Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin

Getting stuffed up and being unable to smell any fragrances due to allergies is no fun. And during that time, I kept trying to get fleeting sniffs of La Fille de Berlin in the hopes that my sense of smell had come back. Finally, I can say today that I can–indeed–smell with no allergy yuckiness getting in the way.

La Fille de Berlin

La Fille de Berlin

In Bottle: Peppery, dusty rose with a hint of dirt, like someone dropped a bouquet of very aromatic roses in a mud puddle.

Applied: I know the above description doesn’t make it sound too great, but it’s actually a rather fascinating experience. I get a lot of pepper from this and rose tends to amplify in my nose anyway. So La Fille de Berlin feels like two strong notes or rose and pepper battling it out with each other and I have to say, I think the rose is winning. The scent changes very little from my first impression of it, to the midstage where as I wait a while and start to pay attention to it, the musk or as I like to call it, “that muddy smell” comes up a bit more. La Fille de Berlin is certainly an interesting trip, I was delighted when my sense of smell started to clear past the rose and I could get a bit of something else, but I wouldn’t say this fragrance appealed to me.

Extra: La Fille de Berlin was released in 2013, and translated into English means, “The Girl from Berlin”.

Design: Designed similarly to most other Serge Lutens bottles, the packaging is beautiful, simple and elegant. I have always been a fan of the Serge Lutens’ packaging looks.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Rose, violet, pepper, musk.

The rose and peppery kick aren’t really what I’m after so I feel fairly neutral to this in that I don’t love it or dislike it. I had been intrigued by mostly the name without having read about any of its notes.

Reviewed in This Post: La Fille de Berlin, 2013, Eau de Parfum.


Serge Lutens Miel De Bois

Miel De Bois is one of the last remaining Serge Lutens samples I had and was excited to get to smelling this when I read that it was a woody oriental with no cedar presence.

Miel De Bois

Miel De Bois

In Bottle: Beautiful smooth honey and woodsy scent with a bit of smokiness.

Applied: Miel De Bois opens with a prominent woodsy fragrance with the oak and a hint of smoky honey following it. The fragrance is blended very well, I can’t pick out anything that seems out of place as it all goes so well together. The fragrance gets a bit smokier as it ages with an introduction of the very soft and very yielding floral note to smooth out the wood and honey. Honey in this fragrance is a bit of a garnish in that it isn’t prominent but adds a bit of depth and oriental feel to the otherwise woodsy scent. I get more of the honey as the fragrance ages, but it’s strength is tempered back again by the woods as Miel De Bois goes on.

Extra: Miel De Bois was first introduced in 2005. It was composed by Christopher Sheldrake who also made fragrance such as Chergui and Daim Blond.

Design: Same general design as the other Serge Lutens bottles. You’ll get an elegant and well designed bottle and if you own more than one, you might get yourself a very nice uniform look for your fragrance collection. Bottle is easy to hold and use and sprayer is well done.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Oriental

Notes: Honey, iris, hawthorn, guaiac wood, oak.

Unfortunately, Miel De Bois has been discontinued and is no longer widely available–not that it was to begin with being a niche fragrance. You may be able to score a bottle on eBay or from another fragrance lover’s collection.

Reviewed in This Post: Miel De Bois, 2006, Eau de Parfum.


Serge Lutens Chergui

Chergui, named after the wind that blows through Morocco during the summer is Serge Lutens’ very spicy oriental fragrance with a big dish of sandalwood.

Chergui

In Bottle: Spicy and honeyed very sweet with a tickle of sandalwood. Smells absolutely beautiful.

Applied: Flare up of spicy honey with a slight sweetness and a very warm sandalwood scent that lingers in the opening creating this beautiful woody, spicy, oriental fragrance. As Chergui ages, it loses a bit of its honeyed quality and takes on more of a smoky vanilla scent and turns more towards the woodsy aspect, maintaining levels of its spiciness while the woods amp up and the honey slowly dissolves. Chergui takes on a strange transformation that shifts it from one fragrance family to another. As it leaves the honey the amber clings to the rest of the raft but doesn’t really match up in beauty compared to the honey. This turns into a sweet woodsy scent with a hint of spices in the mid-stage. The dry down is much of the same, as I see dry vanilla mellowing out in favor of more powerful woody notes and a lingering hint of spiciness.

Extra: Chergui was composed by Christopher Sheldrake. Chergui’s concept was to invoke images of that hot dry desert wind. I’m not sure I get desert wind from this fragrance so much as a fireplace in a cozy cottage in the middle of winter.

Design: As usual, bottled in a highly attractive tall glass flacon with a simple label that identifies the fragrance’s name and house. I love it when a line makes matching bottles for their perfume. Kind of gives the collector in me a little bit more urge to get them all and line them up in a neat row.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Oriental

Notes: Honey, musk, incense, tobacco leaf, hay sugar, amber, iris, rose, sandalwood.

There’s a lot of disappointment about Chergui in the fragrance community and I noticed many of the disappointed reviews noted that this was a fairly banal oriental fragrance. I thought Chergui was lovely, a bit ordinary perhaps, and certainly not the desert-invoking fragrance it was toted as being. But it was a valiant attempt, I love its story, and it’s a good fragrance that smells fantastic. Sort of like a milder version of Opium.

Reviewed in This Post: Chergui, 2010, Eau de Parfum.


Serge Lutens Muscs Koublai Khan

Muscs Koublai Khan is one of those fragrances perfume lovers dare each other to smell because the scent is so animalic and strong that everyone ought to try it at least once.

Muscs Koublai Khan

In Bottle: So I didn’t get much animalic at first but there is something in my initial whiff of this that told me I was in for a ride. There’s something dense in the bottled scent, a bit weird but otherwise the top is green and brown–hard to describe in terms of words but Muscs Koublai Khan smells like this mishmash of complex, dirty ideas.

Applied: Upon application that complex mishmash of ideas comes to a full realization and I’m hit right in the nose with a big civet, business-end first. Now, I’m one of those people who have to get used to the idea of a perfume before I can fully appreciate it and I don’t fully appreciate Jicky for how she smells yet. But she had a temperance with lavender–Muscs Koublai Khan is straight up dirty civet with a fecal smell that I’m having a troubling time getting over. There’s a slight powderiness to this that’s trying to clean it up a little but it’s a bit meek by comparison. It’s funny too, as there’s a layer of flowers behind the poo that my nose is trying to smell instead. Now, Muscs Koublai Khan is not the kind of fragrance you pick up and enjoy the first time for a lot of people. I didn’t expect myself to like this, but I do find it absolutely hilarious as it confuses my nose and keeps me coming back. Each time hoping it’ll transform into something else if I let it age a bit more. I can’t quite comment on anything else but Muscs Koublai Khan smelling dirty, very animalic, with a funny venting of florals like it’s trying to apologize. This is warm, it’s complex, sensual even. But it isn’t for me and I’m not sure I’m going to go out of my way to understand it much more. I already appreciate it for its concept, I think me and Muscs Koublai Khan can leave it at that.

Extra: Muscs Koublai Khan is like perfume that spent a day rolling about at the zoo then bathed itself a bit in flowered water. It’s a strange but alluring mix, very masculine a little off-putting and takes a while to get used to and love but when you do, this stuff really takes off. It just didn’t take off for me.

Design: Bottled like other Serge Lutens fragrances, Muscs Koublai Khan is presented in an unpressuming thin rectangular glass bottle with a tall cap. Minimalist approach appeases me.

Fragrance Family: Dirty

Notes: Vegetal musk, costus root, labdanum, rockrose, grey amber, vanilla, patchouli, ambrette seed, moroccan rose.

Obviously a fragrance for acquired tastes and I haven’t yet acquired such taste. Maybe in a few years, Muscs Koublai Khan, when I’m a little older.

Reviewed in This Post: Muscs Koublai Khan, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Upon application that complex mishmash of ideas comes to a full realization and I’m hit right in the nose with a big civet, business-end first. Now, I’m one of those people who have to get used to the idea of a perfume before I can fully appreciate it and I don’t fully appreciate Jicky for how she smells yet. But she had a temperance with lavender–Muscs Koublai Khan is straight up dirty civet with a fecal smell that I’m having a troubling time getting over. There’s a slight powderiness to this that’s trying to clean it up a little but it’s a bit meek by comparison. It’s funny too, as there’s a layer of flowers behind the poo that my nose is trying to smell instead. Now, Muscs Koublai Khan is not the kind of fragrance you pick up and enjoy the first time for a lot of people. I didn’t expect myself to like this, but I do find it absolutely hilarious as it confuses my nose and keeps me coming back. Each time hoping it’ll transform into something else if I let it age a bit more. I can’t quite comment on anything else but Muscs Koublai Khan smelling dirty, very animalic, with a funny venting of florals like it’s trying to apologize. This is warm, it’s complex, sensual even. But it isn’t for me and I’m not sure I’m going to go out of my way to understand it much more. I already appreciate it for its concept, I think me and Muscs Koublai Khan can leave it at that.

Serge Lutens Un Lys

I couldn’t mention Un Lys in a recommendations list without doing an actual review of it. But the truth is, Un Lys is a pretty lily soliflore that leads the way in pretty lilies. It’s rocketed itself up my personal favorites list to number two, just behind the ever beautiful Spiritueuse Double Vanille.

Un Lys

In Bottle: Cuts the chatter and gets straight to the lily. This is a soft, creamy, gentle lily fragrance. Unmistakable and hard to miss or confuse the notes in this.

Applied: Well, considering there’s really only three notes in Un Lys, and considering the fragrance’s name you expect there to be lily and that’s what you get upfront. It starts off sharp and green and leafy with the lily gaining way over the sharp greenness until it takes over the stage. This is a white, soft and dry lily fragrance that lilies it up from the get-go and keeps going for a few hours time before meeting a vanilla note and clean musk at the end where the lilies keep living until its time to fade completely. Utterly beautiful and fabulously done lily fragrance.

Extra: Un Lys is an interesting contender in the Serge Lutens line where most of their fragrances tend toward heady, rich and deep, Un Lys is the sweet top floating floral t.

Design: Un Lys is bottled in the same way other Serge Lutens fragrances are. A thin, simple, glass rectangle. It’s done well, done elegantly and without flashy gimmicks. And, if you line up a bunch of Serge Lutens bottles in a row, it looks quite nice.

Fragrance Family: Soliflore

Notes: Lily, musk, vanilla.

I love Un Lys, but then, I also love lily scents and love floral scents in general. Un Lys is a particularly well done lily that should be a big hit to anyone who favors the fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: Un Lys, 2010, Eau de  Parfum.


Serge Lutens Daim Blond

Serge Lutens is one of those fragrance house that you have to smell to believe. Their perfumes are so utterly beautiful and complex and strange that to not try at least one would be to miss out on some of the most well-composed fragrances in niche.

Serge Lutens Daim Blond

In Bottle: Sophisticated and a little bit fruity that feel of utter softness and gentleness.

Applied: Daim Blond opens with a pleasant mildly fruity soft  scent that reminds me of running the tips of my fingers along a length of suede. This stuff is so mild and gentle but it remains gorgeous. Daim Blond’s midstage is marked with that suede note that stays in the background. Further adding to that fingertips on suede feel is the spice from the cardamom makes itself known. The cardamom lends a bit of exotic flare to this fragrance, digging up its complexity as it carries on into the dry down that’s marked by musk and a very faint reminder of suede.

Extra: Serge Lutens was at one point a director for Shiseido. He has since moved into perfumes to create a fantastic line of fragrances that’s often praised in the niche market for being complex, interesting, and unique.

Design: Daim Blond, like most Serge Lutens fragrances is bottled in a tall glass rectangle with an equally tall cap on top. There’s no frills or gimmicks when it comes to Serge Lutens packaging. It’s simply understated and effective.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Earthy

Notes: Iris pallida, apricot kernel, cardamom, musk, heliotrope, hawthorn.

When I smell leather, I think earthy. And earthy to me is something organic. Mostly I just didn’t have any other way to describe Daim Blond except as a sophisticated leather scent.

Reviewed in This Post: Daim Blond, 2010, Eau de  Parfum.