Vol de Nuit(1933)

Created by Jacques Guerlain, Vol de Nuit, Night Flight, opens on bergamot and galbanum, moves through a heart of jasmine, narcissus, and rose, and closes on oakmoss, leather, vetiver, and vanilla. Its name is drawn from the 1931 novel of the same title by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the aviator-author who would later write The Little Prince, tying the fragrance to the same romantic, adventurous aviation glamour that had inspired Caron's En Avion four years earlier. The galbanum-oakmoss-leather structure gives it a green, resinous, somber chypre character quite distinct from Guerlain's warmer orientals like Shalimar, released just eight years earlier by the same perfumer. Vol de Nuit is frequently cited by perfume historians as one of the more austere, sophisticated compositions in Guerlain's catalog, admired for its restrained, non-sweet green-mossy construction.