Serge Lutens' Rose de Nuit is a true creature of the night. It's what his Sa Majeste La Rose is trying to be but is too sunny and lively to achieve. Both have an animalic musk element, but in Rose de Nuit it almost gets out of control. It's also somehow sweeter, more tempting and unlike Sa Majeste, never turns sour (on me). Rose de Nuit is also wickedly dark- not exactly your average romantic Valentine's Day rosy perfume and definitely not the dewy raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens you'd find in many a popular rose scent.
Rose de Nuit has a dirty honey note, a little bit like what you find in Miel de Bois (which might explain why some find it unpalatable. I think it's more waxy, though, and a little opaque- a heavy velvet to MdB's silk, if that makes any sense. Usually when one thinks about mysterious and mystical rose perfumes you expect them to be heavy on the incense. But Serge Lutens makes them look like high school goth-wannabes. They wear all black and Robert Smith eyeliner, while the real vampires walk among us reeking of heavy musk.
The late dry-down of Rose de Nuit is surprisingly tame and gentle. It stays close to the skin and is just a sweet musk with a hint of candied rose. Dabbing makes it a lot warmer and more intimate than spraying from a decant, something I find to be true with many Lutens perfumes.
Rose de Nuit is part of Serge Lutens non-export line. You know the drill- available only in Europe and in your dreams, but the Posh Peasant and The Perfumed Court sell samples and decants in various sizes.
Photo of the wonderful Juliet Landau as Drusilla the vampire (Joss Whedon's Buffy and Angel) lfrom somewhere on the web. I lost the source ages ago.
