Tuesday, December 29, 2009

SOTD: Serge Lutens Fumerie Turque


If I didn't like this, I might compare the urinous honey note to... well, but I do like it. A lot. So I'm going to put it another way. To me, this is the remains of a bonfire built with well-aged, resinous wood, with tigers prowling around the coals. And what happened to whoever was smoking all that sweet tobacco?

It's lovely. But it's not pretty.  It's not cuddly. To me, this isn't the scent that your smoking jacket picks up after an evening by the fire in a comfy Moroccan leather chair. This is outside, somewhere unexplored, where you're not absolutely sure that you're going to make it out alive.

That's what it is for me, anyway. Reading the reviews, most people seem to experience this as a comfort scent, maybe with a little friendly animal, maybe without. Hearths, libraries, dried fruit, and pipe-smoke. Except for Donna at Perfume-Smellin' Things - I'm pleased to read that she gets danger, too.

Whether it's wilderness or a warm fireside chair, it's glorious. As usual, I can't pick up most of the notes - I read that it contains currants, honey, rose, jasmine, leather, beeswax, tobacco, Peru balsam, patchouli, tonka bean, styrax, juniper, and vanilla. I get smoke and tobacco, a hint of vanilla, a little burned resin, and tigers. Like many Lutens perfumes, it undergoes drastic changes in the development, and the beginning is the most challenging part, so if you don't like it on first sniff, give it at least four hours before you give up.

Review Roundup: Perfume-Smellin' Things and Bois de Jasmin and Sweet Diva and PereDePierre and The Non-Blonde and Perfume-Smellin' Things again and MakeupAlley and Fragrantica and Basenotes and PerfumeCritic and Nathan Branch and Jonniker and The Fragrant Elf and Blogdorf Goodman and Pink Manhattan and Pink Manhattan again and Pink Manhattan a third time and a brief description in A Mental Note and a brief description of a layering experiment in Aromascope.

Tiger photo: By Dick Mudde. Wikimedia Commons.
Bonfire photo: By Jon Sullivan. Wikimedia Commons.

4 comments:

  1. I want to smell Tigers too! Next time I see you I want to sniff this scent.

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  2. Sure! And I've got most of the decant left, if you want to wear some.

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  3. I shall go back in and check for tigers, as I think they were lounging at the bottom of the vial when I last tried it. : - )

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  4. Hee. :) The Enchanter tried some the other day (Hi, Enchanter!) and on her this is the cozy fireside-with-pipe scent, almost immediately. No tigers, no danger. Further evidence for my ChickenFreak Has Weird Skin theory.

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