Established by Ernest Daltroff in 1904, Parfums Caron was originally located on Rue de la Paix in Paris. At the same time, he met Félicie Wanpouille, who became his partner and an important contributor to the rise of the house. While Daltroff created fragrances, Wanpouille designed bottles and served as an artistic director. From the beginning, Parfums Caron was the house dedicated solely to fragrance, unlike houses like Chanel or Christian Dior that were first and foremost fashion houses. While the perfume houses produced more fragrances than fashion houses, by the 1920s women started to look at perfume the same way they regarded new fashion styles. However, as the couture fragrances became more and more popular, they provided a stable point in the ever changing world fashion, therefore the pace of perfume production began to decline. Subsequently, however, Caron has burst back into the front runners of a very elite and niche market perfume business. Nuit de Noël was created in 1922 by Ernest Daltroff for his lover, Félicie Vanpouille, who loved Christmas Eve and the scents associated with it. Indeed, it is a quiet, whispering fragrance, conjuring perfectly the silence and the serenity of the night before Christmas. “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. ” by Clement Clarke Moore. Nuit de Noël is one of the most favorite Caron scents because of its interesting composition and exquisite dry down. Overall, Nuit de Noël is a soft wood-based scent with a floral heart. The top notes are very classical rose, jasmine and ylang ylang.. Dry floral notes rather than a creamy modern composition. The most interesting changes take place after the fragrance dries down slightly. Suddenly the floral blend is dissipated by the wetness of oakmoss. Then the spicy notes become apparent, albeit remaining very soft and intertwining with sandalwood and vetiver. The fragrance does not lose its dry quality which is wonderful and comforting. I imagine walking around in the city as the snow is falling softly. Nuit de Noël saw the light of day in 1922, just after the First World War, while Europe was in a frenzy of parties and exotic escapism. As a testament to those Roaring Twenties, Caron created Nuit De Noël, whose name alone evokes the magic of a fairy-tale night. The very characteristic 1920s bottle in totally opaque black glass also suggests the mystery of an enchanting night. Its extreme simplicity is embellished with a golden band, similar to the ones women wore on their foreheads as part of the Charleston fashion. Nuit de Noël is classified as a Oriental Floral fragrance for women. The Caron website lists its notes simply as jasmine, saxon moss, and amber. ” I don’t doubt Nuit de Noël has jasmine and amber, though it is the smell of the saxon moss, more commonly known by its French name “mousse de saxe that is forward. Mousse de saxe is a base Daltroff used in a number of his fragrances, but it commands front and center in Nuit de Noël. Mousse de saxe is difficult to describe. It has an opaque, velvety, almost powdery texture, but it smells a little like leather, oakmoss, crushed green stems, walnut shells, motor oil, and a fennel seed or two. Add some wood and a little brightness up top, and you get Nuit de Noël. Top notes are Ylang Ylang, Ticture of Rose, and Jasmine. Heart notes are Sandalwood and Oak Moss. Base notes are Musk and Amber.