Veilleur de Nuit Serge Lutens for women and men

i have owned a bottle of this for 2 years now, these are the impressions i recorded the first time i smelled VdN, which to this day stay true:
"I smelled this at Saks yesterday, and it instantly reminded me of my favourite tea "stash - christmas in paris". Before checking out the notes, I got a strong chocolate, milky white chocolate and cacao + a strong minty touch in thd opening that did NOT last for the entire wear. The dry down was a bit sweeter, if u have smelled fumerie turque, i get the same honey that's there + tuberose BUT not a bubblegummy tuberose, more a unisex tuberose more like orange blossom. Also for some reason it smells like it has tobacco, but i didn't see it on Fragrantica. I was rather surprised to discover so many animalic notes featured, it's very well-blended don't be afraid."

This entire collection from Serge Lutens is discontinued, but so amazing. The notes are Tuberose, Vetiver and Cacao please update the notes that are listed!!!

One of my most complimented fragrances.

It starts out with a dry, and to me slightly spicy/smoky chocolate. The vetiver and tuberose create interesting contrasts, I associate vetiver as more masculine, tuberose more feminine, and dark chocolate contrasts with a white, ethereal tuberose. This is before the animal notes start to wrap themselves around you. Regarding Veilleur de Nuit as a fragrance of contrasts, sometimes it can appear almost carnal in its sensuousness, at other times it seems quite cool and aloof.

If we ignore the price, the longevity is good, as long as you don't suffer from dry skin. Sillage and potency seems good too, people have smelled this from 6 feet or more.

Unfortunately it seems to be either discontinued or unavailable at this time, which makes me wonder if we will see a less expensive reformulation in the future.

This started out so beautifully that I was almost heartbroken over the price. I'm not sure if it's for better or for worse that this is such a shapeshifter, because as soon as the opening faded, so too did my regard.

This starts with a beautiful rich dark chocolate, almost decadent in how smooth it is. Chocolate from a high-end boutique, gently melting on the tongue. A true gourmand.

Then the chocolate melts away entirely and what you're left with is some vaguely sweet floral notes underscored by light musk. It barely projects, and seems so "abstract" that it appears unfocused. It's nice enough, but especially for the price, "nice enough" doesn't cut it.

Serge - please bottle just the opening to this! If it were released as part of your "normal" line-up it'd be a winner. As it is, fortunately for my wallet, I'll stick to my sample.

One of the most erotic Florientals ever made, The Night Walker is an expertly constructed scent from the venerable house of niche scents is an exercise in sheer sophistication. The perfume opens with lactonic gourmandish notes of cocoa and dark chocolate with a slight hint of civet before transitioning to heart of beautiful tuberose. The perfume settles on a bed of vetiver and musk with a slight castoreum in the background. In spite of many animalic notes this is so delicately blended that they never overpower. Feminine leaning scent with moderate projection and good longevity. The type of scent a beautiful aristocratic and sensual woman would wear to a night at the opera. Enjoy!

I was completely expecting this to be a seductive borderline raunchy fragrance due to all of the animalic notes. but I could not have been more wrong. this is a very regal classy fragrance. like something a graceful woman would wear when going to broadway to see a show while dressed in expensive furs and jewelry. my very first impression was not this though. at first it smelt beyond average. had the cheap floral/sweet scent of a dior perfume. but the dry down is where it gets amazing. it seems to start coming off more strong and some intoxicating almost dreamy notes starts to come through. this is definitely a transforming fragrance. on me though, I cant seem to notice much cacao. its a floral clean musk that has a something special added that isn't found in other perfumes. I love this but the price is wicked. im not a woman for names, im a woman for quality. if I could buy this for 1/4 of the price because the name has been taken off, and put in a generic looking bottle, i would. if i owned more of this besides a sample, it would be my daily fragrance.

Beautiful gourmand leading to "nuit" , I truly adore this perfume but 700 Canadians dollars for a bottle? Serge, do you think we are all eating with a silver spoon?

Lutens' Nightwatchman is a restless seducer. He teases you by drawing you in with intimate projection leaving behind a trail of deep and dark powdery bitter chocolate, both animalic and oily, infused with a rooty-green vegetal flavour. Is this really fleshy tuberose (or maybe rather jasmine?) emanating from the subclavian skin exposed from the black satin dress? And just before he strikes our Veilleur becomes surrounded and eventually engulfed by musk - first sensual then increasingly nebulous.

I like the abstract arty patterns of the Section d'Or range and that they invite one to use senses and imagination - sometimes telling aristocratic tales of bygone eras - cooly detached as in Renard Constrictor, opulent and extravagant as in Cracheuse de Flammes, or close up, intimate and mania-driven short stories such as VdN here. I do not think that the intent was to present a finished product that would render itself easily to typical analysis.

Equally I can understand the severe criticism Lutens/Sheldrake have received for this range in terms of concept, realisation and, of course, price point. I would not advise anyone to go and spend €600 for 50ml of Veilleur de Nuit but testing it most should - and if it does something to your head or heart in spite of its "imperfections" (in a sense akin to what listening to Chet Baker does) then it's a totally different story.

Veilleur de Nuit opens with boozy, dark chocolate on my skin. The booziness doesn't come out as deep as a really rich dark chocolate exhibits, but more high-pitched, which makes me think of the tangy liqueur hidden in the chocolate. And the chocolate doesn't feel as unctuous as milky chocolate, nor as powdery as cacao powdery, its texture is rather dry, more like dark chocolate chips.

The fragrances shifts in a very stealthy way: if I don't particularly pay attention, Veilleur de Nuit smells like dry chocolate chips for quite some time, but once I make effort to analyse the development, the chocolate is being replaced piece by piece by a discreet, abstract spicy animalic element. The fragrance eventually becomes a spicy chocolate-y scent after about 2 hours, and it feels surprisingly thin and insubstantial as a chocolate fragrance.

Once again, Veilleur de Nuit starts another sneaking transition, this time by a grape-y jasmine and white musk. The later two take over the fragrance after about 5 hours, with the spiciness and the creaminess of chocolate becoming a far cry in the background. The overall effect of this dry down, reminds me of a slightly more spicy and creamier version of La Religieuse.

The sillage is moderate to soft, and the longevity is around 8 hours. Veilleur de Nuit has its merits: I enjoy its boozy dark chocolate and its combination with spicy animalic elements, even though the jasmine and white musk dry down seems rather conventional. It it's in the export range, I would probably happily grab a bottle. But at the price range of Section d'Or, I honestly expected something more nuanced and more substantial with these notes.

Nestle Quik powder that becomes inedible when the scent of Phyto shampoo rises up and takes over. The only good I can say is that it develops very dramatically from phase to phase, like 3 completely different perfumes in one: cocoa, tuberose, and musk.