Amour Nocturne L'Artisan Parfumeur for women and men

Review: Amour Nocturne (L'Artisan Parfumeur)

🕑 Time Sprayed: 2:45 PM (ss: Autumn)
# of Sprays & Position: 2 pumps on my wrist

🌿 Timeline Breakdown:

2:45 PM: Beginning with a powerful burst of spicy cedar, accompanied by subtle hints of smokiness and metallic undertones. It's a bold, intense introduction that sets the stage for what's to come.

Around 2:57 PM: As time passes, a delightful surprise emerges. The spicy cedar gradually gives way to a smooth, comforting sweetness reminiscent of caramel. It's like stumbling upon an oasis in the midst of the darkness – familiar, comforting, and utterly delightful.

From 3 PM-8:14 PM: As the night wears on, Amour Nocturne gracefully begins to fade into the background, leaving behind faint traces of its spicy, sweet embrace. It's a bittersweet farewell, but one that lingers on the senses long after.

At 8:16 PM, totally disappeared on my skin

🥛 Milk Note: Right off the bat, I should mention that if you're seeking a milky scent, Amour Nocturne might not be what you're looking for. While there's a subtle sweetness akin to caramel, the milky aspect seems to be elusive, which could be a letdown for some.

🔍 Projection: Amour Nocturne isn't one to make a grand entrance – instead, it tiptoes in softly, leaving a delicate trail that's perfect for close encounters. It stays intimate, almost as if it's whispering its secrets to you and you alone.

🌷Longevity: 5 hours and 30 minutes

🖤 Vibes: From the moment I sprayed it, Amour Nocturne cast a spell of darkness and mystery. It's like entering a noir film set in the dead of night – all shadows and allure. This fragrance is for the night dwellers, the dreamers, and the adventurers who find solace in the darkness.

Overall, Amour Nocturne is a fragrance of contrasts and complexities, unfolding its secrets over time. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's certainly a journey worth embarking on for those who crave intrigue and enchantment. So, if you're ready to embrace the darkness and lose yourself in the night, Amour Nocturne awaits. 💖

such a unique creation! I swapped my octagon jar long ago but kept myself a decant because I knew there is nothing else like it

sparkling salty caramel that starts to boil - that is the smell. its not exactly lactonic and the gunpowder is barely noticeable, but its gives it a slight smokey-mineraly feel. but still, its all about the caramel.

Located in US. Still ISO a bottle, a partial of any amount, or a decant! 🥺 Message me if you want to work out a deal! 🙏

Was gifted a sample in 2022 (joke’s on me, eh?). I was able to find ONE BOTTLE for sale in the US on eBay… But I could not afford it at the time and it very quickly sold…

I am selling decants of Amour Nocturne from my own stash of the original formulation (in the Explosions d’Emotions octagonal glass bottle)!

You can find it on my Etsy shop, FragrantLeigh. The link is in my profile 🖤

I am unable to ship perfume internationally, as it is alcohol based, so this offer is only available for people in the United States.

I love this. I don’t get cedar nor orchid but it’s just full on milky, rice-like gunpowder. It’s such a weird blend that reacts so well to my skin chemistry. After a while it will turn into a peppery coconut with a warm skin smell. I don’t wear this to work or on first dates but rather it’s a special smell to be worn around the right, invited people, just because of how intimate and exposing it feels to wear it.

OH
MY
GOD
!!!

It has been a minute since I wore this, large collection and all, but DAMN, this is so Goooood!

I think I only stopped wearing it because it was discontinued and rare/expensive, but honoring something by not using it is a sick/destructive way to show appreciation. This is going back into my After Hours rotation.

COMMENT ON NOTES
This is no milky frag, it's smoooth but it you're looking for milk you'll be disappointed! This is sweet Honey caramel and gunpowder smoke with a cedar base. The milk and orchid notes are only to balance and smooth. The drydown is rich, sweet, and agressive!

(Please see my previous review for greater detail.)

This was hard to obtain and even harder to love. Literally smells like coins. Searching for the perfect milk fragrance is difficult. This one doesn't even entertain, only disappoint.

This is a scent to my mind that pushed the envelope of starting a decade of perfume smoke, caramel, Autumn burn piles, zipless sex, Armageddon, and fire. Totally abstract and masterful evocations of thoughts and feelings expressed in perfume form. I was so pleased to see someone popping up a review for one of these. It reminded me of how much I love and treasure my bottles bought cheap from fragrance*** many years ago because hardly anyone liked them. This particular one is on my desert island list. It doesn’t smell like being by a fireplace or playing with red stuff. It’s as perfect as a Rothko painting.

I want this so bad. If anyone in the US is selling a bottle even if it just has 5 or 10mL in it, I want it. Or a decant. Please. I need Amour Nocturne.

Definitely reminds me of Book the expressive version (black bottle, white font, no plus or minus) throughout the entirety of the scent, most especially in the beginning. At first I was like hmmm… didn’t know what to think. And didn’t look at the notes beforehand either. But now that 10 minutes have passed it’s like Book, not so inky, but blended with a mild sweetness. It’s unique despite its similarity to Book, and I want it for its small differences. Really happy to have received a sample of this for free from somebody, too bad this stuff looks very expensive. 😭

I put this one in the same category as every fragrance containing the word “Gris” — this was a mkay/kind of “like” for me, but at the end of the day there are other scents with that gray smell that I prefer. The gunpowder though in this is killer - I love it, I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything like it before. Scents like Gris Dior or Gris Charnel tend to rely on the mechanic shop vibe where there are just a bunch of gray smells lingering together that create a pleasant experience and make much less of a statement. The distinctiveness of the smoke in this on the other hand is as impressive as it is surprising and unique. Definitely a standout for those who wear it and I could see it being a signature.

I was a little surprised by references to death and destruction, thankfully I don’t have those particular scent memories to associate this with, but I get it. This, as with all of the Explosions d’ Emotions collection, seems to do its job in the olfactory memory department.

I can see the similarity to Deliria mentioned by someone below but I think this is a little dirtier and more linear. The caramel/metallic notes are there in the DNA but they are far less distinct. It helps make this scent more wearable to me actually; the metallic notes in Deliria are too sharp and hyperrealistic for me.

Very sweet and feminine incense-y gunpowder on the first blast, that mellows down to a sweet and gourmand caramel milk with a twist…
The equivalent of pastel goth in a perfume. It’s actually pretty strong. Definitely something that you need to wear for yourself and savour. It can be your little secret ;)
It’s cute, it’s comforting and it’s very wearable. Too bad it’s been discontinued, it’s absolutely incredible and really unique ! I’ve never ever smelt anything like it before. In my opinion, completely blind buy safe and worthy.
My sibling told me it made them hungry so I suppose it falls right into gourmand territory :)

I get milk, gunpowder and cedar, no caramel and no sweetness. It feels masculine on me. The milk is very thin, not creamy like I expected. Interesting combination, but without being able to smell the caramel the milk is kind of offputting and feels separate from the other ingredients. It does give me an interest in gunpowder as a note though.

I mean WOWZERS! The gunpowder mixes with the caramel and somehow it just works, giving the caramel a creamy smokiness. And am I crazy, or do I pick up coconut?! It's a absolutely banger. The cedar is there at the bottom. The 3 notes ( orchids have no smell i have no clue why people claim them as notes in perfumery) along with the milk blend perfectly together creating such a unique dark and smoky ever so slightly gourmand deliciousness. It is everything I look for in a fragrance. Well almost everything. The second I sniffed it I was ready to leap online and buy a FB. Unfortunately, before I had even made it to the L'Artisan Parfumeur website, I realized I could scarcely smell anything anymore. And I sprayed half of a 1.5ml sample all over myself. A good 10 or more sprays. I'm not anosmic to it, as I can pick it up when my nose is pressed right up to my hand. I'm getting nothing on my shirt which is odd. Usually my skin eats perfume while my clothes hold it longer. I want a bottle of this very much, but its hard to justify dropping $200 + on such a weak formula. I like my fragrances beast mode, and I really expected, with the combation of notes, that this one was going to be a better performer. I could seriously cry, as it is so beautiful and unique. I could have seen this one becoming a signature for myself, as I feel it's wearable in all seasons. I don't know, maybe I just got a bad sample or the sample needs to settle after its trip across the continent. I will leave it to settle for a few weeks and try it again and update....

EDIT: Happy to report that the sample did indeed need to settle in after its long journey. I tried it again a few weeks later and the performance was much better. Good solid projection for about 4-5 hours. I found a NIB 50 ml bottle on eBay for around $100 and couldn't be happier with it.

Holy moly this is gorgeous. Very sexy and spicy and smoky - I feel as though lots of perfumes have tried for this exact scent and missed the mark.

Love at first sniff.

Update: but it does not LAST! The longevity on this is actually pathetic :(

Very nice fragrance . Well blended i get milky caramel on the top and then you get soft incense / smoke i also get the orchide in the middle of the scent and in the very drydown i get a soft smell of that gunpowder blended with that milky caramel very nice scent from one of my favorite perfumer 👍 Hard to find tho i do not know if it is discontinued, i hope not. Very happy to have a bottle of this :)

Anyone know if this has been discontinued?

Reviewed from a carded sample.

My notes/impressions:

incense
coconut
dirty
smoke
like wet ashes in fireplace
Dusty stale clothes
A tad of fire

I am generally not a fan of coconut in fragrances and even though I see that coconut is not a listed note, that's what my nose detects, and I find it unappealing.

If you like coconut, then this may work better for you.

I like this one. I'm reviewing from a carded 1.5ml sample.
I have unforgettable, which is a clone of black orchid by Alexandria fragrances, and I find amour nocturne has similarities. Possibly just the orchid, but the feeling when wearing it is similar.

What I get mostly is the orchid and the gunpowder. I'm almost positive what I'm smelling is this gunpowder note, it's a bit ashy and metallic.

Where black orchid to me leans a bit more floral and my opinion also has this beach vibe to it that kind of gives off a coconut like smell, amour nocturne leans more earthy/gourmand (if those 2 could even go together), with some subtle sweet smoke and ash and maybe a bit of a powdery thing underlying. But the orchid for me is very prominent in both fragrances.

The smoke with the very subtle sweet note possibly from the combination of caramel and milk reminds me of just almost burnt caramel (if you've made caramel before, you know what that smells like). Mostly I get this just in the opening.

I like this scent quite a bit, what I would like is for it to last a bit longer and project a bit more.
I wore it to work today and it lasted about 5-6 hours, sprayed probably 10-12 sprays from the sample on clothes and skin and it was just ever so present for about 5 hours then pretty much vanished.
Longevity and sillage could be not as good from the sample? I don't know.

Overall it's a nice scent, would like to possibly find a bottle if anyone has one they don't like it wants to swap or something.

This smells nothing like Dark Bulletproof, which is one of my favorite perfumes.

The only thing they have in common is a little bit of cedar. Oh, and the name Bulletproof can be connected with the gunpowder accord in this one, I guess? But side-by-side they smell nothing alike. DB has no gunpowder. It is an Autumn tea/ebony scent. DB is strong and long-lasting. Amour Nocturne is creamy caramel with the gunpowder giving it a unique edge. But it is much softer and doesn't have the staying power of DB.

THIS
IS
LOVELY
.

Review of official carded sample and then original, gold cap bottle (they smell identical)-

THIS is what I thought BACK TO BLACK By Kilian was going to smell like! On my skin I get smokey, honey carmel with a darkness that stays silky smooth at every step. SO Sexy! THIS is more befitting of the memory of Amy Winehouse! (Rather than the sickly sweet honey without any grunge or depth that was my experience with B2B.)

THIS wonderful creation brings to mind classic winged eyeliner, a tough leather jacket, and a gun... target practice in the woods with a flask of honey whiskey after. (Which might be unreasonably special to me considering I'm an Alaskan).

An intriguing, sweet, seductive scent with a note of danger. Perfectly unisex. Completely addictive. Sweetness with an edge speaks to my soul and AMOUR NOCTURNE calls to me.

P.S.
Full bottle is on the way. Due to the unique composition I will try this as a signature scent but will have to find a place for it to shine. This is richly layered and intriguing, it would garner too much attention to be professional. This might be best during off hours. Will update.

UPDATE
Even my 4-year-old niece, who is my harshest critic when it comes to fragrances, really likes this one and says it's "yum". Pairs perfectly with black leather jackets which are staples in my wardrobe. Bought a back-up bottle.

NOTE
I'm not sure why this is compared to T.F. BLACK ORCHID as I find that one to be a patchouli bomb and this one has NO PATCHOULI at all (thank-goodness). This also has very strong smoke and honey notes that are completely missing in BLACK ORCHID. Though I can understand why they could inspire a similar rebelious mood.

I totally agree with PeachK, this does NOT resemble Tokyo Milk Dark BULLETPROOF, although that is another one I enjoy. It's an unusual scent that has a bit of a bite or bitterness to balance out the sweetness while successfully staying smooth. If you like that one you might also enjoy this one.

PERFORMANCE NOTE
Speaking of lasting power, I can still smell it on my skin when I wake up in the morning, which can be 10-12 hours after I put it on. I wonder if the original, gold cap bottles have better longevity than the newer style black ones.

Mine are the gold cap, special edition, shorter/rounder yellow glass bottles from the Explosions d'Emotions collection, before they added AMOUR NOCTURNE to their main line. Hope this helps.

I have not tried the current formulation in the black bottles.

Mmmmmm. I like it. I am not much into gourmands, especially not milk, but this is oddly satisfying. Cold cedar, caramel and smoke turn into lush, warm, cozy, creamy milky way swirl of happy thoughts. Somewhat sweet. Mostly smokey. Definitely irresistible. It feels sticky, mischievous, and yummy. It makes me happy. What's going on?!

Received a sample of this.
Love at first sniff !
floral/cedar....lactonic caramel vanilla...spice?...If the gun powder is here...I am not sure what it is "supposed" to smell like...lol...but maybe it is adding a "zing" to the other notes. IMO....a more classic/vintage-y vibe to this scent. Unique.
The performance "seems" better than some of the other L'Artisan's in my collection.....so far.
Full bottle worthy for me.
LOVE !

Upon my first spray, I got straight-up Playdoh. After reading the reviews, I thought maybe my bottle needed a little shake and an extra spritz, so I tried it again. This time, I'm getting the gunpowder (which reminds me of the smell of fireworks: vaguely sulfurous and smoky) and, I guess, cedar? Some grandma florals on the back end. Aaaand after about 5 minutes, it's back to Playdoh smell. As I'm writing this, I keep smelling my wrist for some kind of signs of life, extra notes, etc. and its just DOA. Getting absolutely zero sweet notes.

The best way I can describe it is if you went to a funeral home (a cloying orchid floral) wearing clothes you wore next to a campfire the night before (smoke and very slight ozone.) It almost feels as though they tried to recreate the smell of holy water with cheapo perfume notes.

No soul, no sensuality, no mystery. It just falls flat.

-Utterly revolting scent that quite literally makes the stomach churn.
-Imagine this: the street is empty of living beings; the floor is strewn with rotten peaches that have been knocked off merchant carts and trampled by stampedes that broke out mere hours prior. Sounds of gunfire fill the air. And shrill screams soon follow.
-Amour Nocturne is reminiscent of a Middle Eastern Warzone.
-This is not a wearable scent. Period. (-)

Imagine a four poster bed, a preacher just leaving and a bowl full of water on the nightstand and hands wring it out for a final time. That’s what this smells like, old creaked floors and cold bodies. It’s metallic ans it’s cold.

This is an odd fragrance. I am a big time fan of Duchaufour. So I came into this wanting to love it. And at first, I did. I loved it and I hated it. I was intrigued and I also wanted to vomit. The notes don't really seem like they would make sense together. And what is really odd is that, on my skin, I get some kind of fruity note like pineapple, I swear, I know, I know, it's totally weird and no one else gets it. But the caramelly sweet notes are really wonderful - whoever wrote that it smells like those Cow Tails chewy caramel cream candies is spot on. And the smoky gunpowder is like a charcoal briquette, but minerally, so mixed with some river stones and cedar. But the problem is that the river stones were used as a cutting board for some pineapple. I love to eat pineapple. But I hate it in fragrance. And I don't know why my nose is doing this to me now to deny me this beautiful fragrance! Why can't I be normal? So I'm telling this to you, I'm putting it into the ether, just in case someone else has a weird pineappley nose like mine. But if not, and if you are a Duchaufour fan, you will probably like this even though it's really kind of a bizarre fragrance! Even without pineapple! Also discontinued, but worth a sniff!

Woa... What the heck? I can smell the gun powder with the cedar right after spraying, like a very old and musty cedar cabinet that holds a Dibbuk since the WW II (and is not supposed to be open!). I hold myself to wash it off, thinking maybe the good part is in the dry down - maybe it gets incense-y. But no. The gun powder keeps going, and the whole concoction is just vile. When the scent is giving its last breath, I felt something lactonic and some sweetness, but undefined.
Maybe I don`t have the maturity for this collector`s gem.

Ok, I think I am getting obsessed with this scent. The gunpowder is uncanny! It is smoky, slightly metallic and sulphurous, but only eough to lend mystery, complexity, and depth over the otherwise juvenile hot milk and caramel. Burning rocks, hot milk, a faint sweetness I guess is attributed to caramel but could also easily be the milk's lactose, condensed and rendered addicting in a primal sense. It is stunning in my opinion and so well done. I prefer it OVER noir exquis for whatever it's worth. It is more original, interesting, and sexy to me.

I don't love and I'm not sure if I even like it. But it's fascinating! Smells like blown up infatuated Creeper in the night, only some dirt/green notes are missing.

YES! Whoever noted that this fragrance smelled similar to Zara Accord No 2 Oriental is spot on. I owned Amour Nocturne first but did not pay much attention to it until I owned Zara Accord No 2 Oriental and thought it had smelled quite odd, but familiar to something I had smelled before. It was not until recently that it clicked and I realized they both share this nutty, woody, dry, smoky, lactonic quality. It is quite an odd fragrance to describe but it is definitely unique! I think this is more of a cozy, cool weather type of scent with moderate projection that I enjoy. To top it off, I think this fragrance housed in the gold bottle from the Explosion d' Emotions collection is one of the most stunning bottle I have seen :)

This is weird, but it smells me gunpowdered Deliria. Same metallic apple. It was before I looked into the notes here. Let me see how it will go

Smells the way cows-tail candy chews taste (caramel, cream, sugar, almost nougat-y but with a defined powdered milk flavor) plus gritty and ashy smoke (no bonfire or incense here) and a beautifully burnt cedar (a la Woodcut). Sometimes I can smell a vague floral, but the orchid note listed is effectively nonexistent. Definitely weird, occasionally cloying, but oh so smellable. Definitely smoky and lactonic, but never offensively so. Gourmand, but never like literal food. I always want to keep sniffing.

Wow, I LOVE this. I was cleaning out my sample stash and found a decant of this from years ago. My goodness it's amazing. Why didn't I try this sooner? I didn't want to love it because the notes seem so weird, but I just do. At first I get a blast of delicious caramel, but a grown up caramel- sweet but not artificial or cloying. Then when the carmel softens, I get the gunpowder and the milk. I cannot describe the gunpowder. It's just there, kind of like the smell of ground up rocks or something. I don't know, but along with the milk, it's smooth, creamy, cozy, and delicious, yet grown up. When it dries down, the woods blend in perfectly with the creamy milk. I'm in heaven. I think the reason I like this so much is that I love gourmands, but I am sort of over the teenager-type, sickly sweet sugar bombs I used to go for. I like a masculine/grown up edge to my sweets, and this does it. Well done. Shame it's been discontinued.

i get milky caramel with an ozonic note. i'm guessing that's gunpowder? the orchid gets more intense after a minute or two, which seems to highlight the gunpowder, which now has more of a smokiness. it basically ends up a sweet caramel-orchid with ozone/aquatic notes.

I think lactonic notes hate me, even though I crave them. I bought a sample after reading the notes and reviews, and sadly, I'm not getting any milky, nutty notes. Even though patchouli isn't listed, it smells strongly of patchouli on first spray, followed quickly by the cedar. I didn't look at the notes when I sprayed this, I've been blindly spraying to develop my nose. So I get patchouli, cedar and then coffee! Ten minutes in I smell the orchid but it feels out of place. Woody floral coffee is all I'm getting and I'm not enjoying it. Gunpowder isn't present on me. Sadly this is floral coffee on me and I can't get through two hours with this. It smells like a very harsh, overly floral Black Opium to me. And that's a fragrance I enjoy.

This is a superb nutty lactonic. Korrigan also has this note, and it's catnip to me. The same gunpowder as Chinatown, and again, that gunpowder note is a favourite. All the Explosions series are very distinctive, but this is the one I really picked out and bought 3 bottles of. It lasts all day too. I've also smelled this nutty milky note in some fig scents, but I'm relieved there's no fig present here. I notice cedar is often backing up lactonic scents, it must be a natural partnership, because this is smooth. Another Duchaufour stroke of genius. Not a blind buy - you have to want that nutty milk - but I'm a big fan. And again if you like this, Korrigan is a logical next step. Yum x

This is a very weird scent. I don't get any of the listed notes, except for cedar. When I first sniffed this, I was like 'Wait a second, this smells like pickles! And dill!' - I thought that something must be wrong with my nose, but then I read other reviews on this page and I'm happy that others have also smelled dill - good to know that I haven't lost my sense of smell! There's also something faintly watery-flowery in it - perhaps that's orchid - while the bizarre notes of milk, gunpowder and caramel are nowhere to be found.

Self-immolation. Amour Nocturne opens with a brutally sour gush of unidentifiable aromachemicals. As the fragrance settles, it doesn't improve much, next revealing a dark, smokey (yet strongly musk-like) oversoul to it.

This facet is presumably the gunpowder accord. It is not a perfumey essence, and little has been done to enhance or support it. It's just a very bland, dingy aroma—that projects overhead the other notes something like a stale smoke.

The woods and orchid make this effect even more tenacious. The woods increase the dryness and staleness—while the orchid (not a choice raw flower to begin with) increases the muskiness.

It is a very dark, combative arrangement. Souls of the damned crawling over one another in the smoldering darkness of hell, each drowning out the next in their mindless, desperate press forward to escape the goreish horrorism.

The best I could do is to say that this has novelty value—and would actually appeal to some peculiar, awkward, or special tastes individual. However, I personally feel the fragrance is too incredibly sour to be enjoyed by any means. It is just—the illusion of what would be the ideal thing.

The vapor pressure is moderately strong, and makes it feel more like some kind of dark fixative accord. Some sweet notes could probably be carried well atop this. That is still—a very shameless thing to do and release as a finished work.

Stunning masterpiece from one of my favorite perfumer’s, Bertrand Duchaufour. I get all the main notes — caramel, cedar, milk and orchid — and the note that sets this scent apart from others, gunpowder. It’s this note that adds to the contradictions: soft but powerful to sexy but aloof. And it’s gunpowder that gives this scent mysterious connections to metal, smoke and incense.

I owned another gunpowder dominant perfume, ELDO's Fin Du Monde but I ended up letting it go. It was just too sharp, too harsh and difficult to wear. I didn’t find it enjoyable though I respected the daring exploration of notes.

Amour Nocturne is still firmly in the niche bucket, but what makes it a better perfume is that it’s wearable art. This is a beautiful and complex perfume, it stays close and I love it that way.

Wow, this is really lovely. I got a sample of this and haven't stopped smelling myself for nearly an hour. The gunpowder is sharp when it first goes on, but dissipates very quickly. The caramel and milk is strong, and stayed on for nearly half an hour before melting down to a sugary orchid. The cedar didn't really develop for me. I got hints of it when the gunpowder dissipated, and when the caramel moved to the orchid, but otherwise, not quite there.

I do wish this had better sillage. It's quite an intimate smell, but I'd like to see it have a bit more power.

Love this...
If I didn't know the notes I would have to say this is a whisper soft smoky vanilla with honey.
Now that I'm familiar with the notes I can say that they got this right - almost perfectly right.
It's a soft, trailing - lightly sweet and milky vanilla/caramel with a smokey gunpowder trail that makes it sharp, cold and memorable. 9/10

Opens with a loud BANG! That's the gun powder (Badum-tss).

Incense & woods warmed up by caramel. Not a gourmand fragrance whatsoever. Unisex, leaning towards masculine, but if a woman would wear this, I'd be intimidated by her. Powerful. If I walk pass someone who wears this fragrance I will never forget them. Extremely seductive to me.

Just WOW!

I was hoping for a rich gourmand with a unique twist. It opens with a metallic note with an almost watery aspect in the background that reminds me of being in a metal canoe on a hot day at the lake. That must be the gunpowder note. After a bit, I smell a soft, musky sweet caramel note. It's quieter and less rich than I hoped (where's my thick high quality salted caramel scent?). As it dries down, it gets a bit warmer and muskier, but I find that the odd metallic note doesn't really pair well with the quiet sweetness. Maybe if I got the cedar note and a stronger caramel, it would help bridge the gap between those two disparate notes.

Funny story, the first time I sampled this was in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep (chronic insomnia sucks, y'all). I had crept out to the living room to get a drink and play with perfumes without waking my boyfriend. An hour later (after sampling Amour Nocturne), I crawled back into bed. Half asleep, my boyfriend said, "Were you snacking?". "Uh...No...". "Something smells like roast beef! Are you sure you weren't snacking?". Turns out that the gunpowder note on my skin turns into an iron/metallic pennies note that smells to him like roast beef and blood! Needless to say, this one won't be joining my collection haha.

Amour Nocturne smells powdery, sugary, and smoky. I don't smell the milk I guess it blends with the caramel to enhance the sweet creaminess of the fragrance. It smells nice but it doesn't suit me. I'm smelling from a manufacturer sample. -

At first I could smell the gunpowder and cider, then milk and caramel kicked in after thirty minutes or so. I love how dramatic this is. The gunpowder, which smells like the smoke of burnt incense, is little too overpowering, but mixed well with the other sweet scents. While I love both gunpowder and gourmand notes, I’d like to address this one isn’t for people who exclusively adore sugary scents. It’s masculine and feminine at the same time if it makes sense. Lovely.

My skin hardly picks up the caramel or milky notes, just smoke and wood, an evocative scent but not the kind that suits me. On the other hand, it is amazing for layering with too-sweet perfumes, and it makes me truly appreciate the gunpowder note with its versatile metallic-sour-smoky spiciness.

You think this is going to be a milky caramel gourmand. But there is an underlying gunpowder note, which adds an industrial/spicy aspect to the custard.

This lasts most of the fragrance, but the final few hours are simply the milky caramel.

It's not cloying or overly sweet.

Some people on this site have said it smells metallic, but I didn't get that at all. Nor do I get an 'oud accord.'

This review is titled “Get your mind out of the gutter”.

Maybe I’ve officially looked at too much art interpretively, but when I saw the notes listed along with the name well, you know. Wood. Orchid (of which some varieties look like a vulva. Seriously, google vulva flower and some orchids come up). Gunpowder, a gun is rather phallic and gunpowder is smelled specifically when it discharges. Caramel, which is sweet and gooey. And hot...milk....

I like this concept a lot, and the perfume notes work terrifically although ultimately it’s not my style. I was expecting an edgy gunpowder caramel based on the votes on the pyramid but that’s not what I got. On me, Night Love is led strongly by pink orchids which are aquatic and have sort of a melon note. In line behind the orchid is caramel, then gunpowder, cedar, and finally milk. The overall effect was airy and delicate. The milk seemed tepid, not hot. Along with airiness and the twinge of melon, I’d say this makes Night Love a good late spring early/early summer wear. Also, I like the name Amour Nocturne, but the fragrance is too restrained to be night love. I suggest First Base as a better name match.

I was ambivalent about whether I liked Amour Nocturne enough for a small bottle, and to help decide I asked for my boyfriend’s opinion. He sniffed and thought for a minute. Then he said it reminded him of the free shampoo at Holiday Inn. He said they have shampoo that smells like sweets so as soon as you shower in your room you’ll get hungry and head downstairs to buy a cinnamon bun. He was a band tour manager for over 10 years, and has spent a lot of time in hotels so I don’t doubt his hotel shampoo expertise. I am counting the holiday inn shampoo comparison as a nay vote from him, and so I won’t be purchasing a bottle. I do like Amour Nocturne, though.

Dry sweet, opens with a strong incense smell (must be the gunpowder), that later blends with the caramel note. Unique, but it smells kind of meh to me.

This is one curious scent. It is so sweet. It was the gun powder note that attracted me. I can barely make it out because of the caramel. I then with time can pick out the orchid. There is also a full fat milky aspect as well.
I'm always a bit nervous of the milk note in case it goes sour.
Once it settles it is actually very nice. I still wish there was some more gun powder.
It smells too girly for me. The name suits it.
Reasonable longevity and sillage which doesn't happen often with LA scents.

3/10

This was an extreme love for me st first but the more I wear it the more I find it irritating. I thought of making it my signature scent even! It really is lovely and weird in an interestingly good way but it bothers my nose and throat. I’m thinking it’s the gun powder note it leave a metallic sting to my head. If it were a little less this would be magic.

Gorgeous

This is a curious one and the priciest blind buy I've made so far. I couldn't resist the gunpowder and milk notes, and as it was a pretty good deal for the original bottle (squat 125 ml) I decided to jump... First spray, I couldn't smell much at all. Just a very faint cedar and metallic tinge, which I assume was the gunpowder, when I pressed my nose to my skin. My partner, however, said he could smell me from 3 metres away upon entering the room. As I've been having anosmia issues, I figured this was yet another perfume I could hardly smell and was disappointed. But at least my partner liked it, and the name!

I've since worn it around 5 times. Strangely, I think it's gotten stronger for me. It's still not loud but it's definitely more intense. I get a very dominant cedar sweetened by the orchid (or a floral that I assume is orchid as I have no idea how they are meant to smell). They balance each other nicely, but the cedar is strong and I'm surprised how low down on the list of dominant notes this has been voted. The metallic/gunpowder doesn't seem to appear anymore for some reason. Midway and drydown the caramel comes out and becomes quite dominant though the cedar stays throughout. I'm not sure if I'm detecting hot milk. Perhaps it just contributes to the caramel being a buttery melted-on-the-stove kind.

Despite this not being as radical or juxtaposed as I had hoped, it's growing from like to strong like. I find the cedar/orchid/caramel combination a quiet, comfortable, intimate, unpretentious scent. Maybe if I could smell the gunpowder it would come across as more edgy. Maybe I'm noseblind to that note. Before I decided to buy it, I lit a sparkler in the kitchen to remind myself of the note. But I couldn't detect anything.

I think this may be a slow-growing well-worn jumper of a fragrance. Will be interested to see how it goes in the long run, as well as cold weather. I think you need to like cedar though. Sweet Nocturne seems an apter name to me, since I don't think of this as a particularly seductive scent, even though to me it's an intimate one. I see it more as a scent that one wears for themself.

EDIT: A couple of weeks later. Starting to love this. Starting to get hooked on the cedar caramel, and am finding myself reaching for this often, especially before bed. I spray it on my sleeves and find the cedar calming.

EDIT 2: Sold this about a year later. Just wasn't reaching for it.

Okay, how to put this together. To me, this perfume is so poetic, I cannot even describe it.

In Sicily, there are these tiny streets, full of people, screaming and dirt. You can feel a bit lost or even threatened there, something so lively is in the air. And at one point you come to the spot where you have funeral service on one side and baby equipment shop on the other side of this tiny street, opposite one another. It is bizarre, yet so poetic.

This perfume reminds me of this. Especially at the start, the gunpowder and smokiness dominate, which smell very churchy and cemetery to me, a bit edgy also. And then the sweet milk comes in, creating something so safe, so innocent, a bit nostalgic and mostly, beautiful. Everything, death and birth blends together and stays blended till the end. I love every single note in this one, like someone would create a scent only for me and I can smell every single note listed. Wow.

Like the first reviewer said, the notes here feel as if they weren't smells, but thoughts or feelings. This is true. To me, this perfume is so alive, so inspirational, so poetic.

I am an actress and I work in theatre. I often find fragrance for each character and I was thinking which one this could be. But then I figured out that this is not a character fragrance, this is a theatre itself fragrance. This is how theatre smells, how it feels. An old theatre, full of memories, full of inspiration, poetry, life, death, boundaries, hard work, laughter, hedonism, stories, tears, full of everything. Like I've said, I cannot describe it.

This is not a perfume, it is an artist.

This was a blind buy and I could not be more happy.

Ever since I smelled ELDO's Fin Du Monde, I determined that gunpowder was a unique note that I liked a lot and needed more of. It lacks the BBQ or incense element a lot of smoky fragrances have. Too many times I was drawn into trying a perfume because it listed smoke as a note, but just got artificial bacon or backyard smoker.

On me, Amour Nocturne opens with cedary pencil shavings that are immediately balanced with an unobtrusive flower and milky, salted caramel. I like when flowers play a supporting or tandem role rather than trying to steal the show. The gunpowder is subtle, but still adds a memory of kettle corn that instantly conjures a summertime carnival. The caramel is not a sickly, saccharine one! This is far from scented candle territory and is very similar to caramel made from scratch on the stove. For a split second, I whiffed the dreaded dill pickle note some other have mentioned. Luckily it disappeared as fast as it came. But I see you stealth pickle!

A little gourmand, a little edgy, I am supremely digging this almost skin-scent that feels very natural and soft. Instead of a night-vibe, I am getting more "lazy Sunday morning" (MMM's fragrance, which is more laundry based).

To compare, ELDO's Fin Du Monde is spicier and harsher. The carrot seed, cumin, and pepper penetrate the buttery gunpowder, where this one languishes in creamy sweetness. I wonder how they will do layered?

Ultimately, what tipped me over the edge into purchasing this was another reviewer's mention of one of my all-time favorite perfumes: Mariella Burani's Mariella Burani. I totally get what they are alluding to when they say there is a similarity, but it is hard to articulate what exactly that is (it is probably the tonka, rosewood, amber, vanilla, sandalwood, benzoin, and unlisted powder notes that are combining to create such witchery). I disagree, however, that:
1. You can find MB: MB for $20 on the internet (you can't)
2. MB is a caramel scent (it's not)
3. Amour Nocturne isn't intriguing (it is)

This is truly a unique and lovely fragrance that I am glad is not discontinued. It is a perfect daily driver and special occasion perfume all wrapped into one. I love it.

Hmm... sugar and smoke and something flowery. I like it but I can't see it on my shelf. Anyone who likes sugary fragrances ought to try this. It's different since the gunpowder makes this fragrance adult in a sense. It doesn't smell like a gourmand or something childish. But still, the sugar note is in the frontline of this composition. I like it but I could never manage a full bottle.

Like many others, L'Artisan Parfumeur scents are like a lottery for me. "Skin on Skin" from the same collection was a hit. This one, unfortunately, turned out very heavy on (1) CEDAR and (2) gunpowder, tied together by caramel. An almost indetectable hint of milk just toward the end of the perfume's lifespan (~6-9h). No discernible orchid.

So I got a very chilly winter evening with snow in the air; fresh cut cedar branches covered in crisp frost; clouds of gunpowder smoke - hot and metallically cool at once - mingling with the sweetest, sugary caramel.

It's a curious, constant contradiction. Cold and metallic, like breath mints and cedar moth balls and licking lamp posts, but at the same time cloyingly sweet (which should be warm, but isn't really) = these two opposites fight it out till the perfume's died down. Nothing "soothing" about it.

Maybe a thing for gourmands looking for something slightly more complicated and "gourmand, but not gourmand"? I don't know tbh - because this is something that might present itself differently on different people. Not my cup of tea though.

---
NOTE: I've got an original, short octogonal bottle in white 'velvet/felt' box, only sprayed 3 times. If anyone's up for swapping, feel free to send a message. Would love something from Ava Luxe, like "Milk", or just hit me up with a suggestion. :)

This is an interesting one. The opening is candy sweet. It starts to settle and the cyclamen appears. The sweetness has now eased off and it is very pleasant. Further down the timeline and the milk and gunpowder appear. They are so soft though.
I was hoping for more gunpowder. Some kick.
This is soft and languid like a watercolour painting.
Poor longevity and poor sillage.

I would like to thank my wonderful swap partner for the chance to try this. Let me preface by saying it is absolutely a true stunner and a lovely warmer weather scent. My bottle is the clear glass shorter one in the white box.

Upon first spritz I was somewhat nervous. It had a medicinal type vibe. But that vanished in about 10 seconds to all of the notes mentioned on the top of the page. This is a unisex fragrance but a female can very easily pull this one off if she enjoys gourmand smokey scents. I don't feel it to be masculine at all however I would not be turned off smelling this on a male at all.

The presentation box is Phenomenal. A stunning white soft felt type box and the bottle within is equally beautiful. All done in a very unisex style. This is definitely going to be a new favorite of mine. And by the way, mine has incredible lasting power.

Eventually turns into a gorgeous, warm, woodsy, caramel-y vanilla (I suppose that is the orchid note).

Frag starts off as a slightly smoky caramel, with cedar. Also a creamy milk note in there as well.

As the scent progresses, the cedar note ebbs and wanes, a bit randomly which is interesting. Sometimes it basically disappears, other times so strong the whole frag turns a bit ambery.

That's all an interesting, unique, and a pleasant experience... And then it all sort of comes together and morphs like a butterfly into that heavenly vanilla (orchid)... LOVE.

Amour Nocturne would be on the shelf of my top 5 all time favorites if I could bring myself to demote any of the beauties already there. And since my stupid-large collection now exceeds, ahem... 700 bottles, I'd say position #6 represents a pretty darn good recommendation.

No question about it, it's gunpowder that makes Amour Nocturne so special, so unique. Without it AN would still be a delicious, milky caramel gourmand treat and a MUST HAVE for every gourmand lover. But the addition of gunpowder to the "recipe" moves AN out of the kitchen/sweetshop and into a delightful nighttime summer vacation experience of enjoying a big bag of caramel corn while watching a brilliant fireworks display.

Delicious, gooey caramel with a surprising pop & bang of tangy smoke. Pure pleasure! Every time I spray it on my eyes close with happiness and I'm not only sniffing my wrists, I'm tempted to lick them. I vaguely, but only vaguely sense a bit of cedar that seems to serve as a solid foundation for all the sweet & tangy bits but orchid is too elusive for this nose to parse out. No way would I have guessed orchid was in the mix if I hadn't seen it in the notes pyramid.

There are still many of the discontinued 4.2oz bottles available on line. I've got my back-ups already so all the rest are there waiting for you! Don't miss the chance to have this marvelous summer evening in a bottle for your very own.

Edit: In warm weather I couldn't parse out the cedar but on cold, winter chilled skin the cedar note jumps right to the forefront with the caramel and gun powder. And I mean it really, really JUMPS out. No matter how much you might love caramel if you cannot abide cedar then AN will simply not work for you.

So lovely and distinctive. The gunpowder adds that unique touch that makes this gourmand different....buuuut the orchid takes over for me. Not in a good way on my skin that doesnt tolerate flowers very well. Still. Very chic, at the same time as different and just barely edgy.

A very interesting fragrance. I was supplied with a 2ml spray by the company when it came out, but I ignored it till now, but the minute I smelled it, I thought, I bet that's Duchaufour. He has a way with fragrance. With this, I don't get what the notes list - I get a huge dose of hawthorn, lilac and privet blossom, suffused with gunpowder. It also has a saffron-in-milk quality. I could wish this was rather stronger for an EDP but it is very beautiful and I did succumb in the end and buy it because I became a bit obsessed with it. Beautiful box, btw, at least on the first version with the squat bottle.

Wow, this is still developing on my skin at the moment, but I knew from the past experience of Douchafour's signature style that this would excite my senses! I crave fragrances with the slightest juxtaposition of notes. I read with interest the descriptions given by others and couldn't wait any longer for the contrast of sweet and full caramel, softened and lifted at once by the milky notes, the deliciousness edible sweetness made fresh and new with the sharpness of the gunpowder note which clears the palette and gives you another bite of dessert all at once. I'll be sniffing this happily as I close my eyes for sleep tonight. Love it.

Everything just falls into place with this one! And it comes together just beautifully, this is even egdy enough for me. I rearly digg the sweet ones. On me it stays complete and is not loosing any notes on the way, orchid swaying in the backround, caramel and milk stiring together allmost inside my skin. Grounding earthy cedar. And then the gunpowder, sexy and edgy. Without IT this could have been just another chickflick, with no soul. But it smells cool and hipp, smart and sexy. Everything you want to be. God, I hope I continue loving it this much. And that the caramel does not eventualy get the best of me. Deliria can go f@&! Herself. Haha no, Im gonna give her to my 18 yo sister ;)

edit: Is anyone else feeling the old Cacharel Lou Lou on this!!!??

Memories of Bonfire Night (5th Nov, Guy Fawkes for the non Brits) it's the lingering smell of gunpowder in the air, family parties with all the lovely fireworks.....Then out of the cold for sweetened hot milk...beautiful warm cosy dry down ...love this

Despite my enjoyment of everything I have tested so far by Bertrand Duchaufour, the polarised reviews and comments about this fragrance made me decide to purchase a sample before committing to an expensive FB (I always buy blind; I am disabled and getting to shops is a chore. That aside, I flipping well hate shopping.). I purchased my 5ml from a seller on eBay UK, with 1000+ positive feedback predominantly from selling decanted perfume samples.

I am wearing two sprays to the back of my left wrist; it's been there for a couple of hours now.

To me, this smells gourmand. I am not getting ANY gunpowder, smoke, spice - or anything which could be described as even remotely contentious, although there is a slight coolness (NOT like the one in Deliria!). I am wondering whether the label may have been muddled with that of another fragrance.

I am not an experienced nose and don't think that I am particularly good at identifying notes - but given that the gunpowder note in AN has been voted as being only slightly weaker than the caramel, I am sure that (even) I should be able to smell something other than a sweet caramel/slightly flowery scent. It certainly doesn't move me enough to invest in a FB.

I don't know whether to buy a second decanted sample from another seller, compare the two and pass my findings on to seller number 1.

Is the gunpowder something that even a numpty like me should be able to at least sense??? Is it possible my decant is from an old bottle and the gunpowder has faded to such a degree to be completely indiscernible? Advice would be much appreciated.

B x

My second gunpowder fragrance, after getting a decant of La Fin Du Monde. They actually have a few similarities. Both sweet-gourmandish with a gunpowder note. Where La Fin Du Monde has a more prominent gunpowder note giving it a bad ass aura, Amour Nocturne is softer and more blended.

At first it's kind of a strange experience to smell the warm and caramel sweetend milk with a cold sour metal (gunpowder) note. But it works quite well on me and makes it quite unique. And probably not liked by everyone. I like it's weirdness, with a little floral action in the background. It's very comforting and great for cold days. Glad to have a pretty bottle of this one.

This opened up very sharp and strange on me. I thought FrangraneNet had sent me a turned fragrance. After about 5 minutes, I am now smelling the caramel and it is toning down with the sharpness. I hope it keeps going!

scent : 9/10
sillage : 8/10
longevity :8/10
70% day / 30% night fragrance
nice mango scent

I fell in love with this unique perfume and was my signature for a long time. Sweet like caramel and milk but with an edgy kick - very moorish. However it is a very heavy scent and as much as I love it, I can't stand it on my me for longer than an hour. Complex and interesting but definitely *very* occasional wear.

I have 100+ niche samples for swap within Europe - updated spreadsheet of samples on my profile, get in touch!

I'm so surprised by this one. It's the scent of being calm, cool and collected. It is a scent that truly tells a story - very unique to me. Most of the time I'll have a spray and make a judgement. This left me without an opinion - but rather deep in thought. Nocturne/night is definitely a good description here. Armor is fitting as well - so strange. Not so much the smell, but the feelings which are evoked. If you try this - do yourself a favor and forget about notes, longevity, silliage and all that bs - instead, experience this without judgement and see what comes into your mind. Very intriguing.

7/10

I really wanted to like this one. Gunpowder is one of those smells that humans sometimes find pleasing for some reason, much like gasoline. However, this does not read gunpowder to me. It reads straight up metallic, or like a giant cube of pencil graphite. At the same time there is an addictive toffee ice cream lolly coating note going on in the background. Some three hours into wearing it the metallic note has finally become subdued enough to really let the caramel shine, but at that point it is basically a skin scent on me.

I received my decants of this line from the magic world of perfume lovers a few years ago and instantly loved them all, which was at the time very much against the general consensus. But I love sweet rich perfumes and I found I wanted full bottles as I ran out.
Lo and behold they started showing up at the discounters! This one is probably my favourite. I adore the strange metallic gunpowder note juxtaposed with milky caramel and rich florals. The quality is great, it lasts and projects. I hope many other perfume lovers have found these for good prices, although considering the stratospheric costs now in the perfume world they were good value even at original price!

Faaabulous metallic gourmand perfume! I am IN love with this scent. This is very strong and very sweet, in a way that makes two sprays enough and two more might induce a headache. Yet, the sillage is moderate and soft.

Somehow gunpowder has the same kind of character as leather. They don't smell a like but they both make us feel powerful and empowered when we wear those scents. Cool effect!

As a metallic note gunpowder doesn't smell like coins or like a hardware store. It actually smells like gunpowder = fireworks or the air after you've shot with a gun. A shooting range.
There's a huge blast of hot caramel which almost makes me think of a gun with bullets that are half caramel and half metal.
I can't say I smell cedar or the orchid but there is some wood and maybe some floral as well to make this scent perfumey and not just an imitation of gunpowder and caramel. Because this really is beyond a gourmand scent, this is perfume.

Amour Nocturne is a masterpiece and it's propably my favourite scent from L'artisan Parfumeur so far. Vanilia is also my favourite but it is discontinued, tho I have a bottle of it still, thankfully.

I've got to try Deliria next. But now I'm very happy with my bottle of Amour Nocturne. I've got a sample of Skin on Skin and that wasn't my kind of scent at all. Way too animalic for my liking.

Un profumo unico ed indescrivibile: apertura pepata e fumosa che precede un cuore latteo, dolce di caramello ed appena un poco legnoso. La nota polverosa (dovuta alla polvere da sparo) rimane presente e ben si accompagna alla dolcezza del latte caramellato a creare un qualcosa di unico.
Fragranza inusuale, particolare, che si ama o si odia. Ed io la amo.

It's like sipping warm sweet milk at a fireworks display in November. The gunpowder note just works, although I can imagine this fragrance is a love it or hate it type of thing, I love it. Longevity is very good, will easily last most of the day on me. Works very well on those cold dull autumn days, there's something a little melancholy about this scent.

Just got a sample and no, not for me! Doesn't smell pretty, it is masculine, smells of burned wood...it gets softer in the base, but I find myself unable to even like it a little bit! Some will like it no doubt as it has depth, and substance.
..L Artisan Parfumeur isn't the brand for me! I have tried many of their perfumes, and none worked too good
Matter of taste!

Ì got a sample of this perfume and I must say, I love it ! It is sweet (but not overbearingly sweet), very warm, rich (like butter), and smoky. It's almost inviting in its subtlety. If I were a man, and hugged a woman who wore this on her neck... Ahem !

If you like spices and woody perfumes, you might like this. I do realize that there are no spices in this fragrance, but I am reminded of those when I smell this. Is it the gunpowder ?
Not many people seem to like the smell of gunpowder. Therefore, I would suggest sampling this before buying.

It's definitely an unique smell. Give it a try if you can !

I was under the impression I had reviewed this but it appears not to be here.

To me this smells of gorse bushes in a weak sunshine. It has the feel of an openwork knitted blanket. Airy soft, cream coloured, wool. It brings to mind sitting by the sea in NE America in a beautiful beach house, blanket on knee.

That said it isn't something I would wear at all. Its too light. I wanted caramel and gunpowder. I wanted chewy and gritty. I got airy. I was pretty disappointed.

I've desperately tried to like this but all I get is smoke and something metallic which i assume is gunpowder.

It gives me a headache.

Edit:
I now love it and am on my final bottle out of 7 :/
I love the gun powder notes. Lovely in the snowy winter.

This is the shitiest perfume ever made. The fact that it is made by L'artisan disappoints me even more. It smells dust to be very precise. I dont understand how people can love something like this.

It 'an explosion of color,sensuality and surprises you now!! This parfum definitely high level, and unique. I've never heard anything like it,here the perfumer B.Duchaufour created this beautiful scent, which is a veritable "explosion" of pyrotechnical known gourmand and at the same time "dusty" (Thanks to gunpowder). The orchid and cedar give an accent sublime composition, making this perfume phantasmagorical with a veil of mystery. The caramel note is the most noticeable. Good for cold days of autumn or winter... With this fragrance I can once again to confirm the great talent that is B.Duchaufour, surprised me so much... has created this masterpiece hard to forget ,really beautiful. Highly recommended!!!

Sillage: 6/10
Longevity: 8/10
Scent: 10/10

Overall: 10/10

i don't know how this couldn't be a LOVE for anyone who tries it!
I read somewhere that this perfume compared to Dzing!, one of my favorites, and that is true but i'll explain why:
they smell nothing alike, but they both have that certain character to them- so intriguing, so good! i mean character in a good way! this is an unforgettable perfume!
the caramel and the gunpowder work so well together i can't believe it! this is gourmand but soo much sophistication! Another win for Lartisan

Lately I have a total crush on this perfume. I find myself using it all the time.

The opening is a blast of peppery notes, almost too heavy to distinguish what's what. After a few minutes, it tames and calms down a bit, and the sweetness emerges.

During summetime's hot weather I hardly wore it, but when I did, the sweetness was mainly milky and tart. Came winter, I get this sweet and tad salty caramel that makes it both yummy and gorgeous.

Wearing it on a daily basis, it's surprisingly close to the skin on the longrun and inoffensive to others.

Sorry not sorry, I just love it.

"Ylla laid herself back in the canopy and, at a word from her husband, the birds leaped, burning, toward the dark sky. The ribbons tautened, the canopy lifted. The sand slid whining under; the blue hills drifted by, drifted by, leaving their home behind, the raining pillars, the caged flowers, the singing books, the whispering floor creeks. She did not look at her husband. She heard him crying out to the birds as they rose higher, like ten thousand hot sparkles, so many red-yellow fireworks in the heavens, tugging the canopy like a flower petal burning through the wind."

I've tried unsuccessfully (several times) to describe this fragrance and the only adequate way seems to be by using the above beautiful prose from Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. The fragrance is indeed alien and yet beautifully familiar, like the scene described. There is tension and brooding passion and distance. There are flowers (orchid) and hot sparkles (gunpowder). It isn't immediately the most beautiful scent to my nose but it does keep pulling me back "tugging the canopy like a flower petal burning through the wind".

My partner loves it.

Amour Nocturne is imho the most interesting and unique out of this line. That doesn't necessarily mean my favorite. It is a very nice gourmand, with this interesting bitter-sweet side that makes me think of Aomassai... a bit of Dzing!... and still very recognizable on its own. It is definitely a shock producing fragrance when you first try... it shows mastery and has a very defined wow factor.

However, it is not the one I'd go for since I feel it leans towards feminine (like most of the line btw). If worn by a guy, it gives me the impression of a very elegant and well dressed one (not me lol). I think it really fits the bill if you are looking for a reliable gourmand and and among my friends it has been the "this is it". I personally think you have to check if it doesn't end up bothering a bit your nose with its gunpowder and strong personality.

I received my pack of Explosions d'émotions and I admit my first impression of it all was: "How bad this is!!!!" After a few days I started liking a loooot most of the offerings and even if I could well live without, I think it is a well thought collection. You have very well made summery scents... 2 intriguing wintry ones, an animalic but wearable one... a playful chewing gum one and in the whole a sense of group that I respect. If they weren't so feminine for my style I'd definitely would love to have most of them. The coffret with all the collection in 7ml vials is a superb present for any lady friend, so don't miss them when they get on sale!!

Womanity in an autumn version?!?
I don't know what provokes in me this comparison, but the first time i smelled it, my first though was "womanity".

On me this goes on extremely sweet, almost tropical (coconutty). The top notes are all caramel, gunpowder, and something oddly grassy and cool (yes, dill!). Slowly the sweetness tones down and cedar comes through, with its almost lemony floral aspect to the fore (probably Iso-E Super). This is extremely reminiscent of Dzing! in tone, the airy caramel mixed with wood is I think what does it. Of course this doesn't have Dzing!'s delightful leather, but it definitely shares some genes and the overall impression is similar. Although it's very sheer, it has a decidedly Autumnal vibe and I'm really enjoying wearing it in the cooler weather, where the gunpowder really shines and gives it an edge. This is very nice. An unusual, transparent, elegant, gourmand.

Very much agree on the bottle change with the person below - l'Artisan bottles are usually lovely.This is massive and gaudy; and hard to hold, to boot.

I wanted so badly to love this one, but I'm with the reviewer who said this smelled like pickles, because on me, it does. It looked like such an amazing combination of notes, I love the story behind it, and I typically love scents by L'artisan. But this one was not destined to be. My skin projected only a strange odor of pickles, with an occasional hint of cedar. Clearly something in my skin chemistry doesn't agree with this one, so to those interested in this, definitely try before you buy! I imagine it smells absolutely amazing on some people, I just wish I was one of them!

The overall impression I get with this is the olifactory equivalent to the taste of salted caramels. If you are into that sweet and salty flavor then perhaps you will find a similar vibe here like I do.

Smells like sweet pickles, no thank you.

For a gourmand lover like me, a caramel note is a good sight at first, but it can become cloying quite fast. However, here it stands together with a milky feel(I don't really enjoy the smell of hot milk and here I felt only a glimpse of it, fortunately) and a slightly powdery combination of orchid and vanilla - or maybe it's the orchid itself, I'm not sure. This combination is an unusual opening for sure. It gives a feel of a thin-textured cloud with the just right amount of sweetness and powderiness. The allmighty gunpowder note arrives a bit later. Now, I have no clue what gunpowder smells like, but the note I get is metallic and dry with a somewhat smoky quality. The interchange between pastry-like opening and the ground metal is unlike anything I've smelled in my life and I like it very much. The drydown is rather familiar as it adds a slightly synthetic cedar note which overwhelms the rest, but, honestly, I do not care about the drydown when the earlier phases are this special.

The longevity of Amour Nocturne is very solid on my skin, with a nice projecting wave to follow it. This is a definition of a unisex scent, either gender can wear this one with equal success. I see this mostly as a midseason scent, but it can be worn whenever, with adjusted application. The scent itself is more linear than complex, but it cannot be put into any of those two categories.

The one thing I'll never learn to like about this scent is the different-than-usual L'Artisan bottle, but I guess that's just me, and is more because I love the iconic look of a standard bottle than because this one isn't nice. Also, it's quite expensive, both compared to other L'Artisans and generally speaking. However, this is a magnificent scent in my book, a very unusual gourmand, and certainly the best of this Explosions d'Emotions collection.

9/10

I love L'Artisan Dzing! Amour Nocturne smells nothing like it, but I'm quickly falling for it, too. Why one makes me think of the other is this... Both of these fragrances give me the feeling of being at an old-time carnival. Dzing is the big top tent, animals and all that goes along with them. Amour Nocturne is the mid-way.

Freshly made caramel apples, buttery popcorn, a breeze brings the scent from the wooden rollercoaster. They've fired off the fireworks, and that oh so lovely gunpowder floats all around me. It is night time, and I'm holding hands with my handsome "crush". Will he kiss me? How could he not? He loves sweet things ;) and he has a thing for going to the shooting range with his dad. Love and fun. That's Amour Nocturne to me.

Another subverted gourmand from L'artisan. This one is absolutely special. When I first applied it I got some sweetness with a strong, bitter, rough note that reminded me almost of pepper or some other bitter spice. After reading the notes I totally recognize the gun powder accord. Yknow on the 4th of july, when the last few fireworks are launched off and theres just a slight haze over everything with that smoky smoldering scent? bingo. Shortly after the firecracker opening, a warm, smooth, sweet caramel note starts to wake up. It grows and grows, and then right before it gets too sweet I suddenly notice that theres a nice, peppery cedar note. Was that there the whole time? I don't know..but it keeps getting more and more prominent. Eventually I was left with a slightly bitter cedar caramel scent that I could not stop sniffing. This is not a fragrance for everyone, its definitely unisex and a little strange at first. But I think if you're not afraid of cedar or gourmands this could be a love. I also imagine it would greatly appeal to fans of Dzing who are looking for something else from the 'strange and sweet' corner of L'artisan. It definitely is not worth the ridiculous retail price but seeing as how it can be found at discounters for less than the normal l'artisans its a big winner. One of my favorites from a house that I thought I was bored of. 8.5/10

Another beautiful and unique scent from this line.
This is the third I've tried and loved after Rappelle Toi and Tea for Two, and now I think I'll have to try them all!

It smells like caramel cream, orchids, and fireworks.
All in perfect harmony.

It's so beautiful and intriguing.

Reminds me of summer nights at the beach watching fireworks as a child.

It's an unusual scent that wears well, but I'm not sure I feel good in it. On me it's caramel and milk and, yes, gunpowder overload. This note is a bit too prominent on my skin. Medium sillage, over 8h longevity - the technicalities are as they should be.

So surprising!

So strong in the beginning and harsh, but suddendly so nice and soft.
Voluptuous and womenly.
However it's not too big to wear. Gunpowder is the point, it sends, shots the bullet to your senses. Without it it woud be same as anything less remarkable.
L'amour and death. Nothing less. Beautiful is too small word.

Toffee and gunpower. Hunting with dogs and the coffee at camp fire. Red nails and the hunting outfit.

It starts rather strong and very unisex. The opening notes are definitely musky, although I see no musc in the description... there is something extremely woody, oozing sexuality ( not sensuality ) here. After about one hour, finally, I start sensing the caramel and milk. It changes radically, becoming softer, sweeter, more gourmand. Throughout the development I fail to sense the metallic bloody odor many seem to comment on. As for the gun powder? Well, I don't know exactly what that smells like, but I would assume it's there in the opening notes as something rough, animalic and raw. I have not yet reached the basenotes, but looking at how this scent develops, it seems to be heading into a gourmand, slightly floral, comforting beauty, a milky melted caramel on orchid petals.
It is a bizarre scent, considering the transformation.
I believe it's suited for people with a strong personality, who don't quite feel they fit in. For this reason, I don't see it becoming a mass favorite, because it isn't soft, sensual, voluptuous, or stylish. It's multifaceted, moody, changeable.
It's an affair that starts with raw and rough intimacy, and no strings attached, and later on goes through a profound metamorphosis to a heartfelt love, a sweet embrace of comfort, familiarity , sweetness, reliability and warmth.
As I said, love the unconventional way. Might be heading to the altar in the end.
Congratulations, L'Artisan, another masterpiece.

Amour Nocturne is supposed to convey the fireworks of love by night. It is definitely a fiery fragrance. On my skin it opened boldly with lychee, guaiac resin, Amber and musk. There was also some oud emerging after 5 minutes or so. For the life of me, I could not sense any caramel or milk which many folks her are referring to. My husband loved it. "Flowers and smoke " was his description. I have mixed feelings. I can think of at least 3 oud-based scents that I could buy for the price of amour nocturne. Should I ever become Imelda Marcos of perfumes though, Amour Nocturne will definitely be one of the gems in my collection.

Amour Nocturne makes me anxious. The caramel and milk notes are so warm and comfortable but then the gunpowder and cedar sneak in there and smell SO WRONG. It's the opposite of how you'd expect a fragrance to progress. The more you smell it, the more dissonant and ugly it gets. Sweet, but with a memory of violence and bloodshed. Like eating toffee on a still-smoking battlefield. I can't smell it too long without getting fearful.

It's an absolute masterpiece.

gunpowder with sweet milk. grassy smokey and dark yet midly sweet. the grass notes, sands, with the sweet hint gives the gunpowder effect. it's a weird combination. i can smell woods in between, some slight berries, and i guess the sugary milk gives the essence of caramel as no caramel detected yet. the gunpowder vanishes slowly after few minutes leaves the mix goes woods, milky, honey wax, with cedar and grass notes. it's good after all but overpriced.
now it's dried down and i can smell real fresh mango note, an open ripe mango i eat all time where i can smell it on my fingers.

A sweet powdery floral with a faint hint of milk and a strong chemical note that suggest gunpowder:metallic, dry, peppery. Surprisingly wearable but it's an odd one.

Along with Deliria and Skin on Skin, I tried this a while ago but never bothered to write about it. I’m only returning to it now as its been haunting my inbox for far too long.

This is a milky, dusty, floral thing; quite figgy, and there’s a tinge of rose, but it smells more like a scene than anything recognizable as notes. In my mind, it’s an antiqued space—a sort of weathered Victorian-meets-cape cod affair. I can picture hues of pink, greys, and whites; faded wallpaper, distressed wood finishes, a ratty-by-design chaise with vintage teddy bears, strings of pearls, silk ribbons, old portraits in flaked-paint frames. It’s basically a Pottery Barn catalogue in scent form.

It’s a maudlin thing really—a sort of faux-old aesthetic designed for the mid-30s urban crowd. Musty and dry, slightly rubbery, vaguely nostalgic, generally washed out. It has some sweetness, but it’s more like sweetened tea (although it doesn’t smell like tea). Given that there are a few cheap chemicals sticking out of it, I’m not convinced that it’s worth the asking price, but it does accomplish a dusty thrift store-chic thing effectively. Merciful, really, considering what it could have smelled like.

Like many of you, i bought my front row ticket to witness the gunpowder note in action. This starts off with some serious milky caramel almost fig like followed by the sooty note of gunpowder. The added smoke instantly makes this a controversial fragrance. Some will argue that it's better without the murky note. The gourmand skeleton which this is built upon keeps this from being too floral or too smoky. This composition has the weight of a feather hence making it easy on the brain. In the drydown stage, i found myself comparing this to another standout woody floral musky concoction...Cannabis Santal. After digesting the price, this "so called" gunpowder is seemingly a bullet wound to the wallet; not to mention a lifespan of 4hrs tops. $280 dollars is no chicken feed.

I've tried this, along with Deliria and Skin on Skin, and I must confess, Amour Nocturne is probably my fave! The opening is a little heavy, somehow reminiscent of Deliria, but later it gets better and better. A sweet milky caramel skin scent, paired with woody smokiness. Perfect!

The gunpowder kills it for me. Taking out that note, it is a very pleasant sweetened up milky fragrance, but unfortunately the gunpowder is really amplified in my skin turning it into a scrubber. A shame, because i loved the rest of the composition!!

This is smoked caramel & little cedar. I don't mind gun powder notes at all, they somehow flow very well in this composition. Very well done fragrance!

Sweet & smoky - love it!

This is exactly what opening up the hood of an overheating 1950's Packard smells like. I've done it hundreds of times, and it's spot on. Rubbery, smoky, and a bit sweet and unnatural.

The longevity also leaves much to be desired. I really wanted to love this, but it seems it isn't for me! I am jealous of those of you who love this scent because it smells delightful on you.

Amour nocturne opens with a blast of smoky, metallic gunpowder. Unlike many perfumes with "weird" notes, you can actually make them out clear as day here. However, that blast of gunpowder only lasts for a few seconds, quickly giving way to delicious creamy vanilla and realistic caramel. The gunpowder still lingers in the background but it is now only a shadow of what it started as, and rather than having a pronounced metallic scent, it just adds a nice coolness that makes the whole composition smell like... ice cream! Vanilla ice cream with caramel swirls. It's not exactly what I'd expect from a perfume called Amour Nocturne, but I love it.

PS. I actually got a compliment on this today, and believe me when I say I NEVER get compliments.

Mmmm smoky, yeah I can see that. Caramel I guess so but it's not sweet or syrupy, more like a vanilla cream caramel. Again not sweet. Under the caramel lies some spice, just enough to keep me interested. Goes on beautifully and continues to develop over hours leaving a lovely woody musky trail with a hint of vanilla. A wrist smeller for hours. Don't get why others aren't raving...maybe a née replacement to my beloved dolce vita. Maybe a more complex and gourmand tam Dao? If you love dolce and other sandalwoods, give this a try.

This smells like warm milk, caramel, and cedar. Not completely repulsive, but not delicious or very intriguing either. It actually reminds me of Mariella Burani by Mariella Burani, another caramel scent that I don't care for. You can pick up a bottle of MB for $20 on the net, so Amour Nocturne is not much of a bargain. I suppose I had higher expectation for L'Artisan...this is just not for me.

Yuk. This is the second one I have tried in the line after the grotesque Deliria. I now have little hope for Skin on Skin but we shall see.

It smells of fireworks on the night sky and carmelised milk. Explosive joy and sweetness. Perfect stranger I fell in love with. It's my new flag perfume.

I don't know. I was trying to figure out what Amour Nocturne, the third member of the L'Artisan Parfumeur Explosions d'Emotions, was to supposed to be. I came up with: musky metallic gourmand.

According to the notes there is no musk, but clearly there is. I see also that this perfume has been categorized as a floral woody musk. Is gunpowder metallic? It seems so. The gourmand is present and accounted for in the caramel. I don't know. This trio just didn't work for me. Skin on Skin was okay because I love iris, but the other two? No.

I think that I really dislike metallic notes. I wonder whether there is some intended overlap between Amour Nocturne and ELdO Sécrétions Magnifiques? I do find something somehow distasteful about this blend, though not to the same degree. What I know is that this trio's not for me. For the record, I enjoy almost everything else ever made by L'Artisan Parfumeur. These three perfumes are not in the same league, which is ironic, given that they cost more than the regular line.

Perhaps my samples had all turned. There is an expiration date clearly printed on the gel-splat cards: January 2014. Perhaps the gel misrepresents the perfumes. Or perhaps the set was simply ill-conceived. Too much concept; not enough aesthetics.

-----------------

I just watched the YouTube promo for this trio, which confirms my suspicion: way too much concept. Actually it might be the worst campaign since the Brad Pitt Chanel no 5!

@Haptica--I've had good luck with theperfumedcourt dot com. They do have amour nocturne.

@Haptica,


Try Surrender to Chance. That's where I bought my sample.

Does anybody have any methods for getting samples of perfumes? I always read about perfumes that intrigue me but I can never find them to experience them in real life.

??????????

Love at first sniff! Amour nocturne is a delicate caress, a gentle and comforting touch. It's a cup of hot milk with a touch of caramel. Not too sweet, a little bit of smokiness. This fragrance is so original yet so essential, a pure masterpiece. To me, this is the best of the three Explosions d'Emotions. Unforgettable

On my skin I get sweet milk and a warm, gentle smoky incense-esque cedar. The gunpowder note smells like incense w/ an itch to it in the back of your nose like real black pepper.

That's how it goes on me, at least. It's a little oddly sweet to me too, which must be L'artisan's delicious version of caramel.

(It does actually smell very similar in a few notes to La Fin Du Monde! They DO both have that odd dusty/smoky/peppery note with something slightly buttery smelling = gunpowder +caramel/popcorn.)

Overall its interesting; I keep wanting to smell it to detect the weird juxtaposition of sweet/pepperydust. BUT IT'S SO SUBTLE! I had to use a lot of my sample to be able to detect it enough to focus on notes.

Spicy, Incensy Smokey, not particularly unpleasant but certainly not amour. I actually felt this was a little boring, it has no milk and no caramel.

Opens up with a metallic blast of gunpowder before the cedar peeks through. Though I don't detect caramel and milk as individual notes, they sweeten this fragrance to make it a little warmer and less "industrial." It is warm and ozonic. I like this fragrance, but not enough to buy a whole bottle, unless I could find the price considerably marked down.

I don't get any caramel unless the burnt, smoky smell is supposed to be the caramel and milk (unsweetened caramel? is there such a thing?)...
I just get a ton of gunpowder and cedar from this; It's somewhat interesting but I really wish I had gotten more of the other notes, getting more milk or caramel would have made it very intriguing and worth trying again. But since I'm not a huge fan of cedar or gunpowder, I don't think I would want to wear it again.

This is not a perfume to wear if you want to feel girly.
It is a weird smell, milky and it is mixed with blood.
Lasting pouwer is very good.
For me this is a scrubber.

An evocative name for a surely unusual fragrance, whose attractive and slightly perturbing aura seems to come from a place of mind somewhere between memories, dreams, desires…

As soon as Amour Nocturne touches my skin, the innocent aroma of caramelized warm milk coming from the sample vial immediately melts with a pronounced cloud of incense-like smokiness (my chemistry/nose tends sometimes to skip top notes, that's one more case)… this seemingly hazardous accord is to me reminiscent both of a funfair atmosphere and, if that makes any sense, of a long-abandoned party room in an aristocratic and ancient house: if anyone of you has seen the movie “Great Expectations” (or read the novel) you’ll probably know what I’m talking about…
I feel a subtle but ineluctable melancholy while wearing this fragrance, like a sense of loss without any real loss. I’ve never smelled gunpowder, and those who have told me it has a very pleasant and lightly spicy scent, so I guess that’s why many members voted it as the main note in Amour Nocturne… as it dries down, the fragrance gets smoother, less gloomy and more intimate, leaving an opaque and pale waxy trace like that left in the nocturnal air by a switched-off scented candle.

There’s undeniably a gothic romanticism in the idea of two lovers perhaps united in crime, that’s one of the “literary” interpretations I could think of for the choice of gunpowder note and the whole concept of this scent (I mean, one could use incense or maybe burnt wood notes to render smokiness)… truth is, this fragrance has nothing even remotely dangerous or sinful in its composition, feeling instead quiet, gentle and almost mystical to me.
Whatever Douchafour had in mind while creating it - and to stay in the same metaphor - Amour Nocturne is really an emotions trigger in my personal experience, exactly as the theme of this latest L’Artisan Parfumeur perfumes suggests (Explosions d’Emotions)… probably not something I’d easily wear, but who knows, I could be in the nostalgic mood for it one day…

From head springs mainly orchid and cedar, but the base is really strange, a blend of caramel and ash, perhaps like the smell of a kitchen fireplace cavity cooling down.
The whole is strangely addictive, fun and disturbing.

I really don't know what kind of smell the gunpowder has... But this perfume is a sweet, deep, exciting fragrance. At the very first moment it seemed overpowered on my skin, but after a few minutes it turns into a sweet, strong smell and stays on my skin very long. It's not a typical way of the l'artisan perfumes, much more stronger and smells about 7-8 hours. I feel the caramel, the milk and the orchid altogether, but the cedar makes this scent much more amazing and interesting. (i can't imagine on a man at all.)

My comment has nothing to do with reviewing this perfume, sorry!
Dear Fragrantica, I think someone forgot to mention that there are 3 perfumes in this collection and you forgot Déliria!

gunpowder? you must be kidding...

This is a weird and pleasant mix of fresh, milky, subtle unsweetened caramel and smoky nuances. They feel as if they were not smells, but thoughts or feelings. For some reason this is a sad fragrance to me.