Byredo
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The black tea descends immediately, its sharp, slightly smoky astringency cutting through the cashmeran's soft warmth like a knife through velvet. Within moments, you're aware of something vaguely chemical-edged beneath the traditional notes—the synthetic scaffolding becoming obvious before the leather has fully emerged.
The tobacco and leather develop a peculiar, almost metallic quality as they interact, reminiscent of old coins or oxidised silver rather than anything approaching comfort. The fragrance becomes distinctly warmer now, though "warm" here means the heat of friction rather than embrace—a leather jacket rubbed against skin repeatedly until both grow slightly raw.
Birch and oakmoss reduce the composition to something skeletal and mineral, all the flesh burned away to leave bone structure. The leather persists but becomes increasingly abstract, nearly transparent, whilst the synthetic base notes lend an almost plasticky persistence that keeps the scent hovering just above skin rather than melting into it.
Night Veils is a fragrance that wraps itself around you like expensive suede worn thin at the edges—tactile, slightly austere, and fundamentally uncomfortable in the most compelling way. Jérôme Epinette has constructed something deliberately anti-seductive here, a leather scent that refuses to soften or ingratiate itself. The cashmeran opens with an almost pharmaceutical warmth, immediately undercut by black tea's astringent tannins, creating an effect less "fragrant beverage" and more "the bitter dust from a vintage leather-bound book." This is the olfactory equivalent of a perfectly tailored charcoal suit—no excess, no compromise.
What distinguishes Night Veils from conventional leather fragrances is its commitment to the grey areas. The leather and tobacco heart doesn't play as a classic pairing (think no cosy pipe-tobacco warmth here); instead, they create a slightly chemical, almost anaesthetic quality—as if you've just entered a high-end tobacconist's shop where the air itself feels dangerous. The birch and oakmoss base introduce a skeletal woodiness, predominantly mineral and slightly greenish rather than rich or resinous. This is leather stripped of romance.
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3.8/5 (97)