Sending best wishes to Californians given the renewed storms.
The world here is like a constantly wet sponge, but we’re no longer on flood alert. It rains … and rains … and rains. On.Off.On.Off. To say the lawn is gross is an understatement. Yes, things are growing but the grass is patchy and full of moss. It’s tiring just looking at it. I’m think that come summer I’m going to have to rake all the grass up and start again …
Weirdly, within this quagmire, winter and spring bulbs are coming up. But in addition to the ones that have been in the garden for a while, there are ones I have no clue about. Where did that come from? And what exactly is it? Maybe I’ll find out by mid-February.
Anyway, bulbs make me think of tuberoses, which aren’t bulbs (but tubers) but behave like them. I have planted tuberoses in various places in this garden over the years and in the 10 years I’ve been here exactly one (one!) has come up and bloomed. It was small and looked like it had to try really hard to rise up out of the tub where it (and a number of mates) live with the anemones and a couple of other things. See the pic and you’ll see what I mean.
I love tuberoses. Have since I discovered them. When I lived in London, you could sometimes find cut blooms at a flower stand in Covent Garden and less frequently at a now long gone shop in Stoke Newington near where I used to live.
There are so many tuberose fragrances, some of which I love, some not so much. I am partial to l’Artisan’s Nuit de Tubereuse but it lives in the box and I have to remind myself to bring it out.
I currently have a decant from a split and a bottle of it. So, it’s not something I need more of.
This is (was – it was discontinued at some point – which reminds me of discontinuing another Duchaufour, Penhaligon Amaranthine, the disappearance of which sort of made sense) a Bertrand Duchaufour (really, seriously, does he sleep???) from 2010. Notes include pink pepper, cloves, mandarin, tuberose, mango, ylang, rose, angelica, woods, resins and musk (per Fragrantica).
Both of my versions (decant and bottle) are still fine, starting out green and spicy (like cut stems mixed with that clove note) before diving into floral spicy and then drying down to a deeper floral spicy with a resinous undercurrent. It’s not hugely long-lived on me and is not a heavy-duty tuberose (like Malle Carnal Flower, which I own; Piguet Fracas, which I don’t; or Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle, which I hanker after) and it is not really nuit, though I forgive it the name because it feels heady and decadent – just not heavy or unctuous. It is not a diva, which is interesting given that tuberose is such a diva of a flower.
I am very pleased I own this but I won’t feel too sad when the decant and bottle are finally used up.
Both Patty and March blogged about this back when it was released (http://perfumeposse.com/2010/06/01/lartisan-nuit-de-tubereuse-revisited/ and http://perfumeposse.com/2010/06/02/lartisan-nuit-de-tubereuse-pattys-turn/ ) and there seemed to be quite a lot of interest. But I think that fell away fairly quickly. Maybe because it’s not what people think of as a tuberose-centric fragrance.
My initial reaction when that happens tends to be ‘oh, that is too bad’. But actually it’s not. This is lovely. I like wearing it. But it’s not really memorable (which is odd for a Duchaufour) and I’m not surprised it’s not really missed. I am however surprised it’s gone but the weird banana l’Artisan is still available. No accounting for taste.
So, is tuberose one of yours? Which ones? And are you sad this one is gone?
Pics: mine
Hey Cinnamon,
We still have Nuit de Tubereuse available in Australia.
LOVE the heady rush of tuberose perfume openings but they rarely stay so exciting and dwindle to a soft white floral too quickly for my tastes.
Having said that NdT, Fracas, Petit Fracas and Blonde are all here in the wardrobe. Plus more I can’t think of off the top of my head.
Oh, Le Galion does a lovely Tuberose too.
Portia xx
Really? From l’Artisan? Petit Fracas? Will def need to look that up.
No, from Piguet
Tuberose is one of my least liked perfume notes but love jasmine. I just find Tuberose to be too much but jasmine isn’t. L’artisan seems to have discontinued a lot of things.
I love both but find different sorts of jasmine sometimes don’t work (ie, soapy stuff vs more indolic — I’m good with the latter). Yup, not sure what l’Artisan is thinking except, I guess, X makes money while Y doesn’t.
I like tuberose but don’t really often wear it. I have a decent of Fracas and and the heel end of one of ruby crim, but that’s kind of it. Unlike musk, which my chemistry seems to neuter, I seem to amplify tuberose. Fracas becomes Joan Crawford slapping her costar or Barbara Stanwyck plugging ‘em. No bad thing, but not quite the thing for the #4 bus at 10am.
Ya know, I think it’s time for me to try Fracas (and Bandit) again.
I’m a fan of tuberose and white flowers in general. Vintage Fracas is the best! Carnal Flower is definitely up there too. I also like Compliment by Maison Violet. I recently tried Le Grand Jeu by Voyages Imaginaires – oh ya – this has everything I love, not just tuberose. Wish both of these last two weren’t so expensive.
Maison Violet and Voyages Imaginaires … will look. I continue to wish all the expensive lines offered travel sizes that were vaguely within reach price wise.
As much as I love florals (orange blossom, gardenia, jasmine, ylang ylang, carnation, honeysuckle, rose) I can’t wear tuberose. Sadly off-putting for me . I don’t know why but it screeches in my nose.
I hope your rain lets up. It’s been cold and snow here. I hope your bottle of L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse lasts a good long while!
That’s too bad on tuberose. We seem to be in a no rain period. So, it’s getting very cold again. Probably not as cold as where you are though. We definitely need a respite from the wet. The local creek is at its banks.
Gosh, some tuberose sounds good right now, I’d love a cutting. Pretty sure I have a bottle of NdT but I haven’t worn it in eons … sadface. Thinking about this is really putting me in the mood for Fracas, for some reason!
Interestingly, they were very long lived when I bought the cut flowers (I didn’t cut the one that managed to grow in the garden). I can’t imagine a lot of stems were sold. When I did find them I tended to buy as many as I could afford.
I also love tuberose, especially when it’s treated with a light touch. I had a decant of Nuit de Tuberuese and wore it a lot a few years ago. I especially enjoyed it in summer, which surprises me, since Big White Flowers are a category I usually have to save for cold days. Other light tuberoses: Sonia Kashuk Pink Innocencia, L’Artisan La Chasse Aux Papillons, Hermes Twilly. I also love AdP Iris Nobile edp, which has tuberose as well as iris.
I can’t wear La Chasse. It just goes sour, which happens with some ‘lighter’ white florals. Which is sad. I get why NdT didn’t get a huge amount of love. Still, however, I enjoy wearing it when I remember I own it …
omgosh! forgot ALL about AdP Iris Nobile, which I just wore the other day! LOVE THAT ONE!
And also the body creme on that one – it has a nice ‘thunk’ of tubey therein!
xoxo
I live in tuberose – the bigger, the better! I have every iteration of Carnal Flower (my favorite, with that menthol breath), Fracas – some vintage, some contemp, the L’Artisan (which I always forget about) and I finished a decant of Uncle Serge’s and wouldn’t mind a FB.
I’m stunned you got even a single bloom of tuberose. I remember neighbors growing pots and pots of it on the sills of their glasshouse – to have a glasshouse in Chicago (this was in late Autumn) was exotic enough. To have it full of tuberose was beyond fabulous!!!
xoxoxo
That’s interesting to hear regarding being able to grow tuberoses. We have a weird microclimate. And generally (bar last summer) it’s quite humid, even when it’s really warm. I think I will have a dig around the pot and see if there are any tubers left in it (we had issues with rats in the gardens a while ago). I looked at TC cost. Way above my pay grade. Am going to have to look for a decant or some samples.
For some reason I struggle with many LAPs. This is one of them. I suspect it’s the musks used. Lived in its box for years so I sold on.
I have owned Fracas & Tubereuse Criminelle & still own a travel spray of Carnal Flower. Can’t wear it, the spray tube is somehow fused to the bottom of the glass holder. Anyone got any ideas how I might free it up?
My favourite tuberose is the much more accessible Truth or Dare by Madonna. Yes, I even have a back up! I enjoy it & wear it often. The shower gel used as a bubble bath is deliciously luxe.
We’re too far North to even attempt growing tuberose. I envy you getting success with even a single bloom
There are a handful of LAs I’ve been able to wear but most haven’t worked on me. I was desperate to love Mimosa pour Moi because we had a wonderful mimosa tree near where I lived in Brooklyn. But a definite no go. I wish SL had travel sizes. I would definitely have TC if that were the case.
I’ve never smelled a real tuberose, but I like the note in perfumes. My favourite is Annick Goutal’s Tubereuse, which is sadly discontinued. I wish I had bought a bottle. I think this was meant to be my signature scent.
I like the L’artisan fragrances but I really wish they kept their original charming packaging-I loved the stripe of colour which sometimes had a picture too-D’zing in its original bottle, with the tiny woman wearing red shoes riding a tiger-I think it might be my favourite bottle ever. I love the packaging on your bottle, but I’ve never tried the scent. I laughed when you said it lives in its box-I can relate lol.
It’s been a while since I’ve smelled the flower but it’s a wow smell. I had that thought about the l’Artisan bottles while writing the post. These are nice but they are sort of pedestrian. Sigh. So many wonderful things have been discontinued.