L'orpheline Serge Lutens 2014

Or

Whoever has never eaten their bread with tears...

J.W. von Goethe
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With the press of the spray button, I am enveloped by a dark, colorful cloud of sadness,
from the center of my chest, black-and-white images rise.

The opening is a clear statement, a lavender swirl pumped up with aldehydes, paired with a hint of juniper and a subtle sweet-fruity note of bergamot.

Dense, cool, crystal clear, somehow very metallic, somewhat aloof, assertive. Indeed, what rises to the nose as a guide of the fragrance can be described as a *cologne note. This note, in my opinion, represents the absent father.
Rejection, the unspeakable, the incomprehensible, the *mistake, - guilt.

The scent immediately reminded me of church visits in my childhood; I see myself
trudging along the snowy, narrow promenade in the winter twilight, can hear the creaking of the wooden door upon opening, feel the warmth of the old foot heater under the bench, and smell the rising
air that slowly mixes with incense... it has something sacred about it.

Serge Lutens has built fougere notes into the fragrance;) and I am relieved that this very prominent lavender note is not a nasal illusion. Classic, a bit old-fashioned at heart, but the head and base are very contemporary.

--
-> Fougere moss - wood (patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood oil), lots of herbal fresh components, but also lavender, geranium, ylang oil, and rose. Coumarin is always included as well. The fougere accord can also contain neroli and bergamot oil, vanilla notes, anisaldehyde, resins, and musk.
--
I smell a very distinct aldehyde opening, incense, lavender, soapy from head to mid-heart note, fruity, coumarin, clove, woody, not little patchouli, watery-cool (moss?) musk, and for me also the cookie-like;) -> cashmeran - an idea of vanilla and something addictive, subtly smooth-leathery in the creamy-lightly powdery base ... or something like that...

Melancholy and gloom projected outward with the means of perfumery, made palpable and smellable. The oppressive feelings that the scent evokes, the uncertainty, the fear of plunging into the depths of one’s own soul, of getting lost, are met with a timid innocent strength, one fears along.

Black and white --> a threatening, oppressive, fear-inducing balancing act over the void.

http://tinyurl.com/kuaxjte

Children's souls feel colorful, or just black and white, at some point.

The scent carries both genders within it, has a hard-masculine side (cologne note;)
and a delicate, fragile, slightly sweet, feminine entirety (for me).
The constant tension between the two poles presents itself to me as a process of working through, not as an emphasis of contrast. I perceive L'Orphelines' perfume character as tenderly feminine, with a not insignificant charming-erotic aura. In the base, I can hardly get my nose off the back of my hand. The top note is a fantastic fireworks display; I sprayed the sample in a flash, as the opening gives such a wonderfully tingling nose flash. From the heart note on, it becomes intimate. I find the longevity okay at five hours; for a Lutens, that’s generous.
One can wear the scent due to its cool-warm changing character year-round. It is a very moderate, essentially easy-to-wear oriental-fougere that one doesn’t have to understand; it is busy with itself anyway;)
Presented this way, it is a perfect entry point for noses that find Lutens scents challenging. It also has something chic;) I attribute that to the metallic note) I am sure L'Orphelines will be a hit. And no, I don’t believe that Iso-E is inside.
If anything, then Ambroxan.