Top Notes 
Galbanum
Orange blossom
Bergamot
Lemon
Mandarin orange
Orange
Heart Notes 
Aldehydes
Iris
Vanilla
Narcissus
Base Notes 
Oakmoss
Musk
Orris root
Spices
Sandalwood
Jones
22 Reviews
Jones
Top Review
12
Vol de Nuit Eau de Toilette by Guerlain
This is the ultimate balsamic green oriental chypre. It opens up with a fleeting note of bergamot, the same stinky grade of bergamot used in Jicky and Shalimar, but it is gone before your brain even registers it properly. Then, the greenness comes. Let me be clear about this type of greenness. It is not green as in the sappy, spring green of scents such as Le Temps d'Une Fete, or sharp and citric as in Cristalle. It will not put a spring in your step or keep you awake. It is not a shot of vitamins to your arm. The galbanum here is not used to create that ice-picky sharpness and unfriendliness you get in the opening of Chanel No. 19. Rather, it is the homely smell of winter greens simmered long and slow on the stove. It is the gray-blue green of the shadow cast by an oak tree in the middle of a forest. It is all softness and collapsing warmth. Oakmoss adds character, but it is not the inky, bitter blackness that provides other chypres with their backbone - here it is a sprinkling of woodiness and salt in the gentle green.
The heart is a shimmering accord built mainly out of narcissus absolute, specifically the jonquil type, or common daffodil. The smell is earthy, green-gold, and slightly animalic. The jonquil is supported by a smattering of aldehydes, just enough to provide a subtle lift to the general earthiness, and a sprinkle of spices (I would guess a gentle warming spice such as nutmeg or clove). Interestingly, the narcissus absolute itself can throw out little shoots of what feels like jasmine and hyacinth. It is not an overwhelmingly floral smell, to be honest. Vol de Nuit is always quite earthy, mulchy, brown leaf green and gently spicy/woody.
What's more, despite the small shifts in tone owing to the jonquil absolute, Vol de Nuit remains essentially the same from top to bottom - a gentle, earthy green balsamic fragrance. It doesn't evolve much. I see what Luca Turin means when he says that Vol de Nuit is a somewhat boneless fragrance, because it seems to be entirely composed of heart and base notes, all of which rise to your nose pretty much at the same time. The chypre dressings here are either too brief (the fleeting bergamot) or too soft (the gentle use of galbanum and oakmoss) to provide much of the traditional iron rod backing to the fragrance. This is a positive, to my nose - the inky bitterness of traditional chypres is not missed here. But is it an oriental? I am not entirely sure of its oriental credentials either, to be honest - the supposed vanilic amber and sandalwood in the base is not at evident to my nose at all.
Anyway, enough about the notes. I don't want to miss the woods for the trees. The moving parts of Vol de Nuit don't matter, it's the total effect and feel that's important. This fragrance, out of all the great Guerlains, is the most "me". It is not as challenging or as shape-shifting as Mitsouko, but it is nonetheless complex. It is not as sweet or as smoky as Shalimar, but it is still sexy in its own earthy way. It is outdoorsy and natural, but at the same time, impossibly grand. It is gently green-grey, calming, grounding - almost motherly in its embrace - and therefore acts an a magic elixir on frazzled nerves. It feels ancient and modern at the same time, both co-existing with everyday activities and zoning out the white noise of life. I love it and don't ever want to be without it. I have small samples of the EDT and the parfum, which is use layered with each other for body and longevity, and I plan to get larger decants when I run out.
The heart is a shimmering accord built mainly out of narcissus absolute, specifically the jonquil type, or common daffodil. The smell is earthy, green-gold, and slightly animalic. The jonquil is supported by a smattering of aldehydes, just enough to provide a subtle lift to the general earthiness, and a sprinkle of spices (I would guess a gentle warming spice such as nutmeg or clove). Interestingly, the narcissus absolute itself can throw out little shoots of what feels like jasmine and hyacinth. It is not an overwhelmingly floral smell, to be honest. Vol de Nuit is always quite earthy, mulchy, brown leaf green and gently spicy/woody.
What's more, despite the small shifts in tone owing to the jonquil absolute, Vol de Nuit remains essentially the same from top to bottom - a gentle, earthy green balsamic fragrance. It doesn't evolve much. I see what Luca Turin means when he says that Vol de Nuit is a somewhat boneless fragrance, because it seems to be entirely composed of heart and base notes, all of which rise to your nose pretty much at the same time. The chypre dressings here are either too brief (the fleeting bergamot) or too soft (the gentle use of galbanum and oakmoss) to provide much of the traditional iron rod backing to the fragrance. This is a positive, to my nose - the inky bitterness of traditional chypres is not missed here. But is it an oriental? I am not entirely sure of its oriental credentials either, to be honest - the supposed vanilic amber and sandalwood in the base is not at evident to my nose at all.
Anyway, enough about the notes. I don't want to miss the woods for the trees. The moving parts of Vol de Nuit don't matter, it's the total effect and feel that's important. This fragrance, out of all the great Guerlains, is the most "me". It is not as challenging or as shape-shifting as Mitsouko, but it is nonetheless complex. It is not as sweet or as smoky as Shalimar, but it is still sexy in its own earthy way. It is outdoorsy and natural, but at the same time, impossibly grand. It is gently green-grey, calming, grounding - almost motherly in its embrace - and therefore acts an a magic elixir on frazzled nerves. It feels ancient and modern at the same time, both co-existing with everyday activities and zoning out the white noise of life. I love it and don't ever want to be without it. I have small samples of the EDT and the parfum, which is use layered with each other for body and longevity, and I plan to get larger decants when I run out.
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