Scentzilla!

Lubin introduced Nuit de Longchamp I believe in 1933. (Other sources give release years of ‘34 or ‘35, but ads for it appeared in publications as early as ‘33.) Nuit de Longchamp presumably takes its name from the premiere fête thrown in the evenings for the first races at the famous horse track, Hippodrome de Longchamp. An old program stated formal dress was required of ladies for portions of the evening. No mention of the gents though, which gave me a chuckle at all the possible satorial choices that could have been made, heh.

My bottle dates approximately from the late 40s or very early 50s. The flacon’s stopper would indicate to our modern eyes a skeleton key. However the shape is an ode to lanterns, in keeping with the racing theme.

The juice I have is nearly dead, but not quite. It still is able to whisper its message from the past, a ghost with a hoarse throat. (*Must fight urge to write that as a horse throat*)

The oakmossy chypre still conveys, with a floral bouquet and touch of green, bearing the sparkling sweetness of fruit. It’s rather like Peach Os, meaning there is “peach” but not any actual fruit. Some serious musk is wrapped around the fragrance, but who knows if this is due to age or if it is part of Nuit de Longchamp’s essential character. I perceive a bit of cedaric woodiness at the base, as well as what seems like a speck of spice? Dunno, it’s hard to tell one way or another. Sigh.

Ach! What self-torture! Sniffing at a raspy vintage perfume makes me pine to understand how it must have smelled when new. A certain “masculinity” of Nuit de Longchamp leads me to think it must have been quite distinctive in the day, especially because it was intended for women. This is the sort of perfume that can make a perfume-addict chase the dragon: buying bottle after bottle in search of the penultimate fix. Is there a twelve step for this phenomenon yet? I may need one…

Ad image from delcampe.be, however, one can view other ads from various time periods for Nuit de Longchamp over at Okadi.