. I love this fragrance and look forward to the cool weather for which it is best suited so that I can wear it again regularly. The scent is masculine leaning, but could easily be worn by anyone regardless of how they identify. This fragrance is OK for work, but really impressed me as a great choice for an autumn night out. Try to sample A Midnight Stroll if you can. If you are a fan of leather/incense scents, I bet you'll love it as much as I do.

Originally got this and it was very, very smokey, to the point of not being able to perceive any other notes. After mellowing for a while, the smoke definitely settles a little and moves out of the way for other notes to be "heard". This one is fairly linear, the opening brings equal parts smoke, incense, and camphor, right from the get-go, while the same chord is played all throughout, the base (bass, heh) fir-needle note, becomes more and more prominent, as the smoke gently fades into a soft, mellow tone. The fragrance is very, very dry (not sweet) and extremely smooth and elegant. As for how beautiful this scent is? Maximum points. It's addictive, rich and almost intoxicating. When I wore this I felt like I was wearing something sexy, and mysterious. It *screams* autumn. It also just *smells* expensive and like very fine perfumery to me. Unfortunately, this scent also falls into the category of things that I think smell fantastic, but have very restricted wearability. The total lack of sweetness, and strong smokiness make it very much a limited-context sort of frag. It is also too linear and one-dimensional for my liking. I wish there was more to it; more going on. For the price, I don't think it's too much to ask. But I get it, for what it is - it's unquestionably great. For my personal tastes though, I like something dynamic and complex; again, especially with this price tag. Conclusion: Fine perfumery, intoxicating, addictive scent, definitely will wear it at times throughout this time of the year, but wish there was more going on in this bottle o' juice. Scent is 9.5/10. Over all 8.5/10.

I continue to be seriously impressed by this collection from Gucci, it has no right to be so good. I think I need to give Gucci a break and forgive them for that horrible period they spent in the fragrance wilderness in the late noughties until recently, because before that and since they’ve produced some excellent iconic fragrances. I need to stop typecasting Morillas too as this, ubiquitous, designer freshie, journeyman, because there’s so much more to his repertoire and Midnight stroll is yet another example of that. This is a Smokey cade/birch tar affair but used affectionately to create a leather accord in the traditional sense. I found it incredibly smooth and deep when smelling for the first time from one of those little bell/closh things on the Gucci counter. Genuinely a leather type fragrance with a unique look and one I’ve never smelled before. Upon wearing it on skin and experiencing the top notes it actually has even more intrigue in that it has fresh aspects, totally different to the drydown. I need to wear it properly and I will update this review, but I was even tempted to purchase, even at the outrageous prices Gucci want for this line. I accept that the packaging is beautiful and they are competing with other designer ‘exclusive’ lines of a similar price bracket, but these are still more expensive than Dior & Chanel and I find that hard to get by in the same way I do with Creed or similar brands.

A Midnight Stroll Gucci 첫 향은 굉장히 강한 아로마틱 인센스 향이 치고 들어온다. 팔로산토 인센스 스틱을 피웠을때 나는 향과 굉장히 유사하다. 시간이 지나면 향 자체는 약해지지만, 트레일 변화는 크지 않다. 인센스 향은 가라앉고, 아로마틱 우디향이 남는다. 미드나잇 스트롤이라는 네이밍이 굉장히 매력적이고 잘 지었다고 느껴지며, 바틀의 색상과도 정말 잘 어울린다. 아토마이저도 굉장히 좋아서 분사력이 좋아, 뿌릴때마다 기분이 좋아진다. 인센스의 느낌은 디올의 브와 탈리스만과 닮았으나 미드나잇 스트롤이 더 강하다. 디올은 좀 더 각설탕의 단맛이 추가되어 부드럽다. 마치 어둑어둑하고, 엄청 미스테리한 숲속을 정처없이 떠도는 느낌이 연상된다. 그렇게 떠돌다가 발견한 한채의 오두막에서는 열심히 장작을 태우고 있다. 나도 모르게 그 오두막으로 발길을 옮기게 된다. The opening hits hard with intensely aromatic incense — remarkably close to the scent of burning a palo santo stick. As time passes, the intensity itself fades, but the trail doesn’t shift much in character. The incense settles, leaving an aromatic woody base behind. The name “Midnight Stroll” feels brilliantly chosen, and it pairs beautifully with the bottle’s color. The atomizer also deserves praise — the spray is strong and satisfying, making every application feel good. The incense character bears a resemblance to Dior’s Bois Talisman, though Midnight Stroll comes through stronger; Dior leans softer, rounded out by a touch of sugar-cube sweetness. It conjures the image of wandering aimlessly through a dark, mysterious forest — and in the midst of that wandering, stumbling upon a small cabin where a fire crackles steadily. Without quite meaning to, your feet carry you toward it.

A Midnight Stroll is my first try of Gucci’s collection The Alchemist’s Garden and is a lovely dark blend of incense, cypress, and cedar, so it fittingly is incense-dominant but leans wood as well. It’s dark and smooth, reminiscent in execution of By Kilian Incense Oud but fittingly with more incense and less oud. It’s not quite as ashy as Profumum Roma Olibanum—which I usually regard as one of the best incense-dominant fragrances in the market—so it’s an even smoother, slightly more mainstream/designer-esque incense-heavy mix that is nonetheless very wearable and fairly enjoyable, without much bite in the opening. It performs pretty well overall, and in the US, is sold via the Gucci website and the department stores Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom, and its retailing pricing is $330 for 100ml. Also, I usually don’t gawk over bottle design the look of The Alchemist’ Garden’s bottles, most even more colorful than the black of A Midnight Stroll, are lovely. Overall, A Midnight Stroll is great, and would certainly be made better by a lower price point, so I’d be curious to see if it’s available anywhere on the secondary market, and I’ll have to seek out some others in The Alchemist’s Garden. 8 out of 10