UNE NUIT NOMADE
Chemin D’Amande
2025
PERFUMER
Jerome di Marino
wheat absolute
Almond
bourbon vanilla
‘Chemin d’Amande is a warm breeze of wheat, tinged with the whiteness of a freshly picked almond. Its gentle warmth carries notes of enveloping sweetness.’ – Une Nuit Nomade
Chemin D’Amande is a nice surprise. When I first smelled it in-store, I was not all that intrigued, maybe even a bit underwhelmed. When you compare Chemin D’Amande to the other extraits from Une Nuit Nomade, it feels rather simple and straight-forward. Which remains true and it’s the most ‘trend-following’, most gourmand one of the line. However, the execution here is top notch and I would put Chemin D’Amande against or over any almond/tonka/coumarin fragrance on the market right now; It may be the best one that I’ve come across.
Clear gourmand tonka bean or almond paste comes to mind. A little bit spicy, a little bit anise-like. It reminds me of almond filling in Christmas stollen. But, it’s not too heavy and dense; it feels like it has a thick chewy core, but it’s surrounded by an airier, almost floral gust of wind in the air, creating some levity and making it easier to wear. A lot of marzipan comes to mind.
This is one of those contradictory cases where the linearity is a strength. See, I love this particular scent, but almost every fragrance in this style, loses the pure almond/tonka essence, and becomes sugary, becomes caramel or becomes vanilla. Here, the wear brings little surprise, but it keeps offering top notch almond paste, which, depending on my mood, would be exactly what I’d want from it. Those other drydowns I can find in a countless fragrances in my collection already.
Compared to Dusita Tonka Latte or D’Orsay Tonka Hysteria, which I both like quite a lot, I think Chemin D’Amande offers a nicer texture and a more pure aesthetic. I’d like to compare it more directly to Guerlain Tonka Sarrapia Extrait 75 one day, because I feel that may be the most apt comparison. Based on memory, I’m saying the Une Nuit Nomade may have my preference (the Guerlain opens more spicy) and this doesn’t have the burden of the extreme pricing of the Guerlain extrait. It’s also significantly less spicy and lighter to wear than Lorga Ambre Platine.
Despite being familiar smelling and rather uneventful, Chemin D’Amande managed to wow me by simply being a good fragrance. Especially in the gourmand realm, there are so many releases that sound interesting on paper, but end up smelling cheap and badly constructed, that a straight-forward fragrance with great quality is like a breath of fresh air.