I'll be honest, I was a bit stunned when I first saw the new bottle of ZARA Night pour V, since I own all four previous pieces of the Night collection, from I to IV so to speak, and none of them has such a striking golden red and ruby color of the bottle. In reality, the box is soft to the touch. However, it has an amaranth color that does not make you think it could contain a splendid bottle similar to Dior Fahrenheit Cologne, with shades ranging from black through ruby red to fading into pure transparency. As if that wasn't enough, I was delighted when I sprayed the juice. It was love at the first splash. Night pour Homme V is a taut, bright perfume with the same slightly mesmerizing effect on the skin that a fine ruby crystal has on the eyes. Be aware; this is not a relaunch of any previous ZARA cologne; it is a brand-new scent.
Night pour Homme V isn't for everyone, at least from my perspective: the scent is strong and sweet, and not the kind that people would find endearing. Its aroma stays from initial splash, all the way to the bottom, although more elements are added here and there. There is a woody feel, as does the salt, which does little to lower the sugar but complements it. The fragrance is complex to describe because the notes are well blended, and it is a bit difficult to detect one by one. Sometimes I smell like berries, sometimes like medicine, and sometimes like cotton candy. Difficult to describe, I think you have to try your skin's perfume to understand this masterpiece. It looks a lot like burnt sugar, dreamy, dense and light simultaneously, rich in caramel, balsamic and woody tones. Rich in synthetic ingredients, the aroma is by no means artificial. It has the excellent quality, and the notes are very meticulously chosen. This perfume creates a sort of transparent aura that envelops the body and lasts for a long time until it disappears and then reappears with its sweetish and smoky touches. As a result, this high-quality Avant-guard perfume. It makes you think you are smelling a niche perfume with its character and aura, and I enjoyed wearing it. Zara has done an excellent job again.
So, let me introduce you to Night pour Homme V, a cologne that has aromatic, spicy, amber, and woody notes and suits more than one family such as oriental, floral, and gourmand. As soon as the juice reaches my skin, I feel a sweet, slightly burnt aroma of cotton candy in the air, which reminds me of those gooey, gourmand essences like Aquolina Pink Sugar, to name one. However, this is not a replica of Aquolina, and there is more. The initial burst is delicious and a far cry from the citrus tons of lemons and oranges usually encountered in most colognes for top notes. Instead, it is sweet with a mentholated undertone, as if a balsamic ingredient such as fir or pine resin, or even green cardamom blended with the other notes. It is not the smell of fresh mint, but something more balsamic. I also get different spicy floral tones other than the marigold flower. The floral aspect is very reminiscent of warm and luxurious white jasmine, less indolic and more melancholy, mixed with reddish saffron pistils. This blend is responsible for the smoky and sweet aroma of cotton candy. I am very familiar with saffron, that beautiful, sweet, smoky, and earthy aromatic spice, to be treated like gold because of its high price and powerful aromatics. The initial phase is mysterious, a little spicy, and exotic.
The heart follows the gourmand side, still dense and sweet, and a musky amber reveals all its mysterious tones. I don't know what kind of amber characterizes this perfume, but a note similar to ambergris adds a sweet musky and salty style. In contrast, another note similar to amber wood contributes a resinous and powdery woody tone that adds some depth to the composition without changing the mainline created by the opening tones. Below is a warm and seductive hazelnut that permeates the scent. It stands out even more on the fabric, causing a wonderful aroma. Hence, the middle phase is slightly mineral spiced.
The tail arrives dry and clean. The particular freshly cut cedar wood is in the base, deep and intense with a woody bouquet, together with mineral tones of synthetic ambroxan, whose level is similar to Savage or any other recently formulated male perfume. The initial resinous accord comes more to the fore and is now dominant in the base, adding a sweet, slightly green tone. The woodiness that holds it together develops a fuzzy texture, and you notice its tenacity on your skin and which is more profound than you initially perceived. A pleasantly spiced and slightly sweetened cedar scent and amber linger with the memory of the passionate flame that burned when the perfume first hit the skin. The last stage is much drier.
Night pour Homme V is a relatively linear fragrance; the changes from opening to dry down are slightly significant. Once it has achieved drying, the scent can be summed up as a sweet, resinous, candy-like fragrance with some woody, musky and floral notes that are very pleasant, unisex. It is sweet without being cloying. However, the fragrance is not as simple as I initially thought. It is an addictive smell that gets better and better as you wear it. It is a perfect scent for the cold because it envelops you, like a soft cashmere sweater wrapped around you, but, at the same time, you still feel a little breeze through the fabric from time to time. Likewise, it works just as well for warmer weather because it has an absolute quality that doesn't feel heavy or dense. It can be worn year-round, except sweltering summer days, both formal and casual, in my opinion.
The elements of this fragrance will drive you crazy if you spray it more than twice. So if you wear perfume to let it go, this may not be the right thing for you. It's not a projection monster, but it lasts a very long time. I tried sprinkling it on my skin the night before bed, and the next morning I woke up with this pleasant and inviting sugary scent. There is something sneaky about the way it behaves on your skin - you may not be able to smell it yourself, but others around you will notice! Don't spray it too much, even if you have a hard time smelling it.
Regardless, I appreciate the art, exquisiteness, and uniqueness of this quasi-niche fragrance. For a perfume lover who has tried most designer brands by now, most of them end up smelling a bit similar, and we start to look for different and complex scents—salted sugary cotton candy with something alluring and seductive. The more I wear it, the more I am seduced by the sweet, unique smell. My personal opinion is that it is charming and beautiful. I find it an incredibly subtle medicinal woody scent on the starter spray and want to spray too much of it as it almost seems to disappear. Then I sit there, and the heat begins. Heat is a rich aura of saffron and cotton candy that, like a magician's trick, I don't smell when I put my face in my arm. But this soft, perfectly balanced, and woody scented bubble floats around me and stays there for an incredibly long time. People then chase you like little sniffer dogs trying to see who smells so good! So love it or hate it, but try it and you will wear it! I hope you enjoy the ride.
This review bases upon 100 ml (3.4 Fl. oz.) bottle I own since July 2020.
-Elysium