Nuit Etoilée
Goutal (2012)

Nuit Etoilee (EDT) is frosty, mossy pines contrasted with warm, sweet balsam fir...rendering it cool, crisp, airy, and magical. The mint is the smell of the raw leaves, more herbal and somewhat metallic (in a beautiful way). Angelica and immortelle in the dry down imparts a raw, mildly honeyed, musky feel.

More subjectively, this beautiful fragrance, especially in its opening, evokes fond memories of my Mom when I was very young, and the smell of her pocketbook (I recall this smell because I loved digging into it for her stationery with which to scribble or draw). The combination of Wrigley's Doublemint gum and its shiny wrapper, traces of her perfumes, her cosmetics, the leather of her bag, even the ink of those PaperMate pens. We lost her over six years ago, so to have a fragrance that conjures up such a personal scent memory associated with her, lends even more magic to Nuit Etoilee. I am truly happy to have it in my possession.

[Rectangular bottle]

Interesting first impressions of Nuit Etoille by Annick Goutal. It does open with a green smell, just not the green notes I was hoping for. It reminds me of the stems of nettles freshly snapped...brisk, slightly herbal and perhaps hesperedic, which would lead me to believe that bergamot might be involved in the opening? The opening also reminded me just for a moment of Idyllwild by Ineke which has more of a rhubarb note, whereas Nuit Etoilee smells more of nettles. In very short order however I can smell an almost anise, licorice note but it comes across more fennel like to me because of the overall herbal quality of the fragrance. I am not getting any fir or fir balsam unfortunately. They were the two notes I bought this fragrance for, but it was a "blind" buy so I'm not upset because I've been doing this long enough to know the risks. This is an enjoyable fragrance and I do like it already. There is a very slight resinous quality and along with the licorice note reminds me just a tiny bit of Vikt by Slumberhouse, but Nuit Etoilee is much more transparent than Vikt and where I'm getting floral nuances from Nuit Etoilee, I get bay leaf from Vikt. This is a thumbs up for me as it is an enjoyable accord and one I will wear, it's just not the coniferous fragrance I was hoping for.

A fresh citrus accord - a ripe lemon and a ripe sweet orange are greeting me from the outset, but soon a wood note sets in - fairly nonspecific but occasional a touch of fir balsam detectable.

Further down the line a mix of musky and fruity notions are present, with a whiff of juniper probably due to the Angelica seed impression. Towards the end, a gentle immortelle is noticeable.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection and ten hours of longevity on my skin.

A pleasant spring scent, with the later stages more vivid and convincing that the earlier ones. 2.75/5

This review is for the Eau de Parfum.

From December, 2015:

A natural, herbal citrusy spearmint almost set up in contrast with a dry, coniferous woody note that I initially mistook for incense. There's a singed, burnt smokiness throughout Nuit Etoilee that gives the entire composition a very bitter and gauzy gray dimension. On my skin this aspect dominates, and runs parallel to the mint. While it's an interesting combination, my favorite part of this is the opening five minutes before all the gray bitterness enters the picture. I find something about this fragrance depressing, it feels so desiccated and depleted to me, and when I wear it I just sort of watch that beautiful mint note from the beginning succumb to the weariness and dry desolation of its surroundings. It also burns my nose. I've discovered that I don't enjoy mint when it's paired with incense or smoke--Breath of God,Memoir Man, Burning Barbershop, Oriental Mint, Russian Tea, and now Nuit Etoillee--it's simply a combination that has never worked for me. Thumbs down.

Good citrus here, on top. It's sunny. Lightly tart lemon. Juicy sweet orange. The citrus lasts quite awhile before the fir notes mosey in. The fir wasn't very strong, for me. It was rather light. I expected some intensity. There are just enough "florals" here to keep fir from being too forest-like. I've been searching for a good, fir-centric fragrance; this isn't it. It is tame on my skin. It does remind me of an old-style cologne. I feel it leans towards unisex.

I applied tons of this - it never became loud, strong, or satisfactory enough to give this real praise. Sort of fizzled out. Too light, too boring - sorry, not enough character or pizzazz.

Nuit etoilee is summer's scent for me ,georgeus fragrance .