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Aedes de Venustas – Cierge de Lune

A flowering cactus sets the tone for this raw, glamorous take on the dark side of vanilla.

Cool and limpid as moonlit desert air. Velvety and sensuous as the midnight sky. CIERGE DE LUNE is inspired by the scent of the mysterious night-blooming cereus flowering cactus, also known as the Queen of the Night.

The French call cereus cierge de lune, “moon altar candle,” a literal translation of the Latin Selenicereus grandiflorus. Since its spectacular flower only opens after dark and wilts as the sun rises, it is said that Marie-Antoinette summoned the botanical artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté at midnight to capture the New World cactus species’ poignantly fleeting beauty. Today, AEDES DE VENUSTAS co-founder Karl Bradl and perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin capture the suave scent of this elusive and evocative muse.

CIERGE DE LUNE spans a thrilling range, from crystalline high notes to a deep nocturnal purr of spicy vanilla laced with wisps of incense. For his first collaboration with AEDES DE VENUSTAS in 2016, Pellegrin drew from a rich portfolio. “Our Madagascan vanilla absolute is the truest to the natural ingredient,” he explains. Woodier and more ambery than its Tahitian counterpart with a tinge of tawny leather, this vanilla forms the heart of the composition, revealing a darker side. An airy waft of hedione transmutes the delectable pod into a cactus blossom, its pristine petals fleshed out by ylang-ylang.

To add vibrancy and brightness, twinkling pink pepper shoots glints of moonlight into the velvety blend, while black pepper runs an intriguing thread, from mineral, incense-like effects—a nod to the olfactory theme of the AEDES DE VENUSTAS line—to resinous, smoky, dark chocolate notes. Then, in a final metamorphosis, musky ambrox, underscored by a downy suede accord, turns the nocturnal bloom into a dusky second skin.