Nuit d’Issey

Issey Miyake Nuit D’Issey Men EDT opens true to its notes. The opening brings a mix of mostly citrus and dark notes. The grapefruit is more noticeable than the bergamot, both create a fresh citrus accord that combines well with the dark notes. The leather, woodsy notes, ebony tree, and incense create a fantastic dark curtain that contrasts with the citrus notes. The black pepper and other spices seem to favor and enhance the dark notes, but the tonka bean comes to create a softly sweet, and aromatic tone that softens the dark nature of this fragrance. The vetiver and patchouli add a sharp green accord which blends well with the rest of the notes. As the fragrance dries down, the opening notes subside to half of its original power, they become just a whiff to counterbalance a fragrance that now, is mostly a dark scent. Also, the initial strong projection drops very quickly becoming moderate to low projecting fragrance. Once Issey Miyake Nuit D’Issey Men EDT has reached is full dry-down, it can be summarized as a moderate projecting, incense, dark woods, leather, and spicy fragrance, with green and soft citrus accords. The fragrance feels bold, classy, commanding, dark, dry, exotic, formal, imposing, masculine, mature, mysterious, nocturnal, refined, smoky, and very pleasant. BATCH REVIEWED: 2020 WOW RATING: 10/10. The opening is very impressive, the initial contrast of citrus and dark notes is great. DISLIKE RATING: 6/10. Some people will find offensive the dark notes. UNIQUENESS: 8/10. Relatively unique, dark fragrances are not that common in the designer domain, they are more commonly found in the niche domain. MASS APPEAL: 3/10. Enjoying a fragrance like this requires an appreciation for dark, leathery, and incense notes, this is not a mass appeal fragrance. PROJECTION: 2/10. Low, the fragrance opens with moderate to high projection but it drops by the minute. SILLAGE: 3/10. Low, the fragrance has little sillage. APPLICATION: Six atomizations to improve performance. LONGEVITY: 3/10. About three hours. longevity and projection could be better. SEASONS: Fall, winter, and colder nights. OCCASIONS: Formal, outdoor gatherings, and clubbing. VERSATILITY: 3/10. Limited. GENDER: Masculine. Most of the tones are masculine. AGES: 30 and above. RECOMMENDATION: This is an affordable fragrance that delivers dark accords yet, they are pleasant. Although this is a fragrance that requires an appreciation for dark notes, and its performance could be better, the cost/value is high. This is a good buy. BLIND-BUY: No, sample it first. SIMILAR: There are lots of options to consider. Here are some examples. Amouage Interlude Man EDP is the darkest fragrance of this house; Amouage Memoir Men EDP is a more wearable dark fragrance with stronger green tones, and outstanding performance; Chanel Les Exclusifs – Sycomore EDP, this is a “church” type of fragrance of high quality and moderate performance; John Varvatos Dark Rebel Rider, from the designer world, this fragrance is dark with incense, tobacco and leather notes, but moderate to low performance; similarly, John Varvatos Dark Rebel brings to the table woody, leathery, tobacco, spices, and boozy notes, same as it counterpart and other John Varvatos fragrances, performance and longevity are poor; Louis Vuitton Ombre Nomade EDP is a fantastic dark, incense, masculine fragrance but with low performance; Bvlgari Man In Black Men EDP by Bvlgari is one of the best designer’s leather fragrances, but lacks longevity; Mercedes-Benz Club Black Men EDT By Mercedes-Benz is an office-friendly incense, and leather fragrance. SUMMARY: A moderate projecting, incense, dark woods, leather, and spicy fragrance, with green and soft citrus accords. The fragrance feels bold, classy, commanding, dark, dry, exotic, formal, imposing, masculine, mature, mysterious, nocturnal, refined, smoky, and very pleasant.

This was one of the better purchases I made last year and I tried and bought quite a lot so it really says something as I kept putting this off. The only disappointment I've had from Issey Miyake was the L'eau d'issey sport due to the really bad performance. With the current 2 still for sale here's a comparison I would have "killed" for. To know last year. EDT - imagine terre d'hermes (edt) and drakkar noir were put in a blender. A spicy and sour grapefruit opening, being in a dark forest that it rained the previous day where there's wet soil on your shoes. This is old school, you've got to like stuff such as polo green, the dry down of paco rabanne pour homme (1973) where it stops being soapy and similar to enjoy this. This doesn't smell dated at all. If I was to give this one a color. A very dark green. Parfum - this went in a slightly youthful direction. Though this isn't a clubbing fragrance. There's a strong leather, a pink pepper that sparkles and it's got this coolness to your nose. Side by side this has VERY little to do with the EDT. It's quite unique smelling so if you want something different than everyone around you, try this. Performance is comparable to the EDT so nothing significantly higher. Color wise if I had to pick one for this too. A very dark blue. Back to the EDT. This one is the most quietest of the 3 mentioned. I find myself putting about 6 to 10 sprays on. This starts with this sweet and sour citrusy opening. The spices combine it to give it complexity and there's a ton of depth to this scent. Grapefruit is what you'll smell start to finish. It gives it this sweet, almost bitter citrus profile, reminiscent of Terre D'Hermes EDT if they ever did a night time version. As this dries down you get nuances of dark soil and wet forest like scents as well as a tiny bit of powderiness but due to everything else in this fragrance this doesn't get boring. Almost coca cola like in the base.I found this to be classy, a modern take on 70s and 80s era fragrances. Age wise anyone can pull this off. Just know you're not getting a sugary sweet clubbing fragrance, a gourmand like one million or a blue shower gel like fragrance. It's office safe, I grew up wearing Drakkar Noir in high school, it was an old fragrance when I wore it. Yet I'd still wear that and if this was around back then I'd wear this too. You'll like this if you like Guy Laroche - Drakkar Noir - the dark forest aspect of it Hermes - Terre D'Hermes - EDT - the citrus top notes mostly Ralph Lauren - Polo Green Paco Rabanne - Pour Homme (1973) - if you love the dry down but don't care for the opening this is for you.

This version didn’t receive the same prefix of its predecessors, but is part of the famous line of fragrances that has begun with L'Eau D'Issey, in 1994. In fact, this is the only criticism that I do, since it could be perfectly called L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme Nuit. Apart from that, only compliments. The manufacturer says that the concept of the fragrance is a ray of light in the darkness of the night. Nuit D’Issey has notes of bergamot and grapefruit, in the output; Black pepper, leather, vetiver, exotic spices and woody accord, in the heart; Patchouli, frankincense, tonka bean and ebony wood, in the base. On my skin, it didn't behave as a variation of the original cologne, but as one of its versions: L'Eau D'Issey Intense. And I was not surprised about that, since the latter also features bergamot, spices and incense in its composition. The biggest difference is in the presence of tonka bean, which gives an almondy and sensual aroma, kind of creamy, during the evolution. The heart of the fragrance lingers for hours, with a more versatile aura, which I attribute to the use of pepper and leather, which is almost raw. However, at the same time, it's not the same leather of niche fragrances, with dry aspect. The projection and the lasting are fantastic. On my skin, even after 10 hours of use, kept yielding praise. And I was not feeling the projection anymore, because of the olfactory fatigue. But, as far as I can tell, it just kept exuding. Honestly, I was amazed to read several negative comments about this scent. That’s okay if it sounds as biased praise, since I'm a fan of L'Eau D'Issey Intense and, as I said, they have a connection. Besides, it's not a very different cologne than has been already seen. On the contrary, it can remember some fragrances from the 80’s and 90’s, within the woody families. Anyway, I loved it! And I can tell you: don't be fooled by the name or the concept of a nocturnal fragrance. It fits very well in those days when you need a scent that cross the afternoon and stay alive until the end of the night. Not to fail to mention, the bottle kept the visual identity of the line, in dark color. If you look the bottle against the light, it features a gradient from dark-gray to black. For me, it deserves 10 stars!

This is such an underrated fragrance from a generally under rated house. I have a very large collection of fragrances ranging from cheapies, to high end niche scents but no matter what, I always find myself coming back to this fragrance again and again. I think Issey were 'inspired' by Blue de Chanel when composing this fragrance as it shares two very prominent notes, grapefruit and incense. However, it replaces the woods in the base of Blue de Chanel with leather here. For me this fragrance is all about these three notes which stand out about all the others clearly. The opening is dominated by a sharp (yes, synthetic) but generally really nice grapefruit note sitting on top of the smoky incense, leather and spices After 10 mins the grapefruit drops back (although is still present throughout the mid) and the incense and leather take center stage. I own many of the newer flankers of this fragrance including Pulse of the Night and Noir Argent and IMO the incense in here is much better than in PotN (although no where near as good as in Issey Or Encens which is an incense punch in the face and smells incredible). The mid lasts about 2 hours In the final few hours of the fragrance the black leather, ebony and incense are what is left on your skin until about the 6 hour mark when the frag is more or less spent. You can pick this up for £25 - £30 these days and IMO you absolutely should! It's a great evening scent which performs well and is such a nice change from all the overly sweet mainstream designers others around you will be rocking. This is dark and mysterious and all the muggles around you who aren't die hard frag heads will really like this smell. P.S. I do personally (marginally) prefer the Purfum version which I also own. The performance is about the same but the grapefruit is dialed back in that one and the emphasis is much more on the incense and leather, which are even more prominent. Personally I think both of the OGs are much better than Pulse of the Night and Noir Argent. The pick of the line however, is Or Encens and Noir Ambre if you can get hold of them.

So ironic that the overall rating is low but most of the actual reviews are positive. I kind of get it though. This one is unabashedly masculine and mature, so those under 35 who are hoping for a sweet clubber or even a flanker to the citrus-forward L'eau d'Issey aren't going to upvote this. It isn't a big crowd pleasing designer, but it isn't shishi enough for the niche club, so the target audience is small. If you took one part Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, one part Encre Noir a L'Extreme and one part Bentley for Men Intense, you would get the same effect (if not the same exact smell). This is a fougere at heart, but it wears a few outfits throughout the day. It opens with citrus and aromatics, moves into spicy territory with oakmoss, artemesia and a clovey/carnation accord. Some time later, a moderate but excellent vetiver note steps in with a touch of shaving cream and some woods, but the former elements don't go away, they just step back. Bits of incense, sandalwood, smoke and leather flit in and out along the way. This is some complex, evolving, somewhat challenging juice, and the wearer must have some confidence in your own masculinity to pull this off. This is good for bosses at work, and for mature men in long-term relationships. It rocks in a power suit or a leather jacket. Great for outdoor use, on a motorcycle ride or an al fresco restaurant or music event. If you love fougeres, this is a no brainer. If you like masculine scents that blend old school powerhouse accords with darker, softer, more modern elements, this is probably a winner for you. A final word: Most of the negative comments below talk about how synthetic this smells, or how poorly it performs. I disagree with both views. With 7 sprays on chest and shirt, you can smell this the next day. And compared with niches like BR540 and Tobacco Vanille, this one smells like the elements are hand-picked from the forest floor.