It’s gray and dreary outside. The rain is lashing against the window of my study. The linden trees in front of our house have lost almost all their leaves. It’s fall. It’s already November! Just a few more weeks, and then the Advent season begins—and before we know it, the year 2026 will be over. This time of year can be beautiful, or it can bring days like today, when we’d rather curl up on the sofa and dream of summer and warmth. Oh, how wonderful it would be right now to enjoy sunny Provence, to capture and preserve the special light of this region. And to savor the scent of seemingly endless lavender fields.
Today, Shade of Blue by Une Nuit Nomade is providing the olfactory inspiration for my daydreams. This fragrance is dedicated to the very landscape of southern France that is characterized by the color of lavender.
Lavender as far as the eye can see
Valensole is a small town in the heart of Provence. Situated on a plateau between the Durance and Asse river valleys, the town is surrounded by lavender fields. Carpets of lilac-blue flowers stretch as far as the eye can see. It’s no coincidence that Valensole lies along the Routes de la Lavande, which wind their way through the picturesque Provençal countryside.
Interestingly, no true lavender is grown on the Valensole Plateau; instead, lavandin is cultivated—a naturally occurring hybrid between the aforementioned true lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and broad-leaved lavender (Lavandula latifolia). There’s a simple reason for this. Lavandin yields significantly more than true lavender and has a stronger, fresher, more aromatic scent, whereas Lavandula angustifolia has a much softer, more delicate, and only subtly herbaceous scent. The higher yields of essential oil make lavandin particularly attractive for large-scale, commercial cultivation, such as that practiced around Valensole.
Une Nuit Nomade drew inspiration from the beautiful region around Valensole to create its new fragrance, Shade of Blue. Just as the sun sets, when the lilac-colored fields are first bathed in golden-yellow light, only to soon glow in a cool, mysterious, and captivating shade of blue.
Top notes: bergamot, myrrh
Middle notes: lavender
Base notes: tonka bean, caramel
Sweet, warm, and spicy-fresh, Shade of Blue opens with caramel-sweet, vanilla-scented notes, accented by a hint of citrus. But soon the typical facets of lavender come to the fore. Herbal, tart, distinctive—lavender as we know it, and yet so very different. Here, it is bathed in a golden warmth, enveloped by sweet, embracing nuances that lend its otherwise rather sharp herbaceousness gentle, balsamic traits. They breathe softness and comfort into it—even though it already has such a calm and soothing effect on its own.
To me, Shade of Blue is a wonderful eau de parfum that reinterprets lavender in an extraordinary way, giving it warm and gourmand accents that I wouldn’t have expected. These notes run like a common thread through the composition, ensuring that this very plant—which one tends to associate with cool, herbaceous-aromatic scents and classic fougères—can also be balsamic-spicy and enveloping-cozy. For me, this was a big surprise—and one I absolutely love. A perfect fragrance for fall and winter that’s sure to make more than just lavender fans’ hearts skip a beat.
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