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

A boozy violet. Thick and medicinal like most of the Serge Lutens line (I love the "house accord"). Not my style. Love the woods, though. I think there's a hint of cedar.

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 was delighted to find Bois de Violette available for testing – even purchase – at Bergdorff’s recently, and given its reputation I plied my way past one of the most pretentious and ill-informed sales associates on planet earth to try it.

For me, wearing Bois de Violette was like lying in a snug cedar box filled with candied violets. Funereal, isn’t it? Well, Bois de Violette is not a "happy" scent. In fact, it’s close, dark, and thick, especially for its first hour on the skin. After that the lugubrious opening accord begins to sweeten and soften – first very slowly, then with exponential acceleration. Just when I think Bois de Violette is going to careen into the side rail of my tolerance for powdered sugar, its engine catches fire, and the resulting cloud of smoke redeems it for me. Once Bois de Violette settles in to its drydown I’m treated to the familiar smoky, spiced honey base that so many of the Lutens fragrances share.

Bois de Violette is an impressive, hard-hitting scent, one of those that I can admire without actually liking. All for the best, as far as my wallet is concerned, since it’s at least one much-praised niche fragrance that I won’t have to buy.

(An aside: Smelling the two side-by-side, it’s clear that Bois de Violette is the inspiration for Tom Ford’s ugly little Black Violet. Were Bois de Violette widely distributed in North America, Mr. Ford need not have bothered.)

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

Much better than the disaster called Un Cedre. It's like Feminite du bois with a violet note that manages to be simultaneously soapy, cold, grassy and candied. Something in it feels foody too, savory, like cumin, saffron or some other spice? Or do I smell my lunch cooking in the kitchen? A cool and airy scent, despite the warmer, richer spicy/woody base. Intriguing.

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.

Starts with a blast of fresh violets,green and tender. Then the cedar comes through,I get a Feminite du Bois feel in the middle notes.
Beauitful fresh light fragrance.

Many find this scent to be a breathtakingly beautiful compositon, a perfect play between the cedary woods int he background and the greenish sweet violet in the fore. I found it merely breathtaking--as in cloyingly sweet, the way violet scents can get. No woods show up on me unil hours in, and the violet is more confection than flower. I much prefer Keiko Mecheri's Genie du Bois (which may be using SL for 'inspiration), in which the woods are much stronger and slightly spicy and powdery, and the violet shrinks to the edges.