Vol de Nuit Guerlain for women

Moans Guerlain in the 1930's but is still unique in a field of gians.

This is a definite woody one, with sandalwood and earthy orris root taking off as soon as you spray it. Also present are the aldehydes and oakmoss. This makes me think or the Wright brothers flights, when everything was so exhilarating, in the outdoors with the earth around them and oil from working on the gliders here and there. I like it more once this all dries down to a fainter version of the original and it is very powdery.

I would litterally swap my right arm for this :/

This is a beautiful perfume, I only have the EdT, my budget won't allow the perfume. But still, I spray it on and keep going back for another sniff. It's gorgeous, so classy, otherworldly. I wish I could have been there in the thirties, living it up, partying all day, being chic and wearing Vol de Nuit. One can always dream, can't we?

Oooh, what a breathtakingly beauty!!! Launched in 1933 by the legendary Jacques Guerlain for known pilot and story teller Antoine de Saint Exupèrey, this fragrance bewitches and haunts you. It transposts you back to the roaring twenties, the crazy years before everything fell apart. First in Wall street, then in Europe and then in the rest of the world. A beautiful epilogue after some years of unbridled fun and on the verge of more years of pain and suffering. It is like a beautful flower growing on top of a heap of garbage.
Topnotes are orange, orange blossom, galbanum, mandarin, narciscuss, bergamot, lemon; middle:orris, aldehydes, narcissus, vanilla; base: spices, sandalwood, musk,orris root, oakmoss.
Where most post 2005 frags let one or more of the top or middle blaze everything else away, this creation is a delicate balancing act wher every note is the star and is being allowed to ,keep its dignity and personality. You have the very green opening where the galbanum, bergamot and lemon balance out the sweeter orange, orange blossom, mandarin and narcissus and create a fresh but rounded and amazingly effervecent and orignal opening. The middle doesn't take over but adds to the class with the aldehydes that perfectly guide the green opening into a more full bodied and slightly flowery direction wxith the narcissus and the base adds to this with sandalwood, orris, musk and oakmoss. The result is a complex 'green-y' extremely cohesive fragrance with a strong, unique personality. No possible flankers would have been made here.
Exeptional is that the strong aldehydes are in the middle so they don't blast everything to smitherens from the start. The aldehydes are joined in the middle by the vanilla, which is in mostl other fragrances in the bottom. The combo aldehydes-vanilla plus the galbanum in the top and the oakmoss in the base make this creation a spectacular masterpiece. No sugar crystal and a raspberry in sight. And yet this is class in a bottle. It is sweet because of the mandarins and the orange blossoms, fresh because of the galbanum and the bergamot and the lemon, spicy becasue of the spices in the base plus the real deep and spicy vanilla, dry because of the sandalwood, full bodied because of the aldhydes. The notes form an exceptionally well balanced creation and the airplane of de Saint Exupery is symbolised by the development and trip the scent makes on your skin during the hours after apllication. By the way, there is absolutely no peach and almond in it. There is a faint musk. But the fragrance stays fresh and never turns powdery.
It is at once green and refreshing, earthy and woody, warm and cold, delicate and with an irrepressable personality, flying above the world and het with roots firmy in the Parisian soil. It is that kind of complex creation where you constanty are amazed at the development. You cause calusses on your wrist by constantly sniffing at it. You immedatly pick somebody out of a large crowd who wears 'Vol de Nuit'. This is in the pantheon of legendary fragrances like 'Mitsouko', 'Joy', 'Jicky'... and deservedly so. It is as typicaly Guerlinesque as 'Coco' is Chanel and 'Joy' is Patou and 'Le Dix' is Balenciaga.
For me 'Vol de Nuit' conjures up great images of the mysterious smile of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, the grandeur of the Saré Coeur cathedral in Paris and paraglyding in the Pyrenées. It feels like the sight of a beautiful classy woman riding on a horse, a Parisienne with a Gauloise and a strong espresso in the morning sun seemingly oblivious to the rest of the word paging through a newspaper... The feeling of freedom and the possiblity of dreams that can come true, one day... Elegant, sophisticated, intellectual, BCBGn timeless, powerful in conjuring up emotions and images and memories. A masterpiece, pure and simple.

Vol de Nuit feels like another time, place, or state of mind. Born of a vision, an inspiration, the mood of an era gone by - and it manages to remain relevent and intimate to admirers born decades after its creation. It is a very atmospheric fragrance, and in me it evokes a sense of a vast, airy loneliness. It is a mystery to me how a scent can project that. This in no way detracts from its beauty, it actually contributes to its character.

With Vol de Nuit, I almost forget it was crafted with intention, and that it didn't just come into existence by beautiful happenstance. That's how well- blended and natural the notes are, it doesn't smell formulated. It transports you past analysis and lets you just experience its beauty.

I love perfume but sometimes I simply can’t analyze a scent and identify its constituent parts. This seems to happen in two particular instances. I can’t deconstruct the fragrances that I wore when I was young. Each exists as a whole, like an object. I would have trouble analyzing Antaeus or No 5 beyond saying that one is huge and the other is aldehydic. The other instance is the early Guerlains. I love Vol de Nuit, and I recognize it the instant I smell it, but other than saying it is a powdery oriental, I’m adrift.

But I do love it. It is clearly complex, and the complexity reads as a richness that even I get. Although I can’t break VdN down in my head and look at its bit parts, I can describe it. It feels lush and unhurried. It is soft in feel. Not weak and vague, but deliberately diaphanous, ethereal. This softness gives VdN an atmosphere rather than an edge. VdN doesn’t cut or strike, it haunts.

Billy Joel's bitter sweet lyrics come to my mind for this one - "Only the good ones die young"

Hauntingly beautiful scent. Sadly vanishes into thin air within 10 minutes.

the bottle alone is a piece of art people these days are in 2 much a hurry 2 care about every little detail & put heart &soul into whatever it is they may do it shows up in the quality of EVERYTHING from the way house's are built & cars to the quality of clothes down to the material to perfume& perfume bottles to movies etc....i could go on & on but you get the point IM waiting for this one in the mail so i will come back 2 do the juice the bottle alone & reviews made me want 2 sample this....so thank you everyone who takes the time to put what you think from the simple to the elaborate it helps us get an idea with out flying COMPLETELY blind:)

Its 1933. Air France has taken to the skies and Vol De Nuit is launched. The bottle is a brilliant art deco tribute to a propeller. It take Guerlain to dizzying hights.

Th composition is surprisingly masculine, with the aldeydes taking center stage. This is the first Guerlain to use them that I am aware of. Controversial and electrifying, they let Vol De Nuit take flight. Its entire presentation has always seemed so modern, yet it is nearly 80 years old!

My vintage seems off somehow. Perhaps the original extrait captures the real experience. Nonetheless VDN is flawless in every way. I can imagine bell hats, smarts suites worn on a plane. The cabins must have smelled plesantly of VDN. How times have changed!

If the world of perfume is a jungle, then Vol de nuit is a beautiful Mediterranean garden. To me is like orange and lemon trees, jasmine and daffodil bushes. Here is where a little pet hided and sleeps now, in the shadow of the yellow flowers, after lapping up some vanilla goodie that the owner has given him. This blend of flowers, citrus, spices and something animalistic, like warm fur, is strange, wonderful and unique, and I love it.

I have the EdT version of Vol de Nuit and it's one of my most precious summer scents. During the cold season the base notes don't really develop on my skin. This time of year, however, it's absolutely stunning. Soft spices, impeccably elegant.

This review is of the vintage Vol de Nuit Eau de Toilette.

Vol de Nuit is a gorgeous, gorgeous green-floral with a distinct "brown" or "autumnal" quality to it, as described by some other reviewers. It is never too strong or overbearing; simply smooth and comforting, like a sunset, or.... a night flight. :)

Like Mitsouko, I find Vol de Nuit to be beyond time and gender, but still smelling damn good.

I double checked the guerlain website and you are right.

The extrait would be the best choice if one if looking for more intensity. The price tag is a little steep though.

full_of_colours, I am not sure that there is an EDP of Vol de Nuit. Only EDT and pure perfume, as far as I know. I have them both and I think that they both are amazing. VdN is my signature fragrance and such a perfection, that there is for me no other perfume in the world which can come even close to this one. The sense of space and darkness, the air in it, the memories that evokes, this is magic. For me VdN is a total calmness and clear mind, and I think that the name of this perfume couldn't be chosen better. The bottle of the PP is also perfectly complimenting the fragrance. A true masterpiece.

Happyme, try the EDP!

EDT: the softest woody ever encountered by me; lightest silage and sadly lasting power too; on a positive note: lovely, delicate, very "guerlinesque". Extremely wearable, powdery, woody, antiquated and very very classy. I love it more than Shalimar, although it has 1/10 of its strength. It smells intellectual to me and it reminds me of walking though the Louvre museum in Paris: the same majestic quietness dominates everything!

Vintage Parfum

I have tried my precious sample three times. In the vial I get a wave of the purest sharpest green galbanum, green as Vent Vert. On my skin something smokey and woody appears; bitter, almost tarry (is it petit grain?). It is not unpleasant, just cold and dark. Within minutes the smoke gives way to vanilla powder with just a curl of smoke wafting through it. Maybe a bit of leather. Then nothing. It is gone.

So brief, so quick and fleeting. I can not believe it is meant to be like this.

( Vintage Edt Review )

I don't see similiarities between Shalimar/Mitsouko and this fragance. Vol de Nuit is actually really boring compared to them.

I think this fragrance smell like a soft woody version of Parure. It also lacks complexity and fades too fast. Not for me.

for me it was because of My favourite writer Antoine de saint exsupery I tried this. i like first notes, but it somehow dies on my after that - almost nothing to smell. However, the story of this perfume is on of the most romantic ones - writer ordered it for his wife on their wedding aniversary and also to mark the book Vole de nuit - which is also amazing creation.

Very elegant and intellectual. I read somewhere this is Carla Bruni´s signature scent. It suits her, French, city chic style.Old fashioned in a good way.
Very nice for evenings out.

I read that Catherine Deneuve wears this.

Vol de Nuit(Parfum) opens with dry sweet woody peach and aldhyde notes. It instantly reminds me of classic perfumes, and it’s somehow like a mixture of 40% Mitsouko,for the peach; 30% Chanel No. 5 Parfum,for the powdery aldehyde; 10% Shalimar for soft vanilla vibe, plus 20% of something golden; velvet, renaissance, artistic and classic.

Soon it gets more powdery and sweeter, softer, and the Mitsouko peachy note is all gone. Somehow I think I smelt leather gloves, a really similar powdery, slightly dirty vibe lies underneath the powder smell, and reminds me of the dry down of Jolie Madam by Pierre Balmain. However personally, I find Vol de Nuit is more leather/warm skin smelling, which isn’t really my taste.

Later on the leather/skin smell goes away, but not completely, and the sweet powdery scent has somehow obtained a little bit non-spicy oriental edge, but in a quite psydo-floral musk way, well without too much floral. It’s powdery in an almond-y smashed with fainted musk way.

Well, not really my typical Oriental, it’s interesting and somehow intriguing, but just not my cup-of-tea, or at least the Parfum version isn't for me.

The Bottle is beautiful the artistry and
craft they painstakingly created with it's
Topaz cut and ruched glass cut with
gold insignia inside a circle with gold
metal Vol de Nuit is the hight of Art Deco
and liquid from the fragrance is pure gold. Channels the playboy aviator & eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes with
his planes and women of course women!
numerous of them well know actresses
you can think of had an affair the most
well know was Katharine Hepburn Jean Harlow
and Ava Gardner.
Squiring jean Harlow on the red carpet
of the Lavish Permire of Hells Angels
beautifully reenacted by the Pop Singer
Gwen Stefani from the Martin Scorsese's
The Aviator.

Or Walking though a Brown Smokey Quarz art deco nightclub
where the smoke stains the mirrors and the women whearing
skin tight Golden Dresses And Men with italian Suits
And the feeling of sex Is every where and the sound of a
single Saxophone Playing though the night.

the scent which i agree with Kastehelmi
it does fly off your skin there is no silage strength and if you compared
to shalimar it is obvious that Vol de nuit is an icy sphinx not letting know
her life nocturne introverted Elegance
compared to shalimar with allmost an
more of a masculine yang presence aggressive and yet like Vol refined.

Eventhough my reviewed VDN is a PP, it is a very light and compliant fragrance.

It starts of with clear orange notes supported by spices. After a few minutes a milky veil of vanilla enters to soften down the daffodil and jasmin. It has a silky powder character from iris notes without beeing too powdery. Woody notes completes its base.

Vol de Nuit is a fabolous fragrance in pure perfume and I really love wearing it. Still, I would want to wear it more often, but as it is not in your face about anything, it is easy to forget about it.

Anyway, I think VDN PP would be a good compagnion supporting you rather than rivaling you out as many frags do. So, if you are looking for soft wellcrafted frags, give Vol de Nuit a try.

Eventhough I'm usually occupied with outspoken ones, VDN is so silky, wellcrafted and beautiful that it may become a lifetime compagnion.

Perhaps VDN is my most beautiful fragrance, that I just haven't fully discovered yet. I'm sniffing my wrist... It is shy, but so beautiful.

Vol de nuit does fly from the skin in EDT, and who can find the real parfum for a fair price? It's a reminiscent fragrance for sure-I don't remember anybody who wore this, but somebody must have made an impression on me when I was young, with their endearing Vol de Nuit.

Sweetish warm woody powdery-surprisingly less woody than I was expecting, but has the luxurious and savoury iris of the Guerlainade-The aldehydes and the sweet opening as well as the overall old-school powderiness make this a scent more for sampling in solitude for me-I am not a lover of all scents vintage, just a vintage explorer.

I like it more than Shalimar, and find the edge of the EDT in Samsara has become bothersome, but I don't find any extra edge (of the negative kind) here. it is rich- -sophisticated--and even if less approachable, and not something I want to wear often, it's lovely.

An evident Art Deco style bottle. Love it!

Warm and woody, marvellous and well balanced with orange notes on the top.
Very sensuos and more sophisticated than Shalimar.
One of my favourite fragrance.
I agree with Jalutschka that edt fades away quickly.
Try pure fragrance.

If, like me, you don't like orris root, beware! Test before buying.
It comes through very strongly in this perfume, and ruins it for me, as within a couple of minutes I get this very unpleasant, percing animal note coming through.I am never sure if it smells as bad to other people as it does to me, but I can't stand it

I agree that this is a very archetypal vintage guerlain. I am still contemplating it, but was disappointed in the poor sillage of the EdT-I was sure, given the initial strengthand depth of notes, that it would be with me all day, as Mitsouko and l'Heure Bleu are...but no-it was gone in a few hours!

Very old style, powdery and greenish with galbanum, which is such a difficult scent for me. My sister wears this as a lovely, soft incense, which makes me jealous as on my skin it takes on a medicinal, medicated powder edge that is just hideous.

Absolutely wonderful. Not easy to define how it smells and that's its greatness. Vol de Nuit and Liu stand among the very favourite of mine. Too bad they are not easy to find. Both perfect for all the year, I agree.

For me Vol de Nuit is sheer perfection.
Embarrasingly, I only tried it because of my love for St Exupery and his work, but it was a revelation and a fragrance I have loved for many years.

The scent of narcissus has always contradicted the brightness of the flower and I would call Vol de Nuit a dark evening scent. The iris is understated and does lift the scent to an evening sky without brightening it or making it sharp.

I wear it year round.