Fleur Nocturne Isabey 2009

"... come a little with me, because it's worth it. For during the day, the sun shines and in the evening, the moon shines!"
This catchy tune takes us back to the sixties of the last century.
Back then, Italy was the dreamland of the Germans; vehicles were backed up towards the Brenner: VW Beetles, various Opels of the better-off, and countless caravans.
Everyone wanted to go to the "land where the lemons bloom".
Those who stayed at home, unable to afford this vacation, received postcards with beautiful descriptions like "guesthouse and shore seen from the sea" and after the vacation, wonderful details about their stay at Lake Garda or the Adriatic, where campsites and family pensions sprang up like mushrooms.
Even my grandpa traveled with the "housewives' association," of which he was the secretary, by bus to Ritz-zi-one, as he called it. (However, he missed Eisbein with sauerkraut there, and the beer didn't taste good either.)

So "Fleur Nocturne" also leads me down this road into the past.
Our protagonist, not yet twenty years old, lived with her parents in a small palace on the estate of the Conte di ...
Since her father, due to the economic miracle, no longer wanted to be called a craftsman but an entrepreneur, the parents were interested in utilizing every connection "to better circles".
So she ended up here in the park-like garden right by Lake Garda, whose beauty impressed her little.
She was too young to appreciate all the beauty around her and didn't want to be here.
She would much rather have gone swimming in the forest lake with her clique from her hometown; would have shown off her new two-piece swimsuit - called a bikini - and would have secretly giggled with her friends in the ice cream parlor while sneaking glances at the boys, and in the evening would have gone dancing somewhere in the neighborhood with Fred on his scooter.
But even Fred was no longer "good enough" for her parents: he had completed his apprenticeship as a car mechanic, had a steady job, and even owned a used scooter - but none of that mattered!
The parents had their own plans: she hardly saw her father anymore, and her mother was busy with bridge afternoons, attending fashion shows, and other superficial conversations.
What mattered now was that "one was seen".
What was important here was that she pleased the son of the house, thus establishing a connection to the Conte's family.

As she put on the bright summer dress with the large colorful flowers on the wide flared skirt, she thought of the evening that lay ahead of her.
The white leather handbag and the pretty sandals completed her summer look.
Just in case, she reached for the white chiffon scarf; not to drape it around her shoulders shyly as her mother thought, but to protect her stylishly styled blonde hair during the ride in the convertible.
Her parents would not like the outing at all: their daughter, their almost certain entry into "higher circles," was meeting a young man they did not know and about whom they knew nothing.
But she had been infatuated with him since they met while strolling along the promenade.
Knowing her parents' thoughts well, she told them she would spend the evening with other "daughters from good families" whom she had met while playing tennis.

The blossom branch of the apricot she wore in her hair, together with the ripeness of the two fruits he had gifted her at the beginning of the ride, formed a summery-fruity scent composition. For the slightly sparkling sour mandarin and the sweet white peach tempted her to discover and enjoy them. Only the fear of juice stains on her beautiful dress prevented her from biting into them right away.
The night was warm and filled with fragrance: the white jasmine had awakened and released its heavy aroma, into which the more delicate magnolia and the noble gardenia harmoniously blended.
A southern night, like those from the travel descriptions she had read out of sheer boredom.
Their ride led along the lake, and a summery scent web was created by the gentle wind.
Her elegant companion, whom she shyly glanced at from the side again and again, was surrounded, as always, by an exotic, slightly erotic aura: patchouli!
One of the chambermaids in the big house had explained this to her after she encountered this aroma again during a tour in one of the rooms: in a bedroom, she had come across his very own scent.
For a moment, she became thoughtful; but the excitement over all the foreign and beautiful things overshadowed her quickly flashing thoughts, and she forgot what she had briefly touched upon.
Surely this scent belonged to many of the dapper and elegant gentlemen here by the lake. Why not also to the son of the Conte?
In the meantime, they had reached the small bar with the intimate dance floor right by the lake: idyllically situated under trees, the balmy night united all its fruit and flower aromas here at his side with the warm vanilla aroma that the lanterns on the tables exuded.
Thus, the sensual flair of a southern night was created, as it appears in dreams.
Of course, she no longer thought of Fred and his scooter.
But she froze when the waiter, who had politely led them to the table, said: "Buona Notte, Conte di ..."
Was the charming stranger, whom she liked so much, the man her father would love to set her up with?

"Fleur Nocturne" initially seems a little old-fashioned; very gentle and is a beautiful scent composition for very feminine, summery elegant women.
It reminds one in its fruity floral splendor of swaying flower dresses that want to be worn for dancing on balmy nights.
Quite soft, yet not shy, but noticeably created for the transition from day to dream; as the name also reveals.
The scent progression harmonizes wonderfully with the above-average longevity; it becomes an ever lighter whisper without changing unpleasantly.

The sample of "Fleur Nocturne" that was entrusted to me will stay with me until the summer nights once again entice to dance. Even if smart counts are not often found around here.
But maybe while wearing "Fleur Nocturne," I will meet a frog waiting for its transformation.
With this romantic and fairy-tale-like scent, everything seems possible.