Nuit de Cellophane

Be that as it may, the magnificent Nuit de Cellophane bursts with bright lights through the plastic wrapping that might have kept it sealed away forever, to offer itself to our won-over noses.

Nuit de Cellophane: a light jasmine mandarin for a fragrance offered… to everyone?

Since the brilliant and acclaimed Féminité du Bois in 1992, Lutens was automatically classified as the creator of a perfumery apart, outside marketing studies and trends, outside time and scents calculated to please the greatest number. Does this “niche” perfumery suffice for this great artist? With Nuit de Cellophane, it would seem not.

Of course Lutens enjoys creating fragrances off the beaten path of classic perfumery, yet to have him settle into any given classification, even among the unclassifiable, seems mistaken. For at bottom, Lutens does what he wants, when he wants — that is the whole genius of great artists!

But I do not place myself within Perfumery… even now, I feel like an outsider. What I do is a story, an expression, in a moment, which is necessary to me. That will come through in my fragrance, but without any intention of adapting or pleasing. Serge Lutens.

So, whatever devotees of fragrances reserved for confirmed “Lutenistes” may think, this time Nuit de Cellophane steps into the light, its scent unfolding for everyone as a luminous, sun-kissed bouquet of flowers, for whoever cares to come and smell it.

Aside from the riddle of its name, a knowing nod to florists’ bouquets, Nuit de Cellophane holds nothing enigmatic; it opens like a flower in springtime for curious noses.

Nuit de Cellophane: a verdant, luminous floral signed Lutens

For this Nuit de Cellophane, it is apricot brought to light by osmanthus that plays the starring role of the fragrance. Naturally, the pretty bottle, designed with the sobriety favored by the Lutens house, takes on orange and apricot tints, at once silky, velvety and light, like the apricot one bites into.

This deep floral jasmine Nuit de Cellophane opens on green, fruity notes where myrrh and mandarin play their sweet tonic qualities, filling us with fresh gourmand sweetness. Then the heart reveals itself in a magnificent bouquet of flowers unwrapping from its cellophane thanks to apricot-tinted osmanthus and bitter almond, together creating candied facets that illuminate the lilies, carnations and precious jasmines. To perfect this intense, gourmand floral light, honey and white musks appear as base notes, better enveloping the precious bouquet in sweetness.

Nuit de Cellophane is a fragrance easy to love and easy to tame. Luminous, sun-kissed, gourmand and thoroughly floral, on a hot summer day, it points the way to freshness. Lutens brilliantly demonstrates that he is not only the perfumed painter of shadow but also of an intense halo.