Saturday 8 June 2013

Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin

I've had a sample of La Fille de Berlin lying around for some time, which I've tried on and off, in addition to the occasional wearing after a visit to a department store. I just haven't felt particularly compelled to write about it. bearing in mind that I haven't been doing much writing anyway, to be fair.

Don't get me wrong. I actually like La Fille de Berlin - it is well made, as is always the case with Serge Lutens, but it doesn't excite me. Part of the problem, for want of a better word, is that I am already familiar with Lutens' other rose fragrances, namely Rose de Nuit and Sa Majeste La Rose, and both of those strike me as more interesting, at least to my nose. In my opinion, La Fille de Berlin falls somewhere between these two, almost a hybrid. Rose de Nuit is a darker rose, with woodier notes, a slightly polished feel in the sense of polished wood, and complex. Sa Majeste La Rose is bright, sunny and exuberant, like a pure distillation of some heady rose flower, and not for the faint hearted. La Fille de Berlin, however, is more subdued, a bit more restrained, perhaps a result of the use of violet and pepper notes, yet is still recognisably rosy. 

Perhaps this post is damning La Fille de Berlin with faint praise. I hope not, because I certainly don't want to do that. I guess what I am trying to say is that I just prefer the more extremes explored by the two other Lutens rose fragrances. I must admit that La Fille de Berlin would be better suited to everyday wear compared to the others.

6 comments:

  1. Hello Michael! As a fan or should I say devotee of SMLR, haven't tried the other two, and that's fine by me, esp given that we tend to have similar feelings about perfume. These days I'm just using what I have, and trying not to get pulled in by lemmings! ;)

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    1. Carol, that's not a bad philosophy. La Fille de Berlin is part of the main range though, so should be fairly easy to obtain a sample from most higher-end department stores, I should expect.

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  2. I have been underwhelmed with this one so far as well. I think that has been the general consensus from the noses I trust as well. Thanks for the write up.

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    1. David, thanks. I can't say I've been overwhelmed by too many Lutens fragrances of late, but accept that they need to evolve and try a few different things.

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  3. I know exactly what you mean. It's good, but, an "everyday Serge Lutens"?? I want to be intrigued and even haunted by SL's olfactory poems, not just thinking, "Hmm...nice." I had the same reaction to his carnation perfume, "Pissed Off Carnation". It was...nice.

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    1. Marla, I think my comment to David applies equally to yours. It'll be interesting to see what route Lutens takes over the next year or so. Maybe an oud (tongue in cheek)?

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