Tubéreuse Criminelle (1998)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

This is the first "tuberose" fragrance I've tried. I was warned about the top notes, and yes, they do smell like wintergreen with a whiff of diesel fuel. The smell close to my wrist remained like this for quite a while, but the silage that drifted up to me -- and it was quite strong, despite having applied only a dab or two -- was a white floral. But what a white floral! Heavily indolic, it smelled familiar, and not in a pleasant way. Hopelessly old-fashioned and heavy. A fur coat in mothballs, wrapped in plastic. Shag carpet recently steamed with an industrial strength cleaner and still wet. Wow.

I wonder if I will ever dare try another tuberose. I'm sure I'll test again someday, though probably on fabric. I can't imagine ever putting this on my skin again. I'll give it a few more chances though, and re-edit if anything changes.

Starts out with a strong note of iodine followed by the sharp rubber scent of brand new steel belted radial tires. No kidding! Smells like I'm in the tire store one minute and then in a hospital testing lab the next. Wafting up from behind this very clinical industrial odor is a sweet exotic floral. It's tuberose, a bit of orange blossom and jasmine with an unexpected friendly base note of soft vanilla. It's Nurse Rachet with a big "yes I know" grin. Tuberose Criminelle is exotic and sort of dangerous. I can see how someone would enjoy wearing this fragrance but it would be a guilty pleasure for sure.

Tubéreuse Criminelle is my new tuberose love. After the aldehyde bomb of Fracas and chilly synthetic of Vierges & Toreros, I was starting to become wary of one of my favorite notes, but this has reaffirmed my faith in the beauty of tuberose after so many have failed to live up to the real flower.

The top notes are lovely. I really don't smell the whole gasoline rubber camphor menthol nails-on-chalkboard note many smell in this. No violence here, just a lively, cooling sharpness that modifies the floral bent of this fragrance - wintergreen, to my nose, though there are a host of other notes I that linger on the edge of identification.

When I applied lightly the top notes faded quite quickly; fifteen minutes or so. In the second wearing I I used a heavier application that resulted in them lasting much longer; around two hour hours.

This is quite a sillage-heavy fragrance, so be cautious about how much you apply. Throughout its development the sillage never diminishes, smelling just as strong twelve, even twenty-four hours after application.

Needless to say, the longevity is likewise Herculean. Tubéreuse Criminelle will be with you until you wash it off.

Though the tuberose is always present, as the the top notes give up the ghost the flower really comes into its own.

I find it interesting to compare the note's treatment here with Frederic Malle's Carnal Flower. Before Tubéreuse Criminelle entered my life Carnal Flower was the tuberose in my life, and the only one that could truly satisfy my tuberose hunger. Confronted with Tubéreuse Criminelle I had to ask myself - how could something that smells so different from Carnal Flower smell equally, if not more, like the real thing?

I think a few fellow of my fellow Basenoters - purplebird7 mentioned this a couple reviews before me - are on to something when they talk about real tuberose being rubbery. I don't smell tuberose or tuberose absolute that way but there is a certain something about tuberose; a richness; a heaviness; a hidden depth. Something that adds almost an animal element to an entirely botanical scent, and something that Tubéreuse Criminelle emphasizes in a way that makes it smell almost more real than the living flower.

The tuberose in Carnal Flower is the fragrance of tuberose carried on the evening breeze; the tuberose Tubéreuse Criminelle is a bouquet of tuberose blossoms inhaled deeply.

There are other differences in treatment, too. Carnal Flower has a luminescent transparency; cooling and green. Tubéreuse Criminelle on the other hand, is smolderingly warm and rather oriental in style while still being a soliflore through and through. It's impossible for me to choose between the two when it comes to accuracy, but Tubéreuse Criminelle suits my tastes and aesthetic sensibilities more.

For someone wanting to experience tuberose, try either - and avoid synthetic monstrosities such as Fracas.

Getting back to Tubéreuse Criminelle's development, the drydown is dominated by the tuberose note I just elaborated in detail upon, but there are subtle modifications, including a distinct vanillic base and a gentle whispering of spices. The official notes are listed as "tuberose, orange blossom, hyacinth, jasmine, musk, vanilla, styrax, nutmeg and clove", but other than tuberose, vanilla and the not-listed wintergreen, I wouldn't be able to identify what exactly is in Tubéreuse Criminelle.

Can a man wear this? If he's comfortable smelling like tuberoses, why not? If you love white florals, go and sample this, whatever your gender.

If I ever return to Europe, you better believe I'll be coming home with a bell jar of Tubéreuse Criminelle. Until such a time, I'll just have to make due with decants of this ravishing elixir.

I love the way this smells for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Its really captivating start of hospital air mixed with camphor and asphalt.

Bad news is, after this wonderful beginning this turns into a very simple floral scent. After one hour of application, this is nothing but very pretty and feminine tuberose with other flowers. It reminds very much of the scent of hyacinth, the flower which is traditionally much used here in Finland during the Christmas time.

Of course it still has slightly rubbery scent to it due the tuberose, but I don`t find it anyhow weird or avant-garde.

Tuberose Criminalle is just a nice floral fragrance for women, after all.
That is, if you actually like to smell tuberose or hyacinths on a woman...

I don`t.

Well, if anyone has a hankering for the smelling like Grandma’s mothball stuffed hall closet, look no further because Serge Luten’s Tubereuse Criminelle is for you! I scrunched up my nose so hard when I smelled this – it was teeth-gnashingly revolting. Tubereuse Criminelle’s vaunted top note is a cross between mothballs and the bitterness you get when you take a swig of mentholated Dayquil. Yeah, yeah, a decent tubereuse smell eventually emerges but I just could not get past that nauseating mothball initial note.

For a beautiful creamy floral without any olfactory pain, I much prefer Serge Lutens’ Un Lys to this.

As gleaned from various sources on the internet, here are Tubereuse Criminelle’s notes: menthol, tuberose, orange blossom, jasmine, vanilla, clove and banana.

Tuberose is a very interesting note. For a long time, I thought it was a piercingly sweet floral, and perhaps the flower is extraordinarily sweet in real life. Not so real tuberose absolute. Rather, it carries a heavy aroma like rotten flowers and rubber. Perfume being what it is (a recreation of natural smells) the method for putting the sweetness into the tuberose absolute is to add it back via chemicals--or the few sweet natural substances that are strong enough to compete with it. That is why perfume that uses tuberose absolute is always sweet. Without these additives, it would be ghastly. No one would wear it. No more deviating from the point, on to the review of Serge Lutens Tuberose Criminalle. My favorite aspect about this house is that the perfumers often avoid side-stepping the natural smell of the main accord. Instead, they ramp it up with supporting notes. This perfume is no exception. Dispite all other notes, it still smells like natural tuberose absolute. Another beautiful example is Iris Silver Mist, which smells very nearly exactly like orris butter. So, if you like tuberose, you must try this one before you can claim any familiarity with the note. Either that, or buy a sample vial of the absolute--but you'll never wear it.