Beauty Night Words

The allure of the after-dark, the hypnotic pull of its mysterious, moonlit nature, has long been a source of inspiration for perfumers in their quest to capture the heart of the night. Infusing rich and heady elements of ambers, woods, vanillas, animalic and night-blooming florals, through a bolder base and a deep, unfurling dry-down, nocturnal olfactic tales are spun.

A more sensual scent-scape, designed to slowly unravel on the skin as the night unfolds, these are fragrances that play big to their base notes – the lighter top and middle notes taking a more translucent role. For deeper, longer-wearing scents, perfumer Kilian Hennessy shares of his eponymous brand, By Kilian: “I wanted to go back to the old way of writing perfume. In order to achieve that I worked a lot with woods, resins, vanillas, animalic notes – notes that really allowed the perfume to stay on your skin.” He adds: “If you close your eyes and you really think about it, you feel like you’re enveloping yourself in a second skin.”

Playing into the notion of fragrance wardrobing – a scent to suit different occasions and needs – while you may prefer your signature scent for day, opting for a night scent to take you into the after-hours is key to dressing your look with extra intrigue. For this, Camille Goutal, perfumer at  Annick Goutal, explains: “Noir notes evoke the night and its mysteries to me – a perfume that is deep with woods or ambers, with vanilla for femininity and musk for allure.”

The fading light, the heat of spices and woods, the decadent textures of darkness, the nuances of a city abuzz with la Nuit, discover our edit of enticing fragrances to envelop you into the midnight hours and beyond…