Fantôme De La Nuit

Prin Lomros is still one of the noses I eagerly follow up with. However, it’s been a long time since I felt the need to add another of his creations to my collection. More often than not, I sense he is reshuffling the same old DNA into his new projects. This issue permeates the artisanal scene and makes things rather uneventful for me. With a past order, I decided to try most of his creations that I skipped. I hoped something might catch my nose. I added Fantôme de la Nuit to the stack of samples without looking at the notes. The name intrigued me, and I told myself, “With a name like that, it’s bound to be dark and mischievous.” I was expecting something animalistic and not safe for public wear. Therefore, blindly, I dipped the blotter inside the sample vial and sniffed. Puzzled. What is this?! I checked to see if I got the right sample. I did. It didn’t smell anything like the name implied. This was not dark and animalistic. Instead, it was a bright, warm late summer day in the countryside, right before dusk, when the sky turns rusty-red. The agrestic smell took me by surprise. It was spicy, green, aromatic, and brimming with dry herbs. As it continued to develop, I thought of an outdoor kitchen with a rustic design, made from bricks and wood, fueled by a large wood-fired oven. Steel pots simmer with various kinds of farmed crops, loads of vegetables, and fresh herbs. The smell of sun-warmed hay fills the air while a sheep or two wander around. It smells like a “savory-agrestic” perfume. From what I have tried over the years, I think this is a first. After waking up from my brief bucolic wanderings, I looked at the notes. By then, I had completely forgotten that the perfume was called “Fantôme de la Nuit,” so I double-checked its name. Everything cleared up inside my head. Fantôme de la Nuit is rather unique, and if I were to draw any parallel, it would be to Haxan, to a lesser extent. However, the latter walks more into a fougere direction, whereas the former is a proper agrestic. Moreover, the way the savory nuances shine throughout the fragrance’s development makes for another unique element. I keep going on about these piquant elements in Fantôme de la Nuit without mentioning them. To my nose, it’s primarily the fennel and the cumin. Now, I am no stranger to Lomros’ fixation with cumin (maybe that’s why we get along so well), but I did not fathom he could handle fennel equally well. Now, Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) has a highly multifaceted scent profile, and it is generally used in perfumery either as sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare dulce) or as bitter/common fennel (Foeniculum vulgare vulgare). Antonio Gardoni uses the former expertly in several of his perfumes, while here, Prin has put the latter to great use. It exudes a scent that straddles the lines between bitter, camphoraceous, aniseed, and even onion-like. And of course, it pairs brilliantly with the second savory element used, cumin. The fennel is immediately noticeable as soon as you spray the fragrance, while the cumin takes its time to get through. The lavender and the mushroom are also present in the beginning, but fade away quickly. Aside from the piquant notes, the other major ones to my nose are the hay, oakmoss, and immortelle, in that order. The immortelle imbues a slightly sweet, maple-like brown glaze over the perfume’s structure (just like the sun setting over the horizon with the coming of dusk), while the hay (and the liatris) provide a powdery vanillic sweetness thanks to their naturally high levels of coumarin. The oakmoss helps ground everything and bring some balance with its inky-bitter facets. I wish the goat hair tincture had revealed itself more, but I believe it works its magic toward the late dry-down, offering a milky-sweet and creamy texture to the base. Overall, the general feel of the fragrance is: dry, herbaceous, warm, slightly sweet, with the constant presence of the savory pair of fennel and cumin. In my book, this is a highly evocative agrestic composition, with some unique touches, making it worthwhile for fans of Prin’s work and bucolic perfume enthusiasts alike. IG:@memory.of.scents

Super green herbal and strong; the animalic notes are blended extremely well. I enjoy it a lot but it can be quite sharp on the nose for me personally, I get lots of hay, fennel and goat hair, it creates an incredibly immersive dark forest/farm smell. Prin Lomros truly is a master of his work. In terms of wearability it’s not incredibly offensive but I can’t imagine many occasions where you would wear Fantome (maybe a serial killer farmer on Halloween or late night star gazing on a bed of hay). Obviously the price point for the 30ml is a lot but considering the quality of materials etc, it’s pretty worth it - a scent to savor. Definitely consider this when trying his work (don’t blind buy unless you are familiar with his work).

This shares some similarities with Haxan, Fantom is less green and vegetal, more to the hay direction or letsay more french version of Haxan. It turns lot more masculine on my skin in comparsion to Haxan, which seems to be more feminine in comparsion to Fantom. The opening got also some earthy/smokey nuances. Typical Prin creation, french fougere twist on Prins jungle creation. I like it hows it light on the top but also deep masculine at the bottom. Its dry scent. Its interesting ride, but probably not exactly what im looking for.