Perfume Review: Nocturne Alchemy Tut Ankh Amun

By Unknown

Free Samples

I haven't tried a great deal out of Nocturne Alchemy's somewhat confusing Egyptian-themed catalog, but Tut Ankh Amun is one of their GC scents that I've tried and enjoyed. Since I don't hear the brand discussed a great deal, I thought it might be nice to focus on one of their scents.

Price: $18 for a 5 mL amber glass bottle of perfume oil with reducer cap.
Samples: $5 for a 1/32 oz sample vial. (Domestic shipping is $6 for orders up to $174, and free for orders of $175 and over. International rates are listed here.)
Description from the website: "The Great Egyptian Boy King. Tut Ankh Amun, written in the three pieces he was the defined 'Living image of AMUN'. Born during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten he would become the youngest King of Egypt. In 1922 his tomb was discovered and unearthed by Howard Carter. He is one of the most iconoclastic figures in Ancient Egyptian History. The scent of a King. The scent of innocence. The scent of royalty. Golden Amber, Golden Egyptian Sandalwood and Golden Vanilla."

OK, first things first. Because Nocturne Alchemy is an Egyptian-themed brand, I understand the desire to pick out an Egyptian-themed name for the scent, but somehow the choice of Tutankhamun seems really arbitrary to me, and not that well suited for the perfume, which to me feels feminine, cozy, and soft.

I'm not usually a huge fan of sandalwood, honestly--something about the woodsy creaminess of it often turns my stomach. I had to scrub off Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black after innocently spritzing it on my hand in Sephora one day. Tut Ankh Amun smells like sweet, almost caramelized sandalwood, but somehow it doesn't bother me.

The amber and vanilla give this a nice rounded and smooth feel. It actually reminds me a bit of the BPAL scent Mouse's Long And Sad Tale, which features heavy doses of sweet pea, and smells like musky vanilla and strawberries to me--and also Vasilissa, which adds jasmine and myrrh to a similar sandalwood-mus-amber accord. Tut Ankh Amun, although it's named after a male pharaoh, has the same creamy, marshmallowy, pink feel to it as those scents--it could veer into strawberry cream or sugared jasmine territory quite easily.

Since it's a fairly simple and linear scent, and composed entirely of basenotes with good lasting power, I think this might be a good candidate for layering with other perfumes, like single-note florals or bright citrus scents. It stays close, without a lot of throw, and feels light rather than rich and heavy. The vanilla note gets stronger the longer it wears on my skin, which pleases me immensely.

Bottom line: wearable, sweet but not cloying, simple but lovely. I like it!

For other opinions, check out the NA Reviews forum.

Note: this scent is vegan.