Scentroulette Day 7: Caron Nuit de Noel

It is a cool, clear, sunny April day. "Nuit de Noel" means "Christmas Eve". Such is the mystery of Scentroulette.

I've worn Nuit de Noel eau de toilette (the perfume is apparently rather different) three times today, trying to get a handle on it, but it is evasive and inscrutable. It smells potently aldehydic-floral and a bit old-fashioned for a while, but in a good way. No, it's clearly a floral chypre, with a smudge of moss and a dollop of patchouli under a centrepiece of deep-red roses. Yet it's obviously a dark spicy oriental with a sandalwood-amber base. It's a bit dusty-musty in places, a touch acidic in others. Is there a bit of incense in there? That's vetiver, right? Or is it?

What on Earth is this thing?

I don't know that it speaks of Christmas to me, but it is bizarrely lovely, a half-dozen different composed scents fighting to occupy the same olfactory space. If you accept it on its own terms--it is dark, complicated, and frankly argumentative--then I don't see how you can fail to appreciate it.