Reviews of Bois de Violette (1992)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Aaaahhhhhh, this is scrumptious! Violet and wood. The violet here is absolutely succulent! It is deep, rich and dark (as opposed to bright/fresh/dewey). I actually salivate when smelling this Luten's masterpiece. It immediately reminds me of Dolce Vita - only better! The funny thing is, after reading Perfumes The Guide, I discover they are related! Bois de Violette pushes all the right buttons for me...including the woods blend, which does not strike me as dominantly cedar...it is crafted well and comes off as very wearable by either a man or woman. Maybe just a touch more feminine. In any case, I emptied my wallet for this one...and have not a single regret!

I am completely smitten with this fragrance. It is so ellusive, so beautiful...All other violets fall short in comparison.

My wife likes Kenneth Cole Signature on me, so I wanted to compare the Serge Lutens treatment.

Very nice - especially the strong violet-leaf introduction for green sharpness, and the feeling that I had just lain in a shady grove, crushing blooming violets (instead of swimming in violet water).

The woody drydown is not quite as intense or longlasting as my current cedar standard, by Azzaro, so my SL favorites will remain Ambre Sultan and Santal de Mysore.

~Cedar, violet leaves and flowers~ The first time I tried this fragrance I passed it off, but the second time it really grabbed me. The degree to which different people smell a different balance of the cedar and violet is all over the board. As is the take on the violet itself - oversweet, dry, cloying, natural. Absolutely no consensus...
The opening, which supposedly is cedar, was for me a sort of boozy whiskey/rum - violet note, rough and quiet, quite sensual. It grabbed me immediately. I got a touch of indefinable wood, which seemed separate from the boozy note. There may have been a citrus causing the wood to turn to whiskey or rum in my nose. After about five minutes a leather note started emerging, smokey, sensual and utterly compelling with that smooth, quiet, deep little violet. I found it compulsively sniffable at that point. I have to say I'm on a leather kick at the moment, and anything that is vaguely leather is blowing me away. So I'm willing to say it may be my nose at the present time, but I'm hoping it will always stay the way I smelled it today. This one finally won me over to Serge Lutens. There really is a superior understanding involved to be able to tease out the darker, sensual aspects of the quiet, soft, intimate little violet and showcase it so perfectly in counterpoint with a leather. It turns it into a violet the color of smoky lavender gray with veins of oakmoss green and shadows of leather brown. Is there a touch of dry chocolate? I don't think so, but it comes to mind. The cedar starts coming out a little more in the drydown and is my least favorite part, though still good. I've been getting a little tired of of cedarwood in fragrances lately, so I'm probably suffering from overkill, otherwise I might like the more cedary drydown just fine.