Reviews of 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.

Not even having often read it about it prepares you for the initial menthylated vapour rub. When you smell it you remember that Lutens thinks Genet is a great writer, and how wrong he is to think that - like Genet, it's punishingly overstated and has less to say than you would think from all the fuss it makes. The odour of incinerated alkie takes a long while to die back. You keep hoping something sweeter will come of it, like good out of a wasted life, and, with great reluctance, like most addicts, it slowly blossoms but the menthol barracuda is always there just beneath the surface lush. It’s more an Aesop’s fable than a scent, it dies down very mild and sweet as if ideally rehabilitated. Notes: tuberose, orange blossom, hyacinth, jasmine, musk, vanilla, styrax, nutmeg, clove – which only goes to show how little ‘notes’ tell a lay-person because nothing in that list would lead you to guess remotely what the opening is like.

In the very first moment of smelling it i would run away like a cat would when sprayed insecticide on the nose.... yes it most smells like insecticide to me. But it goes away just in five seconds and then comes an earthy summer flowers (sorry no tuberuse yet) but pallensis and dandelion and many from Chrysanthemum family. then to the end yes a bit like tuberuse or Hyacinths but sweet and powdery. Excluding the first moment this is a very nice experience and should be lived....

Vibert's commentary on this fragrance is stellar! A masterpiece indeed, but let me interject....

I will never wear this scent. It is not at all what I wish to smell like. A thumbs up though, as it merits applause!

The opening so often described as "gasoline" or "rubber" seems to me a strong dose of eucalyptus, wintergreen, camphor, or menthol. It's cool, sharp, and bracing, like a good slap in the face with a frosty mitten. Pairing these sinus-clearing top notes with the voluptuous sweetness of tuberose is a stroke of genius - perhaps even the cleverest thing Sheldrake has done.

On its own or in combination with other white flowers, tuberose can be positively oppressive. Cut it with clear camphor, and it's outright refreshing. Unisex, too, as far as I'm concerned. Tubereuse Criminelle wears closer to the skin than some other tuberose scents, with moderate sillage and projection. It lasts a solid six hours on my skin, with a creamy vanillic drydown. The persistent cool menthol notes make this the first tuberose scent I turn to in hot weather.

Tubereuse Criminelle is not the same kind of room-filling diva as Fracas, nor does it share the soft, unearthly luminosity of Carnal Flower. It is very much its own animal. It's surely not for everyone, and it probably takes some nerve to wear, but if you can get into its peculiar groove the rewards are rich.

At first it smells like gasoline + Ben-Guy rheumatism ointment. But after a few minutes I can scent a beautiful chewing-gum-like fragrance, reminding me of bird cherry flowers (Prunus padus), which have so unique, narcotic, "indolic", deep aroma. Love it so much!

This fragrance was quite an experience. When I put it on, it smelled like Dr. Pepper and Root Beer soda! Very sweet and very surprising! As it dried down a thick, heavy earth accord was very noticeable. Like damp, wet earth. I did not detect any of the other notes that some Basenoters have been describing. On my skin, the sweet floral was interwoven with the dark earthiness. It's an interesting fragrance, but not for me.

I love this one, but it's out-of-character for me - a huge, rich femme fatale tuberose, earthy and sultry. I hate BWF's (those big voluptuous florals give me a headeache), so why not this one? For me it's because this floral lives in the earth and doesn't try to breath air. I still don't care for the menthol/rubber opening, though it does set your nose to accept what's coming. I was so relieved when that heavy black note dissipated, I eagerly, almost greedily, devoured the comparative sweetness of the tuberose. Before I realized it, I was mesmerized by the heavy, indolent earthiness of this unapologetic mud flower.
I tried Chanel Gardenia next to it - no contest. Fracas - nope. SL's Datura Noir - no. The Frederic Malle tuberose, and several others with formidable reputations. They were all debutantes playing at being femme fatales next to this true lady of the night.
An interesting note: I was playing with my essential oils, and accidentally put together a rubbery 3-note accord similar to the opening of TC, which involved oakmoss, hyssop, and ylang-ylang.

I don't know if a guy could pull off this one- the Tuberose is quite ripe in the drydown. And you'd have to be a very, er, singular type of girl to pull off the opening- a fire at a tire plant being fed by Vicks Va-Po-Rub. It's brilliant, and in it's way beautiful, but more performance art than perfume.

Yes, I'd still wear it!

Knize Ten/Etro Gomma on acid in a wild tango (or pogo if you like) with Commes des Garcons at an underground party in an abandoned garage. If you are an adventurous type, this one's for you. Rubber and rose somehow make a perfect match, with the tuberose note actually cleaner, sharper and truer in my opinion than in most other tuberose scents my GF has worn (Caron, Malle and Piguet) except maybe Creed's Indiana, which is equally impressive in its own right but not as intriguing. The only Lutens I've been tempted to wear.

I've heard much about this one, especially about its topnotes. Gasoline. Rubber. Menthol. Asphalt. Anyway, I ordered a bottle... and: everything is true. The weirdest topnotes I've ever smelled. Imagine you're filling the tank of your truck at a shabby petrol station... the smell of burnt rubber, hot asphalt and gasoline all around... in your truck you have one of those cheap air refresheners that smell of spearmint mouthwash. That's how Tubereuse Criminelle starts. Now I understand why it's called "criminelle" - it has a dark, strange character. Just shocking. But then the tuberose breaks through. It pushes the strange odor of gasoline away and you get the irradiance of an incredibly beautiful floral scent. The tuberose in here is powerful, but not creamy and damp - it's bright, juicy, uplifting and refreshing. Truly wonderful - and the only tuberose-centered fragrance beside Carnal Flower that's totally suitable for women and men.
For sure, a somehow eccentric scent, but totally addictive and at least worth a try. Normally, I wouldn't give "thumbs up" for a fragrance with these awful topnotes, but the heart and the base make good for the beginning. A masterpiece.

It's interesting to sniff Tuberose Criminelle (what a GREAT name!) but I can't imagine wearing it. I don't think I'll ever put it on my skin to try it again. It smells like hot asphalt, antiseptic, rubbing alcohol, and tuberose. It's the smell you might encounter when stuck in a hospital room on a hot day, while visitors bring in the send of outdoors on their bodies and clothing. The hospital smells mix with the asphalt and tuberose, giving a hint of what's outside, but can't be experienced. That's my observation of Tuberose Criminelle. My six year old son's observation, with crinkled nose,was, "Eeewww. What stinks?"

I love tuberose...but not when it's mixed with Denorex coal tar shampoo. I even waved my wrist under my husband's nose to make sure I wasn't imagining the coal tar, and he confirmed my reaction. I don't want someone to catch a whiff of my expensive perfume and assume that I have a severe dandruff problem!! It's too bad, because the scent of tuberose that shines through the Denorex is quite pretty. Definitely one of the more interesting fragrances out there.

Not a fan. This fragrance seems to be something of a cult favorite but I expressly do not like it. And it's not so much the unorthodox topnotes that make it a non-starter for me - though they're certianly nothing to get happy about, consisting as they do of one or more things, exact sources unknown, that conspire to create an air of camphor-mentholate/tire rubber essence. No, that's not the worst part. What really throws this one for me is the sickly tuberose it's got in there. It's so sweet - and thin! I almost feel sorry for the note, it's so anemic. I like my tuberose heavy, buttery, dry-steamy, distinctly unsweet, very bossy, totally take charge and way over the top. The poor tuberose here is none of those things, none at all. It smells like it's been mistreated; there's almost a little rottenness to it. I guess this fragrance is difficult to come by in the states - I bought a vial from someone a while ago and wore it twice before giving it away. No, I mean - trying to give it away. No one I asked would take it. I'm not even sure what happened to it and I don't care. I dislike this fragrance that much.

An alarming hospital top note makes one panic , long before the flowers appear. It is so akin to anti-bacterial disinfectant or mouthwash as to scare away most people. I am convinced not many stake it out for the drydown. But it’s their loss.
Because after that phase soft flowers emerge not with the piercingly sweet nature of most tuberose fragrances , nothing like Fracas( although I appreciate the blending ) or Blonde or Herrera , which is good in my book as I get suffocated by them. Also lily is evident? That probably accounts for the softness and butteriness , I guess. And there is warmness too. A sensual drydown that is most unexpected after the initial blast.

Like Marlen Dietrich’s name according to Jean Cocteau , but in reverse : it starts with a whip stroke , ends with a caress.
For sadomasochists and people appreciative of The Agony and the Ecstasy

a cold sharp metallic pharmaceutical start silenced by a cold tubereuse shy to show its true colour. a Masterpiece