fume: serge lutens' fumerie turque
serge lutens' fumerie turque: it was fun to see how this one contrasts with tobacco vanille and the lion cupboard. right away at the top it's more SMOKE than unlit pipe tobacco. feels more like you're in a huge catholic church or something monastic with stone walls and candle tapers. it's "gray" and stony (mustier, ashier, but not unpleasantly so) while the tom ford is a warm blond-brown, polished wood and leather. it comes off as this hard to describe thing where it's subtler and more complicated, less immediately sweetly pleasing. and in the middle there are moments here and there where it's downright weird (at the end of the top there's a strange smell i can't pinpoint that i wouldn't name "urine" like other reviewers mention, but can tell is what they're talking about...given my exposure to tea and tisanes i would guess it's the chamomile reacting with something else, maybe the patchouli and redcurrant, so you get this thing that's sort of like hay/straw which to me has always had something in common with urine, plus a tanginess + body smell...it is a little surprising and odd for sure, but it wasn't a dealbreaker to me perhaps because it's so abrupt and then fleeting, as if those components click together like legos for a moment to form that synthesized aroma then break apart just as quickly). i would say it's edgier, but i don't think it's really that hard to wear, and in many ways it's more interesting, cooler in the hip sense of the word (especially the top compared to the tom ford, which is such a wonderful perfume but again the top didn't do anything for me, just smells like perfume alcohol clangor). a lot of reviewers talk of how "dry" it feels, how dusty, and that's part of what makes it seem hipper to me i think--it's not plush or exuberant at all, it's sort of subdued and aloof, complex and standoffish. the drydown is lovely and while not as much of an insane endurance beast as the TF i'm still enjoying it, albeit in a softer, slightly powdery (actually yeah, more like dusty) form, a good 8 hours later.
i would happily wear either one; tom ford's for when you want to be more straightforwardly attractive, this is for when you want to be interesting and completely yourself edges n' all, a little different from others regardless of whether that makes you friendly to everybody or not. naturally they're both hard to obtain (the TF seems to involve shelling out well over $200 no matter where you look, and it turns out the serge is a paris-only thing that was temporarily allowed stateside release but that was 2 years ago, d'oh). i was lamenting to R the mixed blessing of how smashingly well this bout of sampling's been for me--i've never experienced such a parade of "oh my god i would love to be able to look at my dresser and see a bottle of this lying in wait just for me" fragrances before, but that means i've never experienced such heartache at realizing how near-impossible fulfilling that hope really is...had always been pretty content with just my little sample vials and moving on. but this week i've realized i could see myself becoming one of those 'fume fiends who feels naked without some favorite perfume on at will. hmmm.
i would happily wear either one; tom ford's for when you want to be more straightforwardly attractive, this is for when you want to be interesting and completely yourself edges n' all, a little different from others regardless of whether that makes you friendly to everybody or not. naturally they're both hard to obtain (the TF seems to involve shelling out well over $200 no matter where you look, and it turns out the serge is a paris-only thing that was temporarily allowed stateside release but that was 2 years ago, d'oh). i was lamenting to R the mixed blessing of how smashingly well this bout of sampling's been for me--i've never experienced such a parade of "oh my god i would love to be able to look at my dresser and see a bottle of this lying in wait just for me" fragrances before, but that means i've never experienced such heartache at realizing how near-impossible fulfilling that hope really is...had always been pretty content with just my little sample vials and moving on. but this week i've realized i could see myself becoming one of those 'fume fiends who feels naked without some favorite perfume on at will. hmmm.