Fleurs d'Oranger (1995)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Fleurs d'Oranger was among the batch of Serge lutens samples that I got from Aedes de Venustas NYC this weekend. When I first spritzed it on after I sat down on the bus headed back to DC this afternoon, I knew it was a scent that was going to be a little bit too sweet and floral for my taste, but I figured I had a four-hour ride ahead of me and all the patience in the world to allow it to do what ever it was going to do in that time. I thought it it may surprise me since some Serge Lutens scents can be full of surprises (maybe I've been spoiled by Un Lys). As I sniffed, all I kept thinking about were those little bathroom guest soaps that you keep in a dish on your bathroom vanity. At some point it got a little indolic and I'm thinking it was the orange blossom. Nice, but that passed rather quickly into notes of pink bubble gum and candy. In the extreme drydown it was back to a soapy floral. Sorry to say there were no surprises for me with this one. Personally, this isn't a scent I would need to smell again.

Notes: Orange Blossom, White Jasmine, Indian Tuberose, White Rose, Citrus Peel, Hibiscus Seeds, Cumin, Nutmeg

Here we have Mr. Lutens' interpretation of the Florida state flower. Fleurs d'Oranger (FDO) opens with a decent orange blossom note but is quickly conjoined with the white flower twins jasmin and tuberose. The immediate effect is the blooming of a floral, predominantly tuberose aroma with the orange blossom note pushed way in the background. The tuberose note, while dominant, is not of a particularly high quality and the same can be said of the "starring note" of orange blossom which cant match the intensity, brightness or richness of other superior orange blossom/neroli fragrances on the market. But a cause for celebration: the floral melange is well blended, with none of the over-the-top saccharine or over-dosage tendencies of the trademark Lutens gaudiness present in the juice.

The second half of the fragrance does the whole armpit-smell thing (via cumin) in the name of 'exotic-ness'. It may have worked in 1995 but today the cumin-spicy body-odour backdrop to impart uniqueness comes off as a wee bit cliche. After the white flower first half, the backend of FDO slowly infuses vapours of nutmeg and cumin to provide a twist to the formula. A note of caution: body heat and warm weather makes the cumin note bloom more and may end up making you smell like a NYC cab driver on Valentine's day. On the positive side, the cumin-spice backend is well restrained, with none of the indian spice-rack madness evident in some of the other Lutens.

So there it is... FDO is a decent, albeit a tad boring and cliched orange blossom frag from the former Dior makeup-meister. The white floral notes are a bit lacking in quality but the fragrance flows well. There are just too many other neroli/orange blossom fragrances that I would choose to wear before this one. File it under 'Only for Lutens fanboys/girls'.

Rating: 6.5/10.0

Lutens calls it "the scent of happiness". but it evokes so much more than that!
To have paired several massively indolic essences with musk and cumin (the "sweaty" spice) and come up with such a fresh, lively, soft and sensual fragrance is pure genius.
It is ever changing, sometimes innocent and child-like, other times wanton, hedonistic and lewd, always beautiful and seductive.
It took me a while to get acquainted with this one and make friends.
But now, we're partners in crime. :)

If only cheap air freshener smelled this divine! It would save me a ton of money, but unfortunately this is far too high quality to be compared to anything related to the word cheap. C'mon people! Yes there will be some scents that remind you of this, after all there are a million products out there that try to capture this type of scent because it appeals to the masses. But keep in mind that Fleurs d'Oranger IS a floral with a foody citrus-like edge and there are so many products out there that use this type of scent too. Any fragrance that tries to capture this will be condemned for the same reason. And men should not try this one, I hardly feel this qualifies as a "man" scent. Men please, only review this if you are smelling it on a woman, because that is the only standpoint which would allow you to be fair to this Fragrance. It's girly, of course YOU won't like wearing it! It's rich, it's dripping like so many Serge Lutens creations. I've said it once and I'll say it again, if you like your frags tame then steer clear of this entire line. That way the world won't have to read your misleading thumbs down ratings-which only come from the ones that can't take a potent scent.

Facinating really
the first time I smelled Fd'o, I did not realy like it.. I thought it smelled like a old unwashed woman who tries to hide her b.o. with a heavy floral perfume.
It was hard to overcome the cumin and the indolic florals but their was something that made me want to smell it again and again... so much that to this day I'm thinkin of getting my self a bottle. All the elements I used to dislike about this fragrance are now the elements I find so intresting, sensual, almost intoxicating: the sweet citrusy/medicinal top notes some people are talking about (perhaps the tuberose and mandarine), the sweaty cumin, the thick fruity-fecal jasmine, the indolic/phenolic orange blossom, the musky (so-called) ambrette seed, etc... though the dry down is quite clean and does not live up to it's heart and top notes but give and nice rounded and smooth but generic finish(Galaxolide?). Very nice overall

The prior reviews are pretty damned good. I don't really disagree with any of them. There are times I think this smells like cheap sh*t and then there are times I'm captivated. So, why add my two cents? Well, I get a bit of an orange-y Eau d'Hermes vibe from it. So, if you're a fan of that, give this a chance.
Personally it teters a bit too much towards the feminine, but I do so love orange blossom I'm willing to overlook it.
I'm hardly an acolyte of the Lutens & Sheldrake sweetshop, but this gets a positive vote from me. If I just wrote this exact same review but was in a bit of a crappier mood, it would have been sideways.