sniff test fragrance review: serges lutens des clous pour une pelure

Sniff Test Fragrance Review: Serge Lutens Des Clous pour une Pelure

Serge Lutens Des Clous Pour Une Pelure eau de parfum, 100 ml

She says:

Serge Lutens names his fragrances based on some logic known only to himself and over the years has had perfumers interpret the idea of cold water, the colour grey, and straw. In spite of the strange deep teal hue this one’s rather more linear: the ‘clou’ here isn’t a nail, as such—it’s clous de giroflle, aka cloves, and orange peel. The perfume is directly inspired by medieval pomanders (from the French for pomme d’ambre—literally amber apples), those ornately-carved hollow perforated balls used for storing aromatics. The balls were carried from rom to room to ward off bad smells. It’s your basic DIY of clove-studded mandarins and then it dries down to mulled cider. Wonderful and festive at the holidays, but as a perfume?? 2 out of 4

He says:

Who is Serge Lutens? you ask. Mr. Lutens is a renaissance man in the true sense. He’s a fashion designer, hair stylist, filmmaker, photographer, perfume creator and artist. When he moved to Paris in 1962, Vogue magazine hired him to create makeup, hair and jewellery. Seven years later Dior recruited him to develop a makeup line for the iconic fashion house. His short film, “Les Stars” was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and his photography has been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Fascinated with his body of work, Japanese beauty brand Shiseido collaborated with Serge throughout the 1980s and 90s.

Fascinated by the art of perfumery, Lutens launched his own brand ‘Parfums-Beaute Serge Lutens’ in 2000 to allow him to explore his olfactory visions. What’s fascinating about the artist is he has no interest in blending scents that are commercial or follow any kind of trend. He’s steadfast in his belief that perfumery is art. With this in mind, smelling Des Clous pour un Pelure is like viewing a high concept art exhibit – wandering through stark white rooms with one canvas in each. In this case, the art is clove and orange. At first spritz, I immediately smell the clove although it is handled with a light hand thankfully. The orange appears with a hint of nutmeg. It all smells very Christmassy. An interesting art project but I’m not sure you’d wear it in real life. 1.5 out 4

Sniff Test Fragrance Reviews are the professional opinions of Nathalie Atkinson and Dave Lackie.