La Nuit Trésor

Let me paint you a little picture for this one. It's a cold afternoon in December and you are getting ready for a night out. You take a long hot bath with your delicious smelling face mask and soak up the relaxing atmosphere. Afterwards you paint your nails a dark colour, while in your black satin and lace bathrobe. It's getting darker and all the Christmas lights give off a warm and cosy vibe. You put on your makeup and do your hair and choose a dress. It's a burgundy coloured satin dress, with a deep neckline and tied together at the waist. As it's a very cold night you put on black opaque tights as well and reach for your black lace up pointy toe high heeled boots. You look in the mirror and think to yourself that you look just the right amount of witchy, sexy and seductive. But. You need to smell accordingly. You look over to your vanity. What would suit tonight and this look well? You need something deep, spicy, a little sweet and mysterious. Something that will shine in cold weather and is big enough to have you stand out in a crowd. But not something loud and brass. Something smooth but bold. You pick up the beautiful diamond shaped bottle and instantly know that nothing else will do tonight. Sweet incense wrapped up in patchouli and praline, with delicious caramel and vanilla lending support on the side. And deep in the heart of it are dark and velvety roses. Sugary roses. You spray it on and feel like the whole ensemble came together. You feel sexy and you are ready to go out and devour the night. You put on your velvety soft faux fur jacket, black leather gloves and and your bag, top up your lip gloss and run out the door. Outside the cold greets you but you are comfortably enveloped in your warm jacket and perfume. It starts to snow and the whole place becomes magical. Golden fairy lights, the smell of roasted almonds, people with their Christmas shopping and distant music. You smile and get smiles back. You feel good. You can't wait to get to the restaurant where you're meeting your girlfriends, to enjoy a dinner by the fireplace that will be filled with laughter, naughty stories and heavenly treats. You take a deep breath and smell the frost in the air mingled with La Nuit Tresor. Perfect, you think to yourself. Just perfect. You step off the curb and walk into the crowd next to the Christmas tree. This will be a good night and you know it. That was my little story. Thanks for reading.

For me, this is a “wow” perfume. I had slept on this for years, partially because although I do own the original Trésor (bought at an extreme discount when a store went out of business), I am not its biggest fan. I was at the Macy’s Lancôme counter and happened to test this perfume, amongst others. Soon after I sprayed it, I smelled the most divine woody note (almost like a cedar plank) amidst the gourmand notes. Although I have a massive perfume collection, I hadn’t smelled such a clear and obvious note like this since my old favorite, Begin by Nikki Taylor, was discontinued. (To be clear, these two scents are quite different, but this obvious wood note is the through line.) I told the lady at the counter that I was very intrigued by the woody note, and she was like, “That one’s not woody.” She told me that Idôle Power was woody, and indeed it was (has sandalwood) but that wasn’t the one I was smelling. She did talk me into buying a discounted holiday set of Idôle Power, but I knew I had to get my hands on La Nuit Trésor somehow. I ended up finding it on FragranceNet with a coupon for much less. When I sprayed my new bottle at home, at first I noticed it smelled a lot like La Vie est Belle L’Extrait, which I also own - just without the iris note. However, as I’ve let it develop, it takes on its own personality as the woody note shines through. I wouldn’t say this is a safe blind buy, but I love it for that reason. It’s a sophisticated yet cozy powerhouse.

There are some moments in life that feel ordinary while you are living them, but as time passes, you look back and realize they were actually some of your best moments. This perfume ended up being exactly like that for me. Last year, I bought it as a blind buy. I thought it was beautiful, but at the time I was still chasing other fragrances and thinking I might find something even better, so I eventually let it go. Over the past month, I found myself thinking about this fragrance constantly. I even tried to fill that sense of longing by smelling La Nuit Tresor Rouge Drama, but it was not quite the same. In the end, I gave in and bought it again. The opening brings a delicious pear supported by red fruits. Rather than standing out individually, the fruits blend together beautifully as part of the composition. As it moves into the heart, a smoky, darker, and incredibly captivating rose starts to shine. The coffee here is not sweet like in Black Opium. Instead, it feels deeper and more intense, staying in the background while supporting the rose and incense. This is a fragrance with a memorable and distinctive character. Performance is impressive as well, with over 10 hours of longevity on clothes and a projection that easily gets noticed. If you enjoy fragrances with personality and a lasting impression, this one is absolutely worth trying. For me, it became one of those scents whose true value I only understood with time.

This is the best perfume I’ve purchased all year. This is the most beastmode designer fragrance I own. I have to wash it off my skin for it to go away and my skin eats up most fragrances. I found it at a discount vendor through Walmart for 1/2 the price after testing it in Macy’s. The sales woman at Macys was like a vulture trying to get me to spend $162 on it, but no Maam I will not pay the ridiculous department store prices no matter how wonderful a scent is. At first spray I knew right away I loved the fragrance. Smelling the dry down 8 HOURS later is what sealed the deal for me and made me purchase. This is a deep, sexy, chocolatey , Smokey, sweet fragrance not for the weak. This is a bit mature but not “granny”. It has the typical lancome fragrance aura about it. This is for the girls who cannot enjoy la vie est belle no matter how much they try to convince themselves they do (me). This is much more up my alley and I’m so glad I got a big bottle. This will be my signature scent for fall and winter and my go to date night fragrance for sure. I’m wearing it on a 70 degree day and it isn’t cloying or suffocating at all. I’d have no problem wearing this any time any season honestly. This is a win for me. Just don’t overspray as you may offend someone that way as it is very strong very quick. 3-4 max. I am addicted to this! Longevity: 10 Projection: 10

Praises, praises, praises, almost a decade of wearing this as my signature and it still doesn't get old. LNT is an absolutely delicious blend of sweet fruit nectars (on me the litchi, pear, and a couli-like strawberry notes are prominent) with a quiet, powdery pink floral that dries down to a box of cool, chilled overnight caramel praline; to be eaten in a room warmed up by a crackling fireplace. Supposedly it has a dark incense side to it, but I never find that darkness anywhere (only to the degree of the fireplace room earlier, courtesy to the papyrus note) — instead a demure rose (and oddly, lavender-ish?) hugs the entirety of the fruit nectars as they bloom and make way for the praline to melt on the skin. It's very well blended that the transition feels as if it's not there. But there *is* a genuine difference between smelling the perfume fresh from the bottle, and how it lasts after wearing. On skin it smells sweeter, vanillic, and more round, on fabric or paper the edge of the papyrus and patchouli are more noticeable. In hot weather it blooms faster and fruitier, in cold weather it becomes more mellow and lovely. It also lasts for ages despite heavy activities and the smell lingers for days on your clothes. Plus point on the theatrics of the diamond-shaped bottle (per my husband's comment), it just looks gorgeous being put on the nightstand.