Une Nuit Magnetique

I’ve got this sneaking suspicion that when Hermes hired the great Christine Nagel as Jean-Claude Ellena’s successor for the in-house perfumer position, they asked her “could you make us Une Nuit but... just... lesser?” And then Twilly was born. The “tuberose” of Twilly and how it’s presented to us is strikingly familiar, and, of course, the whole of Nuit (and Twilly) smells like Nagel’s style in spades. An experienced perfume connoisseur could easily guess Nuit is a Nagel composition. There’s the ginger at the top. Check. The tuberose in the middle. Check. Milky, peppery, sandalwood at the base. Check. But, these notes are properly flanked, unlike in Twilly, with a supporting cast that creates a beautiful, harmonic, choral ensemble versus the crude and vulgar rock-n-roll of Twilly. The ginger at the top is given bergamot and a quick shot of blue fruit as costars. The bergamot and the ginger together do much to pull out the greenness and hesperidic qualities of the floral heart, while the blue fruit rounds it out and gives it missing depth in addition to a pleasant non-cloying sweetness, all if only for a few moments. The tuberose of the heart is given its favorite long-time and historical costars of jasmine and rose. They accentuate the white and red floral qualities, with jasmine doing duel duty of keeping proceedings from going too far down the creamy and sweet route with its indoles. The final dry down is sublime. As opposed to a straight shot into sandalwood like in Twilly, sandalwood has benzoin, patchouli, and musks at its back. The benzoin keeps the base rounded and sweet in an airy and breathable manner. The patchouli gives it a gentle earthy depth. The musks keep it light and fresh. Every title star and supporting character know their roles in this film, and hit their cues every time. As with all Nagel compositions, there is a density and elasticity to everything, the texture of cling film, but it’s always transparent, always lightweight, and easily maneuverable. In my opinion, this is one of the best perfumes she’s composed. This is the modern feminine fruity-floral-woody perfume that adult women will want to wear, not the teenage girl plonk hogging our retail perfume counter space; elegant, sophisticated, sufficiently complex whilst being simplistically beautiful, loud enough to be noticed but quiet enough to never be perceived as screaming, and it doesn’t sillage like biochemical warfare. As its name suggests, it’s magnetic.

I find this so special and beautiful. It has a disarming and precious, feminine character. I can't overstate how much the blueberry is such a head-quirking surprise while the white florals are fresh and sensual, absolutely enchanting, and slightly musky for the first three hours and powerfully so after the 4+ hour dry down. The base notes read warm (amber-musk) and blend very, very smoothly and roundly beneath the blueberry florals stationed at the top. Something about this communicates a shy bravery.Tthe sheerly oriental base informs you that it isn't your "florals-floral"; I know that as someone who dislikes floral-dominant scents, somewhat because of their boneless and accessible connotation, Une Nuit Magnetique speaks to my desire to enchant through vulnerability. Its sweetness is apparent, but in more of a fresh, true, juicy way rather than a sugared, overripe, or gourmand, making it the perfect middle ground between solicitously sweet and too reserved. Sheer, fresh, and robust. I think it is a decidedly feminine scent and has an excellent 8-hour wear time with very workable projection. The "creative young woman who doesn't wear fragrances to impress goes on a first date" type energy. I'm the last person to be impressed by a white floral, but this captures a character so loveable I can't help but embrace it!

This is marvelous--the best blueberry perfume I have ever smelled. The perfume is rather linear on me, which is fine since I loved it right from the start. I am so impressed that I could smell blueberry strongly all the way to the end! I would describe this perfume as juicy blueberry jam, just the right sweetness, with a nice woody/benzoin base. Not nearly sweet enough to be a gourmand nor immature scent. The florals are abstract; they are there somewhere in the background. Ginger seems a bit strange here. It is earthy and dry, more like jatamansi (spikenard) or ginseng, which helps cut any sweetness from the blueberry. Seems strange to mix this earthy element with blueberry, but the end result speaks for itself. It's fantastic! It is also very feminine, a little flirtatious. Sillage is just right. It wafts up to my nose from my wrists all day long without bombarding those around me. Lasts easily 12+hours. This is a beauty!

My current crush. I tried it for the first time more than an year ago, and it was love at first smell. I was searching for a nice tuberose (I'm in love with this flower, but most of the tuberose based scent I tried turned acidic on my skin after 15 minutes), and the lady shown this. I simply had to buy it. Smells like heaven, intense and intoxicating but not too strong. It's sensuous and complicated, pleasant and different. The tuberose is nicely tangled with the deep scent of benzoin. The plum gives it some gourmand taste. Fall- winter fragrance, it warms you with its unique balance I think of this as "my perfume".

May have tried this because Luca Turin gave it a bunch of stars in his book even though I’m usually not a fan of florals. Turns out there’s enough ambery backbone in this to keep things interesting. The blueberry top note in this is great - addictive, fun, and fruity without feeling too twee. For someone whose usual wardrobe is amber resin patchouli and woods this is the perfect summer weight perfume. Une nuit magnetique is substantial without feeling heavy, with excellent longevity and sillage. My skin eats up most perfumes plus I typically under spray, but this one has gotten me several compliments!