Gris Clair: the shades of grey

The color grey. Is it a perfect balance in the world of colors when none of them is dominating and all of them are the same? Or is it a result of eternal contest between the light and the darkness who reached their compromise in grey? Is it a color at all? Or just a shade? Or a shadow?

Gris Clair by Serge Lutens could be the answer to those questions. Smelling it reveals a beautiful picture in grey to my mind. I see seashore on a grey day with taupe coloured sand, steel blue water, dark arsenic tinted clouds on the horizon and slate rocks covered with xanadu coloured moss. I observe the glowing embers covered with ashes in a silver censer and sense the silent calmness of the world around me. I burn some incense consisted of dusty sweet exotic resins and greyish lavender blossoms and inhale the scent to complete the ritual...

Serge Lutens is always very laconic, but also precise describing his perfumes on his website. “Lavender dust” – it’s all what you read there. No fragrant pyramid. But if I could make one myself it would look like the following:

Top notes: The calming freshness of lavender blossoms. All shades of grey from smoked mauve to slate grey.

Heart notes: The sweetness of lavender absolute filled with the warmth of ambery notes and strengthened with bitter coumarinic sweetness of Tonka beans.

Base notes: The bitterness of lavender ash, the dust of crushed lavender herb, metallic coldness and the loneliness of moss on a grey rock.

I love to wear Gris Clair on a grey day to remind myself that grey doesn’t have to be sad. It’s interesting to see that lavender perfume can be simple, but elegant and sophisticated. I love the feeling of calmness I get wearing this scent. And I really love the compliments I get when people notices the trail of Gris Clair. Sometimes it’s funny to see them a little bit confused as they smell something very familiar, but something they can’t recognize in a glimpse…

A tuberose dessert presented in a wooden box

Cèdre by Serge Lutens

This fragrance is created in 2005 by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens. The notes are: Cedarwood, Tuberose, Musk, Amber en Cinnamon.

It was my First niche fragrance I bought. Walking through a local store I quickly noticed the bottles of the new brand I didn’t know yet. I stopped to take a closer look and to smell. And I was completely fallen in love with Cèdre.

You probably expect Cèdre to smell like Cedar or at least to have distinct woody notes. Not in this one. This one is all about the tuberose. Yes, there are some woody notes at the opening, but are they real? Or is it your imagination that tries to create what you expect find there? Wood in this fragrance is only a package, an ornamental wooden box presenting you an exotic tuberose dessert. The flowers here are made from a whipped cream sweetened with some tuberose flavored syrup and warmed with spices. A big gourmand tuberose presented in a wooden box with oriental ornament – this is what Cèdre is about in my opinion. This fragrance helped me to discover my passion for tuberose flower.

Luca Turin calls it a niche version of Amarige. And I can agree with him – it’s a very similar tuberose, but more elegant, more oriental (woody-spicy) and without mimosa dust. Poison might be another good example of a loud sultry tuberose (served with honing, blackberries and low fat cream rather than spices). But this one is more floral and less oriental, than Cédre.

The essence of the day

When you have a lot of fragrances to choose, it can be difficult. What shall I wear today? Mostly I try to look at my emotional needs, my mood and the wear trying to understand - what do I need today? What fragrance can fulfill that? Very often your fragrance becomes your essence of the day.

So, today I was looking at the cold, gray and wet morning. It's almost end of the spring, but we haven't seen much warm sunny days this year. It looks like the automn is very early this year. Will the summer come? Dwelling on those sag thought I saw the parrots on the tree. Yes, there are parrots in Amsterdam. People tend to think that those are fugitives escaped from the local zoo. Other theories confirm it, but underline the fact that it's happened many years ago and those parrots are having a colony here. But some wise people say that parrots came here long time ago - before the zoo. It was so long that you can call parrots native to the fauna of Netherlands.

Anyway what a pittance was it to observe those wet unhappy tropical birds under the cold rain! And it was funny as well. So, it made me laugh. If I look to those parrots, especially to those mean expressions... well I tend to think that there is might be lack of abusive terms in a birds language, but definitely plenty of swear thoughts - you can just see it.

This image becomes my essence of the day - keep smiling even if it's cold and wet. And what do I need? Yes, something warm and consoling. Like... chocolate! Yes, let it be Borneo 1834 by Serge Lutens today. A nice bitter piece of chocolate made of Pathouli with some spicy, woody and smoky nuances. This is a ship that takes you to an exotic warm island where parrots are happy!

And here are some pictures. Look at those mean expressions!



And this is an essence of being lonely I guess...

Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens: the first impressions

Russian version - click here

Image credits: (c) AromaX

Last Saturday I decided to leave an idyll of a French country and to visit a local city Vichy to remember how does it feel to be among people again. Vichy is famous by its thermal baths and sources from the times of the Ancient Rome. But I was there just to walk on the streets o Vichy, to admire the glory of its architecture, to try some sweets and of course to visit some perfumery stores. Because in French perfumeries you can find fragrances that are not available yet in Netherlands. Well, I found there Idylle by Guerlain as well as Guerlain Homme Intense. I also found the whole line of Ego Facto. But Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens was the most amazing one.

What could I say? It’s love from the first sigh. It’s definitely a creation in style of Serge Lutens – the master of sweet oriental exotic fragrances. I experienced the same impressions as I did when I tried Cédre – my first fragrance by Serge Lutens. My first impression is – it smells incense, smoke and burnt sugar. As if you could make a candy by smelting of sugar together with incense resin – a fragile, warm, transparent piece of candy that is not sticky at all. A little bit of honey might be added to soften the burnt sugar smell and give it warmth.

First I didn’t notice the fir needles – the most important component of this fragrance that even found in its name. But finally they came as well – a balsamic, sweet and fresh coniferous aroma that perfectly goes with the coldness of incense note. I’ve also discovered a new note that I also found in other niche fragrances. So far I call it industrial note as it reminds me a bit of burnt rubber. I smelled it in the rose oxide aromachemical, but also in Palisandrol by Firmenich. I found it in Afgano by Nasamoto. Probably it’s a kind of furanon or pyrazine molecule. In Fille en Aiguilles it gives depth to incense, supports the fir needles smell and emphasizes the burnt smoke note.

Amber is also mentioned in the pyramide on Osmoz. But I think it’s imitated by the sweet resins. And probably arises from the combination of resins and that industrial note. My nose enjoys the burnt sugar sweetness so much that it doesn’t want to look for the amber. The pyramid on Osmoz also shows the fruits. I haven’t found any – probably they are hidden in the sweet fruitiness of fir needles. Or may be molded from the burnt sugar syrup. There are also spices. I can’t define them as they just give some brightness and emphasizes the oriental character of this fragrance.

This fragrance recalls the images of rocks, softwood, a hermit monk, smoke of the open fire, meditation, tranquillity and quietness, being one with nature, mystery. It’s interesting to notice that my images are mauve and blue coloured although the fragrance itself is rather ambery yellowish with a little brown in it.

Well, to me it’s a perfect autumn scent. It makes you warm despite the fresh breeze of incense and fir needles. It’s a bit introvert. And I guess it’s a nice companion for a long walk somewhere in the forest or park.

Sarrasins: a dark forbidden fruit

Picture from Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Russian verion - click here

If A la Nuit could be called a reference jasmine representing the smell of real flowers, then Sarrasins can get a title of reference jasmine in fragrances. Although the most jasmines are just represented by their fruity and narcotic notes, Sarrasins is a clever combination of fruits and dark indolic depth. In many reviews it was called dirty, heavy, indolic or animalic. That’s true if you compare Sarrasins to those innocent indolless creations, but if you know what jasmine absolute or a real flower smells like, you definitely recognize it as is in Sarrasins.

In contrast with A la Nuit that seems to be a representation of a real flower, Sarrasins is more like a jasmine shaped jewellery, where each part is thoroughly faceted. The dark animalic and deep note of Indole is supported by Castoreum giving a pleasant leather accord. The fruitiness of jasmine is mostly undefined (unless you’d define it with a corresponding aromachemical benzyl acetate), but in Sarrasins it’s a fully developed accord of apricots. And in the middle of the clash between leather and apricots a beautiful jasmine is born.

There is some resemblance between Tubereuse Criminelle and Sarrasins – they share a sweet narcotic note and a wild character – they are both not easy to tame, but jasmine is more appeaseable. Its soft, ripe and sweet orange apricots slowly come after leather and remain to be the most prominent on my skin.

This potion has a deep dark purple colour that stains fabric. The message is clear – it’s not supposed to be used on fabric – only in intimate contact with your bare skin.

According to the creator himself, Sarrasins is “a sumptuous jasmin which smoothes its fur... a sigh of time.”
Developed by Christopher Sheldrake and launched in 2007
Notes: Bergamot, Jasmine, Carnation, Woods, Musk, Coumarin, Patchouli

A la Nuit: my reference jasmine

Russian version: click here

As I already have mentioned before, A la Nuit by Serge Lutens is a kind of reference jasmine to my nose (or may be better to say one of the references). Especially in the beginning I can clearly smell all the components of the jasmine scent I have mentioned before: a fine euphoric note of the white flower, a deep and dark narcotic note of indole and an exotic fruitness of benzylacetate. At the very first moments I can even clearly smell the green notes I wanted to find in the jasmine smell so much. All those components are not only easy to separate in this fragrance, but they also looks a bit magnified or emphasized. Probably this slight exaggeration was the reason for Madame Turin to call this fragrance a “jasmine jasmine” or a “death by jasmine”.

On my skin A la Nuit can behave differently. Yesterday it was very capricious trying to protrude its aspects one after another until all of them had found peace and started to behave as a whole. But today it was very kind. A la Nuit even showed me its green notes I wanted to find in jasmine but couldn’t. It opened on my skin as a jasmine blossom slightly glimmering in a darkness and whispering me about the fantasy worlds full of mystery, miracles, love and passion. It was trying to seduce me to reveal my deepest desire and to surrender myself to the jasmine fantasies.

How does Christopher Sheldrake made this fragrance? Was he attempting to recall and recreate the essence of jasmine based on the thoroughly composed mixture of absolutes? Or did he want to approach a kind of jasmine image from his own perception? What I mean is that I think that there are three main ways to create a soliflor. The first one is when a perfumer tries to approach a live blossom. Like Lys Mediterranee by Frederic Malle with all its nuances of even nuances of stalk and blossom dust. Another way is to approach a kind of image of the flower that is an interpretation based on the individual perception of the flower. Like Un Lys by Serge Lutens. It doesn’t have the nuances of the live lily, but emphasizes its essence on the vanilla background. There is another variation of this way when a perfumer gives some new nuances that don’t even exist in the live flower to make it more a fantasy fragrance. The third way is when an essential oil or absolute is taken as a base (or a mixture of them or even different species of the same flower) and analysed to recognize its basic aspects. Than each aspect taken apart can be developed, emphasized and decorated. I guess that a lavender accord at Kiki by Vero Kern and incense accord at Incense Extreme by Andy Tauer might be build this way. But, it´s only a gues…

It´s interesting to notice that three sorts of Jasmine are mentioned to be used in A la Nuit – Jasmine from Egypt, India and Morocco. Formerly French Grasse was the main source of Jasmine where they bottled the smell of Jasmine by mean of enfleurage. But now Egypt, India, China and Marocco are the main suppliers of Jasmine absolute. The last one can be also a standardized blend of jasmine absolutes from the different sources. Even if a perfumer used just a drop of it in her or his perfume he may write about “thoroughly selected jasmine from Egypt, India, Maroco etc.” used to create the fragrance. But I still do believe that Christopher Sheldrake did really work with three different absolutes to create The Jasmine for his A la Nuit.

Tebereuse Criminelle by Serge Lutens

Russian version - click here

Image: AromaX

This perfume is not to be put on just a few moments before you leave. No – this one needs time to be tamed. You have to put it on just after the shower and go on with grooming and getting dressed. First you feel surrounded with a wintergreen mist as if you put on an antirheumatic ointment. Yes – the opening is really heavy and too medicinal. The prominent note is wintergreen, that comes probably from methyl salicilate. I have never smelled it in a real tuberose and I was very surprised when I found methyl salicilate as a component in several formulae of a tuberose floral base.

It’s difficult to smell through the harshness of the wintergreen note, but if you do it within first ten minutes after applying the fragrance you’ll find more surprises like chemical notes of rubber or asphalt. But soon the tuberose begins to break through. Desperately suppressed by the chemical notes at first it getting stronger and stronger. The nice combination of tender white petals and sultry opiating heavy smell of flesh of night tropical flower. Wintergreen remains contrasting against the tuberose for a while, but finally finds a point of balance and becomes a part of a tuberose accord. If you are lucky it happens before you have to go outside. Ready to spend at least 30 minutes on grooming after the shower and applying of Tubéreuse Criminelle? Otherwise you’ll get strange faces looking at you with compassions and thinking what harm did you try to relief with a rheumatic ointment.

But later you’ll be rewarded with an exotic heavy aura of a tuberose. It doesn’t have coconut note at the background or penetrating greenness like Carnal Flower. It’s less buttery than Tubereuse by L’Artisan, but just slightly creamy. The wintergreen at the background helps to keep a resemblance with a fresh flower. The tuberose is strong and long lasting and finally fades into vanilla dry down.