Une Nuit à Doha Stéphane Humbert Lucas 2014

A sonorous name, an opulently decorated bottle, a lush and captivating fragrance opening. Images for a story come rushing in. But thoughts quickly come to a halt.

An undeniably beautiful beginning: A hint of mild citrus fruit, the hardly describable scent of fennel, the similar anise aroma may also be involved. I imagine a trace of tea. But it’s all a brief guest appearance, everything evaporates within fifteen minutes and makes way for a caramel-toffee-like immortelle. Although the ginger - which I would have fumbled around with for a while without announcement - gives it a certain fruity kick, there can be no doubt about the main focus. Fortunately, the vanilla is only placed in one of the back rows. The alternative would have definitely been too much.

That went by too quickly. Immortelle. Hmm. After some reflection, I feel reminded of L’Homme Sage by Divine. I recently gifted my last sample of it; I couldn’t have guessed I would want to make a comparison so soon. The straw flower is, in hindsight, more prominently featured in L’Homme Sage than I realized back then, with barely three-quarters of a year of fragrance experience.

In the meantime, it’s easier to see, and I simply expected more from Une Nuit à Doha. I don’t even want to emphasize that my associations, given the name, are different. That’s obviously a given. However, I believe Une Nuit à Doha should have simply risen above the level of a straightforward almost-gourmand after such a promising opening and, given its self-imposed ambition, must have done so. L’Homme Sage is indeed significantly more intricate and varied. At least we should concede that Mr. Lucas does not go as outrageously all-in with this work price-wise as we know him to do with some of his other perfumes.

By late morning, the fragrance is pulled a bit out of the gourmand corner with the addition of tobacco (and perhaps a hint of smoke?). However, this occurs as a chamber play, meaning: hardly anyone other than the wearer will notice. And by the sixth hour, Une Nuit à Doha is already gradually retreating. The only good thing about it is that the tobacco does not completely follow this retreat and thus stands out relatively speaking. Of course, this does not eliminate the sweet-pasty overall impression. For a complete character shift, the time would have already advanced too far anyway. As a final positive point, it should be noted that the vanilla remains quite well restrained. Because until the end, around the tenth or eleventh hour, a counterweight of immortelle and tobacco remains.

Conclusion: The fragrance is decent, and it is certainly very nice for fans of this semi-gourmand direction. However, I find it - not least considering the still ambitiously named price - disappointingly one-dimensional. I’m curious to hear what others think who have a clearer memory of L’Homme Sage or know Sables by Annick Goutal better than I do.

I thank MisterE for the sample.