icemanjr

Reviewing based on my testing of the Serge Lutens Matin Collection discovery set (Parole d'Eau, L'Eau Serge Lutens, Dans le bleu qui pétille).

This review covers all 3 of these fragrances.

L'Eau: A fragrance modeled in the recently popular style of "laundry" style fragrances. Serves in that capacity competently, but nothing exciting for me. Equivalent to any number of fragrances in that same style, some extremely expensive (Blanche Absolu) and some dirt cheap (Clean Cool Cotton). Neutral reaction from me.

Dans le bleu qui petille ("in the sparkling blue): This was a weird one for me. It definitely has that signature Lutens DNA which has been described as "dust and nostalgia" by another reviewer here but which I would describe also as "baroque and sentimental." Beyond that, it's a light, incense-y smoky aquatic. Something about it did not work for me. Negative reaction from me.

Parole d'Eau: This was the last one I tried and I went into it with some trepidation after dans le bleu. But what I got was a really pleasant, non-aquatic, lemon & woods freshie with a little bit of Serge Luten's classy old-world charm. And some eucalyptus too. This is an atypical freshie which imparts a strange sense of sophistication to its wearer. Clean, fresh, lemony, woody, and slightly herby. Definitely my favorite of the three. To me this is the kind of fragrance that a gentleman scholar puts on when they want to feel fresh.

For me this is one of the greatest fragrances I've ever smelled. It reminds me of the color blue, or, more specifically, of "Klein Blue," a work which I strongly suspect served as a conceptual inspiration behind this composition.

As the reviewer below me aptly observed, "Instantly, images of an art exhibition (abstract painting) flash through my mind. And a swimming pool association also comes to mind right away." I concur wholeheartedly with these associations.

Interestingly, just a year before this fragrance was released, an animation (based on an earlier short story) was released, that conceptually married avant-garde art and swimming pools. "Zima Blue," the 2019 episode of Netflix's "Love Death and Robots," concerns (spoiler alert) a robotic pool cleaner that develops sentience and becomes a famous artist. The artist's output consists of abstract monochrome paintings of a specific shade of blue (later revealed to have been inspired by the artist's former existence as a swimming pool cleaning robot). The concept of an artist preoccupied with a specific shade of blue is of course inspired by Yves Klein and Klein Blue.

Anyway, all of this to say, that Phtaloblue treats similar concepts as Zima Blue: abstract art, swimming pools, and meditations on the color blue itself; and considering that we're talking about a fragrance here, this is no small task to convey. The name Phtaloblue does do some of the heavy lifting, deriving from Phtalo Green, and instantly creating the connection between this fragrance, painting, and synthetic pigments.

But even beyond all of that, for me this smell is supremely pleasant and wearable.

As far as performance goes, projection/sillage is decent, but longevity is just average.

Fresh, metallic, floral, and... CREAMY?

Imagine if you will, a metal bowl filled with some kind of nu-milk, with sandalwood and cyclamen as the "cereal." That's the mental picture this fragrance creates for me.

I do almost sense some kind of cantaloupe-y sweetness as another reviewer here mentioned, but it lingers at the edge of my perception, adding a vaguely fruity sweetness.

I also feel like this would be most appropriate (or even borderline ONLY appropriate) either in clear, moderate, springtime weather, or indoors. In my subjective opinion, it's too creamy for the summer and too soft for the fall/winter.

I'm getting the sandalwood, I'm getting some florals (which I guess are cyclamen, I don't know what they smell like well enough to identify), I'm getting some cold metallic undertones. I wouldn't call this spicy to be honest, or at least it isn't on my skin.

There are some light herbal features that could potentially be attributed to either the tea, the vetiver, or the sequoia. I wouldn't go so far as to call this "green," though. Rather, I'm getting the color white from this (perhaps subconsciously informed by the color of the bottle).

I'm also not getting powdery, but rather for me this is creamy. The creaminess is most likely from the sandalwood, but it could be from the florals. I'm not too familiar with cyclamen to be able to say.

I was expecting something a little more masculine so this isn't quite a winner for me personally, but it's certainly an interesting smell.

Ultimately this is a very specific (niche!) smell, and not one that will please the masses - though this is not at all to say that it is unpleasant.

If you're a person with avant-garde and feminine sensibilities and you live somewhere with year-round spring weather this could be a good signature scent.

Longevity and sillage are both solid (above average).

I'll start off by saying, this is a review based on the official sample of the Eau de Parfum concentration version. Also, full disclosure, gourmands are not really my usual thing.

So, the sample that I have is just a little vial of the liquid - no rollerball, no applicator, no atomizer. So in applying this I may have overdone it a bit (and some got on the floor). I'd estimate that I used at least .25 to .5 ml of the 2.5ml sample in that initial attempt.

Anyway, the opening for me was actually kind of unpleasant. Just a cacophony of notes, and I couldn't make much of it. Possibly the opening was overpowered with the alcohol of the rum top note? I can't be sure.

But a couple of minutes later once it dried down a bit, it was really beautiful. I mainly got soft woods, (raw) cocoa and a smell that to me smelled just like butter (like, food butter) but which I assume is the orris butter, with a subtle coffee smell underneath. I couldn't pick out any of the other notes specifically, but I imagine they were in there, blended in with the rest. Biggest players here for me were cocoa and BUTTER (like, for food - that's how I perceived it). As odd as it sounds, the butter scent was actually oddly pleasant.

I would describe this fragrance experience as being principally (1) gourmand (cocoa + coffee + butter), as well as (2) creamy (from the butter / orris butter), (3) woody (sandalwood + papyrus), and then also mildly (4) powdery (from the cocoa?). I would say that, contrary to the ratings it has so far, for me it was much more creamy than powdery. I didn't find it to be spicy at all.

For projection/sillage I found it to stay close to the skin. Not a huge amount of projection. But it never disappeared on me. Which brings me to my biggest compliment for this fragrance.

Longevity on me was amazing! I applied the fragrance in the evening, around 9:00pm on my upper arm. I could smell it strongly on my skin (though not so much in the air) for the rest of the night. I went to bed at 11:30pm or so still smelling it. And when I woke up at 8:00am or so, I could still smell it crystal clear on my arm. I'm still smelling it now, though a bit more faintly, at 11:30am. So all I can say about longevity is that it appears to be stellar, even considering that I was using the EDP concentration rather than the extrait.

Bottom line? Though I generally prefer a more assertive fragrance, and I don't love gourmands, this was still really pleasant. I don't think it's full bottle worthy for my personal taste, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who enjoys cocoa in their fragrances. For me, if I received this as a gift, I would use on a cozy indoor days.