Nuit de Bakelite by Naomi Goodsir – Undina’s Looking Glass
Hello, Hello, Hello! As you in the Northern Hemisphere enjoy the trill of cool weather and as we hit the scorching heat I thought we should look at an amazing but very queer fish. Jin and I were lucky enough to be in Esxence in 2017 when it was launched. Naomi Goodsir had taken a room in the nearby Grand Hotel and wrapped it all in a luminous almost white green. Everything. It looked like Christo and Jeanne-Claude had waded in, swathes of fabric ready to wrap. There were also strangely compelling installations of soft sculpture that I can’t really remember clearly but was open mouthed in wonder at. I had the usual five or so minutes and had not expected to be alone with Naomi and her business partner. Thinking it would be a bunch of perfumista journalists in a Q&A, and hoping to piggyback off their collective inquiries. Being face to face with the startlingly beautiful Naomi Goodsir was a terrifying treat.
This review is spurred by my popping over to the Naomi Goodsir site and all the perfumes are now unavailable to buy. Quelle Horreur! So I ran to my bottle and spritzed. I can still see them available in online stores with no disclaimer so I’m not currently freaking hardcore.
Also, this is my mate Scotty’s favourite from the line. He wears it like it was made just for him.
Nuit de Bakelite by Naomi Goodsir 2017
Instead of a note list we are given some very Serge Lutens gobbledygook, with some featured accords thrown in “A green, obsessive & addictive composition supported by tuberose abs, galbanum, angélique flower, fleur d’immortelle, wooden & leather notes & styrax. A focus on the small peduncle that connects the flower to the stem, the sound of latex when several stalks of tuberose tangle, the wild majesty of the Persian tuberose. Inspiration – The premise of a narcotic lady”
Peony Melbourne gives these featured accords:
Top: Galbanum
Heart: Tuberose, Bakelite Accord
Base: Cistus Labdanum
Created by one of the main perfumers for Annick Goutal, Isabelle Doyen, and reminiscent in style to some of her more tapestried works for that brand. I feel one of her true abilities is creating fragrant chiaroscuro (brilliant light and inky darkness) that sets up a beautiful harmonious dualism. It’s alluring and just a little fractious, like a fragrant contrapuntal. I find myself searching for how she makes something feel so simple from arms length, yet incredibly multi faceted up close.
Nuit de Bakelite is no exception.
The opening is galbanum and petrol, smoke and char. Nuit de Bakelite is NOT for the faint hearted. It is the heart of a tree nymph, a moss covered Ent and a reed ringed shallow lake that is heading stagnant. Dark, dank and ridiculously gorgeous. So alluring, even though it may be to your death.
Who knows what a bakelite accord is? If it’s the burning tyre hiding behind the greenery then maybe that was the intention.
Nuit de Bakelite is laugh out loud gorgeous and repellent in equal measure. The first hour is utterly bewildering.
Once the fireworks settle I’m left with a shady riverside glen. peaceful, cool and restful. The scent of a dream of the kind of place you can watch butterflies and dragonflies flying through dappled sunlight.
Unisex. Longevity is well out of the ballpark and diffusion is huge for the first hour and then calms considerably. You’ll be fragrant, but not aggressively so, all day.
Do you think Nuit de Bakelite sounds wearable or too confrontational for you?
Portia xx