CuirCuir

Out of three Lutens' rose scents, La Fille de Berlin is the most popular. It's well-done, smells nice but it might be the least interesting one. I suppose mass-pleasers must be like that - not strange or offensive, going the middle road. And there is nothing wrong with that. While a big blooming soliflore or an animalic musky rose could scare your coworkers, this pleasant spicy rose is still on the feminine side but not miles away from the unisex territory. There is also a metallic feel to it reminding me of the blood accord found in several other Lutens perfumes. It fits the overall concept for this scent - "a beautiful woman with a thorny character".

Bapteme du Feu is another recent release from the quirky category. The name means "Baptism by fire" and the scent is supposed to represent a village fair. You get a weird combination of the smell of gunfire, gingerbread, candied orange and some spices. Overall feel BdF gives is cold spicy, with metallic notes (gun shooting?) lingering on. The concept is original but I don't see this getting much attention except for hardcore lutens aficionados...

Datura Noir is one of three tuberoses in the Serge Lutens scent library. Actually four if Cédre is to count as tuberose. Inspiration behind it is a very poisonous flower Datura (Devil's weed). What you are going to smell is mainly an indolic tuberose with some sweet, edible but not over-the-top touches - vanilla, almond and coconut are listed as main co-stars. This isn't a staple in my rotation as it's more on the feminine side but I like it a lot and enjoy smelling it on a woman. In my book, it doesn't beat out Tubereuse Criminelle by Lutens, which remains the only tuberose I wear regularly due to its high uniqueness factor and overall pleasure to wear.

Bas de Soie is steadily rising in my rankings with each wear. Used to be a "like", now it's a firm "love". Even though it's listed as floral, a more proper description would be green floral. A dry green smell with powder and flowers. After I discovered Bas de Soie, I even stopped using Chanel 19 and Cristalle. They are in the same genre but Lutens ticks the boxes better for my taste. It is now the only galbanum fragrance I need in the collection. Bas de Soie translates as "silk stockings" and the most shocking discovery for me was that next to all the mentioned notes and accords, I get the actual smell of women's stockings... Lutens and Sheldrake are two geniuses, an unmatched duo in the history of perfumery!

Clair de Musc will remind you of many white musk fragrances. As typical for Lutens, this scent has its own interesting peculiarities. Musk in the opening briefly shows its dirty side, reminding you of the great Muscs Koublai Khan. After that, it's no more Mongolian savages but an aldehydic soapy iris. For those days when you want to smell fresh and clean... but not dull because that is not how uncle Serge does things.