Shaking

First of all, the famous disclaimer:
It will be long, it will be exhausting, whether it will be worthwhile, please let everyone decide for themselves.
The comment only has a tangential connection (the basic mood) to my favorite book "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter"... so please don’t be surprised.

A fragrance about age, pain, loneliness, and the impossibility of love...
and yet loving...

What? Quite a tough nut to crack, the inclined reader might say... why should I spray something like that on my neck?

Hold on, hold on...
Why, how, why?

Mr. Lutens' late work "Bourreau des Fleurs" cannot be viewed without "Dent de Lait". (There might also be a comment to follow... time will tell)

These 2 fragrances, both launched in 2017, are, in my eyes, inseparably linked.
"Bourreau des Fleurs" has, as 'Jersey' wrote in her previous comments, various meanings:
“Charmer of love,” “heartbreaker,” “flower breaker,” and “executioner of flowers”... now it gets interesting.

As Serge Lutens once mentioned, his relationship with his mother is a conflicted one... a love-hate relationship, one could say.
The fragrance text of "Bourreau des Fleurs" in German has been slightly altered and shifts the context, although it already gives a very good insight into Lutens' feelings.

It reads as follows:
A nocturnal sun... violence, soaked with love.
Complimentary, sensual, calming, and mystical at the same time

In English, it sounds a bit different:
"The condemned: - Persecutor you slice, but in my blood you're the sap. Executioner: - And you, from my heart, you're the wood."

Lutens wants and has always wanted to convey certain emotions in specific situations with his fragrances, and for me, this one clearly revolves around love...

But not the innocent, pure love or the love between man and woman...
It’s about the exhausting devotion, the severance, but still about being eternally connected... love becomes something painful and transcendent, something that goes far beyond a clichéd "I love you" declaration!

It’s about the love between son and mother...

Does Lutens want to lead his mother olfactorily to the scaffold? Does he recognize in the moment of her end the inevitable connection of their souls?

Interestingly, there is an excerpt from a written interview from 2014 with Mr. Lutens, which for me can be seen as a blueprint for "Bourreau des Fleurs" and "Dent de Lait". It deals with early childhood memories from the Nazi era and beyond.

Serge Lutens:
The image of Berlin is very present in my story: the war, Pétain’s laws, the German Occupation… My imaginings around this woman who is my mother. What is this? Who is my father? What is this about? Who is she? Who is this woman, who kept quiet all her life? Who died in silence… without telling me anything…
I don’t know who my father is, but I don’t know who my mother is… I know who my father is, since I didn’t love him, but actually, there’s a turnaround. Things aren’t that simple.

If "Bourreau des Fleurs" represents the end of this process, then "Dent de Lait" is the beginning... The hubris of birth, of childhood... the "being thrown into the world"!

Dent de Lait is described in English as follows:
Now weary of the tongue’s games which have for weeks on end been loosening its tooth, a young wolf is anxious to move from milk to blood. I have loved you for so long I will never forget you."

For me, this clearly concerns the painful severance process from his mother.

Serge Lutens:
At seven years old, a girl will usually go towards her father… A boy will naturally gravitate towards his mother, that’s more or less how the world establishes itself. Now, when you choose the mother as strongly as I did, of course it’s extremely dangerous, because it’s an incredible imbalance… The fact of having an adulterous mother, the fact of being a bastard, the fact that my father didn’t recognize me, refused to recognize me initially, that he married my mother two years later: she experienced all that, of course, and I experienced it even though I wasn’t fully aware of it.
Because an anxious mother, that’s an anxious child. So this choice, if you will, that we make of one being or another at the outset of our lives, because deep down there’s only one choice, though we don’t know it’s a choice… Because you’re a child, you don’t understand you’re choosing. You don’t call it a choice. What’s a choice, anyway? I’ll tell you: in fact, you’re being stalked by wild beasts, there’s a flooded river in front of you and on the other side, there’s a quiet shore. What do you do? You cross the flooded river anyway.

Lutens, a driven soul, restless but with an incredible will and a sense for the moment, whether it is painful or beautiful.

"Bourreau des Fleurs" is for me Lutens' reconciliatory end of a long journey... towards forgiveness and accepting oneself.
That’s why the fragrance feels like a "Best of" from Lutens.

It allows us to partake once more in the stations of his life.
The fragrance contains traces of ripe plums like in "Bois et fruits," a base spice like in "Arabie," and a smoky component, intertwined with sweetness like from "Fille en aiguilles"

Above all, the immortelle reigns, blending with all the ingredients into an almost viscous syrup.

This fragrance has something loving, reconciling... memories of a time of warming sun and coziness... but also something resinous, charred that occasionally bubbles up from beneath the surface.

A warning shadow - smoky licorice.

Harmony and disharmony lie very close together here, always in conflict with each other.
Who will gain the upper hand?
I don’t know...

What I believe I know is that with this fragrance, you get a part of "Lutens' self."
It is the artistic attempt of a processing, a "scented catharsis"

Whether this is worth €450 is, like with art in general, unnecessary to answer.

From a sober perspective, the price for a "Best of" fragrance is certainly too much.
Here, there are no surprises, there’s no sensational fragrance development (there’s much to discover, no question)
The sillage and longevity are phenomenal for me, which is certainly due to the immortelle, which, no matter what fragrance I wear, always reacts very well with my skin.

This fragrance is and will always remain a matter of the heart for me.
As it is with the muse of art...

Art is a "possessive lover"... who doesn’t always please everyone... but doesn’t have to.

Now as a rule-compliant comment 3.0
Since the content was a bit too harsh for one or another moderator for the third time and got deleted, here is the child-friendly FSK 6 version filled with comments from other perfume reviews on scents that have not been deleted due to their "inappropriate language"
This makes the comment less authentic, but I want to adhere to the rules, right?

If this comment gets deleted again, it will truly be pure arbitrariness.


I apologize in advance for the more than cheeky headline and the possibly ensuing emotional outbursts!
Disclaimer: Actually, one shouldn't have to state this, but some sensitive souls might feel attacked by what follows, which is certainly not my intention!

You can already rant about the real deer musk. (even though Mr. Russian claims that these animals were not killed for perfume production and that they were shot under strict regulations anyway)
However, the Siberian deer, also known as the Siberian musk deer, is among the endangered species whose population has been driven to the brink of extinction over the decades due to excessive hunting and poaching. (I don't even want to talk about the attempt to keep the musk deer in captivity!)

It would now be tedious to answer the school question... are the poachers, the countries Russia and China that have looked the other way for years, traditional medicine, the perfume industry, or even the consumer himself?

Who am I to dare to address such a complex topic in a perfume comment?
Each of the mentioned bears some partial guilt....but am I the right one to raise a finger and direct admonishing incantations at everyone?
Certainly not, as I am also complicit, no question...(I test the scent and provide it a platform)

What would be the right way now?
A boycott? Stricter penalties? Looking away? Turning a blind eye? Pointing fingers?
I can't answer that myself.
But what can I answer?
Is it a good perfume?
What is the measure for that?

I tried to put it this way...
On one side of the scale, I have a cow pat weighing 1kg....on the other, one weighing 500g
The only thing that changes is the weight of the dung,
but it remains what it is... dung!
No matter how much or little I dose... the overdose of deer musk in almost all scents from Areej makes it an experience in my nose and the noses of my fellow humans that is simply disgusting.

In my eyes, this has little to do with fine and distinguished perfume art; it is rather the type of scent that shamelessly flaunts its own genitals and displays its swelling masculinity - completely regardless of whether others find it disgusting.
It is obscene, intrusive, and "kinky"

For me personally, animalic scents have something to do with a sensual, physical but also wild and, as the name suggests, animalistic experience... but, and this is the crux of the matter, always in a certain context.
A "Musc Ravageur" shows me very well how great and balanced perfume art can be, which can enhance a sensual experience and, with the right dosage, can also pass as a normal scent.

War and Peace Part II, however, slaps you with its full sexual excess from left to right whether you want it or not and enjoys it like a 7-year-old who just had his first sugar rush from cola!
Therefore, in my eyes, the scent can only be worn privately or in a certain circle of people who are all clearly aware of what they are getting into.
I am by no means prude, but I do not want to be olfactorily "pleasured" in my scent openings all the time in public (at the office, while shopping, in the waiting room, etc.)!

Of course, everything is a matter of perception, but do I want to completely block out the first 9 hours and wait until the scent develops into a rough, stripped leather and becomes wearable?
I don't think so; I have to evaluate it for what it is, and that is, in my nose and in the noses of the people I asked, a smoky; steaming; rough/doggy abomination (and please take abomination literally!)

If the scent is supposed to capture the struggle between death and life, then it is a clear concept scent that tends more towards "art direction," and with art, it is often the case.... for one, Joseph Beuys' "Fettecke" is a revelation, for another, "garbage" that can be thrown away.

What I have learned over the years is that you can't please everyone, and an opinion should also stimulate discourse, which might be more important now than ever.

Craft-wise, everything may be great, the raw materials ancient, authentic, and we live in a time (whether that's good or not) where everyone can do what they want... but it is not bearable and not publicly acceptable!

ps: Here is just a quote for his latest creation Cuir de Russie, where my goodwill eventually runs out: (Without source citation, as linking is not allowed)
The leather here rapidly becomes far too thickly musky, smoky, dirty, and animalic to resemble that - which brings me to Cuir de Russie’s “beaver tail oil.” I asked Russian Adam what it was; I knew it couldn’t be castoreum because the latter comes from beaver castor glands. I’ll spare you the precise details but Adam said the materials were ethically sourced from beavers that were killed within legal limits and were not killed for perfumery, and that the ensuing, extracted oil smelled “like a castoreum times ten with a delicious faucets of fermented hindi oud…”

Super delicious, I can only say!

pps. I love you all, and the moderators can trust you to be capable of discussing reasonably.

ppps: Unfortunately, the comment is now quite distorted, but I wanted to publish it anyway because it was important to me!

Actually, there is nothing more to add to the fragrance after the comment from the highly esteemed member "Profumo".

Everything important and insightful has been mentioned.
My humble, subjective opinion is, of course, finely woven into this text :)

Disclaimer:
This text refers solely to Austria and my experiences there (Germany is indeed a paradise when it comes to perfume).

Rather, I am concerned here with my personal aversion to a corporate policy of
"Artificial Scarcity in the Luxury Segment".

For some, it may be a great and exciting pastime to chase after a beloved perfume that they have wanted for a long time.
This form of satisfaction, when one finally holds the coveted scent in their hands after a seemingly endless odyssey, simply eludes me.
Of course, fragrances are my hobby, and I know how much money people invest in their hobbies; no one needs to tell me that. But a hobby should also be something that is fun and not devolve into research work.

In the case of fragrances, I find this practice even more senseless and downright strange than, for example, with the trendy bags from Louis Vuitton, Hermès, or Chanel.
These are "status symbols" that almost everyone in the world knows and can immediately categorize.
(The crowning glory of all this, however, are certain models from Rolex, but that is another topic.)
I could wear a "common" Lubin "Condottiere" every day for 20 years, and with a lot of luck, maybe 1 person would recognize this scent and nod at me appreciatively.

Don't get me wrong; I don't want the fragrance to make me an elitist snob, not at all...
I just simply don't want the manufacturer to suggest this with their sales policy... it is "just" a perfume, a consumable item... just a scent that sounds damn good from the description, and I simply want to test it before I buy it, nothing more, nothing less "POINT".
But if this small detail is already the biggest entry hurdle, then something is seriously rotten in the state of Denmark.

I also understand the objections of those who say:
"Yes, that's why it's called luxury; you don't need it to survive, and if you're so upset, just don't buy it, and the drop is licked."

But I find it quite arrogant and not very customer-oriented to expect someone to buy a €250 fragrance "WITHOUT SAMPLES" just like that!

On top of that, I:
a) simply don't have the time to write to all the perfumeries, and
b) I just don't like begging for samples that don't exist in Austria!

I am probably the only person in Austria who owns this fragrance because no one has the opportunity to go into a store, test the scent, and say:
"Yes, it really smells great, it's worth the money, I'd like to buy it" "Wrap it up, please!"

No, where are we headed... that would be too easy... our fragrance in the hands of Jeremy Pascal?
The manufacturer cannot provide you with information on where and, above all, how many of his exclusive fragrances have been shipped and refers to the list of sources... I can do that now :)

Exactly 1 unit of the fragrance is shipped by the manufacturer to Austria, without a tester, mind you, and this 1 fragrance then leads a lonely existence in some perfumery until someone obtains a sample through back channels from Germany and then has the mercy to write to various perfumeries in Austria that are listed as sources on the manufacturer's website to find out if the fragrance is even available in the listed perfumeries, only to then learn from the perfumeries: No, we never had it... Wait What....??? *BOOOOM* Brainfuck Deluxe.....
This is how customer loyalty and service from the manufacturer's side works.........NOT!

You can see that what I have been condemning all this time, I have done anyway!
Am I ashamed for supporting this business policy?
Yes, somewhat.
Did I enjoy "working" so hard for a fragrance?
No.
Do I like the fragrance?
Yes, to an extraordinary degree.

You see, it's quite complicated.
So if anyone has managed to get the fragrance in Austria, please contact me and tell me how you did it :)

The fragrance itself:
*Insert comment from Profumo here*

A truly outstanding fragrance that, for me, closes the circle to, as mentioned above, my hobby.
The beautiful four-part harmony of green violets, finely bitter leather, powdery iris, and aromas of berries (without their penetrating sweetness and often sharp synthetic notes) demonstrates great craftsmanship and an incredible sense for the essential!


I do have something new to add to the fragrance:
Do you know Swizzels - Fizzers?
Perfect, that's how it smells! :D

According to my better half (with my incredulous astonishment... does she mean it, is she allowed to?.... after everything I've been through)

*Shoulder shrug*

So much for the "oh so great" exclusivity :D

Addendum:
December 23, 2020
Lubin seems to have relented, and the fragrance is now available on well-known sites. This makes my comment a bit obsolete, but so what.
Happy spraying!

Sometimes in life, expectations and actual reality can be very far apart.

I don't want to say anything, but let your gaze linger for a moment on the fragrance notes....take in the words: Lapsang Souchong tea, Russian leather, oud, black amber, patchouli, Breuzinho, bakhoor, labdanum, TEMPLE INCENSE deeply into your consciousness!

What do you think the fragrance will offer you?

Right, the incense will make you tear up,
"Vi Et Armis East India" is a joke in comparison, for a cozy "cuddle evening" with your girlfriend.
You wear "Cardinal" for "making love".

Well........*NOPE*
If the fragrance had been called "Dip chocolate cookies in warm tea with honey and orange and lemon in the sauna area," then......*sigh* well.... then I would have known what I was getting.

But the saying: "What you see is what you get" has never strayed so far for me with any perfume as it has with this one!

So what do you get?
A "chocolate black tea Jaffa cake" gourmand bomb of the highest quality with "orange speckles," somewhere there’s also a slight smoky note "hiding" (but not a normal smoky note, it’s somehow like the scent in a sauna landscape in the relaxation area)......where that comes from is a mystery to me *wink*

The longevity is extremely good (10 hours +)
The sillage, on the other hand, is "pleasant" at half a meter without filling rooms.

Today is that time again.
The annual Christmas train ride to visit family is upon us.

Twice a year, my parents are blessed with my presence. (More often would be nice, but time is always a tricky matter)

As an attentive reader of my comments, some of you surely already know about my "Noir Extreme" experience, just in the summer :)
11 hours on a train can certainly be used to dedicate oneself to one or another fragrance, especially when it comes to such an unusual specimen as "Blackmail."
(Note from the editor: The Wunderwuzzi is better known in Germany as: Tausendsassa)

My today's *victim* (or am I the victim of the fragrance) impresses with a very high reaction rate to its environment. This means...
whenever I have worn this fragrance, I have been approached about it.
Both positively and negatively (with negative remarks prevailing) Note from the editor: "Philistines"

What have I not heard, would you like a little sample?
Pipe tobacco, Christmas market, cedar oil, ointment, tea shop, etc.
From olfactory assault to "This scent makes me aggressive" to "My absolute favorite scent on you" .....

And then there’s "Sonja" Note from the editor: Name changed for privacy reasons, a colleague in her early 50s, who always pulls out her little cookie tin from her desk drawer and makes herself a chai latte when I wear the fragrance.
She says she wants to have the Christmas market feeling at work too :)

Unfortunately, she couldn't convince her husband to try a sample from me. He finds the scent "disgusting"

By the way:
The female gender likes the scent much better than men.
Note from the editor: Jeremy approved quality seal ;)

About the scent:
I don't wear the fragrance to stand out or to collect compliments... I wear it simply because I love the scent.
For me, this fragrance composition is close to the perfect scent.

Why?
I love incense or smoky notes in all variations
Does this fragrance have it? Check!
I like slightly fruity notes
Does this fragrance have it? Check! (and even red berries)
I like a non-intrusive sweetness
Does this fragrance have it? Check!
Does the fragrance last and have a good sillage?
Double Check!

From my perspective, I can hardly say anything negative about the fragrance, except that it is not so good to wear in summer, although
mild summer evenings are definitely fine!

In conclusion, I just want to say that
I find it simply wonderful that the fragrance is perceived differently by everyone and I am happy to have it in my collection!

The Kerosene brand is definitely worth a look if you haven't heard of it yet.

Note from the editor:
Half-time on the train, still 5 hours :)