Collection Noire

Féminité du bois Serge Lutens 2009

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7.7 / 10 704 Ratings

A popular perfume by Serge Lutens for women and men, released in 2009. The scent is woody-spicy. It is being marketed by Shiseido Group / Beauté Prestige International.
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Main accords

Woody

Spicy

Sweet

Fruity

Oriental

Fragrance Notes

Plum

Cedarwood

Floral notes

Perfumers

Christopher Sheldrake, Serge Lutens, Pierre Bourdon

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.7704 Ratings

Longevity

7.3551 Ratings

Sillage

6.5528 Ratings

Bottle

7.6494 Ratings

Value for money

7.2180 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 05/29/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the "Collection Noire" collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

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Bossa Wood

Reviews

21 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/30/2012

9
Scent

Ysbrand
84 Reviews

Ysbrand

Top Review 10

Autumn leaves

There is something decadent in this perfume. And when i say decadent i dont refer to a roman-like orgy, or a triple chocolate cake... i dont mean self-indulgent, i am not doing any moral judgement. I refer to the decadence in a more biological sense. The decay of nature, the fallen leaves, the over-ripe frit, and autumn, the season of decay by excelence.

Now, my nose is not trained enough so i can notice every note listed, roughly we have a woody violet fragance, that is also fruity; but please, dont think in this inoffensive fruity florals so popular today. It is fruity a la Lutens. You know what i mean.

The first 20 minutes the clove is more noticeable, balmy and cool, and it transforms into a fragant cedar and stays more woody. Also there is a metamorphosis in the sweeter notes... the waxy overripe peach and plum mingles with the violet... and in the drydown is mostly violet. But not a candied, prim violet. There is nothing playful or , dont get me wrong, young, in Feminite de Bois, is a grown up, mysterious, gentle fragance. Seductive and day-dreamy, a bit melancholic. It makes me think in the Enya of Watermark.

Sillage is very good for not being a loud fragance at all, longevity is excelent. It is a violet fragance a man could wear, if he wouldnt mind having a perfume called "Feminité"... i am certainly wearing it, but, i am way too confident for not being scared of even openly florals... and FdB is not one.

At the Serge Lutens shop in Paris i was told "Bois et Fruits" and "Bois de Violette" are flankers of "Feminité du Bois", and are worthy a smell.

07/25/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 7

linear evolution

Evolution over time is highly valued in perfumery. Headnotes, heartnotes, basenotes. “Linear” is often derogatory. A linear fragrance or one that does not demonstrate substantial change over time is considered either lacking or a failure. The traditional categories, fougere, chypre, oriental (could we please get a better word for this?) are all defined by their changes over time. A good, proper perfume must demonstrate development yet consistency from start to finish.

FdB is a definitively linear fragrance. It demonstrates strengths that a typical ‘evolving’ perfume generally does not have. The experience of FdB is that it all comes at you at once. It’s not an onslaught. It’s just that all the elements seem to have a similar intensity so that you can smell the fruit, the wood, the violet-floral in equal measure. All the set pieces are in place and the development is that of a fugue, where you notice different elements at different times. It’s a great fragrance for contemplation in this sense. The ongoing juxtaposition of the pieces makes you reconsider the perfume again and again as you wear it. And like a fugue, the composition, the geometry of the component parts, remains the same, but the whole piece gets shifted up or down over time so that perspective becomes the variable, not time.

To me, the fear of this approach is that you could wind up with a rather cold, impassive perfume. You might contemplate perspective, but it’s not exactly a thrill-ride. But FdB avoids these problems by having a beautiful harmonic intensity. It just keeps coming around the corner at you. I appreciate why people use the term radiant to describe FdB.

FdB is purportedly one of the perfumes made with a very high percentage of iso-E Super. It is neither the perfume with the highest amount, nor the first to use it in such high percentage. But it was an early adopter of the molecules use in fine fragrance and created a new style if not genre. FdB and other ‘new linears’ of its era seem not so much a change in style as a categorical shift in approach. The notion of how a perfume works is fundamentally different here than in, say, the category-defining Mitsouko with its archetypal top, middle and base.

There certainly are bad linear fragrances. But then again there are equally bad perfumes that demonstrate an ugly evolution over time. FdB reminds me that ‘linear’ alone doesn’t connote ‘bad’, it’s just a more recent form in the tradition of classical perfumery.

09/18/2012

5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 7
Scent

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

4

More Shiseido than Serge

Serge Lutens FEMINITE DU BOIS is striking in its subtlety. I suppose that makes sense since it was originally launched by Shiseido. The composition seems very simple to me: basically powdered cedar and violet with just a touch of oriental spice. I was even reminded a bit of my memory of Creed LOVE IN BLACK by the combination of cedar and violet. There is also some overlap with CERRUTI 1881. I like it.

Perhaps this version has been tamed in reformulation, but I'm not sure that I understand why precisely this linear, straightforwardly pleasant perfume is so famous. Yes, it's nice. But iconic? Really?

08/12/2024

8
Pricing 4
Bottle 5
Sillage 7
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Delonwheels
41 Reviews

Delonwheels

3

The Most Versatile Fragrance I Own

It opens with plum and cedar with a hint of cinnamon. The wood is the most prominent, though. In the drydown the plum and cedar stick around but the clove and violet become more prominent. At the end you get a faint warm, woody floral with a dash of powder. It doesn’t have the best performance - the projection, longevity, and sillage are sort of lacking though if that's what you're looking for, I guess it's a good thing. I did try a sample size of the original Shiseido version and I didn't think the composition was very different but it was MUCH stronger which is disappointing.

I would never have gravitated to this fragrance based on its descriptions but I bought a sample on a whim and loved it immediately. This is in my personal top 3 out of my whole collection not because it’s the most challenging or evocative fragrance Sheldrake has made but because it’s so useful. It straddles so many lines. It’s sweet but not saccharine, not too warm for the summer or too fruity for the winter, woody but not butch, fruity but not girly. It’s fancy enough to wear to an event, chill enough to be perfect with jeans, and quiet enough to wear without offending anyone. It’s floral and woody and fruity and spicy but none overpower the others for long so it’s hard to put in a category which I think is why it gets slept upon. Even in my own perfume wardrobe I sometimes forget to reach for it because it's not making a big statement.

12/19/2024

Raluko111
336 Reviews

Raluko111

4

Gorgeous lady with a touch of halitosis.

Were my expectations too high?! Despite being owned by Shiseido, too few of Lutens` fragrances are easily available in Japan. The discovery sets have been sold out forever online and at the few duty-free counters where they've only recently just made their appearance. Even when you can access a Lutens counter in a department store here, their selection is really meager. So it was only thanks to @Jomas that I got to experience this sought after Feminite du Bois.

I love most of Lutens` creations, it`s one of my favorite houses. But I have mixed feelings about this one. Initially, the plum is impressive: subtle, graceful, a demure, ethereal beauty with...a touch of halitosis? After 10-15 minutes of enjoying my woody plum, tracing black and white smokey calligraphic images of a Japanese bamboo grove in Arashiyama, BAM! the maiko parts her tiny red painted lips and a tiny green funk seeps out, so incongruous to the whole concept. Is it my skin reacting to it? I will never know. I wish I could experience it on others, but unfortunately I`ve ran through my sample and I`ve been trying it under all kinds of conditions, in cold and hot weather, outdoors vs. indoors, all the time expecting to have an "Aha!" Eureka moment where I could understand why I cannot enjoy this fragrance as much as the other reviewers seem to. Oh, also it has poor silage and longevity.

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