Lumiere Noire by Grès

I picked it up based on the references, but unfortunately, I didn’t like it. It sounded like a perfume for very elderly women. That’s my personal opinion.

I bought it blind a while ago. First, the official website notes: opening bergamot, bergamot and orange blossom; heart patchouli, rose and cyclamen; base amber, musk and vanilla. Upon opening, it smells extremely citrusy, rinds softened by the orange blossom. Then the rose comes out, I suppose with the cyclamen (I don’t know it) slightly sweet, very creamy vanilla, patchouli and a slight citrus freshness. After a few hours, what I feel most is the vanilla. The sillage is about half a metre for the first two hours, then drops to 15cm. By the fourth or fifth hour, it’s skin scent, poor longevity, but it doesn’t hurt to spend it because it’s economical. The atomiser is a bit bloody awful, of super short range. In my bottle it sprays like a children’s water pistol haha. That doesn’t take away from the fact that the aroma is a delight.

Lumière Noire is from the Les Conceptuels line, inspired by Paris, paying tribute to facets of the daily cycle (Gres forges its cradle of inspiration). ‘Solitude is a spiritual food for me’ introduces the line. Lumière Noire represents the nocturnal dynamo of Paris (Lumiere Rose is the dawn and Lumiere Blanche the afternoon). ‘While night submerges Paris in shadows… the city of light dresses in its party gowns… an olfactive homage to the intoxicating Parisian nights’. Notes: opening bergamot, bergamot and orange; heart rose, cyclamen and patchouli; base vanilla, amber and musk. It’s compared to Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle, but I think it’s closer to the old Miss Dior Cherie and the accessible Miss Dior (New), being more interesting, economical and better crafted. On the first spray it explodes with creamy, lactonic orange blossom, with minimal freshness of bergamot and a vague citrus edge. Then it monopolises a creamy, balsamic patchouli, with sweet and docile rose (the cyclamen doesn’t appear in my experience). Finally, dominated by a vanilla-ambered and lactonic amber, with a gourmand influence (similar to L’Ambre des Merveilles by Hermes) and a subtle musk. It’s similar to the mentioned ones, avoiding the inconsistent ‘sorbet’ of Miss Dior (New) and the sober freshness of the Coco, as they all fit into neo-chypres with a creamy/fruity/gourmand patchouli nuance, but Lumière Noire has a singular identity; it’s the most romantic and magnetic, without falling into the cliché. It’s not dark; it’s comforting and luminous; it’s not weak (power like pre-reformulation Coco) nor crude or overwhelmingly mature. If you like the mentioned fragrances, try Lumière Noire (so economical it’s embarrassing). If you’re looking for riskier neo-chypres, try Believe by Britney Spears. Sillage and longevity are stable, not disappointing but not overwhelming either.