Serge Lutens Bas de Soie and general thoughts on the Lutens brand

Just about every other perfume blogger has already weighed in on Bas de Soie. I purchased my bottle several months ago, and initially my reaction was “its ok, no big deal” and I didn’t even bother myself with writing a review.

I’m finding that more often than not, I need to experience a perfume for even longer than my usual self inflicted rule which is that I wear a fragrance for a minimum of 2-3 days, before I allow myself to make any sort of judgment on it. And I mean wear it, not a few dabs from a sample vial; instead I either spray liberally from the bottle itself or from a very large spray decant. I have now worn Bas de Soie for at least 7 full days and find myself becoming increasingly enamored with it.

The past few years I have been less and less enthused with anything new from the house of Serge Lutens. I didn’t think much of Nuit de Cellophane and I absolutely despise L’eau de Serge and think it’s a pathetic sell-out. I became so tired of anything with that trademark SL “stewed fruits” vibe that I almost didn’t bother sniffing a number of SL’s scent that were described as such. What I’ve come to realize is that the Serge Lutens brand has pumped out 50 fragrances between the years of 1992-2010 (see chronological list below). Of these 50 fragrances, I find only a handful truly remarkable, unusual and breathtaking. What I’ve come to realize is that the house of Serge Lutens isn’t suddenly changing or churning out a bunch of sell-outs (which even if some of the newest releases are sell-outs, we need to keep in mind that the house of SL is a business and need to profit lest they cease to exist). There is nothing wrong with creating fragrances that more mainstream consumers will like, in fact, if that’s what keeps SL in business, then I’m completely happy with that business model.

One issue with me and the Serge Lutens brand is that I’ve become tired of its exalted status. I’m so bored with reading reviews that I personally believe give SL/Sheldrake far too much over-the-top accolades for the product I end up smelling. I respect several bloggers who have oodles more aroma-chemical and technical knowledge than I ever will or ever want to have and I enjoy reading their perspectives. But when I find the perfume community going completely gaga over every last inane, mysterious or vague statement from Serge Lutens himself, it simply makes me roll my eyes. Oh, puh-leez.

Serge Lutens Bas de Soie is not spectacular. But here’s the weird part, I think I’ve really fallen in love with it. Part of my initial boredom with Bas de Soie was that I expected much more emphasis on hyacinth, or at least the sort of hyacinth I can recognize, because I really love this note. I love hyacinth in Chamade, Grand Amour and Parfums MDCI Un Coeur en Mai. So, my expectations were initially crushed when I first sniffed Bas de Soie because this scent is only minimally about hyacinth. When I first sniffed Bas de Soie, my reaction was that it was Iris Silver Mist light. This isn’t the case, BdS isn’t anywhere near the cold, rooty, artistic weirdness of ISM, but it starts off very much ado about iris and therein lies the comparison. There is also a sort of hairspray quality in BdS, which you either learn to love or ignore due to its other positive attributes. When PerfumeShrine suggested that with the launch of BdS, Lutens was doing Chanel, she wasn’t exaggerating. Bas de Soie could easily be mistaken for a Chanel fragrance, in fact, there’s a strong similarity with Chanel 28 La Pausa. I also notice similarities with Hermes Hiris, Donna Karan Iris and Prada Infusion d’Iris. What is special about Bas de Soie is that I like it better than all of these irises I just mentioned. Let me be frank, I would never wear Iris Silver Mist; I respect it and like to give it an occasional sniff but it’s an artistic scent, not a functional one, and one I would never wear in public. But, because these are functional fragrances, I would wear Chanel 28 La Pausa, Hermes Hiris, Prada Infusion d’Iris and Donna Karan Iris. The main problem with these four other irises is that they are gone in 14 minutes. I like Bas de Soie better because it’s slightly more potent and there is the hyacinth aspect, giving it a stronger floralcy and more of a “just plain pretty personality.”

Others have suggested a strong similarity with Chanel No. 19, and I do see that but BdS is so linear, minimalist and sheer it doesn’t even seem in the same league. Chanel No. 19 is a complex and classic “perfumey” fragrance while BdS is so much more linear and simple, without any of the darker base notes of No. 19.

After many months I’ve realized Bas de Soie is a winner for me, but it’s the sort that crept up on me, slowly, over many wearings and many comparisons with others in the same genre. It doesn’t smell groundbreaking in the least, and it’s certainly a functional fragrance compared with an artistic scent such as Iris Silver Mist, but in the big wide world of iris/hyacinth type perfumes, I really like Bas de Soie.

Creating the below chronological list of Serge Lutens fragrances was very helpful for me. I realized that SL has created far more functional as opposed to artistic fragrances over the years, which actually, makes me feel a bit better. I feel better because it’s not like the brand is changing for the worse, it’s just doing what it has always done; occasionally appeasing perfume connoisseurs with unusual artistic fragrances while staying in business with the pretty functional fragrances for the mainstream consumer.

1992 Feminite de Bois (Shiseido)
1992 Bois de Violette
1992 Bois et Fruits
1992 Bois et Musc
1992 Bois Oriental

1993 Ambre Sultan
1993 Rose de Nuit
1994 Un Bois Sepia
1994 Iris Silver Mist
1994 Un Lys

1995 Fleurs d’Oranger
1995 La Myrrhe

1996 Cuir Mauresque
1996 Encens et Lavande

1997 Santal de Mysore

1998 Muscs Koublai Khan
1998 Rahat Loukhoum

1999 Tubereuse Criminelle

2000 A La Nuit
2000 Arabie
2000 Douce Amere
2000 Sa Majeste La Rose

2001 Chergui
2001 Datura Noir
2001 Santal Blanc

2002 Vetiver Oriental

2003 Clair de Musc
2003 Fumerie Turque
2003 Un Bois Vanille

2004 Chene
2004 Daim Blond
2004 Fleurs de Citronnier

2005 Borneo 1834
2005 Cedre
2005 Miel de Bois

2006 Chypre Rouge
2006 Gris Clair
2006 Mandarine Mandarin

2007 Louve
2007 Rousse
2007 Sarrasins

2008 El Attarine
2008 Five O’Clock au Gingembre
2008 Serge Noire

2009 Filles en Aiguilles
2009 Fourreau Noir
2009 Nuit de Cellophane

2010 L’eau Serge Lutens
2010 Bas de Soie
2010 Boxeuses

Scents that Sing Spring! A Joint Project and a Free Giveaway

My perfume personality leans toward orientals, chypres and florientals but when spring arrives I’m ready to flaunt simple floral beauties that are neglected the rest of the year.

This depends on where you live, but for me, I’ve usually spent the last 6 months indoors, in front of a fireplace, television or reading a book, disconnected from nature. When warmer weather and blue skies show up I’m longing for nature specific florals. Early spring is when I pull away from abstract scents and desire more realistic fragrances. I crave certain florals like a vitamin deficiency, such as hyacinth, lilac, iris, violet, honeysuckle and green florals.

And, because we all love lists, here are my favorite spring fragrances broken into three categories; 1. The all time hits; 2. New loves for 2010 and 3. Recurring loves, last spring and this year, too.

THE ALWAYS RIGHT, ALL TIME GREATEST HITS FOR SPRING:
Acqua di Parma Iris Nobile in eau de toilette
Iris Nobile is my favorite iris. I wear the eau de parfum during the fall/winter and I love the eau de toilette in the spring/summer.

Annick Goutal Grand Amour
Pure class and beauty. Hyacinth heaven.

Annick Goutal Le Chevrefeuille
The best honeysuckle fragrance bar none. It reminds me of honeysuckle iced tea. Simple and stunning.

Guerlain Chamade
Elegant aldehydic hyacinth. Chamade feels suited for festive soirees during the months of March, April & May. Invite me to an outdoor wedding, I’ll wear Chamade in vintage parfum de toiltette.

Jean Patou Vacances
Vacances is the quintessential spring fragrance and the only lilac focused perfume that works. It is luminous and I wish I had gallons of it so I could wear it 24/7 for the month of April.

Serge Lutens Fleur d’Oranger
This is my favorite orange blossom. It’s pure, natural and true to the flower but with more facets than other orange blossom scents. It has a soft oriental base rather than that clean-musky-soapy base.

NEW SPRING LOVES FOR 2010:
Byredo La Tulipe
Clean, soft vegetal floral. Fresh cut stems. Byredo pulled this one off. It’s unique and memorable.

Bond No. 9 Eau de Noho
EdN is a delightfully cheerful linden floral that lasts; it's a linden gem.

Parfums DelRae Debut & Mythique
I’ve been living under a rock because I just discovered Debut this year. Debut is dreamy and striking the perfect chord with me these past 10 days.

Mythique is my second favorite iris scent and it might have knocked Acqua di Parma off it’s pedestal if it only had some sillage. Mythique lasts but so close to the skin I have to touch my nose to my arm to smell it. It loses points for zero sillage but the aroma is magical ... just can’t deny the glorious spring fantasy this one conjures.

RECURRING LOVES; LAST SPRING AND AGAIN THIS YEAR:
Annick Goutal Un Matin d’Orage
Gardenia, wet stones, fresh upturned earth and soil. Makes me think of gardening, sinking my hands in the cool April ground. Love it.

Parfums MDCI Un Coeur en Mai
Another green hyacinth prominent fragrance. I told you, it’s as if I have a vitamin definiciency, my system requires hyacinth!

Creative Universe Mare
The notes for Mare are sea salt, avocado and ginger lily. Mare is remarkable for conjuring a breezy cool seaside without any of that ozonic/aquatic drivel. Mare reminds me of a walk along the ocean on the northshore of Massachusetts in May. Creative Universe doesn’t receive enough accolades. Several fragrances from this line could easily be a spring/summer favorite.

Sonoma Scent Studio Voile de Violette
Deliciously flirty, fruity and fun violet. VdV is not candy sweet and it's a robust violet which is nothing short of a triumph for springtime violet lovers.

This article is a joint project suggested by Ayala over at Smelly Blog. Thanks so much to Ayala for organizing everyone and for providing such a goofy-great image above (I must have watched The Sound of Music 100 times as a child =).

Participating blogs:
Katie Puckrik Smells
Perfume Shrine
The Non Blonde
Notes from the Ledge
Scent Hive
Savvy Thinker
Roxana's Illuminated Journal
Perfume in Progress
All I Am A Redhead
Ambre Gris
Olfactarama
A Rose Beyond the Thames

Ok, so I made you read all the way to the end before telling you about the free giveaway. It's not a full bottle of Tauer's newest release or anything that special - but it IS your choice of any of my favorite spring scents above in a large decant.

You know the rules, you must have commented before this post... I will choose the winner on Sunday evening (April 18) Good luck!

A Tale of Three Hyacinths

'Tis that time of year when we look at our perfume collections for something that reminds us of an early spring day. The usual suspects for me are Vacances, En Passant, Un Matin d’Orage (along with several other AGs) and YSL Y.

However, there is a particular note that calls my name (very nearly shrieks at me) this time of year and it’s hyacinth. I have three fragrances where hyacinth takes center stage, two I’ve worn for years and one I found only last year. They are Guerlain Chamade, Annick Goutal Grand Amour and Parfums MDCI Un Coeur en Mai. There are days when I wish I could wear all three at once, because they’re similar but easily unique enough that I want that rush of whatever it is each delivers.

Recently I bought several potted hyacinths to create a display in my kitchen. I always like to have a bunch of hyacinths together so their scent wafts around and makes an impact. The flowers themselves are a little ugly but if you group them together in a basket and add some moss, stones and ribbon it becomes a beautiful tribute to spring. It was when I was creating my hyacinth display that I sniffed the blooms and realized Chamade, Grand Amour and Un Coeur en Mai do truly honor the scent of hyacinth.

Chamade is the most heavily aldehydic of the three and the one where I think the hyacinth note is most abstract. Chamade is one of my very favorite Guerlains and while I’m usually an edp type, I prefer the edt with this one. Chamade strikes me as the scent I’d wear to an outdoor spring wedding, an occasion with some formality.

Grand Amour is the most naturally lush and true to nature. Grand Amour seems the easiest to wear; it’s a smidgen sweeter than the other two and wants to take me out for a picnic on that first blissfully warm and sunny day in March.

Un Coeur en Mai is the greenest, mossy and rosy-fruity of the three and in some ways seems a combination of Chamade and Grand Amour, like the middle child. UceM is a bit heavier on the aldehydes than Grand Amour, but it’s still a realistic interpretation of the scent of early spring blooms, lily of the valley and hyacinth.

If I had to choose my favorite of the three I’m hard-pressed to pick between Grand Amour and Un Coeur en Mai. I think GA and UceM are tied for first place. I love Chamade but it would place third, mostly because I prefer big floral-aldehydes in winter but not so much when I’m looking for something to represent early spring. Early spring is a time when I want to experience nature close up; when I long for vegetation and growth after several months of winter and I’m less enthused by the abstract and instead thrilled by the sweetness of mother earth.

Annick Goutal Grand Amour: Effortless Grace

Day 7, the last post in my week-long tribute to Annick Goutal

I’ve had the most difficult time with this last post. I want to write about so many more AG perfumes but this is it, the last one, and I had to make a choice. So I chose Grand Amour.

But first, I want to leave you, dear reader, with a few parting thoughts about the house of Annick Goutal, so please indulge me. Perhaps a normal fragrance customer (you know, those odd souls who have less than a dozen bottles of perfume) would immediately understand the sheer beauty of fragrances from Annick Goutal because it takes just a sniff to instantly recognize the exceptional quality and artistic creativity captured in this line. But then there’s “us,” the fanatics, the connoisseurs who have sniffed so many beauties that we’ve become jaded and bored and require so much more than simply “pretty” from our perfumes. But I ask you, is it not an enormous accomplishment, worthy of high praise, for a small artisan perfume house to create exceptionally beautiful, exquisitely high quality perfumes, time and time again? Annick Goutal is not driven by the latest fad and is never derivative or just blah. What is that you say, Annick Goutal is not edgy enough for you? Well, I would ask if have you tried AG Vetiver, Sables, Eau de Fier, Ambre Fetiche, Musc Nomade, Un Matin d’Orage, Vanille Exquise or Mandragore? The house of Annick Goutal has something for everyone – edgy, unusual and classically beautiful. And, I don’t think it’s just me, but I’ve worn nearly every single fragrance from AG and never has there been a sour or unpleasant note. Clearly, the house knows how to make perfume.Anyway, back to my last review: Grand Amour. Grand Amour was created in 1997 for Annick Goutal by Isabelle Doyen. Annick Goutal wanted a fragrance that expressed the devotion she felt for her husband, to capture that feeling of true and tender love. Grand Amour is a perfume for a lady, it is not one of the “daughter” perfumes, not particularly light or girly, but not heavy or overdone either. This is the perfect fragrance for a woman who has come into her own, and knows true love. Grand Amour is an airy blend of hyacinths, lily, honeysuckle and rose with a base of amber, myrrh and vanilla. I smell mostly hyacinths and honeysuckle, which is good for me, because I’m not usually enamored by lily. The hyacinth note is dreamy and reminds me of Guerlain Chamade, mostly because this is the only other perfume I’m familiar with that smells of hyacinth. Grand Amour is more casual in comparison with Chamade, there’s a stronger aldehydic formality to Chamade; Chamade is the beautiful woman with a full face of make-up and glamorous couture ensemble while Grand Amour is the natural beauty who knows her lover finds her even sexier without make-up lounging in her white eyelet baby doll pajamas.

Grand Amour starts off all hyacinth and honeysuckle with a tender green leafiness as a foundation for the florals. It then unfolds slowly but surely to a less green and more pronounced rose note toning down the succulent hyacinth and honeysuckle brigade. Once Grand Amour dries down it turns into a gorgeous soft ambery myrrh scent, ever so slightly powdery and delicate. Inexplicably, I think of Grand Amour as a floral for those who don’t usually like to wear florals. It’s feminine but still subtle. It’s pure class and grace.

I apply Grand Amour lavishly. About 6-8 sprays last 4+ hours on me and I have the eau de parfum. Unfortunately I can’t compare the edt with the edp because I’ve only ever purchased the edp. Typically I prefer the edp concentration because I like a more potent perfume.

This concludes my week-long tribute to Annick Goutal. In the past I’ve also written reviews for Sables, Vanille Exquise and Ce Soir ou Jamais.

PS: If anyone from Annick Goutal is reading, I think you should make more limited edition bottles! I have ideas for so many gorgeous bottles :-) Also, some new perfume suggestions: a mimosa scent would be a dreamy addition to your Soliflores Collection. Also a dry green chypre, an aldehydic oriental and a tuberose-fl-oriental (think sultry vixen) would be a great addition to the line. And don’t forget the boys, surely they could use an edgy leather.