Reviews of Daim Blond (2004)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Incredibly different. Opens up with the hawthorne blast but settles smoothly. The leather is not fierce or obvious. It is very fine and soft like lovely Argentinian leather worn further down between a gaucho's thighs.

So charming... It is very earthy and lively. Well blended layers of flowers apricot and musk is staying very near to skin and seductive at the same time. It is a love at first sight for me. The only drawback could be the strong apricot which made the dear tresor boring for me after several use. but now all thumbs of mine are up.

Apricots, cardamon, and leather. Smells like fall-- leaves turning color, spices for baking persimmons and parsnips, soft leather boots. Sweet like pumpkin kadu from an Afghan restaurant. Sadly, it fades pretty quickly.

This really does smell like white suede! I LIKE IT!!! It is rather on the femme side of the unisex scale, but that doesn't bother me. On my skin it doesn't turn too sweet. Not that turning sweet is a problem for me. Good for summer nights IMO. This is the only SL frag. that I own a full bottle of.

Utterly sour, too sweet - a huge misunderstanding really. Although the scent spans a wide range of different notes (from the lowest frequencies of leather up to the highest ones of citrus and apricot) I couldn't help but notice a huge gap between those relatively 'fine' layers. The result: thin, chaotic, confusing olfactory. Furthermore, this is probably the only fragrance on the market that makes me sick. I sorry, but there's no poetic license to this statement - it literally makes me sick. Dry down is a nightmare. I expected so much more.

For the last couple of years, I found it very difficult to understand Daim Blond. Looking back now, I was probably expecting something typically Luten-esque, while hoping for a leather fragrance that worked exceedingly well with my skin chemistry. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as heavy as many of the previous Serge Lutens creations, and nor was it the leather scent that I was looking for (but since then, I’ve now concluded that prominent leather scents rarely work on my skin). Also, the reviews on various websites didn’t help matters either – they largely confirmed what I, at the time, considered to be a disappointing release.

Daim Blond remained one of the ‘also-rans’ from this house for quite a while but I, occasionally, found myself compelled to test it from time to time. Indeed the apricot kernel, iris and leather notes were no less inviting but still not quite full bottle-worthy. And then something happened without any warning – its enigma suddenly dissipated and, after a long struggle trying to understanding it, its true nature finally revealed itself to me…

The problem is that Daim Blond is widely misunderstood and, as a result, has received too many lukewarm reviews over the years. Perceiving this creation as a dominant leather scent will only court disappointment. It isn’t really a take on leather but actually a take on suede and this is an important fact that should be acknowledged. In addition, based on the notes, I will go out on a limb here and proclaim that it is not a dominant suede scent either. Although its softness is partly due to the suede note, many tend to overlook the fact that musk is one of its main notes. Based on how it performs out of the bottle, I would say that it is, essentially, a fruity-musk scent with a hint of suede. I believe that if the wearer approaches Daim Blond in this way, they will fully appreciate it for what it is.

I still consider it too soft to wear in public and find its sillage to be too subtle for such occasions (but, then again, I’ve never been terribly enthusiastic about musk scents). However, after further musings, I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be an excellent fragrance to wear either during intimate moments or before going to bed. Many have sung the praises of Musc Ravageur and consider it to be very much appropriate for the aforementioned situations - I consider Daim Blond to be a superior alternative (and with far better longevity). While Musc Ravageur half-convincingly hints at naughty quickies in a nearby cul-de-sac, Daim Blond conjures up vivid images of tender (and yet profound) love-making between freshly laid silk sheets. For me, it’s sexy but in a completely different way. But, then again, this all comes down to personal taste.

So, with this in mind, I urge you to approach Daim Blond once again – both from a completely different perspective and without the prejudice formed by previous reviews.

A lot like Chypre Rouge with a heady medicinal note. A little sweet with apricot and the iris does not smell like iris at all. Leather? Maybe but the whole thing just collapses before I get to that. Too much for me.

This review is under revision.

A bit boring really -- don't get much leather unless a very sweet suede compensates. It's not unpleasant, just too sweet with not much else happening.

Kaern

Daim Blond does come across as very feminine smelling on a strip or from the bottle, but in fact it works very well on my skin.

This is an amazing fragrance but waaay too light! Not much to add about the smell itself that hasn´t already been covered by earlier reviewers - other than that it is a very evocative scent - dreamlike and mesmerizing. When experiencing it I imagine a large piece of the finest suede delicatly sprinkled with jasmine flowers and ripe, fuzzy apricots. The end result is just fantastic, tender and completely unlike perfume as we are used to it. It is the olfactory representation of an idealized
scent of human skin - musky but clean and inviting. One of many Lutens fragrances that are the testament of the resident genius in this house.

The leather and iris alike were far too subtle for my tastes and the apricot too sweet and strong -- even the cardamom was overpowered by the fruity notes. Neutral rating.

Daim Blond is the leather of desire. Sensual skin on skin. If you are going to sample this one, you must - I repeat, MUST wear it on your skin! No sterile white paper ribbons please. I don't wear leather fragrances, but DB is the best you'll find in quality. Highly wearable, modern, close wearing and just plain sexy! This magnificent potion seems to melt and combine itself with human DNA when activated by body heat. Let me take it one step further by suggesting you sample this one along with your partner, then as PLURAN would say:

GET TO IT! (I doubt you'll be disappointed!)

8 hours after applying Daim Blond to my left shoulder, I still pick up the cardamom-dusted apricot suede on my skin, and it is irresistible. A fresh as opposed to dried apricot, similar to yellow plum, it reminds me of the scent sought so avariciously by the main character of Patrick Suskind's novel. It has impressive staying power, too, at least on my "fair deer" skin. I will grant leather lovers that this note is much lighter here than in Tabac Blond, where it intoxicates in ambient smoke and spice soaked in rich, sweet wine. But Daim Blond is far more wearable, subtle and modern. A fast favorite.

On my skin, this fragrance is very feminine. I attribute this to the prominent fruit (apricot, subtle cherry) note. Also, the spice (cardamom) and flower (iris) notes are soft rather than sharp and strong. While I detect no musk, there is a hint of leather, which is on the sweet side, which may be due to the honey-scent of the hawthorn top-note.

I would enjoy this fragrance on a woman, but, since I prefer masculine scents, will not continue to wear it myself.

I was looking for a warm weather scent that was subtle but notable, warm but sophisticated.

Daim Blond is my first brush with Lunten's and it was notably more wearable than the other Luten's I tested that day.

I often wear suede shirts in the evening and have always loved that scent. Daim Blond is buttery soft suede and apricots. The other notes are less notable other than the musk which lingers .

While I bought it thinking it was a scent I could wear anywhere I have become less convinced. It is not a summer day but rather a warm day of rain.

Now, having recently purchased M7 Fresh.... anytime, anywhere... warm, casual, wearable, sophisticated.

A very pure light leather scent. Smells exactly like a apricot, leather and iris. I agree with Elf in that I see this fragrance on a Scandinavian blonde. This one will not be for everyone - its a light headed niche scent for sure. Little earthiness here, but it is still very magnetic like most Lutens fragrances.

suede and apricots. very odd

An angel of opulence. She is a paradox, a fair, dark haired beauty with an inner light that shines so bright as she dances off my skin. An intensity bursts forth immediately, the minty-herbal fresh notes of Hawthorn and Cardamom tantalizes. I then notice the bouquet of iris she's holding effortlessly despite her leaps and spins, her dance calling forth a Spring day. A symbol of her earthbound element, the Apricot Stone--wooden, with an undercurrent of fruit she wears around her neck. Her dress is the ultimate paradox, the colors of blue and white of clear skies warmed by a shimmer of yellow, not of suede cloth, but something magical, impossible to make by any human means. It's the frozen chill of leather captured from Winter's last cool breath, somehow made miraculously bearing only the weight and gauge of a sheath of gossamer silk. Her dance is insistent, until her dance ends like the smell of a faint drizzle of Spring rain.

It was a massive surprise; the first note that hit my nose was an old fashioned antiseptic "Dettol" full strength! Then it settled and the gorgeous butter/leather came curling out. Beautiful but probably not going to be a repeat purchase. The smell of freshly baked bread comes out at odd moments. The florals arrive very late especially heliotrope but stay for a decent while.Divine, as is all SL perfumes
but I think I will stay with Fumerie Turque for bit longer.

first some sweetness, then mothballs. mothballs and cedar for a good while, enough mothballiness that i wondered if my coworkers thought i had taken my clothing out of storage this morning.
later on, it turned to something similar to but sweeter than the different company's sel de vetiver. i would swear this scent's notes were fruit, cedar/mothballs, and sweet vetiver. not bad, but not really likeable.

Wow, it seems that people either love or hate this scent. On me, the apricot is not that defined. What I smell is a light leather that does not overwhelm, a hint of spicy cardamom, and a refined iris scent. For me it's unbelievably sensuous and not too sweet.

Of all the Serge Lutens fragrances I've tried, Daim Blond comes closest to working on me. Contrary to many others, I find nothing subtle in this leather. In fact, to my nose it packs a punch comparable to Caron's Tabac Blond. This is not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.

Like every other Serge Lutens scent that I've tried on, Daim Blond is bold, rich, and brilliantly conceived. Unlike most of the others it is also perfectly balanced and graced with some attractive topnotes. Daim Blond even manages to smell attractive on me, which is more than I can say for all the rest, no matter how fine they are on everybody else.

Daim Blond is promising, and I need to spend some more time with it to decide whether it belongs on my shelf.

A subtle, multi-faceted, yet never in-you-face leather scent. Very classy,sheer, elegant. More ephemeral than many of the SL line, I see it worn by a Scandinavian blonde.

Apricot, heliotrope, leather. What's that? Shampoo! Rubber! Oh, they're gone now. The strange notes receded, serving to put a realistic bitter edge on the leather. Most of the time Daim Blond is apricot leather. In the end, it is apricot alone. Pleasant, a bit masculine. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't smell strong enough long enough.

I agree with purplebird's review below. It's a decent scent but I find it underwhelming. Unlike all the other Lutens I've tried, this one doesn't leave a lasting impression IMO. For me, it lacks sillage and longevity. In fact, once the fruity topnotes fade I can barely detect it at all. It's too bad that it doesn't last long enough on my skin for me to experience the leather drydown (even Dzing! lasts longer than this). For the price, I was expecting a funky leather scent that would stand out from others in the same category. I guess I'll still wear it on days when I don't feel like wearing any scent at all. However, I won't replace my bottle when it's finished.

"Inspired by suede so fine, so soft, so barely perceptible to the touch, like skin on skin, an aura and sensation that intertwine to become one and the same." - Serge Lutens promo for Daim Blond

So barely perceptible to the nose. To become one and the same. Serge Lutens has succeeded on all accounts.

Daim Blond has a funky name ("Damn, Blonde!"). It smells a bit funky too. Opening with a blast of uber sweet ripe apricots with the slightest hint of leather, I felt I was smacked in the face with a sock full of rotting melted candies. The apricot dominates all the notes - theres the slightest hint of leather (which sadly dies as the scent progresses), iris and hawthorn, but its hard to make out the notes because of the strong apricot note. This is strong sweet stuff, and if worn during intense summers, can make you thirsty. Longevity is poor too.

As a leather fragrance, Daim Blond fails miserably. You can barely smell any leather here. If you want a buttery leather, look no further than the majest Royal English Leather by Creed. As a general fragrance, it is mildly interesting (if you like super sweet fragrances, that is). However, as part of the more expensive and exlusive serge lutens line, I really cant recommend this. Its too simplistic with no evolution, doesnt achieve what it aspires too, and Daim Expensive.

So refined, so beauty, so transparent (but no simple), completely unisex..

This is the best fragance I've ever smell.

Daim Blonde is a mysterious fragrance that captures pale suede--which is what it is named for. The drydown stays close to the skin, with a fragile, brittle aroma that is at the edge of interesting and not what I want to wear. It is a fragrance that needs to be tried over time to develop a love for it.

Somewhat surprised by the unenthusiastic reviews so far. This is sensational: not a powerhouse, but ineffably classy and ingeniously constructed. The apricot, almost candied, is deliciously alluring, and the soft leather it encases, lends it tremendous smoothness. The fruit and leather accords simultaneously balance each other and create a powerful, unusual dynamic. Fairly linear, not wildly Lutens-esque, and really quite beautiful.

I do love the opening, it's very soft and creamy with hints of animalic leather, like blond suede indeed. But it also has a sweet fruit note and it dries to an almost soapy fruity/floral, very generic, with none of that lovely suede softness.

its nice but its a little too light for my tastes, really doesnt announce your presence, and it stays very close to the skin on the drydown. I always thought I smelled a bit of cedar on the drydown which is not one of my favourite woods. overall I give this a thumbs up from an objective perspective.

Typical Lutens sledgehammer oriental that left no impression of any kind. I've worn it four times now and can't remember a thing about it aside from seeming like something they'd put out. That speaks volumes.

The firsts Lutens I ever smelled. It has a wonderful dry-down on me, but has an odd burst of cherry cough-syrup at first that while not unpleasant, is a bit odd. It can pop back up on me as I wear it. As I wrote, it's not unpleasant (I find it compelling, myself), but you might want to get a sample of it before committing.

A surprisingly mellow and somewhat fruity leather - very easy to wear and very comforting. Love the buttery suede notes in the opening.

absolutely WOW!! soft, sexy, sensual suede/leather notes that blend with musk right into my skin and smell like i am exuding my own natural aroma! the part that makes it so nice is that the leather notes are soft...so many leather oriented scents go a bit strong..definitely the type of scent that i call a 'snuggle scent'..it makes you want to snuggle up to whomever is wearing it and breathe it in!
like another reviewer wrote..reminiscent of donna karan fuel...but more refined!

I'm not head over heels with Daim Blonde yet, but it's growing on me. As a rule, most leather scents don't really do it for me; I don't mind a minor flourish of leather in a fragrance if it's done in an interesting way, but when it comprises the main story - well, something about that is off-putting. Of course, Daim Blonde is about suede, which is not all that much like leather in scent; actual suede is not nearly as highly scented as leather, largely - I think - because it's not tanned and finished like leather is. In fact, I think suede actually is brushed, untanned leather; I'd look that up but I'm too lazy! Anyway, back to the fragrance - the somewhat elusive qualities of what suede, one of very fine grade, actually does smell like are illustrated here in a way that provokes thought, at the very least. I like the way iris kind of headlines the composition, as it is itself an elusive note, soft yet with a sharpness, powdery and nearly sweet but also earthy like dew-soaked dirt. It's this and that, just as suede is raw and animalic but also plush and purely luxurious. Subtle, very subtle. The entire compositon comes together seamlessly beyond the iris, such that I can hardly pick out precisely what I'm smelling. I consider this a "me" scent, something I wear purely because I know how fine it is even if it's so enitrely subtle that those who detect it on me don't give it a thought. In that regard, it's like an extremely, extremely expensive round of hair salon highlights, the kind that are so meticulously executed that they look natural and effortless, as if your hair color really does look that way on its own. You can't tell where the natural leaves off and the craftsmanship comes in; Daim Blonde is like that to me.

A very soft and smooth fragrance, the leather is very subtle and the floral notes tend to predominate, nonetheless, a great scent.

I am in love....but I am partial to leather scents and Suede is the proper word....soft smooth...almost velvet like in texture....supple, sensual as only good suede can be. I love the tinge of apricot and the iris si so soft....a perfect mixture on my skin. My favorite of the export range!

Bewitching scent. Very gentle leather. Not the harsh and pungent Cuir Mauresque-ish or the over-the-top Bandit-ish. Simple, elegant, first rate.

New from Serge Lutens, it is inspired by a suede so fine, so soft, so barely perceptible to the touch, like skin on skin, an aura and sensation that intertwine to become one and the same. Combine Pallida iris from Tuscany, spicy apricot kernel and Ceylon cardamom, the clean accents of a fresh musk, a sprinkling of heliotrope and crystal clear hawthorn. All this is a delicate reminder of the finest leather. There are fragrances whose richness and character demand a different, stronger expression with higher concentration in order to truly imbue the heart with scent…for these fragrances Serge Lutens introduces a new collection: Eaux de Parfum Haute Concentration. The first creation of this new line, Daim Blond asserts its irresistible charm in a luminous fragrant trail and is adorned in new colours: a black box with a black label.