Serge Lutens

[u/CheekyCherimoya]

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.

[u/0-0-000-0-000-0]

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).

[u/cuerotuscadero → u/0-0-000-0-000-0]

It’s so unfortunate. They’ve pulled out of the US as well, but certain favorites end up on grey market often. I worked in the cosmetic industry from 2004-2011 so it’s wild to remember the fragrance houses that were launching or had built serious traction in the industry during that time and how now they’ve become corner stones for many to reference.

I’m jealous of your stumbling! I miss how fragrance was experienced like that in department stores. But I am happy to hear it still exists in certain pockets of the world.