Un Bois de Sépia (1994)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

The violet (leaf and blossom) and wood top notes put me briefly in mind of a sweetened and superannuated Grey Flannel, though minus the fresh citrus accent of dihydromyrcenol. If you’re thinking violet + wood + Serge Lutens = Bois de Violette Mark II, you’d be wrong. For better or worse, Un Bois de Sépia has little of its sibling’s weight, depth, or opacity. Nor, I fear, does it have much character. In fact, I’d go as far as to call Un Bois de Sépia the mildest and most reticent fragrance I’ve encountered in the Serge Lutens “Bois” series. By the (admittedly flamboyant) standards of this house, Un Bois de Sépia smells downright bland.

The cedar underpinnings common to the “Bois” tribe are apparent in Un Bois de Sépia, but the aggressive spices, conspicuous dried fruit notes, and traces of smoky incense that lend its kin their fetching exoticism are conspicuously absent. All I sense in their place are a dab of coumarin and a milky-textured sweetened wood accord that approximates sandalwood. If the intent was to compose a woody perfume that could offend nobody, then Un Bois de Sépia might rank as a success. On the other hand, it could come in a box labeled “Generic Woody Oriental” and none would be the wiser. In the Serge Lutens line, this kind of anonymity is both anomalous and disappointing.

8th February, 2012. (Last Edited: 9th February, 2012.)

Is not bad at all, but this sweet violet with sugar syrup tones and truffled of pepper, seem follow the guidelines of a designer scheme, in a bad way. In some way, this one reminds me to a sort of armani code without the cocoa line. Moreover , It lacks of the relief of most of Lutens proposals.
The mossy side is not felt as a natural breeze of nature that other mossy proposals bring out.
It is fair to say ,to his credit, that has a certain silky touch that brings elegance and subtlety.

24th November, 2011.

There is a solid, bright woody fragrance here that would find itself almost smelling mainstreamy fresh, if it weren't for that strong dried fruit note. I think it's apricot dominant, but whatever it is it reminds one of those bags you find at health food stores that might be sitting next to a trail mix. This isn't an unpleasant thing, but I just feel that the overly powerful dried fruit smell obscures everything else about Un Bois de Sepia. It's a shame I can't really make anything of it beneath that fruit, as I might have been able to provide a more useful review.

12nd June, 2011.

Un Bois Sepia is one of the Lutens that have a non Lutens aura. While most of Lutens fragrances seems to be based on satured wears of specific notes that he likes, like dried fruits, narcotic flowers, leather, un bois sepia is just like an harmony of woods and leafs, that has a autumn aura to me. I haven`t saw the connection with Feminite du Bois until I read JaimeB excellent review, and he`s absolutely right. While Feminite du Bois is a winter saturation of sweet woods, ripped plums, cinnamon, Un Bois Sepia seems like a still life picture of vetiver leafs, sandalwood, cypress and opoponax. There`s a pinch of fruits here too, like part of the aroma of the fruits remained in this dry, leafy composition. Beautiful in an austere way, one of my favorite lutens from the entire line.

18th October, 2010.

A true triumph of oak moss, vetiver, and sandalwood opoponax. One of the most elegant perfumes I've ever tried (and I've tried so many...).
Graceful and fresh aromas, coming from a delicate undergrowth dampened by dawn.
Despite its delicacy and warmth, this is a fragrance with a strong character, refined but not weak. Sensual, brilliant but at the same time, strong and determined. Beautiful.
Suitable for use in the evening.

19th September, 2010.

From the listed notes, I thought I would be safe with this one and it seemed an excellent candidate for my loving it… No such luck. In the opening the first thing I smelled was the ubiquitous (in recent releases) violet leaf. I guess that means a very short review. I can’t smell anything through the (to me) piercing green note, so I have to wait until the violet leaf dissolves before I can find anything going on underneath. When the violet note is pretty much gone, I get a very light wood accord. Of the sandalwood, cypress, vetiver, patchouli, and opoponax that the pyramid mentions, I can eke out the sandalwood, cypress, and vetiver… I get no patchouli… no opoponax: There’s still enough violet leaf left to overcome the darker, more sensuous base notes. After the violet, I get very little substance – apparently Un Bois Sépia is a very light and subtle fragrance, and, toward the end, there’s not enough substance left for me to determine the quality of the materials, proportions, or blending so I have to go with either a thumbs down for the violet leaf or a neutral for “I don’t know.”

11th December, 2009.