The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Nuit Feline arrived in 2023 as part of The Merchant of Venice's Murano Art collection, where each bottle features a blue murrina. The collection draws on the visual language of Murano glasswork, that centuries-old craft tied to Venetian artisanship. Nuit Feline translates that mood into scent, capturing the gleam you catch in low light rather than any sense of transparency. The composition was shaped by Nanako Ogi, a perfumer known for working with the Venetian house. The brief: an animalic, woody extrait that feels nocturnal without slipping into cliché. The blue murrina in the bottle echoes that idea, a single point of color standing out against the dark glass.
What makes this composition worth your attention is the animalic heart sitting between two very different woody registers. Oud, the resinous heartwood prized in Middle Eastern perfumery, meets cypriol, an earthier note often used as a counterpoint, while suede and amyris anchor the base in a softer, drier leather than most oud-forward scents deliver. Pink pepper and ginger add an opening snap that keeps the whole thing from collapsing into incense.
The evolution
The first half hour is sharp and resinous, cypriol and elemi cutting through ginger and pink pepper with a pine-needle edge that reads almost outdoorsy. By the one-hour mark, that brightness has softened and the animalic notes step forward, unmistakable and warm, neither synthetic nor skanky. Oud threads through the middle phase without ever taking over, smoky rather than barnyard. The nutmeg rounds the rough edges. Around hour three, the suede arrives, soft and dry, and the patchouli underneath gives it weight without dirt. By evening's end you're left with amyris and frankincense, a quieter, almost meditative wood, and the animalic warmth that's been present since hour one still hums beneath it. The drydown settles into a quiet hush, amyris and frankincense layering over the lingering animalic thread, suede holding everything together like a lining.
Cultural impact
Nuit Feline leans into a corner of fragrance where oud and animalic notes are handled with restraint rather than spectacle, and the extrait format gives it the concentration to carry that weight without losing nuance. The oud reads smoky rather than barnyard, the animalic warmth sits in the middle rather than dominating, and the suede and amyris base pulls the whole composition toward a drier, quieter register. Collectors who follow the Murano Art line tend to track the color and mood of each release, and Nuit Feline's blue murrina gives it a distinct place in that sequence.
