Perfume-Serge Lutens-Datura Noir

Datura Noir by Serge Lutens, to me, it is quite a scary name as the real datura flowers are hallucinogenic if consumed and they have been known as the hell’s bells (but in some culture it’s known as the angel’s trumpets though).

The start is really sweet, so sweet that as if it has the ability to penetrate your soul in a way, as if everything can stop and all of a sudden in the time-space continuum, what you have left if you and the scent. As I’ve said many times that I’m a white-floral-fume hater, however despite the intense sweet tuberose-y accord in Datura Noir, I actually find it addictive, because this tuberose isn’t boring, despite the quasi-linear development I’ve been experience so far with Datura Noir, there is this hidden apricot fruitiness comes and goes, bringing the overall impression of tuberose to life without the heavy or indole-y aspect of this flower.

After a while, I start to realise that there is this slightly mild-powdery-spicy and vanilla-y element which has always been there in the background, but I just didn’t pay attention to due to the surprisingly good overwhelm by the beautiful tuberose-y theme; but as the scent gets warmed up, the tuberose-apricot-y fresh sharp floral accord gets a bit tamed and now at this stage, it is like a beautiful tuberose-dominant and creamy-vanilla-y dominant accords duet. This creaminess brings to mind another quite popular SL scent, Un Bois Vanille, however, I personally find that Datura Noir is more interestingly versatile than Un Bois Vanille, especially if you find there are too many gourmand vanilla scent in life and you like white florals.

The final dry down is quite vanilla-y like plain sponge cakes, with a bit non-tropical, non-demanding coconut hint, all in a good way; and I do like it at this stage very much, for it is sensual, delicious as most vanilla perfumes but more a grown-up elegant vanilla. I can smell something powdery-fuzzy, slightly woody in the back ground, while the tuberose is nearly undetectable. This is the kind of quite smothering dry down to me.

Datura Noir, I am impressed by this Serge Lutens’ perfume, because it has this weirdness (which many SL’s perfumes have and made them rather not public friendly) as well as its mass-market appear (white flower, sweet, and could be categorised as feminine under today’s standard under which floral perfumes are the best sellers year after year). When I read the official ingredients in this perfume, things just don’t seem to go together, like tuberose, coconut, vanilla or iris, each of them should be the dominant theme in a separate perfume, but miraclely in Datura Noir, everything coexists and makes this quasi-tuberose themed sweet perfume really beautiful.

However, be warned, even though principally we should be able to wear whatever we want, social conventions tell me that Datura Noir might not be an inoffensive scent towards your surroundings, as many guys under 35 tend to associate this type of, to me, rather sophisticated floral scent with their grandma or mum, and while not everyone is as crazy about trying out niche scent like most perfumistas do, girls might find your Datura Noir ‘too strong’ even though their over-applied Britney Spears Fantasy is sugar-sweetly cloying the life out of you.

Datura Noir is for the diva who likes tuberose with some creamy twist, and who’s not afraid to be a little bit weird, yet still in a dazzling mesmerising way.

Perfume-Serge Lutens-Daim Blond

Serge Lutens’ Daim Blond is quite a weird sweet perfume, however, since Lutens is famous for the weirdness, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that something considered as white sweets would smell rather not like any real sweets.

The beginning of Daim Blond is rather odd, somewhat striking in between being repulsive and being interesting. It smells of slightly leathery goods trapped in a plastic container for a while and you just opened it up. Soon there is this slightly roasted nutty aspect being added in, which brings up the sweetness; while meanwhile a rather muted sweet powdery aspect has always been in the background which reminds me of the flour on freshly baked pastry. As the scent develops, what I can smell is something like a slightly burnt, woodiness-infused almoretti biscuit.

The very dry down appears to be rather cosy to my nose, it is fuzzier in the sweet dry woods aspect while the pastry aspect of Daim Blond gets aged in a nice, elegant, powdery and a bit nostalgic way, like when you get out a Chrismas biscuits tin and happily discovered that there is some biscuits left from last year, of course you wouldn’t eat it, but the merry memory might all of a sudden make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Image of an almond biscuit, or almoretti

Daim Blond is quite a wearable (after the initial blast of top notes), sweet scent without overdo of vanilla of edible elements, but maintains rather delicious. A wonderful skin scent! Highly recommend to someone who fancies a grown-up vanilla-y-themed gourmand scent which knows how to be subtle and elegant.

Perfume-Serge Lutens-Bas de Soie

Bas de Soie by Serge Lutens is hauntingly beautiful in a simplistic manner, and it is one of the least strange yet strangely intriguing Serge Lutens’ perfumes I’ve tried.

The beginning reminds me a lot of Chanel No.19, the cold, green, slightly powdery, really business-woman-y feeling, it feels rather unapproachable. But soon after the opening, within 5 seconds, Bas de Soie smells of beautiful hyacinth to me, just like what you would smell from a florist’s shop. Dewy, fresh, and naturally beautiful. The ingredients are hyacinth and iris only, according to fragrantica.com, and I find it a wonderful thing when perfumes become less focused on the number of ingredients/accord, but more on how the feeling or vision the certain finishing product actually evokes.

As the perfume develops, it simply gets slightly powderier and I can see a linear trend here. It is clean, smells white-ish as in white…chiffon dress; everything is in a innocent yet effortlessly seductive way. Somehow, it does remind me of clean soap, but with a bit elegant touch to make Bas de Soie not just another clean scent.

Bas de Soie is beautiful, in an unearthly way and despite that I love it, ironically I don’t find it wearable to me. I know there are people find it easy to wear due to the quasi-soap quality and it is just a nice humble floral perfume; but for some strange reason, Bas de Soie is erotic, narcotic, wasted yet still has an IQ so high that pain, agony and melancholy still can be felt because Bas de Soie has a brain. Maybe I read into perfume too much, maybe Bas de Soie is more like Lana Del Rey’s songs to me, or maybe, it’s just a shame that nowadays most perfumes are more like sugared vanilla bombs.

Bas de Soie can be worn as a safe skin sent to the office if you just focus on the fresh light hyacinth quality, but to me this is a scent which cannot unread, which in turn might make it unwearable. Nevertheless, Bas de Soie is worth trying, prepared to be lured in at your own risk.