Beauty Care: Naomi Goodsir Nuit de Bakelite Perfume Review

Naomi Goodsir Nuit de Bakelite Eau de Parfum is an incredibly green interpretation of tuberose; it’s not a tuberose scent as other tuberose soliflores would be. Nuit de Bakelite celebrates the greener aspects, almost like the aroma of the water that tuberose stems have been sitting in. It’s peppery, vegetal, and rooty with subtle floralcy.

Nuit de Bakelite Notes

It is described as a “green” composition supported by “tuberose abs, galbanum, angelique flower, fleur d’immortelle, wooden & leather notes, and styrax.” The note list includes: angelica, green notes, artemisia, tuberose, leather, styrax, carrot seeds, karo karounde, ylang-ylang, and cardamom.

What does Nuit de Bakelite Smell Like?

It was soft, slightly fruity and florally, with a spiced woodiness intermingled with a green bouquet that enveloped everything. There was a pepperiness to the galbanum that coupled with the greenness of the angelica. It was sweet in a rooty, earthy way, almost like carrots. There was a lifted quality to the perfume, where it was light and airy but not transparent. It reminded me more of sweet, vegetable greens in the garden than anything overtly floral; it was fresh, light, and reminiscent of a warm spring day with nary a breeze.

While one might have been led to believe this was going to be a tuberose-centered perfume, it did not end up that way at all; it was so green, vegetal, and herbaceous that the blur of white floral seemed incidental. After an hour and a half, Nuit de Bakelite sweetened, lost some of the green sharpness, and gained more of a spiced woodiness.

There were minor shifts between then and the drydown, which appeared around the fifth hour, when the scent became less green and less floral and the woodiness and faint powderiness prevailed.

Longevity

It lasted for eight hours until it was a skin-scent and about 12 hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate initially and moved closer to the body and the skin after three hours.

Testing Methodology

For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.

I purchased my sample in February 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime, so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.

Availability

Nuit de Bakelite is available for $187/50ml.

If possible, I highly recommend trying a fragrance before purchasing a full bottle because fragrance can wear differently just because of skin chemistry. Skin chemistry can effect not just the longevity of a fragrance but also what notes are prominent or hidden.

Nuit de Bakelite Samples

We recommend the following retailers for purchasing decanted samples (typically 0.7ml to 2ml in size). This is a fuller list, so individual availability may depend on inventory.