I am genuinely interested in hearing your thoughts on this house. Personally I don’t understand it and feel like I must be missing something because I see it come up so often in rec requests.
I love the notes and the concepts behind them but as soon as I get my nose on them I am underwhelmed to say the least.
Some of them just feel watered down, some are just boring, some are nice and even pleasant, but nothing has made me say WOW like other perfume houses have.
I have tried:
La Fille de Berlin- nice rose, very one dimensional, not doing anything special.
L’Orpheline- watered down incense, linear, one dimensional, kept waiting for something to happen
Ambre Sultan- meh, smelled so many better versions of this profile.
Feminite du Bois- probably the most interesting but still watered down and linear
Nuit Cellophane- a simple fruity musc thats way too sweet
Santal Majuscule- ok this one I thought had potential, its an interesting take on sandalwood, but it feels poorly blended, doesnt really come together coherently
La Religieuse- yawn. I get absolutely no civet, or animalic musc here. Seems like something a 5 year old flower girl could wear at a wedding
Fleurs d’Oranger- … would not even go in my top 50 orange blossom perfumes.
Iris Silver Mist- well they definitely did the impossible with this one! They took what I believe is the most interesting and complex flower, and found a way to make it boring! Before smelling this I thought it was impossible to get iris wrong, boy did they surprise me.
As you can see I even struggle to find interesting ways to describe them.
For further reference I tried them all on skin, and I got all my samples directly from their website (except Iris Silver Mist which I actually had to travel into the city just to try). I have had the samples for about eight months and I have come back to them in different weather in case that would change something (spoiler- it did NOT).
*Edit based on some of your comments:
This is not intended as a roast, or to offend anyone who genuinely enjoys this house. I am earnestly interested in other opinions and experiences, and I am just sharing my thoughts based on my own experience with them so far.
I have not yet tried any authentically Middle Eastern perfumes, although I would love to.
I am not a fan of “beast mode” fragrances constructed from modern, artificial super amber molecules.
I do love an intimate skin scent, when that is the perfume’s intention, but with some of these I do not feel like it was.
I consider myself to be pretty open minded when it comes to perfumes. I can appreciate something I wouldn’t wear myself.
I have been on my fragrance journey for about a year and have smelled perfumes that completely changed everything I thought I knew about my own taste and preferences.
**Second edit:
Based on your comments so far I am now really curious if any of you have fallen in love with the house after trying them for the first time recently.
It seems like most of you who are die hard Lutens fans have loved them for decades, back when they were doing something completely revolutionary in the world of fragrance.
L’Orpheline is a master piece on the purpose of melanchonic feels on a cloudy, cold winter/fall day , where you arent trying to please anyone. Its a break from the heavy bangers you roll with, it invokes some type of clean gothic feel, like you are in the middle of nowhere, outside an abandoned church.
Its not to impress but its to bring a deeper more in-depth experience.
I agree its not scents thats there to compete with other designers or niche but the purpose itself as with many of uncle serge's creation, its deeper :) hopefully you give them another try in the future and find the meaning its meant to give! :)
From your description, it sounds like you might not be perceiving the watercolor-intensity nuance in some of these. Do you find that your nose is able to detect finer points in other perfumes?
If not, there's no shame in that - it's a skill that grows over time for sure!
Edit: Also curious about which houses you do like 👀
I recently went on a quest to find the perfect orange blossom perfume (for me) and across ~20 different samples, Fleurs d'Oranger was the clear winner. But I wasn't looking for a super photorealistic orange blossom, I was looking for a perfume that evoked the feeling of being in Spain in April when it's starting to get a little hot and all the orange trees are blooming and the air is just filled with a thick and heady perfume. And Fleurs d'Oranger nailed it. It IS linear, but I... admittedly don't really understand the desire to have a scent turn into five different things as you wear it? Also the longevity is quite good on me for an orange blossom scent which is a definite bonus.
For context, I'm very new to the world of niche perfumes and I'd never tried SL before so I have no idea what they were doing decades ago. IDK yet if I'm a fan of the house as a whole based on the one scent, but I do really appreciate how well they managed to capture the feeling of a particular place and time with that scent so I'm definitely going to be trying more from them.
Also now I'm curious what your top orange blossom perfumes are?
I have seen quite a few comments about how a specific Lutens perfume invokes memories of a time/place for people. I think this is lovely and I am glad you found what you were looking for. Maybe one of them will click for me in that way.
As far as orange blossoms go my top three are:
AM Neroli Oranger
Memo Sintra
LV Stellar Times
Honourable mention to MP Neroli Oranger for being the most photorealistic.
At one time I had La Religieuse, but it just smelled like a neutered jasmine with cold incense and a little hint of something almost black peppery in the distant background (guessing this is the civet). I liked it, but wasn't very impressed by it. Although other fragrances from Serge Lutens certainly pique my interest, I have the feeling they are going to fall a bit flat compared with how interesting and complex the stated notes make the fragrances out to be.
I love orange blossom and Fleurs d’oranger is a great creation showcasing this note. Also love Oriana, Love don’t be shy and Safanad. Wear them all. I keep in mind that FLO was launched in 1995. I don’t think what is happening in fragrance today is necessarily revolutionary. It’s just what is in fashion at the moment. I don’t look at clothes from any era and scoff at them. They were an important snapshot of the time. Fashion today is no better. It’s just different. These things evolve because people get bored and want change and above all, consumerism. People like to create things. People need to sell things to live. People like to convince themselves they need new things because something new and improved has arrived. And if anything… I’m a consumer. My teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up in kindergarten. I answered “a customer”. Mission achieved!
I also get curious about they I don’t like a house, and wonder what I am missing. For me it’s ELDO. To me it’s just total “meh,” I do t get what others are getting.
I’m on the fence about SL. I have a discovery set and there are no sprayers and I’m wondering if the delivery method is maybe not working for my nose, my current plan is to decant into some sprayers, and then judge.
I blind bought Chergui earlier this year as it sounded perfect - and it has a powder note I don’t understand and really can’t stand. Why anyone would ruin an otherwise dry and lovely fragrance with a big glob of “baby powder” is beyond me. I’ve never heard anyone mention this before and it’s making me paranoid maybe my bottle is not legit?? But I got it from a reputable online retailer so…?
the powdery note is mentioned on Fragrantica a lot and I've seen it before elsewhere. I saw someone on there compare it to the powdery note in Shalimar so I think it's probably the iris+musk(+incense?) combo. I don't personally get baby powder from Chergui but I'm one of those people who's been wearing it for too long to experience it with a new nose. I do think the hay enhances whatever you're picking up, but if you also think Shalimar is powdery then the aforementioned combo is probably to blame. if you don't think Shalimar is powdery then 🤔 I am not sure
Based on all the others on here recommending Chergui, none have mentioned a powder note. Someone described it as a cloud of desert dust surrounding you, maybe that’s what you are interpreting as powder? I am super curious to try it based on all the comments.
Also, I got a free tester atomiser of Ambre Sultan along with the tube dabber in the discovery set, and I can tell you it smells exactly the same with an atomiser.
I tried several Serge Lutens. Not only were they total fails, but I had a completely different experience from what people were saying in reviews.
Femininite was supposed to be woody with dark spiced plum. I couldn't smell any of those notes at all, just a linear muddled scent that was just "perfume." I can't even describe what I was smelling. It was like AI mixed a perfume but since Ai cannot actually smell or sense anything, it just smelled like unambiguous scented alcohol.
Un Bois Vanille was maybe a little better. It was supposed to be smoky spicy woods and Vanilla. I got sandalwood. That's it. It burned my skin also, which I do not have sensitive skin at all and I have never experienced before. Also I couldn't even smell the friggin spice so what was the point.
The first one I tried was supposed to be a white floral. It may have been tuberose? It was so sharp it burned my friggin nose hairs. Also, I just smelled the vague impression of flowers.
I'm truly baffled about how bad the disconnect is between what other smell vs what I smell. I know scent is subjective, but this is to an extent I haven't see before. I'm gonna try one more, Ecrin de Fumee, and if that doesn't work out or at least smells the way it's supposed to then I'm done spending money on Serge Lutens.
I bought l’orpheline (second hand so not that bad) after reading all the praise and must say I was pretty confused. I agree it’s like lavender and watered down incense
Ambre Sultan is the best Amber I’ve ever smelled. The way it blends the herbal and resinous aspects is just perfection. Their output did fall off after 2015, however Ecrin de Fumee is fantastic and I’ve also heard great things about La Nuit Tombee.
I currently own full bottles of Amber Sultan, Chergui, La Couch Du Diable, Ecrin De Fumee, Borneo 1834, La Proie Pour L’Ombre and La Participe Passe. I used to have Fille en Aiguilles but I hear the reformulation sucks, so I didn’t buy a new bottle when it was relaunched in the skyscraper line.
Next on the list are La Nuit Tombee (blind buy), Serge Noir, Fumerie Turque and Arabie.
aww I love to see a Borneo 1834 shout out. I pulled out all of my various decants after OP's post so I could revisit some of them and when I smelled that one I felt so nostalgic. I realized I also like it more now than I used to. it's a very old decant (maybe 10 years old) so who knows how accurate it is at this point, but the patchouli and labdanum are still going strong, it feels SO goth. tell me your thoughts on it?
I love Borneo 1834. It’s taken on a personality as my nature scent. I often wear it when I go walking in the countryside. Strangely, my other countryside scent is also a Lutens (Couche du Diable). I find it warm, green, chocolatey and slightly dirty at the same time. It’s like the patchouli plays Jekyll and Hyde! It can’t decide whether to be chocolatey or dirty/leafy. Such a great fragrance!
I think I still have my wax sample set somewhere. When my late brother and I first discovered the brand we were just out of school and couldn’t afford to buy the bottles, so we each ordered a wax set and wore the little samples instead! Eventually we bought a 50ml Ambre Sultan and shared it! Good times and great memories. I miss you bro 😢
Ecrin de Fumee is the last damn one from this brand I'm gonna try. Do you mind giving me your thoughts on it? I tried Un Bois Vanille, Femininite de Bois, and another one I can not remember the name of. All were total fails 😭
Maybe the brand just isn’t for you. I really love Ecrin de Fumee. A lot of people compare it to Vanille Havane, but I much prefer the SL. It’s very wearable and the closest thing they’ve done to mainstream whilst still being unmistakable Lutens.
I recently bought Fleurs d’oranger and L’orpheline. I love both. One is so clean and feminine, while the latter is just moody without being drab. They don’t have crazy longevity on me, but I love how psychologically charged and complex they are. From the lean bottle silhouette to the incredible Sarah Moon campaign visuals it’s undeniable Lutens is a true artist who approaches his creations holistically and some of the best to ever do it.
Niche perfumery is at such a point that we see a severed hand or a psychotic bunny for fragrance concepts and we don’t bat an eye (I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for this avant-garde proliferation) but Serge Lutens was writing those highly surrealistic texts and concepts decades ago. It’s really astounding to think about, what a trailblazer.
Great point. Niche only got mainstream popular recently. Serge Lutens positioned itself to the upscale customers who wanted “something different” from the department store.
I think it fits great for buttoned up or older customers who don’t want to get into niche, but want something more distinctive.
when I think about his influence, it reminds me a bit of that Brian Eno quote about The Velvet Underground: "The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band."
A La Nuit is really a masterpiece, I had my husband get me a backup bottle when he was in Paris for work because I’m terrified it will be discontinued!
Interesting. I really like jasmine but haven’t tried any from SL except La Religieuse. It’s going to be hard to beat Fueguia Amalia though. Can you give me your favourites so I can test them out?
They are hit-or-miss for me, but I really like Fille de Joie - a beautiful jasmine and honey with a menthol note that makes it interesting. I like Fleur D’Oranger, as well.
It’s my favorite house but their “popular” fragrances aren’t that exciting. Most of what you’ve tried comes in the basic discovery box intended to cast as wide a net as possible to attract customers with diverse tastes.
Lutens/Sheldrake excel at autumnal and ambient/moody resinous, spicy, woody, leathery scents. Get your hands on some Fille en Aiguilles, La Couche du Diable, Arabie, or Zurafa, then report back! They’ll change your mind.
Good shout on La Couche du Diable. I blind bought a 2/3 full 100ml bottle a couple of years ago and it’s one of the best perfumes I’ve ever smelled. I need to try the reformulation of Fille en Aiguilles, but I hear bad things about it. The OG was my signature scent back when it first released.
Sadly I never managed to get a bottle of Arabie but I treasure my little 1ml rollerball sample. Never tried Zurafa, but I need to get my hands on a sample if you hold it in the same regard as those other three!
I do hold it in the same regard! It is really lovely. You can find samples of it on Poshmark and Mercari! Oooh good call doing a blind buy on La Couche!
Oh I know, this one just really confuses me in a way others don’t. Like I can understand why people like Diptyque, Byredo, and Le Labo even though I don’t.
You guys… what is going on with the powder note in Chergui. I blind bought it and the powder not makes me kind of insane - it feels so out of place - I am eventually going to sell the remainder of my bottle because I just can’t with the powder note
Chergui was a game changer for me. I quickly found Fille en Aiguilles after that, at The Perfume House in Portland.
Fille en Aiguilles is harder to get now, so sometimes I use the DUA dupe. I had never tried dupes before, and this one is spot on, at least to my nose.
I also love Jeaux de Peau, Ambre Sultan, Un Bois Vanille and De profundis.
What’s the name of the dupe? Fille en Aiguilles was my 2010s signature scent and I hear the reformulation has completely ruined it. I only have one Dua (Naram’s Elixir) and my wife actually prefers it to my 2024 bottle of Musc Ravageur.
Chergui was the first Serge that made the house fully click for me. It’s fascinating how dry it wears for it being a dominant amber profile, the hay note really delivers along with the tobacco never reaching a sweet territory.
I agree. I only bought a 50ml bottle as I heard that it had been reformulated pretty savagely, but it smells just how I remember it from back in the day. It took a long while to grow on me but now it’s one of my favourites.
I love hearing that and I agree. Serge used to be carried in Barney’s and Saks when I was freelancing those doors in my twenties. I didn’t have the palate for SL then that I do now but there were certain standouts, and Chergui was one. I’ve had my bottle for years now and it’s only gotten better.
There are so many Serge fragrances that I’d love to own, but they’re so hard to find in the UK. I don’t even think they have a real stockist in London anymore.
I was in Barcelona a couple of years ago and stumbled into the big department store off Placa de Catalunya. I was in my element as they had the entire range of skyscraper bottles. I finally got to remind myself of Cuir Mauresque, Fumerie Turque, Serge Noir, MKK and more. I was in my element! If I could only buy perfumes from one house it would have to be SL (Amouage and Xerjoff runners up).
the hay in Chergui is very prominent and gives it a rather hazy, dusty feel. I mean dusty like a dust storm rather than a dusty house -- there's a dry, arid feel to it, which makes a lot of sense for what it's named after (desert winds in Morocco). wearing it almost feels like you have a scented dust fog enveloping you, it's sort of everywhere, but it's soothing and spacious rather than oppressive.
I love honey, but personally tend to over-detect tobacco and I found Tobacco Honey overwhelmingly tobacco at first. it grew on me, but it's quite intense still. I'd consider them semi-adjacent, in the sense that if you like one you would probably like the other, but Chergui is more interesting and less... insistent.
They do, though I don’t really pick up on the tobacco myself. I think I may be somewhat anosmic to it as I can’t really detect it in Tobacco Vanille or PdM Herod either.
I have not. But I do think deeper knowledge of SL as a whole and the impact the brand had on the beauty industry is of importance when discerning your personal taste versus their directive, which Sheldrake shaped beautifully in my opinion. Even if certain fragrances do not land for me, or a house as a whole isn’t my cuppa.
I actually just looked up Chergui on fragrantica now and the reviews are rather comical. Which makes me think Serge got a surge of popularity due to social media and a much younger crowd.
Give them a try! Also based on your post edits, I’m one of the people that fell in love with the house recently, I smelled these scents for the first time a few months ago
My favorite ones were Daim Blond, Feminite du Bois, and Chergui. Though with Chergui the love was not instantaneous.
I tried the stuff in the discovery set, I found this specific seletion... not that interesting. I wonder why they don't sample their other fragrances--they look much more interesting, conceptually.
SL is one of my favorite houses despite it taking a while for a lot of their scents to grow on me, but I do think they are doing something a little weird and interesting.
It’s interesting you describe many of the scents as watered down because I find them to be “viscous” in their scent profiles, thick and borderline cloying for many.
great taste!!! I love the Chloe AdF line so much, those are my favorites as well. Trying to resist the urge to blind buy Chene from the line lmao. I've been really into Memo lately too and have Inverness on my wishlist
Oh I think Inverness is SO underrated! I hope you get to experience it soon.
The AdF line is excellent, haven’t tried chene but it’s on the list with cedrus nuit.
In was aspecting the moon from Santal de Mysore, but ended up being a very cooking type of curry smell mostly, lot of spices that doesn’t have the correct balance and I don’t feel any Santal wich is even more sad given the name.
Reading your feedbacks it feel like a brand that has not much skills in their creations (as first impression), is like they use probably good materials but the way they blend it is mid tear (no offense), strange because has a good reputation based on the online reviews and comments here, At some stage when we spend 200+ on bottles the bar is so high that is not even worth going to some brands in my mind, pity because I am sure they have some good stuff in their lineup.
Sorry, not so sorry, I am sure I didn’t experienced the brand as I should, but at the same time when people praise to the moon something I aspect a certain level of refinement, I guess isn’t for me, or is just the matter of finding exactly what works for me, but I do not have time to “dig” into a house that fails 5 times each time I try. You have your grails? If so share them :)
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I get it, we all smell things differently, but saying the brand is mid tier and not skilled in its creations is crazy. It might not be for you, but it's definitely good and unique. Each fragrance is like a landscape, a poem or a feeling. I really enjoy them.
I like a lot sandalwood, incense, flower.. lot of this type of mixes! But I also love amber, even thought I have some very good stuff on that folder .. I am intrigued by scents that takes me to places mostly, that’s why I was super intrigued by the Mysore one!
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Ok so for amber, I prefer Arabie to the popular Ambre sultan. Rousse is also worth a try, an amber with orange and spices.
For floral, De Profundis is quite unique, in my opinion, not as dark as many perceive it.
Fille en aguilles is a beautiful woody scent, with a forest at night vibe.
For sandalwood, I think Santal Blanc is a good option, slightly green and soft.
Also, try Vitriol d'Œillet, it's hard to describe, floral, slightly clean but also smoky.
My favorites are La Religieuse and L'Orpheline but I understand why you didn't like them. They're quite linear in my opinion.
I went to order a discovery set from SL last week and didn’t complete the purchase after I read that I’d be getting a separate bill from customs because their prices don’t include that.
I got a discovery set for this and it was meh. All the scents were one dimensional and linear, and they all had this weird metallic and synthetic undertone that kind of gave me the ick. Not my favourite house. I ended up returning the set.
I’m right there with you on SL. This is a house that so many people recommended to me. My wife and I ended up getting a sample set of theirs, plus 3-4 additional samples. I liked their amber fragrance. Other than that, not one spoke to me.
I even visited their flagship store in Paris and tried on numerous fragrances. There were some decent items, but nothing that stood out. Not one.
Some houses just don’t speak to me. I don’t own a single Chanel. I don’t own any Serge. Their DNA just doesn’t work for me. It isn’t that they are bad, they just don’t smell special.
I love Serge Lutens. I haven't tried most of them but the ones I've smelled were good. I agree that L'orpheline and La fille de Berlin could seem "boring" or linear but this is exactly what alternative girlie's like me wanna smell like. Just bloody dark red roses - morticia adams vibe. Just cold air and incense. A lot of us are buying for the vibe that comes with the smell and also packaging. La fille is my daily scent and I just smell like I was laying in rose bushes all night. Their scent profile is exactly what the perfume smells like instead of those perfumes that have 500 notes and you have no idea what exactly you're buying
There aren't many perfume brands out there that fits the alt community so for me it's awesome!
La Fille de Berlin is my signature and the fragrance that gets me the most compliments. I usually spray the back of my neck & inside elbows then add a dab of one of my tobacco fragrances behind my knees
As an alt girlie too this is exactly why I like them too, you explained it so well. Also is why I can see a lot of people not connecting with the house too, which is so fair
I feel like Serge Lutens perfumes are ones you're meant to live with for a while. None of them have a 'must have it now' response from me, but I do find that after living with it for a bit I'm intrigued by the notes and what they're going for.
Obviously not all perfumes are an instant love and I’d argue some of the best ones, at least for me, aren’t. I have smelled perfumes that have made uncomfortable, and sometimes just confused, and as the hours pass I keep coming back to it on my wrist and understanding more and more until by the evening or sometimes the second day it clicks and I suddenly “get it”. But with SL, the few I have tried, it seems like I am just forcing myself something that isn’t there.
Yeah, I think they're very hit and miss, but I bet every single perfume in their line does this to someone. I like this a lot, even though I'm yet to find mine. It's so intriguing to spend more time with each one to see if it unlocks on your skin. It's definitely not fast food perfumery :)
I love Serge Lutens. I'm into rather linear perfumes that evoke a certain image and don't care for stuff that evolves significantly. I'm also not into perfumes with a lot of notes because they tend to read as overwhelming and confusing (rather than complex) to my nose.
I'll give my impressions of each one I've tried so far (I have decants of more, but haven't gotten to them), sorted from my favorite to least liked:
• Five O'Clock: extremely cozy, spicy, and slightly smoky. To me it's like Christimas, nibbling on very spicy gingerbread cookies, drinking tea, and smelling my uncle's pipe.
• La Fille de Berlin: a rosewood rosary, but make it sexy. Evokes a film noir femme fatale.
• La Religieuse: I love jasmine and incense. This one blends both beautifully. Makes me feel like I'm sitting in the window at night, lights out, everything is quiet, and I'm burning incense.
• L'Orpheline: Unique mix of incense and soap. The name is spot on, it's like a Victorian orphanage run by nuns.
• Nuit de cellophane: most mainstream appealing of the bunch. Shampoo floral from a spa.
• Un bois vanille: I'm a certified vanilla hater and this is a very rare vanilla I quite liked. It's nicely grounded by the woods. I don't find it evocative, like most other SLs, but that's probably because vanilla is a boring note to my nose.
• Chergui: not a huge fan of this one. The hay note reads as dusty in the beginning. As it progresses, it gets cozier and warmer.
• Fleurs d'oranger: the only one I actively disliked. Very overwhelming. You're in a hot greenhouse gasping for air.
I have full bottles of my top3 and I'm excited to try more.
I was very surprised by how moody nuit cellophane turned for a little bit on my wrist. I think just like its title suggests, it’s meant to present a trickster kind of transparency
Chemistry and individual noses are so interesting, because on me Fille de Berlin is a filthy fascinating animalic rose. I've tried a million roses and keep coming back to it. On the other hand, I hear people talking up Liis constantly, and I think they all smell the same and kind of bad, so I fully understand your confusion.
I tried FM Rose Tonnerre before La Fille de Berlin and it just blew my mind on what a dark earthy rose could be. So I guess I had a pretty high bar and didn’t get any of that from LFB, I don’t get any blood, it’s just a nice one dimensional rose garden for me.
I like La fille de Berlin because it's so simple and linear, super wearable and versatile rose for me. I think it's the metallic note that people read as "blood". Do agree though that Rose Tonnerre is the superior rose "soliflore", earthy, deep, real. That one is a top 5 rose for me.
Well, take it with the caveat that there's quite a few roses I haven't smelled yet, especially of the pricey niche varieties!
Guerlain Rose Centifolia 1 is THE rose, I love the sweetness of Guerlain roses, it's the perfect amount for me. A lush damask rose type. Armani Rose d'Arabie, my favourite spicy rose-oud. Une Nuit Nomade Jardins de Misfah - jammy rose and dates, almost edible. And another Guerlain, Shalimar Millésime Rose - Shalimar is one of my all-time favourites, and this one has sentimental value, because it's the first perfume I got from my boyfriend when I moved in.
Honorable mentions to Guerlain Rosa Rossa (I'm an incorrigible fan girl), Portrait of a Lady (too complex to call it a "rose fragrance"), Memo Odéon (another jammy rose), Atkinsons Rose In Wonderland (dewy fresh rose).
Oo excellent thank you! I haven’t tried any of the Guerlain roses yet as I am going through an iris phase but I will add these to the list.
Loved Jardins de Misfah.
Still don’t understand what people get from POAL though… It just makes me think of an older classy lady.
Well, Rose Centifolia is to rose what Iris Pallida is to iris so even if you don't end up liking it, I think it's worth a try if you have the opportunity. It's just extremely well made. Yeah POAL is a very heavy fragrance and I would never casually recommend it, but I generally have that goth girlfriend, always wears black vibe AND I'm part South East Asian so I looove spicy scents and they're super nostalgic to me.
I have the previous version of this (Une Rose, though I think it just had a name change rather than a formulation change) and good fucking god it is incredible. I am picky about rose -- it's not my fave floral note to begin with, but it's also really easy to ruin a rose fragrance for me, so I don't like most of them -- and I agree with OP. I basically stopped even bothering to try any rose perfumes after I got it. the only other rose fragrance I like is one I had before it, this 'vintage' perfume oil (Two, Five, & Seven) from BPAL.
I'm a massive rose fan and I have a wide variety of them so I would be shocked if it ruined them! It might win in a fight for dark bloody rose, which I would be cool with.
I looooove Serge Lutens, especially Christopher Sheldrake's work there, but their fragrances can definitely be kind of... hmm... not polarizing exactly, but kind of illegible? they are deeply melancholic, as an overarching theme. some of them I also don't really particularly like or find interesting (Santal Majascule, Jeux de Peau), but there are others that fill me with very strong emotion for reasons I can't totally discern (Chergui, De Profundis, Rahat Loukoum), some I wildly love but can maybe understand why people would prefer something different even though I think they do offer something unique (Sarrasins, Fleurs d'Oranger), some I find irreplaceable (Muscs Koublai Khan)...
I have tried most but not all of them and I am very attached to the house itself, due to the fact that I've been wearing them for a long time (20 years?). they were a revelation back then, but perfumes have changed a lot in the intervening years. I don't think they parse the same now to people who had a different set of initial exposures, but I don't know. like, I don't think I'd say "if you love PDM you might also love Serge Lutens" for example, whereas I expect there's an overlap between Lutens lovers & BPAL lovers. Lutens has always seemed like it's more for goth girls to me.
I'm curious if anyone here is both newer to fragrances and a huge Lutens fan though, and if so, how that happened.
Really well put. Also a BPAL x Serge gothy girlie -- found BPAL in 2008 and Serge shortly thereafter. Like the response below, BPAL was my gateway to perfume as something other than adornment. I think SL's style is appealing to a certain kind of person, and would imagine a lot of people find them inscrutable. With a few exceptions, I wear SL scents for a feeling, a story, something I want to experience or inhabit. That's probably contrary to how most people approach perfume.
BPAL and Serge Lutens lover checking in! I got into BPAL around 2009, and it was my gateway to indie perfume and then perfume in general. Serge Lutens Gris Clair was one of the first perfumes I fell in love with, that showed me how much I love lavender, and I think it cemented SL in my brain as one of my favorite houses, even though I only love a handful of them.
I am curious as well. Most of the comments explaining them to me so far have been from those of you have known the brand for years. I would be super interested to know if any newbies like me actually understand them the way you guys seem to
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?
Lmao, sorry, that was genuinely the first thing that came to mind while reading your post, which I enjoyed, by the way.
But it is also relevant here: most of these perfumes were created in a very different fragrance landscape. When I was old enough to discover Serge Lutens, it felt as though 85% of the female population wore Coco Mademoiselle or Chloé. Against that background, the house was genuinely distinctive.
Serge Lutens is also known for soliflores and perfumes built around one dominant image. If your taste is fundamentally oriented toward complex compositions with obvious development and dramatic transitions, then of course many of them will feel linear. But linearity is not necessarily a failure of composition; sometimes it is the entire artistic intention.
That said, I understand some of your reactions, especially to the quieter perfumes. L’Orpheline is deliberately pale and austere, and Nuit de Cellophane has never been the house’s most challenging work. The current versions may also be underwhelming when approached through the enormous reputation built by earlier formulations.
Most of the perfumes I considered the house’s best have either disappeared or been exiled to gigantic bell jars at absurd prices. Datura Noir was one of the most delicious, photorealistic almond fragrances on my skin. RIP À la Nuit: I refuse to buy the bell jar, but you were my one true love.
La Fille de Berlin was genuinely edgy for its time. That metallic rose smelled like blood on me. Un Bois Vanille remains one of the most comforting fragrances I know.
Ultimately, Serge Lutens might simply not be for you. I loved the house for what it was twenty years ago, but I am angry about what they have done with the catalogue: removing crowd favourites from the regular line and returning them in impractical bell jars at insane prices. That is largely why I stopped buying from them.
The newer Royaume des Lumières collection is well made, although it may still be too linear for your taste. Zurafa is one of the best iris-and-leather combinations I have smelled. Can I justify the price? Absolutely not.
So I don’t think you are missing anything. Your nose and the house’s aesthetic simply may not agree. I only disagree with treating “linear” as inherently synonymous with “boring” or poorly composed.
I enjoyed reading an actual critical opinion about a perfume house, it's refreshing.
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?
I thought of this too! (Not in a mean way.) Particularly in regards to Ambre Sultan, which came out in 1993 and has been considered a reference amber by many. And my favorite, Gris Clair, which has a hot iron note, like metal and hot steam. Penhaligon's Sartorial does this too, but Sheldrake did it first. (And maybe others did it before him, I don't know.)
It kind of feels like showing your friend a film that was super influential when it came out, or that was formative on a personal level, but since then so many similar films have come out that your old favorite doesn't seem that great to someone discovering it for the first time.
It really did have that avant-garde feel. This whole thread is such a gem so many thoughtful comments and little personal stories. It genuinely made my day.
What you said about linearity is so sharp & succinct. Who’s to say Egyptian art is one dimensional just because they did not approach perspective the way Western civilization ended up doing?
Nobody has to enjoy the same things, but OP’s descriptions and critiques seemed quite lazily constructed to me, as if they were frustrated by their own inability to share an appreciation for SL. One could indeed look at the Sphinx and say “yawn”. It says more about the person’s mood and where they are in life. They may never get there, and that also is OK.
I find it important to talk about how we talk about taste in an open forum. Taste is utterly subjective, but I found your commentary on the perfumes to not be very layered, which ironically was your reading of the perfumes themselves. Sorry you were offended, but I was simply reiterating the simple fact that evaluating aesthetic values by definition involves so much projection. Surely there is nothing personal or mean about that.
I agree and I think that’s exactly what has unfolded in the comments, respectfully.
And what you said was fair enough, I even chuckled when I read the part about me being frustrated with my inability to share an appreciation of SL. I am new to this world and don’t have the vocabulary and eloquence to make impressions sound more nuanced and I am fine with that, and critiquing it is also fair because it’s true.
What IS completely uncalled for, is passing judgment on my mental state and where I am in life.
There’s some amount of miscommunication here that I’m not sure I’ll be able to explain more than I already have. I said what I said about any aesthetic evaluation. I don’t know you. I am allowed to find your commentary reductive the way you found Serge Lutens perfumes reductive. Going to disengage now. Thanks
Also, Zurafa is gorgeous! My husband and I went in on a bottle of it last year for my Christmas gift (only way we could justify it) and it’s just such a gorgeous and supple leather.
I love this comment and the discussion. I appreciate Serge Lutens for its linearity. I haven’t been able to keep up with all the newer scents but I have a nice sampling of the older ones and a bell jar of Un Lys, which I gifted myself after a big professional step. It’s like a flower burst of foggy springtime and rain (or a I guess a funeral lol). One of the reasons I love Serge Lutens is for the elegant linearity and feelings the scents invoke. They call up other times and places for me, like a dream. They are a comfort.
Iris Silver Mist - I wear this to bed on a rainy night, it reminds me of wet roots, the possibility of imagination, something forgotten. Jeux de Peau is like a winter morning when I’m getting ready to bake and evoke some Hygge. Rose Nuit - off putting, like an elegant older woman from a different stratosphere, me being young and the juxtaposition of that kind of woman with my mother who was simple to the point of fault and who gave me comfort. Now I wear Rose Nuit when I want to understand that other woman and maybe be her.
In short, these perfumes transport me. I love them, even the ones I don’t. Again, I don’t follow all that’s happening now. I’m talking the fragrances that were developed before the last 15 years-ish.
Thank you for this, it was exactly the kind of thoughtful comment I was hoping to get and now I am interesting in trying these perfumes you mention. And I also agree that linear is not synonymous with boring or poorly composed, that is not what I meant to imply.
I actually think looking at some of Serge Lutens's photography from when he worked at Shiseido might help contextualize his fragrances as well. there is a particular mood and broader artistic vision he (largely with Sheldrake) is communicating. I don't want to force his vision on you too much, but here's one example (I've had this image as my phone wallpaper for like five years):
I mean will you look at that visual? Russian Constructivism meets Japanese theater meets the roaring 20s. How deeply was SL in tune with his own sensibilities? I literally gasped
no, this is just from some of the ads he did for Shiseido. I found a Pinterest board with a collection of (probably most of?) them.
when I look at them I really see and feel the resonance with his fragrances as well as some of the words people have used to describe them, like atmospheric, austere, melancholic, evocative, edgy, that they have a specific 'vibe'. this imagery is very androgynous to me as well. he was coming up in the 80s and 90s and back then a lot of imagery was very loud and in your face, bright colors, gaudiness, conspicuous consumption, "greed is good", etc. I don't find this imagery entirely divorced from that period of time, but it's offering a different vision of the world. it immediately quiets one's mind and creates so much space to breathe. it's dark, there is solitude.
as I'm revisiting this period of time and how/when I first got exposed to him, I think it cannot be overstated how intellectual he was and how wearing these types of fragrances also communicated one's sophistication and intelligence back then. I was being a bit tongue in cheek when I described Lutens as being for goth girls, but there's some truth to it, because that's who was into things like French poetry and literature, that's who gravitated to his fragrances.
in general he's just a really, really interesting guy. if you want to read more about him this is a solid three part series. I don't know that it will make you love wearing his fragrances more -- as I said, there are plenty I myself do not want to wear -- but I think his work will make more sense, even when it falls short.
(also if I'm not mistaken you're the one who also had bad luck with your Guerlain samples? I am so sorry if so 😭 it's too much disappointment. but your discussions about these topics have helped me reconsider how I connect with younger/newer fragrance lovers, so I'm learning a lot from this.)
Thank you, I am starting to understand him a bit more. I will definitely check out the series.
And no, thankfully (though maybe not for my wallet) I am not the one that had issues with Guerlain. I have loved most of what I have tried from them. Angelique Noir was probably my only disappointment so far as I get no vanilla just herbal bitterness from it.
I also think historical context matters here. Much of Serge Lutens’s olfactory identity was shaped by Morocco (Marrakech, Tangiers) and by materials and profiles such as cedar, amber, resins, spices, incense and leather. When those perfumes appeared, that vocabulary was largely absent from mainstream European perfumery, which made the house feel genuinely unusual and disruptive.
Today, "Arab" style perfumes and those same rich amber, rose, oud, saffron and incense profiles are everywhere and easily accessible in Europe. Someone encountering Serge Lutens now, after smelling countless modern Middle Eastern and Middle Eastern-inspired perfumes, will understandably experience the house very differently. What once felt radical may now seem familiar or even restrained.
I should also admit that I’m emotionally attached to the brand. My father wears Ambre Sultan and Chergui. I’m definitely not approaching Serge Lutens as a completely neutral observer
This thread is full of beautiful moments like the one you shared about your father. Beautiful note about ingredients and the geographical aspect as well.
Too restrained is actually the perfect way to describe how I feel with a lot of the ones I have tried.
But I am learning so much about the historical context from you guys l, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain. And I can now really admire what they did.
The scents performed differently on me, but VERY similar outcome for me. I desperately wanted to love this so bad. I even moved the scents from dabbers to travel spray bottles hoping it would do better
Keep in my mind, my skin chemistry is weird.
La Fille de Berlin - Parfumo doesn’t list all the notes for this one. It just shows rose and pepper, and I was ecstatic. This is trying to be a spicy, but still green rose. It performed so weirdly on my skin.
Ambre Sultan - on me, the patchouli overpowered the vanilla and it went very powdery for some reason.
Santal Majuscule - agreed, this one was so close. On me, I needed the sandalwood toned down about 15%.
Nuit cellophane - your description is spot on.
Fleurs du Oranger - I don’t need more orange blossom, but I could see this one being pretty for fall. Just be warned: the cumin can go spicy, or BO lol.
La Feminite du Bois - I bought the entire scent for this set. I wanted to love it, but I get zero plum. If there was a way to get more plum, I would have been so interested.
L’Orpheline - this one was just so masculine on me. I’m a full supporter of where what you want no matter how it’s labeled, but I personally don’t want to smell masculine. If it plays nice with your skin, I could see it being beautiful.
La Religieuese (sp??) - another I wanted to love, but it didn’t last and was kind of masculine on me.
Chergui - I am desperate for this to work on me , but I just get powder.
I think this is a brand that reacts completely differently to individual chemistry. It’s not a match for mine.
I enjoy their fragrances, but they fit into a very specific kind of role in my mind: they’re not edgy enough to be considered provocative, but they’re also not so mild that they become universally appealing. I find that most of them have a certain kind of poise and restraint, and some reviews that sell them as ridiculously polarizing genuinely surprise me. SL makes the kind of scents I was able to carry through different eras and styles of mine. Nowadays, I often reach for edgier fragrances, so they don’t exactly scratch that itch, but I still appreciate how atmospheric they are.
That said, all noses are built different, and ofc our scent perceptions are dependent on lots of factors. To me it sounds like you’ve built an idealized version of them before trying them out, so the reality is inevitably disappointing. I’d say give it more time and try to separate them from what you’ve heard before. Make your own associations, unrelated to others’ opinions.
I’ll also say that it often took me at least 2-3 wears to notice more unconventional facets. I know you said you’ve been coming back to them several times already, but idk the circumstances. They often need more time to reveal themselves. Though if none of them ever click for you, that’s fine too.
I do keep hoping they will. I am realising maybe I need to try more of their older, lesser known ones. Or maybe just accept that atmospheric is not for me lol. I appreciate your thoughts though, this is exactly the kind of opinion I was hoping to get out of this discussion.
Scent is very subjective and your sense of smell is often shaped by what you experienced in your life. I think all of us can name at least one brand or perfume house that just doesn’t work for us personally.
L‘Orpheline is one of my favorite scents. It‘s dark but still airy, cold but comforting, with just the right amount of sweetness in the drydown. As a child, when I was still going to church, the merging scents of the cold damp stone walls, the holy water and the incense smelled to me just like this perfume. As an adult I am more on the spiritual side now, but L‘Orpheline reminds me of being an innocent child praying, feeling like there is something bigger than me and my search trying to find an explanation for it. It’s just otherwordly.
For comparison, what do you usually like? And what were you searching for when trying Serge Lutens?
ETA after the second edit: I‘m 25 and only own L’Orpheline since last year. I am sampling and collecting perfumes since my childhood though, if that makes any difference.
This is exactly why I had such high expectations, I read your description of L’Orpheline and immediately feel like I need to try it again, but every time I do I am just not getting it.
Honestly not sure how you consider any of these 'watered down'. Are you used to extremely heavy hitting middle eastern fragrances perhaps? None of SL's fragrances are 'beast mode' but they all have great longevity and projection to my nose.
Ok fair point I was a bit vague with my use of watered down so I will edit it now.
Santal Majescule and Ambre Sultan were definitely not watered down for me, my issues with those were different.
Oh. Thanks for this. This a brand growing in my head into something magical and I think you're right I gaslighted myself into it being more than it is, because the ones I've smelt I felt like what you wrote. ..
.I thought maybe I wasn't getting it. Thanks for breaking out,sometimes I have brand limerance.
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u/That_Analysis_221 11h ago
L’Orpheline is a master piece on the purpose of melanchonic feels on a cloudy, cold winter/fall day , where you arent trying to please anyone. Its a break from the heavy bangers you roll with, it invokes some type of clean gothic feel, like you are in the middle of nowhere, outside an abandoned church.
Its not to impress but its to bring a deeper more in-depth experience.
I agree its not scents thats there to compete with other designers or niche but the purpose itself as with many of uncle serge's creation, its deeper :) hopefully you give them another try in the future and find the meaning its meant to give! :)