The Different Company Red Burning Night courtesy of the brand
Today, alone,
I distract myself with flowers
that attract my eyes like magnets.
The wind roughhouses with them
bending them over.
Thee blossoms are eyes.
They see my sleeplessness
and weep for me;
their iridescent tears overflow
staining the calyx.
In the bright sun
red buds light up the rose bushes
making the morning
brighter still. –Ibn Zaydun, Córdoban poet, d. 1070
image courtesy of the brand
You’ve imagined this scene or perhaps seen it in an old film: a technicolor sunset glimmers over Cordoba. A guitarist sitting on the lip of a marble fountain strums languidly, singing old love songs. Dark-haired women cast unreadable glances over their shoulders at the men who smoke and banter in the plaza as evening falls. It will soon be dark, but the day’s heat hangs in the air like an unfinished sentence. Fireflies somersault and zag, drunk on jasmine and ylang-ylang that shake their perfume in the breeze. It could be sixty years ago; it could be tonight. But it will smell like the red lips of women, of jasmine and summer always.
Andalucía sun, stock image apped by Lauryn
The Different Company Red Burning Night, created by Givaudan perfumer Marion Costero, is a solar jasmine inspired by warm Andalusian nights after sun has parched the ground to dust. Glamorous, sensual, satiny, Burning Red Night smells like vintage aldehydic floral that time warped to the 21st century. At its sensual heart, this is a lovely jasmine that leans just this side on indolic but remains a lady. The top is fun and games – spritzes old school hairspray courtesy of a very dry bergamot, a bit of woodiness and possibly some aldehydes. This combination is then fruited up with girly pink peppercorns that smell of redcurrant and ylang that brings a touch of neroli and custard. The result is bouncy and warm and gives a bit of misdirection to what comes next.
Marion Costero of Givaudan courtesy of the brand
The perfume’s heart turns the composition red and considerably darker. The ruddiness is a strange effect created not by any of the usual suspects – roses, violet (for lipstick), red berries, or cinnamon – but as far as I can tell, by pink pepper mixed with bergamot and then a particularly edible ylang. The mix gives an impression of red fruit that is not literal, and it seems to warm the jasmine into a heated version of itself, the way the flowers of sambac smell in bright heat. I still smell its creamy, trilling prettiness mixing with its naughtier, animal side, but, after the ylang develops, it smells almost baked at times, as if someone tossed both flowers into a fruit custard and left the lot in a clay oven. This may all sound very odd, but trust me, it is a wonderful effect. Turning my wrist, I get hits of tingly spice, pink peppercorn, raisiny-vanilla tonka, and then smooth, warm woods and dry ground.
courtesy of the brand
Which brings me to the parched smell in the base that also contributes to the oblique sense of heat I get in Red Burning Night’s midsection. Akigalawood – which must be the molecule of the moment – is used to tease out the dry, cracked earth smell of patchouli, while georgywood©, another Givaudan molecule, adds a cedary mellowness to the base. These wood notes smooth things out nicely, giving the fragrance a bit of depth and low sheen, and providing a dark contrast that accentuates rather than tamps down the sunniness of the top and scarlet glow of the center.
Red Burning Night is sophisticated but lowkey, like that posh friend who dresses in thrift store tat but has one of those carefree long bobs that whisper money. It smells like one of those Annie Leibovitz photo shoots that dress transform pretty popstar into 40s screen sirens: fun, approachable at first, but sultry and much darker in a few minutes. This is not a date night perfume. Keep it for some Segovia played low and that nightcap.
Notes: Bergamot oil Italy ORPUR®, jasmine sambac absolute India ORPUR©, ylang-ylang, Extra Comoros ORPUR©, pink peppercorns ORPUR®, lactonic accord, Akigalawood©, cedarwood Texas Usa Fraction ORPUR®, tonka bean, patchouli, georgywood© musk
Disclaimer: Sample of Red Burning Night kindly provided by The Different Company. My opinions, as always, are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
The Different Company Red Burning Night, photo from the brand
Thanks to the generosity of Luc Gabriel, CEO of the Different Company, we have a 100 ml refillable of Red Burning Night for one registered reader in the EU and USA. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what piques your interest in The Different Company Red Burning Night based on Lauryn’s review and where you live. What is your favorite from The Different Company? Draw closes 5/24/2024.
Please read Luc Gabriel’s Creative Directors in Perfumery here
You can read other The Different Company reviews of: Dance of Dawn, Majaïna Sin, The 3 You should be Wearing and Pure eVe.
The Different Company Red Burning Night was one of Michelyn’s favorite perfumes at Esxence 2024
Available on The Different Company’s website and Jovoy Paris
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