Fleur de Nuit
Antonio Visconti

Notes from the Antonio Visconti website
Top: Chilli pepper leaf and fruit, nutmeg, mandarin, bergamot
Heart: Indian jasmine absolute, Turkish rose absolute, tuberose, carnation, anise
Base: Agarwood, sandalwood Mysore, benzoin Siam, vanilla, honey, musk Tonkin, patchouli, vetiver Giava, ambergris

Spray and stand back – this is one of those perfumes where one must inhale the aura rather than sniffing close to the skin. The latter will offer an off-puttingly sweaty (something cumin-like and salty to the fore) jasmine. But let the perfume waft up to you, and a daring but quite classic composition is revealed.
The initial surge of chilli pepper greens with jasmine and some wild animal popping by to visit is quite something else. However, the evolution within about 15 minutes is towards a full-bodied jasmine supported by tuberose (reader, insert favourite ‘carnal' cliché at this point), hints of honeyed rose tones, sitting on a hugely complex base of spice, sweat, resins and woods. That base harks back to perfumes that have now vanished from the shelves and, for me, takes some getting used to. It makes the experience of this perfume opulent but also upfront, pushy almost, like a horndog who won't take no for an answer.
I imagine Fleur de Nuit will be instant love for a certain kind of perfume aficionado. I can admire the way it is put together but can't warm to it. And when the florals blow away after three or four hours but that base is still going hell for leather, the whole experience feels like being forced to wear the same underpants for days in a row. Smell it on another person, however, and one mainly gets the most soft and smoochy floral invitation – go figure!