La Nuit

Oh my La Nuit! Why do the best fragrances are the ones getting discontinued?! My quest for La Nuit started with my love for skank and the quest for something stronger than Kouros. Even though Kouros stands out even today, not only among masculine fumes, but as a chypre, it's not what it used to be. I have memories from my childhood of men smelling of Kouros and it has definitely been castrated. The essence is there but it has had its voice muted. I prefer the memory of what once was... So the idea of La Nuit intrigued me until I finally found a vintage (the only formulation known to me, as it was discontinued soon after it's launch) edp, sealed, 100ml, ready to come home with me. I don't recall Tabu, though I'm sure that as a child I must have smelt it, but La Nuit fits the description of a powerful animalic. The opening blast is a full on rich civet, covered in real oakmoss, along with a touch of honey to further dirtify things up, just how I like my animalics. For the first hour or so the sillage is huge, embracing me in a warm furry way and making me swoon until it settles down a bit letting the indolic jasmine and rose take center stage for a while, before settling in a leathery muskiness. The animal has growled, and now even though it still makes its presence known, it murmurs, never shouts, unless you lean closer. Civet is up front from beginning to end, which on my skin is about 12 hours. This fiery animal has some similarities to Bandit mainly from the leather-oakmoss-civet trinity, but where Bandit is a cold hearted dominatrix, La Nuit is a warm, skin-on-fire wild cat begging to be caressed. Highly sensual, it evokes thoughts of desire, lust, erotica... One of the best animalic chypres I have ever tried, and one which I will definitely use without moderation, as I don't believe such a torrid love afair should be kept secret. Still easily available on ebay, if you love perfumes of yore and the sensuality of a REAL perfume, don't miss out the chance to try it, it's a breathtaking perfume!

When She was wearing. " No Perfume "... This scent was and will always remain my absolute fav...Sadly missed by it's unavailability in stores here... La Nuit and I were several bottles into an affair that lasted from the first bottle which was purchased by my father as a gift to myself, back in the days when we all lived together in this townhouse on the periphery of town, way back in the 80's. A perfect fragrance for perfect chemistry one which is particularly imprinted upon my memories, a time when I could detect my lovers sleeping environs once riddled quite delightfully of my perfume. Yes 'La Nuit' is not just a fragrance. It is in fact a perfume. A perfume filled with Joshee kisses and many intimate fun filled evenings. Patti Smith's 'Because The Night "comes to mind here. This is Paco's luscious patchouli, not dirty, not cheap, A honeyed linear experience which lasted and lasted.... I even took a sickie from teaching to go to a special member only Diamaru shopping experience, no longer in Melbourne, to purchase the runout's and sister products, lotions and body creams and dusting powders along with several large EDP wedge shaped flacon's. My oh my! What a spree? My credit card really took a battering even at clearance prices way back then. I know this daring, bold and sensual fragrance was not for everyone, as I to date have not met anyone in person who wore this. This fragrance enveloped one like a magic cloak of transformation, from house wife to mistress at a spray. Yes. My affair with 'La Nuit' will forever be in my heart for all the charisma it evoked in my life. 'La Nuit' and I stuck it out for a very, very long time. Incidentally I am and always be a Paco Rabanne aficionado. The possibilities are endless with 'La Nuit'....

Last night I tried two drops from a mini I was given recently. I instantly fall in love with it and today I wanted more. It's not a proper fragrance for the office but I could not resist. Glorious, dirty, dangerous, lovely '80s chypre. Civet, rose and oakmoss in a stunning combination. Honey is also very noticeable and transforms the entire composition into a sultry blend. It's so captivating that I cannot describe it properly with words but only with a song. Oh, the night is my world City light painted girl In the day nothing matters It's the night time that flatters In the night, no control Through the wall something's breaking Wearing white as you're walkin' Down the street of my soul You take my self, you take my self control You got me livin' only for the night Before the morning comes, the story's told You take my self, you take my self control Another night, another day goes by I never stop myself to wonder why You help me to forget to play my role You take my self, you take my self control I, I live among the creatures of the night I haven't got the will to try and fight Against a new tomorrow, so I guess I'll just believe it That tomorrow never comes A safe night, I'm living in the forest of my dream I know the night is not as it would seem I must believe in something, so I'll make myself believe it That this night will never go Laura Branigan "Self Control" 1984

-"You should't have missed the party last night chap!" -"Why dude?" -"Cause you lost the chance to feast your eyes on the most stunning woman you'll probably ever see." -"Really?" -"Aye mate! She had the most breathtaking angles on her face and the most bewitching curves below it. And she did knew how to play and throw every single one of them!" -"Gee man! Why didn't you give me a ring?" -"Cause after she stormed the room, everyone forgot there was a world outside it." -"Sounds like she did smelled some blood, huh?" -"Smelled you said? Her scent buddy! Oh my...her scent!" -"What about it pal?" -"It was as her scarf drenched in it was wrapped around my face, taking me slowly to oblivion and rendering me incapable of uttering a single word." -"How did it smell like chum?" -"Dangerous, profane, sharp, dominant, and hollering "Dare me if you dare!" Like a feral animal's den, which despite the dangers that might lurk inside, it makes you feel an irresistible impulse to enter it. Like nobody's business!" -"Surely sounds like meaning business." -"She drunk a truckload, zeroed everyone in, smoked a carton and ripped her clothes off. Everybody, and I mean everybody, stood agape at her naked splendour!" -"And then?" -"And then she turned into a werewolf!" -"A wer..." -"And gracious sakes lad, she got even more beautiful!..."

In light of the death of the great Paco Rabanne, I rooted out some vintage miniatures from his brand. I have no great love for any modern PR perfumes, but there are several gems among the discontinued ones. None more so than La Nuit. An excellent floral chypre, it is of its era - reminiscent of bold 80s greats like Paloma Picasso. Dense and rich yet somehow airy, it is beautiful and high-quality. La Nuit is clearly a chypre from initial spray, herbal and mossy with some citric freshness. The florals follow closely, dense and powdery. Clean jasmine is initially detectable, giving way to rich, powdery rose. Honey sweetens the edges of the florals as the scent progresses, adding a nectar-like nuance to the florals. It is utterly satisfying. The mossiness in the background develops as it dries down, with a nice animalic quality adding a little edge. Dry, woody notes emerge, with trusty patchouli adding earthiness, rounding out the chypre accord. It becomes musky as it fades, mossy and slightly leathery until final fade. Sillage is strong and longevity is long-lasting. Another excellent vintage chypre, LN is nothing unusual, but is beautifully formed. Well-blended and wearable, it is unisex by today's standards. For cold weather. Excellent. 4.5/5.

This is the Chypre T-Rex of the big Chypres in the 80s. In its genre we had Paloma Picasso (more floral) Diva a honeyed rose feminine civet sexy siren, Montana - an angular sharp in your face leathered neon damascone rose, Knowing the Estee Lauder Classy Chypre of florals on a bed of oakmoss, and then the dark gothic cousin of an evolved Mitsuoko-TRex of the 80s Chypres-La Nuit. The green artemesia and bitter fruit with the aged oakmoss base lurches to the start, a fusty opening much like the opening of Mitsuoko or Parure. Your in the mossy forest at night and Magie Noire seems like the junior league compared to La Nuit. A honeyed jasmine oily rose on a bed of moss. The pepper adds an elegant spice and turns into the leather patchouli. The powdery musks and animalic civet add a growl through the formulation to add a lived in warmth. This is so out of step with 2017 sensibilities and yet, there is a richness, primal intrigue about it. You just dont put a toe in the water with La Nuit. You are all in or all out. You drench yourself in it and watch it roar and transcend into a warm fur coat meant to only be worn at night. However at my age, Id rock it in the day to shake up the joint. Guaranteed head turner. Vintage edp reviewed

I recently purchased a 30ml of EDP of "La Nuit" and now i want more! A lot more!!!! Because this is an absolute stunner to my nose! I an madly in love!!! Quite sharp in the beginning and a bit too powderly it very quickly settles down and transforms into amazingly attractive scent, one of the best-best i have ever tried! It is dirty sexy, boundaries-free, seductive, animalistic, a bit agressive and vulgar even, "Femme-fatale" like.... Everything what i really like. To me this is THE best Paco Rabanne scent ever creatued up to date! Dirty rose, leather, honey.... pure SEX indeed!! "she ́s a man-eater...." this fragrance says, but not screams. She is flirting a lot, but never crosses the line though... Very long lasting and i can ́t stop smelling myself! In one word, if you haven ́t tried it yet, don ́t even think about passing this one by! Update: so strange, but while on my skin it is a stunner, on my friends skin it smells horrible and mud like! I guess it is a chemistry thing indeed.

The downfall of Paco Rabanne might be one of the most brutal tragedies in the perfume industry, with many these days not even being aware of such masterpieces as La Nuit. This perfume calls back to many classical animalic floral-chyprés, namely Revlon’s Intimate in my view. The roar of the civet engulfs you in the opening, it is raw and piercing, sweaty and urinous and yet never feels uncontrolled. Over time, it becomes shadowy and aged, like a grand antique wardrobe filled with elegant gowns and dresses, left to gather dust after living so much life. The tactful balance between a beautiful floral bouquet, and an innately human filth is incredibly inviting. The powdered, suede-like texture of dark oak and old linens is outstandingly comforting; alluding to the warmth of a home, without hiding what would usually be kept behind closed doors. A honeyed musk and floral to be remembered, not forgotten and replaced with modern slop.

My sleep fragrance. I was 15 when this came out and it is, for me, the scent of the 1980's. La Nuit is nightclubs and ruin and moonrise and This Corrosion. It's a forest cooling as the sky turns from blue to violet to black. La Nuit is also urine and leather. I heard this described as a bucket of urine splashed on the hot sweaty backside of a horse, and that's not entirely wrong. La Nuit opens with a powdery note very reminiscent of Aqua Net hairspray, and then it deepens into honey and oak moss and civet. It's a glorious sophisticated drydown that gets better the longer it's on. It's an animalic. I know it's technically a "dark rose chypre" but the rose is very hard to find. It's a dirty honey-civet-leather addiction. I've gone through several bottles and I have several backup bottles because this is a staple for me. But-- and I hope nobody out there takes this the wrong way-- it's okay leave La Nuit to the goths of Gen X.

This EdT is a strong, musky, floral-oriental chypre that smells like it was made in the 80s - and so it was, but it’s not a big, agressive floral. It’s much softer, mossier, and muskier than the typical 80s offering. I’m a sucker for this sort of strong-but-soft perfume, so it was pretty much love at first sniff. The first thing I smelled was aldehydes, mixed florals and a mixed bouquet of musks along with the hint of a base that’s a cross between amber and oakmoss-chypre. As it dries down I smell a little of the honeyed rose and peach-plum that others describe, along with patchouli and sandalwood. At this point the sillage is gorgeous. Nothing stands out particularly, with all of it blending together beautifully to produce an amped-up version of a classic chypre. If you’re a lover of floral orientals and/or vintage chypres, it’s definitely worth a try.

Oh my god, I'm reminded of how much I loved rose chypres. I recently turned my back on the chypre pride, thinking to myself how they veer into overbearing. But of course another excellent potion and I'm back. This is Chanel Coco's cousin but built with the verdant backbone and decay. It reminds me of Paloma at the far drydown, after all they're ilk. There is judicious use of civet, honey and rose; all tempered by the moss, splendid velvet of black, green and brown. Of course, caution must be used because it's gaudy where you imagine being surrounded by brocaded red operatic curtains and gilded edges. All this delusion of grandeur whilst walking the 21st century. It's a treat in small dabs. Oh how I wish Ysatis was sculpted like this!

Honey dew animalic powdery blend. This fragrance is quite vintage and in an artistic way, it has that civit sweetened by honey, powdery with oakmoss and slight peaches, could be considered leather somehow but mostly juicy animalic and powdery. Citrus bunch, and slight roses are there too. I never thought that Paco Rabanne would create something perfect like this! i believe this should be Marilyn Monroe's fragrance, but i believe it fits "Hedy Lamarr" more, & "Col. William Tavington" character. "Maai" has nothing in common with this fragrance at all, on the other side, "Dryad" has quite big similarity with "La Nuit". "Dryad" doesn't have that honey dew, but has an extra rooty animalic added to it within it's vintage take.

My vintage edp of La Nuit is probably the most sensual perfume I own. It’s a witch’s lust potion, sexy, dark, and playful – a love letter to the natural musky odors of a woman’s body. It smells like dirty knickers dipped in honey. I mean that in the nicest possible way. It’s quite risqué, definitely not safe for work or everyday use. I have to be in the right mood to enjoy this, otherwise it doesn’t click and I can’t force it. That is, the true nature of this perfume doesn’t manifest unless I’m ready to receive it, and instead of a sex bomb I get something more akin to overripe peaches. So if you try this hoping for naughty and are disappointed, I recommend trying it again when you’re in a sexy mood. It’s worth the wait.

Finally I managed to get few drops of this gorgeous fragrance! This is as fantastic as the very first time I tried this. I was a teenager when this was launched, and my best friend got this as a gift, I can still remember where we were when I tried this the very first time. For years I've been looking for this. ( Wonder why they don't relaunch these fragrances people know allready...I quess that you could use eventually less money for the marketing also..) This felt almost too strong at first, but at the same time I couldn't get enough of this. Animalic and leathery knockout, with a light honey in the beginning. This is a truly captivating Perfume, rich, and deep, and very very Sexy. Dropdead gorgeous.

I would like to ascribe the stardust quality of this fragrance, and I am writing about the vintage edp, to it's brother "Patou pour Homme" (1980) by Jean Patou. They give me the same feeling at different places on the gendered spectrum. This is beautiful and as Barbara Herman says in her book "Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume" it's a honeyed spiced leather, also related to "Shocking" by Elsa Schiaparelli. I approach La Nuit de Rabanne as I would a diamond, with various interlocking facets which all sparkle brightly. I almost feel here in Northern Europe mid winter as if I could walk near a warm beach with hot moonlight.

Oh my, what a powerful/lovely scent this is! The day I received it I did some testing with other frags, and LN easily overpowered them all! There is a sharpness alongside all the rich aromas, and I have no idea which note is responsible for this. Lasting power and sillage are very good. LN is the kind of perfume where a little dab will do you, a spray might be too much for work or anywhere else in close quarters. The one problem I have with this fragrance is the civet, the animal note that gives LN the oomph. Does anyone know if the civet is the real thing or an artificial compound? Please PM or leave a comment here, thanks in advance.

Glorious! Must have for honey-civet combination lovers. A sister of Shocking Schiaparelli old EDC version, but Shocking's civet clouds are flowing under narcissus fields, while in La Nuit big suedy rose grows in artemisia bushes..which adds to mildly sweet fragrance slightly bitter herbaceous taste. Its still honeyed-civet world, sensual, secretive, alternative reality to modern existence. Wild Nights – Wild Nights! Were I with thee Wild Nights should be Our luxury! Futile – the winds – To a heart in port – Done with the compass – Done with the chart! Rowing in Eden – Ah, the sea! Might I moor – Tonight – In thee! Emily Dickinson

There's really not much for me to add.... Enrium and alphairone have nailed it as usual...! But I just had to say that I have a fairly large and well-curated (if I do say so myself!) collection of (mostly vintage) fragrances and this has to be in the top 5... Maybe even 3... It's absolutely stunning... Soooo animalic but not in a shocking or offensive way... It's sexy and sooo alluring... I definitely think guys can rock this so don't be shy to give it a try... I have the edp and the Parfum so I can't comment on the EDT .... 5/5 Love

The EDP is an incredible mega-chypre, a legend in its own right, ferociously rich, honeyed, animalic, and sinful. Those who appreciate the likes of Kouros, Antaeus, Furyo, and the like, must seek this out as the more floral, aromatic counterpart, brimming with oversized roses and skanky jasmine. A civet has played dirty tricks in the garden, such mischief! The most exquisite filth imaginable, decadent, unyielding (go light on the sprays!). With La Nuit, are you the hunter or are you the hunted??

I cant believe its discontinued. This is pure sexyness and sex drive, enveloping you in a feromone hormone burst. Im a man and bought a small bottle out of curiosity but Im saddened its discontinued because this is literally my favorite scent, this is exactly what I have been looking for in a scent. Its heavy but you want to cling on that smell. Its beyond gender. I cant stop sniffing my arm. Any recommendations of similar vibe scents? is there any hope they will produce this again?