RNDL Midnight courtesy of the brand

First revealed at this year’s Barnes Fragrance Fair, Midnight is the debut fragrance from RNDL – a London based outfit that was primarily dealing in perfumed candles prior to this release. Their oeuvre so far feels very design led: there’s a lot of slick spot gloss on black surfaces and their signature typography looms heavy over the branding. Midnight was one of the things I smelled early on the day of the Barnes Fair that really made a lasting impression, something I chased up later on to see if it was as good as I remembered.

Drunk eyesight not author’s own (original un-processed image via Unsplash)

Inspired by London – at midnight – the sillage does sort of hit you like the aroma that smacks you in the face when you finally fling open the doors of your chosen drinking hole and venture out into the rain of the night in search of carbohydrate heavy food and a night bus home. It’s the smell of that deluge of sights, sounds and temperature change that rushes you in your inebriated state; when your brain chemistry is altered, slowed and it struggles to properly process the sudden change in environment. Seasoned drinkers will know that sensory explosion all too well; and all the elation and false empowerment it brings along with it.

In short, RNDL Midnight is a maximal fragrance.

I struggled, repeatedly, to categorise it in my head until it hit me, upon entering Jovoy Mayfair after I’d worn the perfume a number of times… Midnight is basically the smell of the store that hits you as soon as you walk in – an unachievable myriad blend of hundreds of perfumes whose powerhouse base molecules still somehow remain in the air regardless of how long the front door remains open. It’s dark, it’s rich and it’s base heavy, this intoxicating, short lived amalgam of thousands of olfactive ideas that you walk through before your brain parcels the information and you instantly lose the smell.

Robertet perfumer, Matthieu Meneuvrier.

 See RNDL Midnight is an ambery, leathery and fruity composition that smells familiar and yet sort of alien at the same time. Like, we know the main players: the quinoline leather, the forbidden, absinthe tones of wormwood and the distinctive allure or vanilla rich rum and saffron; but in the opening, it feels like the perfumer – Robertet’s Matthieu Meneuvrier – has somehow configured it differently. There’s a rushing spike of bergamot, lavender and cardamom that towers through the opening sweeping up darker aspects of the base notes with it creating a unique accord that slowly dissipates into the familiar materials listed previously.

It’s something Meneuvrier has exhibited before with Grossmith’s King’s Salute, putting an original spin on a classic accord before hanging the perfume on base note combinations that are perhaps a little more tried and tested. With RNDL Midnight he’s created a bold and incredibly wearable, woozy cocktail that wears a lot more colourfully than its stark leather and amber woods might suggest.

Notes: rum, saffron, bergamot, cardamom, guaiacwood, sandalwood, cedarwood, lavender, vetiver, vanilla, tonka bean, birch, musks, amber

 Disclaimer: a sample of RNDL Midnight was provided by the brand.

–Oli Marlow, Contributor

Each face of the square bottle holds a letter.

Thanks to the generosity of RNDL we have a sample Midnight available in the UK and EU only. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Oli’s review and where you live. Draw closes 9/4 /2025

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