TL;DR Yesterday evening, I stopped by a ZARA store to smell the new collection of Alberto Morilla: Four Interpretations of the Oud. And then I came across this new release in the women's Series 1. Its magical spice concoction bewitched and puzzled me so much that I bought it while waiting to study and evaluate better the Morillas' ones. When I got home, I realised it was the same perfume as "Sand Desert At Sunset | Zara" with the same notes, release, and evolution side by side, but the berries. This thing got me down, not for the scent, which is adorable, but for the deception right away. Stupid me, who caught up in my enthusiasm, didn't realise I owned an identical perfume. ZARA has done it again: package change, name change, same smell. If you have the other, this is redundant, a backup. For your convenience, I have copied the review of Sand Desert At Sunset. It's precisely the same, with Nocturnal Life replacing Sand Desert At Sunset. If you have already read that review, you can skip this one.
Nocturnal Life unisex bombshell is a delicious blend of boozy, spicy, woody, and gourmand accords. It starts with a robust woody combination with an equally powerful alcoholic arrangement. Aged wood and spirit. If you've ever visited a cellar that produces ancient spirits, the smell that permeates the air combines the alcoholic liquid and the old wood of the casks. I get an unmentionable liqueur note mixed with the wood smoke and roasted tonka from the bottom. This initial aroma is not new to me, and I seem to remember a similar one in the #Tobacco Collection - Rich/Warm/Addictive perfume. After testing and wearing it several times, with the weather announcing the arrival of autumn, I noticed some colours I had missed the first time. A honeyed and smoky accord brings to mind a brownish honey made from tobacco flowers. It is not the classic smell of aromatic pipe tobacco, but as I said, tobacco honey, just as we can find chestnut, acacia, or eucalyptus honey. It's terrific and also very nice to smell.
The heart of Nocturnal Life is a full gourmand accord that smells like cinnamon dough. Vanilla, tonka bean, and cinnamon form a delicious sticky dough accord. It's like cinnamon cookies, apple pie, and any mouth-watering dessert with cinnamon powder. We have vanilla and cinnamon, which form a warm and rich amber. A caramel accent like that of dulce de leche is more evident than chocolate. These sweet and gourmand elements gradually push back the cinnamon, creating a better balance. Smoky and resinous touches of incense mix with spices, making the heart slightly smoky but not clerical.
As the scent develops, the sweetness remains constant, but the cinnamon fades, allowing some more woody underlying accords to emerge – cedar, perhaps, but definitely a light creamy sandalwood-like component. They work well with sweetness while also adding a slight dryness. There are also some powdery aspects. The iris is noticeable without prevailing. It's buttery and powdery but not the centre of attention like in Dior Homme Original (2011) EAU DE TOILETTE or L'Homme Intense. Here, it serves to recreate the sand of the desert dunes.
Aged spirit, spiced cinnamon, and roasted tonka show brilliantly in Nocturnal Life. This is a genuinely exceptional scent, a superbly ripe gourmand that balances liqueur and spice notes with a subtle woodiness to keep the vanilla and chocolate from seeming almost cloying or overpowering and undermining the scent. Some people might find the contrast a little sweet and too sharp for them. However, it's not one of the sweetest alcoholic scents I've ever smelled, nor is it too chocolaty, gourmand, or nutty. Even after a few days, what remains on the blotter is a hint of woody, boozy tobacco, similar to a moment of relaxation with a pipe and a good glass of barrel-aged spirit.
ZARA added this item to the Chapter No. 1 series and released it at the end of August, so the fragrance goes perfectly with the cold weather of the autumn and winter months. The result is an intoxicating fragrance with a woody background. The richness of its warm spices, intense resins, and smoked woods make it unsuitable for spring warmth or torrid summer heat. The duration and projection are below average, but it holds up well for an evening or a night. For the day and for work, it is dense and intense. An excellent and unexpected surprise.
I am basing my review on a bottle I have owned since August 2023 (BC32130.
-Elysium
Elysium
KiikiKiiki
