Gris Clair
Serge Lutens (2006)

I have a soft spot for pie-spiced lavender fougeres - the way they can be simultaneously "perfumey" and floral but also gourmand is really pleasant to me.

Gris Clair lets every note hit hard - everything here is strong, from the lavender to the spices to the tonka/coumarin to the clever ashy incense note. But ultimately, its strength is its main issue. Really, it comes down to the coumarin, which can be extremely sharp with its terpine undertones jabbing at the nose like gas fumes. Somehow, the coumarin in Gris Clair amplifies and sharpens every other note into something unpleasant, and the end result is an aggressive perfume that seems to want to fight.

If you like what this does, minus its anger issues, I'd suggest trying Lutens' lighter take on these notes, Five O'Clock Au Gingembre, or Diptyque's excellent Eau de Lavande.

A cool, dry, melancholy lavender, Gris Clair showcases its herbal, astringent qualities, especially in its opening. I chose to listen to Magnetic Fields' album "Charm of the Highway Strip" before I adorned myself with Gris Clair, and it makes for a complementary soundtrack. "Your eyes are the Mesa Verde: big and brown and far away..."

Dusty wafts from the incense note undulate hauntingly as Gris Clair dries on my skin. I do agree with others that there is also this distinct hot iron element as well, which brings me nostalgia for a time where I did need to press shirts for work, now a distant memory as I permanently work from home. I recall when I was young and felt like I was well on my way to being 'upwardly mobile,' not yet 30, wearing a crisp shirt, walking from the train through Boston's Chinatown to my office, listening to Wim Wertens "Struggle for Pleasure" in my earbuds. Gris Clair is bringing forth memories such of this. It reminds me that I was younger, more naive then. Crisp shirts, crisp outlook.

Here I am today, 43, no where near upwardly mobile, but more content, contemplating the view through a lavender-tinted rear view mirror, with clouds of dust and smoke and Gris Clair slowly warms, with its resinous base embracing me, as if to say, "you have done wonderfully, so far, my friend. You deserve some comfort." This older bottle will be relished.

Lavender and incense, over a bed of semi-sweetened tonka. Beneath a grey sky in autumn, the leaves crunch beneath my feet, and the whole world is gris clair...

Lavender slaps me in the face momentarily, then a creamy mix of an amber and Tonka accord immediately rise up. Lavender weaves in and out... Ever so slowly iris moves in. It increases. It's dry for the most part. It isn't massive but, it's there.

The base is dry with an incense that seems woody, although I couldn't tell you what kind of wood. Later it reveals a bit more floral aspects, always with the woody-incense thing lingering. Iris rises and falls. Overall, this is lovely. Not a strong, pungent thing.

Gris Clair is a great lavender fragrance with tonka and iris that bring a sweetness to the greenness of the lavender. I like it! It's been a very pleasant day with Gris Clair. If you like lavender fragrances, this is a nice one to have in your wardrobe. It's at least worth a sample in my opinion.

You know that boiled water has a smell?

Put an old rusty cast iron kettle full of water on stove, when the it begins to sizzle, open the lid, that rusty metallic, simultaneously hot and cold smell of boiled steam will hit you like a punch in your face.

This is what the opening of this perfume feel like.