Collection Noire

Un bois vanille Serge Lutens 2003

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7.5 / 10 740 Ratings

A perfume by Serge Lutens for women and men, released in 2003. The scent is sweet-gourmand. It is being marketed by Shiseido Group / Beauté Prestige International.
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Main accords

Sweet

Gourmand

Woody

Spicy

Oriental

Fragrance Notes

Liquorice

Mexican vanilla

Sandalwood

Perfumers

Christopher Sheldrake, Serge Lutens

Ratings

Scent

7.5740 Ratings

Longevity

8.0570 Ratings

Sillage

7.2557 Ratings

Bottle

7.6522 Ratings

Value for money

7.0165 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 12/14/2024.

Interesting Facts

In 2006 a limited bottle collection, "Les Fauves Royaux", was released, attaching the design Gazelle to this scent.

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

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Guipure & Silk Ylang Vanille

Zafeer Oud Vanille

Vanilla Edesia

Charming Milk

Shaghaf Vanilla Toffee

Vanillary Perfume

Reviews

19 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/05/2012

Flannelman
12 Reviews

Flannelman

Top Review 5

Coconut/vanilla/caramel... and (on me) not that much wood.

To my dismay, I often find Serge Lutens' fragrances too sweet for my taste and always seem to approach them with a sense of resignation, concerned as I am that I will not be able to enjoy what I am about to sample.

I do love the smell of vanilla; and especially the wonderful, fragrant aroma of fresh vanilla pods. The idea of a wood and vanilla fragrance is appealing to me, and I thought that perhaps Un Bois Vanille could be something to enjoy, my worries about sweetness put aside. And I did, on the whole, with some reservations.

I should say first, on the negative side, that to my nose there isn't that much wood in Un Bois Vanille. I had the same "where's the wood?" interrogation with SL Cèdre some time ago.

The opening here is an intense blast of coconut and vanilla. Definitely gourmand territory! The fragrance immediately feels rich, and you know it's going to last. I am glad to say that the vanilla does feel very natural and mouth-watering.

The warmth of Un Bois Vanille continues to develop quietly — there isn't that much evolution, but rather the fragrance feels like it has to be enjoyed as a whole. The coconut note subsides and is replaced by something caramel-y. Vanilla fudge or toffee, something like that. Richness and sweetness, once again. Luckily this does not feel as sirupy as, for instance, Chypre Rouge.

At this point I would really have loved the woods to kick in, but sadly they did not. There is a slight licorice note that permeates from time to time but on the whole the fragrance remains a thick, intense coconut/vanilla/caramel affair.

To summarize, this is a pretty good vanilla that you might enjoy (especially during cold days) if you like very strong gourmand fragrances and don't mind the ever-present sweetness. Projection and longevity are both excellent.

07/15/2016

8
Sillage 8
Longevity 9
Scent

Fluxit
42 Reviews

Fluxit

Very helpful Review 7

Date with vanilla and liquorice

This spring, I've been meandering with a first date through our charming city. We had happened to talk about perfumes and that was just at the time when my interest in fragrances had exploded. So we figured that we could just as well visit a local perfume shop and, why not, test some scents to let them get rated by the other. In German, the expression "being able to smell someone" actually means "being attracted to that person". So a pretty good double meaning for a first date, heh. And in the worst case, it this event could serve as conversation starter to break any awkward silence.
Straight ahead: My date didn't like Un bois vanille. Too sweet. I didn't contradict her, not because of good mood's sake, but because she was right. It IS a sweet scent, sticky fun fair sweet. Yet, I took great interest into my wrist that the sales agent - to my horror - had sprayed until it was wet, way more liberally than I'd ever apply perfume, let alone new ones.
Time lapse: City tour, cake, ciaaao date, returning home in the rain. On the next day, I sprinkled a tiny amount of a new Hermes test fragrance on my arm and was disappointed from the start. However, when I arrived at the office and took off my jacket, a soft fat vanillaliquorice-cat jumped into my face, snuggled its fluffy fur into my face and purred "TAKE ME, I SMELL GORGEOUS, PET ME!", causing me to call the parfumo site in an excited close-to-panic state to look for the content of the Un Jardin sur le Nil of this morning ... until I realized that I was sniffing at the "wrong" side: I hadn't sprayed this wrist today. And it came to my mind that the sleeve of my jacket had secretly swallowed the Serge Lutens, just to lick it onto my wrist again on my way to work. In my mind, I mumbled a silent sorry to the generously spraying agent from the shop and now it's standing in front of me, my first flacon here that I had acquired through friendly Souk contact - then again, everyone seems to be friendly here somehow ;)

So how does it smell? What I believe to recognize is a subtly tart, not exactly sour liquorice that a relaxed vanille puts to rest in a slightly bitter, smoky bed of bee wax. Would I recognize that without the note pyramid? I don't think so. As stated, Un bois vanille is expressively sweet, but not just that. There are sufficient extra ingredients that give it depth and an enjoyable tension. Yes, extra, they leave the soft sugary character intact and extend it. Yet, or maybe for that reason, the fragrance is unisex for me, assuming that sweet gourmands float your boat; a classic scent for the office this is not, though. In addition, it has enough breath to last a day and leave some traces of fur on my office neighbour's desk, yet another reason to take this expressive pet out in the evening instead. One shot is enough, for me and my environment.

I rarely comment flacons, but I was positively surprised when I unpacked the bottle. Mine came not with the round cap, but the cylindric one like on some of the photos below. For me, that suits the slim elegant flacon design extremely well, going along with the modest colour and the beautifully serifed font. A noble appearance that works better in reality than on the photographs.

By the way, I didn't date the girl again. But the scent has been much sweeter anway ;)
__________
Two additions for this .net translation:
- In German, we differentiate between liquorice as the black sticky candy ("Lakritz") and the sweet root that's used for its production ("Süßholz"). While some people find that those two smell / taste alike, I find them to be fairly different. For this scent, it's hard for me to say if I should refer to the root or rather to the candy. It's blended very well and somewhere in between.
- I wrote the German review some months ago. By now, I can say that I rarely use Un bois vanille. It's thick, heavy and sweet, not many occasions call for that, especially in Summer. But once in a while, I spray it on and even if it's just before going to bed, it brings a happy smile to my face.

10/15/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 5

lushless

Vanilla is a key component to both the contemporary dessert/gourmand and the classic amber oriental. Vanilla is almost inescapable in perfumery, but it’s usually found in the familiar company of labdanum, balsams, resins, spices or ethylmaltol in the above genres. It takes effort to dissociate it from the foody, cuddly feel. Despite its brief plastic/cotton-candy camouflage topnote (wonderful!), un Bois Vanille does just this. After the foody misdirection, BV avoids the expected. The tease of edibility shows itself as a licorice note, not cotton candy. The licorice also keeps BV from going the amber/oriental route since the genre is almost by definition warm, round, thick. Licorice here comes off as anise-like not candy-like. It’s cool and focussed and it brings out vanilla’s sharp, bitter side, making it more potent than plush.

After the expansive opening the heartnotes are fairly quiet, with a dry, airy feel that I would think to associate with frankincense, not vanilla. By drydown BV is dusty but still taut, reinforcing the point that vanilla can be strong and direct without being lush. BV stays cool as it winds down and resists becoming a skin-scent, further bucking a vanilla stereotype.

BV solves a problem for me. One of very few in perfume fan-dom, I don’t like Caron’s Pour un Homme. The lavender/vanilla combo has no synergy and reminds me of the feel of a stuffy head. In BV, the cool side of the licorice fuses with the vanilla in a way that I imagine Pour un Homme’s minty lavender and vanilla combo works for the rest of the world.

05/01/2014

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 8
Scent

Fanny
66 Reviews

Fanny

Helpful Review 5

Smokey Boozed Vanilla

This is vanilla, almost drowned by dominant other notes: booze (brandy?), licorice, woods and benzoine.
In the beginning the licorice rules, quickly followed by some boozy note and sharp woods. After that i can clearly detect beeswax.
In about 20 minutes Bois de Vanille becomes a warm black beeswax smokey vanilla with a remote hint of coconut.

Lovely in wintertime, mature and distinctive.
Edit:
In warmer weather the coco is very dominant..!

02/04/2012

5
Bottle 7.5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 6
Scent

Lola82
362 Reviews

Lola82

Helpful Review 3

Un Bois Vanille

it starts out as a dry smokey maple
scent an harsh opening but it dries
down to a pleasent creamy vanilla
and a bit of coconut. i think this will
be an ideal scent for the beach despite
it's strong opening this can be worn
in warm weather and i like this better
then daim blonde.

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