Best Starry Nights by Montale Alternatives & Similar Perfumes

A rapturous rose, apple and patchouli perfume with a lick of honey. But the joyfully fresh effect of the composition is only part of the story. Experimentum Crucis has the most extraordinary projection and longevity, as well as a novel multidimensional architecture. As you wear it, scented castles of Experimentum Crucis form in the air, creating an invisible sanctuary for you and all who smell you.

In the muggy shade of a tropical rainforest, an orchid sways seductively. Its glistening petals tremble in anticipation, inviting a passing butterfly to consummate the intimate act of pollination. Succumbing to the allure of the silken flower, the butterfly eagerly flits forward. But as it prepares to alight, the exotic bloom abruptly transforms. Delicate leaves contort into dagger-like forelegs, seizing the bug’s fragile wings. Before the butterfly can comprehend its fate, its head is devoured, crushed between the powerful jaws of the stealthy orchid mantis.

Orchid Mantis lures you into a fragrant illusion. Juicy pear, rich rose and heady jasmine entwine with basil and ylang to suggest the intense scent of orchids. This vintage style is set against the backdrop of a humid rainforest evoked by patchouli, moss, sandalwood and vetiver. An enduring musk serves as a reminder that beauty can also be beastly.

In Arabic, Lamar means “liquid gold”, the legendary potion long sought by alchemists in search of immortality. This generous fruity-floral embraces the eternity of living in the moment. In creating Lamar, perfumer Mark Buxton said, “My inspiration was to create a rich, natural, warm, long lasting fragrance, by using high quality natural products. This gives a feeling of walking through a bed of roses or a jasmine field – very feminine and sensual.” Lamar opens with a festival of berries, apple and pineapple. The heart notes glow with jasmine sambac, Turkish rose, Bulgarian rose and magnolia. Vanilla, musk and amber supply the softest landing.

From LO’s Parfum Intense collection, this is an amber with the darkness turned up to 11. There’s no white space here, just expensive raw materials piled high. Its vibrant opening with fruity notes is enriched by the bitterness of coffee, deepening into a powerful chorus of rose, iris, jasmine and lily of the valley. And this valley is a deep one, a soft black expanse of leather, nagarmotha and patchouli, cushioned by a dirtier-than-usual amber.

A floral flight of a thousand fragrances from the Pays de Grasse.

Bel Air, in a contemporary interpretation, exalts the most exquisite flowers of Grasse in a sumptuous, luminous bouquet.

A fragrance in which Centifolia rose, jasmine, tuberose, iris, violet, and mimosa bloom sensuously, eternally. A genuine jewel of light, the bottle is a faithful replica of its predecessor, now tenderly tinged with coral. Bel Air, inspired by an idyllic garden, enchants the eye and heart with its petite pastel flask that radiates intensely bucolic beauty.

Perfumer: Michèle Saramito

A new addition to Bloom’s portfolio, an elegant cologne with sweet sun kissed citruses, honeyed neroli and amber background.

With classic formulas it’s the quality of the ingredients that matters. Marie Jeanne might be a new perfume house, but it’s founded by a young perfumer from a family connected to Robertet for several generations.

Robertet is a bit like De Beers of the fine natural perfume materials - matières premières, for decades they have been dealing with the finest, purest and most precious stuff a perfumer can dream of.

This is Marcelle, a classic elegant cologne but with highly likely the best bergamot from Italy, grapefruit from Spain, neroli from Tunisia and petigrain from Paraguay among other notes in the formula.

California is a land of abundance: sunshine, flowers and fruits. The fragrance is a sunny swirl of magnolia, apples and lemons, all of which flourish in this west coast wonderland. Sandalwood and musk bridges the flora to the skin, turning you into a delivery system for smiles.

Hanamizake refers to drinking Japanese sake underneath the cherry blossom trees while petals slowly flutter into your cup. The aroma of cherry blossoms and ginjo sake dances tipsily into the last musk note, summoning this serene hanami (cherry blossom viewing) experience.

Perfumer: Daniela Andrier (Givaudan)

All listed notes were subjected to an upcycling extraction process. What previously would be discarded was distilled again.

Pulp olfaction: waste not, discover new smells.

According to ELdO this is their Secretion Magnifiques which grew up and use the power of shock and eccentricity to draw attention to really important matters: environment and ethical consumption.

Upcycled or zero-waste notes in I am trash: rose neo-absolute, apple essense, Atlas cedarwood, sandalore, akigalawood, iso-e-super...

The resulting fragrance is a very pleasant perfume abstraction in which fruity vibes meet gently floral hints before going transparent woody. But still beware of Etat Libre d’Orange also mischievously revisiting the salty messy splutter of Secretions Magnifiques now and then in this formula.

The Sniff on I am Trash by Etat Libre d'Orange:

"[it] opens with the most beautiful and realistic apple note and it’s an utter delight. This apple smells really ripe, outdoorsy and fresh. When smelling it we were immediately transported to an allotment, picking up windfalls which are a bit battered and bruised in places but still mostly fine. I Am Trash smells like real apples resplendent with imperfections, rather than the perfect, sterile, waxy cold-storage apples you can buy in supermarkets which barely smell of anything at all."

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Warm sunshine at twilight. Tangerine dances with bergamot in this cashmere, jasmine and patchouli-based choreography. With a whopping 50% of perfume oil, this extrait is persuasive enough to beguile any unsuspecting soul who crosses your path.