Rousse
Serge Lutens (2007)

Time has been hard on the mid-2000's cinnamon/clove/wood genre, leaving more than a few CDG's and their ilk as unfortunate reminders of a simpler time when we all apparently wanted to smell like the cheapest possible Christmas candles and potpourri. For what it's worth, Rousse lives on as one of the best-in-class examples of the style, thanks largely to its subtlety (something Lutens was definitely not know for at the time...).

Unlike the glaringly obvious cinnamon bubble gum spicebombs of the time (pun intended), Rousse plays its holiday spices against a rather nice rose note, all painted in hazy watercolor on a chalky, perfumey iris/musk canvas. The result is a cinnamon/clove scent that feels quite artistic instead of bombastic. Thumbs up for making me enjoy Red Hot cinnamon again...

???????? i'm having a strange experience here.

i put chanel's bois des iles parfum on the top of my right forearm so that i could smell it again before buying it. i had swooned over it a year ago. this time i didn't have such an enthusiastic reaction. so, i put some sl rousse on the inside of my forearm for entertainment. i went on to put sl fille en aiguilles on the inside of my left arm. then donna karan wenge on the top of my left.

over a period of time, i sniffed them all. none of them grabbed me when i had my nose on/near my skin. i had been using the computer for some time, so i propped my chin in my right palm. sniff. oo! where is that wonderful smell coming from? sniffed the samples close to the skin. no.... this happened several times. what i liked was illusive. and it kept changing. i couldn't tell where the smell in the air was coming from.

i think it was the rousse. up close: not much. but somewhere close by: yum. maybe it was a layering effect of rousse and bois. maybe wenge was drifting over. i'll have to try tomorrow and be disciplined enough to only apply rousse.

if it is the rousse, i like it. it plays peek-a-boo. sometimes cinnamon, but faint. sometimes other spices? so many other hints, but i'm not good at isolating and naming ingredients. and i love woods, which i sometimes smell.

this isn't like any of the sl's i have tried. i think this is a private sent. just for me.

the problem is the $$$$. maybe tomorrow i won't like it....

A dry, quiet combo of cinnamon, clove and cedar.

I get none of the other notes mentioned, no orange, no carrot seed or anise (as Turin observed), no amber or vanilla.

It's not loud as some reviewers found it, like cinnamon tea or candy, to my nose. It's quite linear and dry, also long-lasting. It stays close to the skin, which makes it inoffensive for office wear.

Its only drawback comes if worn in hot weather, as there is a non-washed, sweaty scent in heat that can have a cinnamon vibe, and this might get you disapproving looks in certain situations. As a winter scent it is unobtrusive and pleasant.

Decent but unremarkable.

I think I can taste the cinnamon sticks we made as kids by dipping toothpicks into our mother's unprotected cinnamon oil from the spice cabinet. They were all the rage when I was 7, and if you were lucky, you could sell 5 for a NICKEL!

Seriously, I taste it when I smell this...not a bad thing I suppose, but sorta odd I guess. It gives the impression of opening up a tupperware container of older cinnamon candies, vanilla toffees, and something stale, but not offensive...just stale.

I don't foresee myself purchasing a FB of this scent, as it doesn't really do anything for me, but it was an interesting trip down memory lane!

An orange opening with an amber background gives way to a pleasant cinnamon that is, however, a bit lackluster on my skin, but is at the core of the drydown experience, with phases of a tuberose-inspired lipstick impression inserted at times. The base adds wood and a resin note, but again, whilst well blended it seems not really taking off in a convincing manner or structure. Silage and projection are good as is the six-hour longevity. Not bad at all then for a gourmand for colder climes, but just not in the top shelf.

Genre: Woody Oriental

Culinary spices rule the roost in Rousse. (Say that three times fast!) Serve Rousse up next to the fruitcake that is Arabie, and you've got yourself a perfectly nice afternoon tea. The spice rack accord at Rousse's heart doesn't excite me, but at least it doesn't swamp me with fruit syrup, either. In the end, I think Rousse is a very conventional fragrance to have come from Serge Lutens, and that makes it something of a disappointment.