The good news is that I like Shiseido Feminite du Bois. I didn't expect to like it - I don't like most of the Serge Lutens "bois" perfumes - but I find that it's a lovely mix of wood and spices and fruit that blends so well that it doesn't even announce itself as fruit. It's what I once imagined plum pudding could be like.
The bad news is that I like Shiseido Feminite du Bois. Because it's been reformulated and changed brands. The easily obtained version is now Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois, which is not the version I just fell for.
I approve of the fact that this fragrance has "gone home" to the Serge Lutens line - Serge Lutens was responsible for its creation in the first place. But it changed, at least a little, in the process. And I haven't seen anyone yet who prefers the new version.
So we're back to the Tragedy of Reformulation: Do I buy it now, or do I let it go and trust that the perfume world will produce something else just as lovely?
Review Roundup: Bois de Jasmin and Bois de Jasmin again (about the reformulation) and Perfume-Smellin' Things and The Non-Blonde and Perfume-Smellin' Things again and Perfume Posse and Now Smell This and Fragrantica and Basenotes and MakeupAlley and Polish, Platforms, Perfume and Yesterday's Perfume and Confessions of a Perfume Nerd and +Q Perfume Blog.
Link Roundup: The Scented Salamander has an interview and Now Smell This announces the reformulation and Fragrantica has a page on the reformulated version and Perfume Shrine talks about the reformulation.
Edited to add to the Review Roundup.
Photo: By Malene Thyssen. Wikimedia Commons.
So.... lemme get this straight-- Shiseido is/was SL? Same nose? I'm just plain ignorant... And I find it funny because, I too, love Shiseido FdB, but most, if not all SLs leave me cold, cold, cold.
ReplyDeleteMay I just say, I am coming to LOVE your service as a clearinghouse for blog reviews-- muchly appreciated.
-Rita
Yep! I'm not sure if other Shiseido fragrances are Lutens, but FdB definitely was.
ReplyDeleteIn my case, I dislike roughly half of the Lutens fragrances, tolerate or only sort of like most of the rest, but the ones I love, I love _so_ much that I still identify myself as a fan of the house. (But I still know better than to ever buy even a large decant unsniffed.)
And, thanks! I like knowing where I can find every review that I've found, so I thought I'd log them where anybody else who wants them could find them too.