Nuit Noor Elie Saab for women

I got a deal I couldn't refuse on Nuit Noor, so I blind bought it. It had been on my radar for a while, probably because it has such a beautiful name, and I'm always looking for something very dark indeed.

I greatly enjoy perfumes that have a Middle Eastern vibe, but aren't really full-on. I have to be careful of "woody notes" and "oud," though, because often they're actually synthetic woody-musk aromachemicals. I believe this to be no exception.

I don't love it, by any means. But I don't hate it, either. It is not as dark as I was led by reviews to believe it would be.

The rose is, however, dark and jammy; the composition makes me think that many fruits are also present, but according to this pyramid, they're not. I think it's just the rose in combination with honey and patchouli.

I definitely detect the synthetic-smelling wood notes, which prevents this from being a love, or even a true like. As it sits on my skin, the dark, fruity, rose shows up more, which is reminiscent of Agent Provocateur. But Nuit Noor is sweeter (and more Middle Eastern) and it has fewer sharp edges (and is less vintage-y) than Agent Provocateur. I'll try this one on again in future weeks, and different seasons, as I can't tell if Nuit Noor will grow on me, or if I'll eventually pass it on, realizing it won't work for me.

Now that I’ve had it for about a week I feel I can comment. This was a blind buy because I love the nose for this perfume and the notes seemed beautiful, and I also could not find it in the stores in Spain so I bought it online. The first day and the first 10 minutes were strange, but once I knew what to expect I am very much in love with this perfume.

I wrote my reaction the first day, here it is in case you find it useful:

“First impression, there is something at the bottom that makes me think of a beach or sun cream (ylang ylang plus honey?), with nice wood spice, and inciense. Not dry, rather sweet/balanced.  Eventually after 20 minutes or so I get the rose. Then it really evolves into oriental rose, with spice. I even get cinnamon.”

The remaining days I haven’t able to pick the notes so clearly although I still feel the evolution of the smell over time. For me it is “creamy woody” with beautiful spices and inciense. I find it balanced, not sweet and not dry. I like that it is not girly, I can totally see it unisex. It evokes a strong woman, she wears it to the office and smells like business in a confident (not loud) way. She wears it to go out and carries that strong confidence with her, because of the unconventional yet beautiful seductive smell.

I like it for the day but the sequence of notes and transition clearly evokes the evening: starts warm sunny and a bit tropical as you sip a cocktail with friends before a date, then evolves into more rose and spice, that’s dinner with your partner, and then it sets into the darkest part with wood and spices as the night falls, never losing warmth as it sets into that “creamy woody” phase. This perfume evolves like an evening evolves into the night. It is very unique, I find it beautiful.

I’m so happy that I managed to get my hands on this discontinued gem from Francis Kurkdjian. This is without a doubt, a wow fragrance!! Alluring, captivating, enticing, multifaceted honeyed roses!

While it doesn’t have any novelty or unusual notes, it does absolutely smells apart from the most designers releases focused around rose. This is a deep, smooth, ambery, warm, honeyed ylang ylang, rose, patchouli, incence, woods and solar notes.

Nuit Noor is such a smooth, warm, incensy mix of sweet rose and ylang ylang with hints of spices, black pepper and heavy woods. I absolutely adore everything solar and incense. And Nuit Noor has them both! And leans gourmand… stunning blend!

Has a bit of a holiday vibe and tropical twist from ylang ylang and solar notes that could make you believe that Nuit Noor is a summer scent. But then it has a green patchouli, a healthy dose of thick, extra gourmand honey, a deep, almost burgundy rose, a blend of pepper and other spices that take the composition into a fall-winter direction.

It’s a strong, rich, long lasting scent that could work most of the seasons. I find it very versatile thanks to its masterfully crafted composition and I feel that Nuit Noor could be worn during all seasons except summertime, when it would be too much.

Very feminine, seductive and intoxicating type of scent that lasts and projects amazingly. As the name implies, better suited for nighttime wear or activities…

Upon first spray this DOES resemble Tom Ford’s Black Orchid but without as much mystery. So it does not have the truffle note that Black Orchid does. It’s certainly not the same as Black Orchid but does have a similar DNA.

If you like Black Orchid then you’ll probably like this too!

As it dries down it leans a little more dry, woody, and spicy. So for me it smells less like Black Orchid in the dry down compared to the opening.

I’m really pleased with this! It’s not as heavy or in your face as Black Orchid, this is a bit softer, but truly lovely.

I’m Lebanese American and tbh Elie Saab fragrances lean too dainty and fresh for me, but this is right up my alley! Love it and proud to wear a Lebanese fragrance!

this is a nice sweet warm spicy fragrance. I love the dry down and it lasted so long on my skin. Even though many says it's the night time scent, but I wear it on days, even when I go to gym, cause the fragrance doesn't get overwhelmed by my sweat

this is a beautiful warm spicy feminim scent. I enjoy the longevity, the sillage & projection. This fragrance introduce my nose to a gorgeous spicy perfume, cause basically I love sweet scent, but turns out I can love warm spicy as well

So very beautiful! It's that fragrance I've been looking for my whole life summed up in a bottle.Smells like voodoo,black magic, witchcraft,red nail polish,drama lots and lots of drama and sherry oudy woody incensy goodness! Scared of running out of it I use it miserly

A stunning perfume. Sweet, woody and dark. I held off on buying it due to the price but eventually took the plunge and don’t regret it. Not an everyday wear for me, so the bottle will last a very long time. My kind of scent 😍

First wearing was May 2022 and I wasn’t a fan. After a lot of sampling of many different scents I have revisited this after sampling L’Agent.

For me this is nothing like how I experience L’Agent. And I seem to be in the small camp of wearers on whom this smells very much like Elie Saab Le Parfum Royal. (Tried side by side both scents).

For those who experience it due to skin chemistry and nose in the same sort of way we perceive this as incredibly fruity/sweet. Nothing nightlike. Instead it’s sunny. The solar notes blaze and can be a bit overwhelming.

The honey, incense and spices are there but the spices are supporting only. The Ylang and honey along with solar notes reign supreme.

This is a blindly sunny day. A slight salty note in the background. Almost champaca-like in its sweetness.

Miles away from BO or Maremma which are woody/plummy/narcotic dark and moody wonders (truffle or not).

For those of us who experience the sunny side of Nuit Noor none of that is here. This is a jekyl and Hyde fragrance. And it’s up to your skin/nose to show you which.

No shade thrown on people who say it smells like BO, just remember your experience isn’t the ONLY experience.

This is a beast. That we can agree on. You really must try this one on skin. Enjoy.

Pungent. It reminds me a lot of Agent Provocateur L'Agent only L'Agent is just a little sweeter and more to my liking. Due to them both being extremely pungent and heavy, they very much evoke thoughts of old world, vintage perfumes.

With that being said, Nuit Noor is dark, spicy, incensey and strong. It has good longevity as I could still smell it late this morning some 20 hours after spraying it. Projection and sillage are pretty good, I find this to be a bit of a beast. I don't find it very sweet and think men could actually get away with wearing it too if they like incense/spicy type fragrances. The drydown is much better than the opening which I am not a big fan of. If like me you are more of a fan of the drydown, then it may be better to spray this on one to two hours before going out for the night. I like it, but don't love it.

I finally took the plunge and bought this, and this fragrance is beast mode. It is somewhat similar to Tom Ford Black orchid, but the truffle Element is missing. This fragrance is dark and smoky. To my nose I do not detect any sweetness mostly woods and incense, I would of liked a little more sweetness, it’s very unisex and maybe leans a little bit masculine, but I’m here for it and I love it. If you’d like beast mode, massive projection fragrances, pick this up, this is not for the faint of heart. Rating 8.5 out of 10

Light midst darkness.
In the sea of loud, verging obnoxious, rose-oud combos, ES/FK manage to take heavy hitters like rose, oud, patchouli, incense, and honey but still produce a beautifully feminine concoction. It’s deeply dark, opulent and mysterious (nuit) but totally smooth, elegant, and has balanced sweetness. It softens as it develops and reveals creamy, lighter florals (noor).
If you like orientals but are wary of oud don’t fear. It has no sharp, metallic or heavy animatic nuances here.

Love at first smell ❤
Gorgeous blend of oriental notes with honey and rose. Perhaps the best oriental based perfume I tried. I bought it 2 days after testing it. The perfume stuck to my skin even after showering! That's how eternal it is.

Yes, Nuit Noor and black orchid are very similar..but Black orchid drier ..Nuit Noor is sharper with more rose ..amazing incense notes in both..sugary incense in nuit noor like the caramelised bakhoor and dry stick incense in TF BO...very dark vibe.. dark dark dark...I enjoyed both so much🖤

Both are unisex in my opinion... black orchid is more masculine! .. on the other hand, Nuit Noor can be more feminine..easy to wear..sexy..dark.

Beautiful and I agree it is similar to Black Orchid but missing that pesky truffle note and probably some other notes but I can't recall the notes of BO. This is an initial blast of pepper and a fruitiness which is is the honey, incense and the ylang ylang plus most likely the rose. I am not good at picking out all the notes but I can smell a sweet, refined patchouli. This is so similar to my nose as BO, that I wonder if I needed this one but it is gorgeous.

6/10

A nice softer version of T.F. Black Orchid. Longevity and sillage - excelent.

I had a sample of this perfume when I was in Dubai and absolutely love it! Can anyone suggest a legitimate place to purchase this scent? I couldn't find it in dep't stores.

OOOOHHHH 🤩

This was a blind buy. The moment I smelled this I was amazed!! It is such a warm and cozy winter fragrance. Definitely woody with honey and patchouli. I can't wait for the colder days to come!! Lovely oriental fragrance, very unique.

But then I read comments about how similar this is to Black Orchid... I smelled black orchid once in the store after reading glorious reviews about it and I absolutely HATED IT!! I was so shocked about the scent and disappointed. To me, this doesn't smell like BO at all!!

If you could get your hands on this one you definitely should!! It is worth having in your collection and I am sure that -most of you- won't regret this! especially if you are familiar with Elie Saab/MFK fragrances and if you love oriental fragrances.

Lulushka, you mean the medicinal synthetic Aoud of Montale's. No it doesn't have that, it's more natural smelling compared to Black Orchid. Although I usually can't stand sweeties I prefer it to Black Orchid. If Terenzi's Maremma is more mature masculine take on BO, Nuit Noor is the more mature feminine take on BO, hard edges are cut and polished, it's sweetened in a seductive way by using various notes, more comforting overall and side by side shows better quality. NN performs the best out of the three (all great performers anyway)

I blind bought this. There isn’t much on this perfume, some reviews, it’s mostly a mystery, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I conceded and I got it. I loved it the minute I smelled it. It’s scent is visual. When I first sprayed it upon my skin, I could “see” smoldering flashes of something burning. There is a quote, “ I may be darker than all the charcoal in the world, but I will burn to give light.” — that’s Nuit Noor

Longevity is an olfactory neverending Story.... This is a woody smoldering incense and crystallized honeyed floral with a heavy patchouli surround-sound. Lasts for weeks on clothes....I Love this ❤️ It’s breathtaking .

Please please please dear Fragranticans—please tell me what you think. Does Nuit Noor contain any awful of those awful Eastern metallic woody amber materials that ruin so many perfumes that otherwise incorporate darker and more mysterious influences? You know the ones—the stuff that’s in most Montale woodsy ouds and the like. I don’s smell much of that in Black Orchid, so I hold out hope for ES Nuit Noor. It is just so hard to get samples where I live, so I count on your opinions. The more, the more likely I will get an accurate idea of how much I can tolerate NN. Thank you!! 🙏

Up until now Black orchid was my signature scent, but since I came across Nuit Noor, I am starting to change my mind ! I just want to bath in this fragrance! Cannot get enough of it! Love love love! I feel the middle east in this fragrance, the musk, the incense, woody and spicy notes and underlying sweet scent is just so sensual! The name is perfect as I would wear this day and night! It is just so beautiful, enigmatic, classy and sensual!

Tfbo Start up , nice middle notes and then it ends up with 1 million . The middle notes are awesome though , I wish it could stay like that for the entire wear .

Even though ESNN is very similar to TFBO, which I own both. I can see that they take a different paths along their evolving through time.
On my skin, TFBO has shown the fruity side more and more up to the point that It even turned sour, whereas ESNN got sweeter, darker and deeper I guess.
This is truly beast mode fragrance for sure. Its longevity is amazing. I mean after I scrubbing, rubbing and rinsing while I was taking a shower, it stays! Sillage has filled up the room, no less than that.

I just don't like the honey note, which is ironic considering I love the taste of honey in almost everything.

Nuit Noor is a sweet woody scent with that weird honey-sweetness aftertaste (aftersmell?) & a good dose of patchouli, giving it a green herbal spicy edge.

The honey note ruins it for me but I admit it makes the scent unique.

A like & pass from me.

In the opening, there is a striking resemblance to Black Orchid indeed.

To me, she is the 'CLEAN' BO sister, she has the good part minus the 'not so good'.

She's as dark as can be, heady, heavy, woody and sweet but not cloying or suffocating.
Although not listed, she dries down to some Ambery soft Oud, really nice!

BO was unbearable for me, there's a sweaty/dirty note that I could never handle.

On the begining for me it is similar to Black Orchid- woody dark, but after 20 min a lot of fruit juise, like plums!
That remined me of The one Dolce & Gabbana!
After 1 hour with sweet fruity warm scents!

Today I have compliments for this perfume , after 7 hour from the morning sprayed!
I did not expect because for me is not long lasting, but I am wrong!
Sorry Elie Saab!

@Donna Amethyst -- I'm truly amazed that you say this is light!! But then ... I ought to know by now really - how the perception of lightness|heaviness varies so very much ftom one person to the next.

But even so ... I'm still amazed: this one in particular; I don't know how it could possibly be perceived as a light fragrance - to me it epitomises the heavy fragrance.

I see that not many people write reviews about this fragrance. I have been using it for a while, so I became more familiar with it. As for the similarity with Black Orchid, they are very similar indeed. But Nuit Noor is stronger and the dark oriental part of it is more dominant than in Black Orchid. I would say that BO is a mainstreem version of Nuit Noor. Both are beautiful scents. I think if you love BO and own it, then you will appreciate Nuit Noor if you are an oriental fragrance fan. Fortunately I am, so I still consider it a fortunate purchase :-). Although on clothes the fresh floral part is more dominant, so it´s the opposite than on the skin, but probably this is individual.

This was a blind buy (first in my life!) based on my good experiences with Elie Saab (and Francis Kurkdjian) fragrances and I am so happy that it was a fortunate purchase! I love dark oriental fragrances and I can say that this is one of them, but at the same time very modern and light. The incense and woods are very strong here, they give a very warm woody feeling, but I smell in the background also something fresh and light and maybe slightly sweet, but I cannot say it is honey or rose, they smell different in fragrances (in my experience). So Elie Saab and Francis Kurkdjian did not disappoint, I cannot express enough how I am happy with this purchase!

@Susanna75

It is available occasionally. They seem to be plying a policy of trickling it to us - teasing us with it! Every so often a couple of bottles will appear in this-or-that department store ... then it's gone again!

I'm curious asto that solar note ... but then I love these ... what do they categorise them as on here? - weird notes ("NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC, POPULAR AND WEIRD"). (I'm a colossal fan of the salt note and the sand note, as I've said elsewhere.) When I first tried this I did distinctly get the impression of heat - before (yes, really!) knowing anything about the solar note. It came across as a hot fragrance. But then ... that's not surprising, by reason alone of its having ylang-ylang and black pepper. I do wonder though, whether that solar-note ought not to be a bit higher on the scale on this page.

Someone's just asked me about this by PM ... so I think I might as well just write more here.

I would say this is fairly weird - a very long way from being the weirdest - but leaning really quite strongly weird. To me that also means wearable; but then I do love a heavy stonking pungeaunt fragrance both for my own reasons, and because I like to tease people in the vicinity with my perfumes ... and this one is certainly one that will tease many in that sort of way. It's heavy, tarry, woody ... and as I've said, does distinctly convey an impression of heat. The worst-case-scenario is this, I think: an olfactory impression that sprang to my mind is that of smouldering wool. I hasten to add that I do not find that it smells like burning wool - of course many find that to be an absolutely horrendous smell - and I agree that it kind-of is; but that it also has a certain ... thrill to it - and what I'm trying to say is that this fragrance elicits a kind-of-similar thrill. I've said this about the difference between smelling like and conjuring an olfactory impression of elsewhere - and so have others; and I think experienced fragheads know what I'm getting at, and how it is that a fragrance can conjure an olfactory impression of something unpleasant, or just stupid, even, and yet be pleasant. Olfactation can be very paradoxical!

I've said all that not to be too alarmist about this fragrance - but I really did get that impression of smouldering wool - it's a very key feature of my overall impression: and yet I find it a gorgeous fragrance - I absolutely love it! But it is a very assertive, even aggressive one.

I certainly know what my stern critics would say about it anyway. I'm not letting them anywhere near it, coz I think they are likely to actually carry out their routine threat to throw my perfume in the Bridgewater Canal with this one!

But then ... they just have no appreciation of good perfumes!

I've been trying to think of another perfume to compare it to. Possibly Kilian's (no! I'm not saying "By Kilian's"!) Incense Oud, or Hervé Gambs's Infusion Noir.

Update.
I happened serendipitously to come upon this easily this morning, and couldn't resist venturing to wear it. I've been finding that people in the vicinity are abiding it well. It does mellow considerably away from its volcanic opening (which is about as volcanic as I remember it, conjuring the smouldering wool phantom just as it did aforetime); but after a couple of hours it's more of a ripe-musky patch - very velvety. I would still say it is rather weird though even at this stage; and it is certainly at least radical!

I think that provided I put it on at least 2hr before going out, my stern critics just might not actually throw it in the Bridgewater Canal!

This has now been taunting me for the last couple of hours reminding me of a certain ... and now I've sussed it I am astonished: It's Santal Musc, by Narciso Rodriguez! I never would have thought I'd be saying that! It certainly is complex, this fragrance.

Further update.
This perfume is just phænominal! I had no idea just how good it is until now. It's a total colossus! I am extremely grateful to liric for steering me into assaying it afresh.

this is gorgeous scent smelled this in Doha airport , thought it is available in UK but unfortunately not .

I love almost all elie saab perfumes I had tried til now.I find all of them very feminine,elegant and of high quality.I own le parfum and couture and intense..edt and rose are in my wishlist so I was waiting eagerly to try new elie saabs. Unfortunately I'm dissapointed
First I came across to some flankers which were nothing but original le parfum in slightly different bottles.I'm happy to see nuit noir is a new release and has nothing to do with previous elie saabs but unfortunately it's not my type
It's really nuit for sure.it was so dark and woody that I first thought there may be oud in it but it was just patchouli blended with incense which I also detest and spices.this spicy incensy patchouli and dark woods doesn't let floral notes to play significant role in it
All in all it's not bad,just not my type.I need a bit of sweetness or something more feminine in my perfumes but if you're looking for a different feminine perfume,something dark and mysterious and serious you'd love it.a definite winter/night scent and a potent one
❤❤
Edit:
Tried it again and it really reminds me of Black Orchid in it's drydown.like a better,slightly sweeter,more rounded version of Black Orchid.I like the warm honey-patchouli combo in drydown but all in all it's not my cup of it.I wish I could pull it out as I want my Elie Saab collection to be complete and this one has such a beast-mode sillage and longevity and a seductive drydown

@RoRoSe
I don't know this fragrance, but please, (usually) never judge on the first minutes if it's about perfume. The most gorgeous perfumes of history have sometimes confusing openings and they need time to fully develop and bloom.
It's just the curse of modern selling strategy that perfumes are sold by their openings, so companies make perfumes which have appealing openings because customers give only a few seconds to test after spraying and decide merely on that. And many cases these perfumes have unremarkable heart and base notes.

OMG! How come Elie saab ! Once I smelt it I said it smells horrible and the salesman told me it's the same reaction for who ever smelling it !

I smelled this in its first 10 minutes on the skin. It's typically oriental, with dark wood, honey, and incense as main accords. I liked it, but such dark perfumes require multiple and frequent trials to get used to--for those not familiar with such. Interestingly mysterious and distinctive, for high heels and smoky eyes only.