OK Looking Glass peeps, A mate of mine decanted this from his bottle for me. Bought it, not a gift. I remember trying Ombre Nomade in store when it was released and thinking it was very nice but wasn’t ready to lay down that kind of money to have a bottle. So I have had this 10ml a few years and every now and then I get the urge. HA! Trying to find it today was a bit of a thing. In my memory it was a gold bottle with white sticker so I overlooked this decant at least 10 times before the light dawned. Time just evaporates sometimes. My seriously scheduled day derailed. Oh Well, going with the flow.

Ombre Nomad by Louis Vuitton 2018

Louis Vuitton gives these featured accords:
Oud Wood, Frankincense, Raspberry, Benzoin Tears

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about that smoky woods amber oud style base that is so prevalent in modern niche perfumery. It’s in so much and I can understand why people are bored of it or it may bring on migraines because some people just don’t have a stop spritzing button. I feel like every era of perfume has a few bases it works with. We look back at the 1970s floral chypres with such reverence but they do all smell within a certain wheelhouse. Then we had an era of spicy, amber rich florals which segued into the Big White Floral and then moved on to aquatics. See, eras of perfume are defined by certain styles. In 20 years time the kids now will be begging for confectionary gourmands, middle eastern style rose oudhs and heavily smoked woody ambers.

So here we have a smoky woods amber oud with raspberry as the defining difference. It’s fairly bombastic and smells pretty good. Actually, there are some marked similarities to Creed Carmina. While not the same they do have some crossover but Ombre Nomade is far less screechy and desperate for attention.

I really like the way Ombre Nomade opens with darkness, a slightly medicinal woody oudh. Then it lets the raspberry sinuously slide in, snakelike and beautifully alluring. This is where the fragrance hits Carmina buttons and skews a little cough syrup, but luxuriously here and low key. Then a smoky amber woods comes through and pumps out long after I’ve lost the ability to smell it. The most common remark is that it smells like a smoky leather.

Masculine leaning unisex, extraordinary longevity and quite diffusive even when I can’t smell it anymore.

Did you ever?
Portia xx