George Sand by photographer Felix Nadar (1864) – ©French Ministry of Culture-RMN Grand Palais / Atelier Nadar, bottle ©Katerina Jebb/Astier de Villatte, collage ©Emmanuelle Varron.
George Sand is a true legend in France: a prolific writer (more than 70 novels written, as well as numerous plays and tales) who also symbolizes the modern, cultured and socially active woman you could find in the second half of the 19th century. Her first writings were edited under her married name, Aurore Dudevant, followed by others in collaboration with the novelist Jules Sandeau (then her lover) under the signature of Jules Sand. When she signed the novel Indiana by herself in 1832, her publisher wanted this name to be kept. Jules Sandeau would then have felt he had no legitimacy to lend his identity this time; it was decided to only keep the last name of Sand and to choose a forename. That is how Aurore became George, meaning “who works the land” in ancient Greek, a nod to her rural roots in Berry (the absence of an “s” at the end of the first name is not at all linked to the English form but to the feminine version of “Georges” in France).
The story of George Sand is often misunderstood and many of my fellow citizens remember her above all for an intense love life, with personalities who also marked history, including the writer Alfred de Musset and the composer Frédéric Chopin. It is precisely this period (between 1838 and 1847) that is at the center of Astier de Villatte Les Nuits. Founded in 1996 by Ivan Pericoli and Benoit Astier de Villatte, the brand first created furniture, tableware, published books, home fragrances and then perfume. In 2022, a very special collection was launched, called “Trois Parfums Historiques” (three historic perfumes) for which three compositions were found thanks to Annick Le Guérer research, undoubtedly the most famous fragrance historian and anthropologist in the world. Astier de Villatte Le Dieu Bleu (The blue god) is related to the famous Egyptian kyphi recipe, Astier de Villatte Artaban that of the royal perfume created for the King of Parthia (1st century B.C) … and Astier de Villatte Les Nuits the perfume worn by George Sand at the time of her affair with Frédéric Chopin.
Astier de Villatte Trois Parfums Historiques collection – ©Astier de Villatte
Master Perfumer Dominique Ropion had the immense privilege of working on the three fragrances, adapting them to contemporary regulations, but getting as close as possible to the original scents. For Astier de Villatte Les Nuits, it is thanks to a travel bottle entrusted by Christiane Sand (the writer’s great-granddaughter by marriage) to Annick Le Guérer containing only a few drops of perfume. As the bottle was impossible to open, it was by piercing the glass with a very fine wick that the precious liquid was collected, then analyzed via chromatography. This made it possible to authenticate the perfume thanks to the antique molecules and consequently, to find out the original composition in its entirety. The IFF Master Perfumer then had to adapt it using today’s raw materials.
Ivan Pericoli (co-founder), Emilie Mazeaud (designer and co-creator of scented products), Dominique Ropion (IFF Master Perfumer) and Benoit Astier de Villatte (co-founder) – ©Julie Ansiau
Astier de Villatte Les Nuits is thus named in homage to the summer nights spent in the writer’s house of Nohant, where she regularly invited many personalities from the Parisian intelligentsia. It was the summer of 1838, and her relationship with Frédéric Chopin, introduced to her by Frantz Liszt, was very recent. Just imagine the two lovers walking in the garden until dawn, and George Sand’s perfume intoxicating the atmosphere, opulent. Dominique Ropion identified this fragrance as a precursor of chypres, which would become extremely popular a few decades later. An avant-garde perfume like the woman who wore it, and which in 2023 sends me back to a very aristocratic sensuality and a certain elegance that has now disappeared, where the raw materials are sumptuous.
Frédéric Chopin and George Sand portraits by Eugene Delacroix 1838 – ©Le Figaro
Astier de Villatte Les Nuits is an XXL floral, where the rose is queen, present from the opening, powdered with iris and energized by bergamot. Over the minutes, it opens its petals and develops its fruity notes, a bit honeyed and sweet. The link is naturally made with jasmine which brings its luminosity and a very sensual animal facet to which George Sand was undoubtedly sensitive. Ylang-ylang accentuates the floral and heady spirit noticeable from the first seconds, to make your head spin. Then very slowly, the chypre construction takes shape: when patchouli and then labdanum become perceptible, it is a direct dive into this accord, one of the most majestic in perfumery. Fleeting but recognizable, vetiver adds a slightly earthy note, as a tribute to George Sand’s attachment to the countryside and nature. With patience, and to my delight, the base notes are a true olfactory fireworks display: cinnamon, civet, castoreum, sandalwood and benzoin are revealed in voluptuous and carnal peaks, surprisingly perceptible for a perfume launched in 2022. I have the impression of rediscovering a 1972 Clinique Aromatics Elixir paired with a 2010 Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady. Once again, the past becomes contemporary, nostalgia is adorned with modernity and the avant-garde spirit of George Sand is reborn.
The perfumes that touch my soul always evoke emotions, memories and a certain nostalgia. Astier de Villatte Les Nuits appeals to my recent attraction to “vintage” chypre fragrances as well as my admiration for the work done by Annick Le Guérer Dominique Ropion and IFF for Astier de Villatte. Thanks to the talent of the perfumers of yesteryear, to technology, but also to the team’s encyclopedic knowledge of raw materials, Astier de Villatte Les Nuits offers a bridge between an era fantasized through the 19th century literature, music and graphic arts that are part of our cultural heritage, and perfume as we would love to smell everyday: technically well-constructed, composed of raw materials with perceptible nobility and a trail combining elegance and audacity.
Notes: bergamot, Damask rose, Tuscan iris, jasmine Grandiflorum, ylang-ylang, vetiver, patchouli, cinnamon, sandalwood, labdanum, civet, castoreum, benzoin
Disclaimer: merci beaucoup to Astier de Villatte for Les Nuits sample provided for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Emmanuelle Varron, Senior Editor and Paris Brand Ambassador
Astier de Villatte Les Nuits 30 ml bottle – ©Astier de Villatte
Thanks to Astier de Villatte, we have a 30 ml bottle of Les Nuits for one registered reader in USA, UK and EU. To be eligible, please tell us who your favorite French writer is, how you feel about Emmanuelle’s review and where you live. Draw closes 07/15/2023.
Astier de Villatte Trois Parfums Historiques collection was featured in Ermano Picco’s 2022 CaFleureBon Best Of Scent
Astier de Villatte Les Nuits is available on the brand’s website. In the USA Aedes Perfumery carries it here and Luckyscent sells the Trois Parfums Historiques set
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