Tuesday, January 11, 2011

L'Artisan Nuit De Tubereuse


I was fairly excited to try L'Artisan's Nuit de Tubereuse because I've always loved Tuberose and it had some favorable reviews. I've never worn or even thought of wearing a tuberose based perfume because I've never seen myself as a floral person and they tend to be the kind of perfumes (that is, those with a floral core) which bother me eventually. There is something a little remarkable about this one.

According to my best open minded opinion, Nuit De Tubereuse opens with an initial blast of floriental tuberose (as one would expect), but almost instantaneously I caught something round and denser like tonka bean. There was a note perhaps more powerful than anything else that I couldn't put my finger on till about mid day when I was so certain there was a gourmand element hidden...well not so much hidden....lemongrass! Maybe not what L'Artisan had in mind, but it's sure very present to me. It's really what makes the scent for me too. I sat in my Art History lecture staring at Fragonard's "The Secret Meeting". Two procelaine like figures, lovers, convening as the day grew thin in a dreamlike landscape of swollen pale pink blossoms. It seemed like maybe a conincidence, but I feel like that painting was embodying a little bit of Nuit de Tubereuse and even more a coincidence that we immediatly went on to talk about Chinoiserie.


Here I think is the best way I can describe Nuit de Tubereuse. One who is familiar with Chinoiserie will know that it usually specifically pertains to oriental artwork and porcelaine craft adopted by Western society (particularly France). The two realms combine to create something inherently exotic but also elevated by ornate Rococo flourishes and European elegance. I've always been fascinated by Orientalism because of my roots as a half asian half european mix. The concept seemed like the embodiment of my own personal culture.

Nuit de Tubereuse takes the raw, elemental, exotic energies of tuberose and lemongrass, and adds a significant touch of tonka bean, an animalic musk, clove, cardamom, with a strong backdrop of tobacco to elevate two realms of scent that are, to me, both equally present in the perfume. It's curious, seductive, and very likeable at the same time. Soemthing primal, something sophisticated. In addition, I think this is one of those scents which plays upon the psyche a little. I began to notice the animalic musk around the same moments when I was drifiting into my reverie about two lovers in a secret meeting...perhaps it was really only then that the scent saw its full potential. I think some of the best perfumes do this to us, and I'm hoping I'm not the only one.

I actually wore Piper Nigrum the day before I tried out Nuit de Tubereuse and Piper Nigrum was an instant hit for me...though unexplainably, I wasn't moved yet to write about it in the same way I am with Nuit de Tubereuse.

Most descriptions of the perfume boast of orange blossom and black and pink peppers but I could smell none to speak of today. Perhaps another day?

Cheers

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