Mona di Orio Nuit Noire
June 13th, 2006
Today I’m wearing Nuit Noire by Mona di Orio. It features the top notes of orange flower, cardamom, ginger, orange guinee; heart notes of oliban, cinnamon, tuberose, sandalwood, clove, cedarwood, and base notes of amber, leather, musk, and tonka bean. Now let me tell you what it smells like when I first srpay it on. It smells like rotting oranges. This is the most diplomatic description I was able to come up with. My husband, however, once flat out said it smelled like dirty diapers. Now, why would anybody in their right mind want to wear a perfume of such inappropriate nature? For me, it was the luxurious drydown. Yes, I’m willing to put up with the first thirty minutes or so of this indecency for the sake of a knockout drydown.
Nuit Noire is a deep, animalic, succulent floral oriental with an excellent staying power. It’s a gutsy scent – not something I could wear often. I tend to exercise caution around it since it does have the potential to be an irrevocably wrong scent for the day. I almost doubted my choice this morning and hid my wrists in my pockets while in the elevator for fear of being banned from the building. My fears are gone now, and I’m enjoying its unmistakably genuine beauty.
Nuit Noire can be purchased from Aedes and The Perfume Shoppe. For more retailer information, please check the Mona di Orio web page.
Image source: www.aedes.com
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16 Comments
1. Elle | June 13th, 2006 at 9:12 am
My DH also commented on its powerful fecal notes in the opening. He was horrified that I could love it. The drydown, though, is irresistible. It actually reminds me of Central American bodegas w/ all the floral and incense scents that fill them. It’s a gorgeous scent, but definitely an extremely dense one…not for a lover of light, transparent scents.
2. Cait | June 13th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Wow, I must try these Monas. La Voilette de Madame by Guerlain is the most fecal perfume I’ve ever smelled yet, but maybe this can give it a run for its money. Thanks for the review.
3. Ina | June 13th, 2006 at 9:24 am
Note to self: go visit Central American bodegas.
4. Ina | June 13th, 2006 at 9:25 am
Cait, I have a feeling Nuit Noire will surpass the fecalness (!?) of Voilette de Madame.
5. Christina H. | June 13th, 2006 at 10:11 am
The Di Orio scents are best in their dry down They all started off very funky for me but the dry down on these were much nicer.I am still amazed that Cait gets any fecal odor from Voilette de Madame!!
6. Ina | June 13th, 2006 at 10:21 am
That’s why I thought to myself this morning, that this one needs to be sprayed at least thirty minutes before leaving the house. Otherwise, it’s a killer.
7. The Scented Salamander | June 13th, 2006 at 11:55 am
“rotting oranges” and “genuine beauty”, I see how it was created by the same person that created Lux. I think I’m becoming a Mona di Orio’s unconditional admirer!
8. Ina | June 13th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Me too!
9. Victoria | June 13th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Ochen’ krasivo napisano.
I enjoyed your review, but I have to say that the appeal of NN and Lux is completely lost on me, not because they smell strange, but because they strike me as rather predictable orientals. Lux in particular seems like a rip off of Eau Sauvage, modulated by a vanillic oriental base. No wonder, she credits Roudnitska for inspiring that one. 
Like Christina, I also do not get anything overly fecal from La Voilette de Madame.
10. Ina | June 13th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Thank you, V.!
I see what you mean but I still find Nuit Noire quite unique. 
The other two are less so, it seems. I can’t remember what Voilette de Madame smells like – I think the only time I smelled was during our sniffing session after your Paris trip last winter. 
Needless to say, I had tons of scents going on at the same time.
11. Marina | June 13th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
I also think that Nuit Noire is unique…I can’t think of anything that smells like it. And I adore the “indecency” of the top notes. I do like the drydown too, but that indolic, spicy orange blossom in the beginning…oh my!
12. Ina | June 13th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
You mean, you love the smell of rotting oranges?
But I know what you mean. I’m with you here. 
13. March | June 14th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
I tried this and promptly scrubbed it off, then gave away my sample. Intensely animalic in the fecal direction. Now, though, you’re making me want to re-sample.
Can I say I find it hilarious that our collective hard-core tastes can be so outre as to embrace things like this and MKK, etc,?
PS I BELIEVE, barring internet problems, my Chicago post is going up tomorrow.
14. Ina | June 14th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
March! Good to see you here!
Yes, it’s bizarre, isn’t it. Can’t wat for your Chicago report!
15. Aromascope » Oiro b&hellip | January 24th, 2007 at 12:24 am
[...] Oiro is the newest creation by Mona di Orio, a Dutch perfumer whose work is inspired by the legendary Edmond Roudnitska. Portuguese for “gold”, the scent is indeed woven in golden, yellow hues. Her other creation, Nuit Noire, was what introduced me to the line, instantly winning me over with its seductive, indolic floral heart. I detect the same base in all of Mona di Orio scents – dirty, animalic, borderline unpleasant, yet inexplicably appealing. Oiro very much continues in the same vein, with perhaps one exception – it has a sheer, translucent character. [...]
16. SniffQ | January 24th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
I’m not that sophisticated. I want a scent that I love from first spray to fading drydown. I guess that’s what a Holy Grail is about. Anything that smells like a diaper is something I run from. Now here’s the weird thing–I got a sample, and don’t get that topnote at all. I’m almost disappointed that I can’t be horrified. Or something.