Reviews of Cèdre (2005)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

tuberose tuberose tuberose tuberose tuberose tuberoset tuberose tuberose tuberose tuberose tuberose tuberose :)
and i loved it! this juice is for real, i get the tuberose but, its tempered so well with resinous woods and amber! i think careful application along with little patience is the key to this one... is quite potent. all the bubble gum, candy references are true to an extent. but certainly a worthy contender for one fo those barbeque parties out in the lawn when you dont need anythin serious. easily unisex. leanin towards feminine though

Serge, Chris, enough with the desserts! Several Sheldrake-Lutens scents, including Rousse, Arabie, and Chergui, are smelling like slightly varied takes on baklava to me. Now I’ll have to add Cèdre to the list as well. Yes, Chergui adds hay, Rousse adds cinnamon, and Cèdre adds woods, but once they begin to dry down on me they grow too similar to warrant owning more than one.

Meanwhile, if there’s any tuberose in Cèdre, it’s gone before I get a chance to catch it, crushed under the freight train full of syrupy amber and dried fruit. Yes, I can smell the resinous cedar in the mix, but it’s very much a backseat passenger. All in all, a disappointment.

This is a tuberose dominated scent. Whatever "cedre" there is, is hidden miles in the background. That being said, this is my favorite Lutens because it is the most wearable one I've experienced. It is sweet, lush, and yes "candied", but never cloying or offensive. Tuberose must be my thing, because I absolutely love this, and if you love tuberose too, I highly suggest sampling this.

This should be called Tubereuse, not Cedre.

Honestly, I expected to love this. I tried to love this. But when I smelled it I thought for a minute that the samples had got mixed up... it reminded me of nothing more than BUBBLEGUM MOUTHWASH. What the heck? It's so sweet! When I was a kid I would brush my teeth with cinnamon toothpaste and then use bubblegum mouthwash and my breath smelled like this.

Mr. Lutens, I know you can do cedar, Feminite du Bois is amazing. I love you Serge, but if I didn't know better I would have thought this was the latest celebrity fragrance, maybe a Britney Spears or similar. Maybe it's because I wasn't expecting sweet. I was expecting cedar!

I agree with Pigeon Murderer's description. Candied is right. It is nice, but my wife said it smelled like an old grandmother. A classy dame at that though.

It starts out honied sweet, as many Lutens do. This floriental is slightly medicinal in its midnotes, fighting for space with a touch of white flower power (must be the tuberose). These are the stars of the scent.

Somewhere in the background, there is certainly some woody feel in the background, which must be the cèdre.

It's grand, it's a Lutens, but a tad feminine (only slightly) and not that interesting for me.

Serge Lutens Cedre

Serge Lutens must have run out of Bois names and just wanted to cut to the chase and therefore Christopher Sheldrake created Cedre in 2005. Because the Serge Lutens line has been so creative and prodigious in their use of cedar, and my appreciation of it as a note, I was looking forward to a scent named simple Cedre. Imagine my surprise when after spraying it on, the top is full of cloves and cinnamon. This is a spicy beginning but where is the cedar? Must be in the heart. There I get tuberose to begin followed by a really nice honeyed amber. The tuberose is really tightly controlled by the amber and never gets to a level of full frontal floral that can be off-putting in a tuberose forward scent. Wait what did I say? Tuberose forward? Where is the cedar? Wait there it is almost 45 minutes after applying this the cedar arrives but it is incredibly subtle and subdued. The tuberose and amber are much more prominent on my skin. The base is a beautiful musk, subtly animalic, which again takes the lead but at least the titular cedar sticks around. This is a beautiful fragrance but it does not participate in truth in advertising rules in its name. Cedre? Only for a short while and it certainly isn't the center of this one. I'm not sure what I would have called this but certainly not Cedre.

This is a strong opening I do not care for in the least. Smells far too feminine for me. I have an image of a professional woman in her mid 30's wearing this scent at the office.

The opening lingers way too long for my liking and really doesn't morph all that much as others have noted. I could not and would not wear this juice.

Very sweet and candied tuberose bouquet layered on a polished planks of white cedarwood. Has some animalics lurking underneath.

On a whole much more interesting than Tuberouse Criminalle. Much more suitable for men too.

The composion can come off quite "flowery bubblegumm", but I actually like that.

Very long lasting, worth to try creation.

Give this scent five minutes and you are in for a treat. It's cedarwood essence at best though -- the tuberose dominates along with a lovely sensual amber. The sillage is fine and the longevity outstanding. I think this is now my favourite of the SL range that I have tried. Probably better for cooler months.Beautiful.

NOT CEDAR! At least not what I'd expect to be cedar. The first few seconds should be totally ignored as the rest of the scent doesn't even smell like it. This is sweet. Also, it's amazing. Smells like a scented candle (can't say which but those "cheap" ones you can get anywhere) but thicker, leagues more refinied and more verbose: where a candle is a pulp comic, this is a novel.

Un Cedre is not pleasing to this Luten's fan. It opens WAY TOO SWEET ~ like the opening of MPG's Centaure, or Ted Lapidus in the grey bottle ~ actually makes me feel queazy. I don't get any tuberose or cedar wood. The drydown is powdery sweet, what I'd classify as oriental, but it's still a big NO for me!

I love this dark rich cedar scent. Another one of my fav.

What is this? I love cedar and I love Serge Lutens, so I expected to love it. But it smells like bubblegum! Bubblegum spiced up with some holiday scented candle. Cheap, synthetic, muddy and just plain nauseating. I'm pretty sure the tuberose is to blame for the bubblegum accord. Alas, if Serge Lutens released a true cedarwood scent I'm sure I'd be all about it...

I'm surprised there are so many bad reviews of this one. It's one of my favourites. Like many Lutens it starts of with a ten second wet burst - in this case a flower which I don't recognize, but all the reviews say is tuberose. Then it transforms into something rich, dark, warm, round, sweet and balanced. The cedar is quite prominent, and I'm normally not a big fan of it (and thus didn't expect to like this one at all) but here the blend with the tuberose is perfect.

I'd say it's easier for a woman to pull off, but it suits me perfectly.

If anyone is familliar with the sparkling and loud Xeryus Rouge 9which I also love), this to me is a warmer, calmer, smoother relative of it.

I really like this one; it reminds me of those French ladies who went off to the colonies with the 'civilizing mission' and stayed forever. Bought a decant but don't know if I'll ever wear it--it feels a little subversive, like I'm cross-dressing if I do anything more than put it on the back of my hand for my own enjoyment and I'm normally not one to worry about convention. For women over forty, definite thumbs up. For men, test and decide.

A masculine, dandish fragrance with a huge hint of seductivity. For the self confident only.

I was spending 4 weeks doing research on perfume and its responses in order to find my holy grail. Along the way, I found this first love: Cedre. It answered all of my criteria: sweet, rich, strong, deep and dark. What I was looking for is a honey trap. Art of seduction and never let go of the grip.
At first, when I tried it on a card, I didn't like it. But when I put on my skin, oh my, it suited perfectly. I come from South East Asia with a natural honey tanned complexion. Cedre goes well with that. It make me smell and feel juicy and one of my secret lover cannot have enough of it (me).
The top and heart note last for about 4-6 hours. Then the juiciness is gone but the trail it leaves is quite mild and tender. However, I do prefer when it was juicy.
Ideally for someone who like very sweet, rich, strong, little bit old-fashioned scent but with a twist and a punch.

This scent starts with a hint of tuberose, but not enough to make it cloying. As one who has smelled pure tuberose, it does not have the powdery scent commonly associated with a tuberose-heavy scent such as White Shoulders or Diptyque's Tubereuse.
While this is not my favorite ceder scent, the ceder is plentiful enough to give the wearer a sense of the outdoors. The amber and spice drydown balances the floral notes.

"Sir, that is as unique a scent as I've ever appreciated on you," stammered my trusted valet! "There is a melange of notes that is harmonius, soothing, and very, very attractive!"

Un Cèdre by Serge Lutens in EDP Haute Concentration strength is a beautiful blend of cedar and tuberose, with significant spices, cloves, amber and musk. The topnotes are dominated by a spicy, floral opening. Cinnamon and/or nutmeg mix with cloves and tuberose, with cedar and amber blending in. As others have noted, cedar never assumes center stage here, and that's just as well since there are already some superb cedar-focused scents available. As the scent progresses the tuberose and spices recede, replaced by a woodsy, ambery, musky drydown. This drydown is longlasting and impressive! I like this one from beginning to end!

Wicozani

As did other people, I expected mostly cedar with a name like this, but found mostly tuberose. This is an attractive but difficult flower for some people to wear. I prefer it paired with a great deal of woodiness, which I did not get here. The clove, which is another note that I like, provided no further assistance in toning down the heat and sweetness of the tuberose. I envy those who can wear this, like I envied those who could wear Dior Poison. On me, it sits on top of the skin and never quite becomes me.

As somoene who loves "florientals," I went in expecting to like "Cedre," but ended up loving it. Spicy, sweet, delicious and elegant. Yum!

This is not a scent for people who don’t like tuberose. The tuberose is very dominant through most of its duration. It’s not that I don’t like tuberose in fragrances, but I think of unalloyed tuberose as being quite feminine. Both on paper and on my skin, the fragrance opens quite strongly with tuberose and animal notes and I like the opening very much. But within half an hour the animal notes are gone and the tuberose, while more mellow, is too tuberosey. The tuberose lasts and lasts, remaining rather linear for the duration of the heart notes. The dry down is excellent—rich, but very light with musk and amber and cedar. The subtle cedar note strikes me as being quite close to an incense note—at any rate, the cedar note is not quite what I am used to, which is not to say I don’t like—in fact, I love it. Those subtle base notes linger on forever, it seems: no problem with lack of longevity here. My quandary is, how do I rate a fragrance that I really dislike the first half but absolutely love the second half? I guess I have to go neutral with it, but the dry down is really great (incense) cedar.

I don't get any cedre or tuberose or spices in this one, just a cloyingly sweet syrup that could perhaps suit a sixtyish lady for a night at the opera. Could never understand all the hype about Serge Lutens. The unisex marketing is a blatant misrepresentation, all ten or so Lutens scents that I tried were positively feminine, if not anile.

Erm... well, as a Serge Lutens admirer I can't say I like this one at all. Like many reviewers here, I did expect something more cedar-like (I got a sample so I hadn't read about its notes), but instead I got what seems like a powerful tuberose. I like tuberose, but prefer it on my female friends. This goes on smelling like old socks and ends up being way too, dare I say, "female" for me, I had to wash it off. Really, it's not a horrible scent by any means, I'm just thinking it is mis-named and perhaps should be aimed only at women.

When I first tried this several months ago I didn't like it. But now... Wow! The most gorgeous drydown of anything I've tried. It's an intriguing scent in all stages too. It has the cedar, cinnamon, cloves, tuberose, amber, musk. A cozy and sophisticated fragrance...a combination which is not too common. I love it. It could almost be my holy grail, I think.

I've sampled a few Serge Lutens fragrances before, but was never really overly impressed by them. That is, until I came across Cedre. The first whiff of this fantastic composition almost made me weak to my knees. So unique and unusual. Also very warm and sensual in my opinion. It does change quite a bit on the skin after a while and mellows down to something honey and amber-like, but with a slight sharpness to it. I think the name is rather misleading, as it has very little to do with cedar. The only difficulty I have with this fragrance is determining how strong it actually comes across as to others. Very shortly after application, I can smell it as rather subtle, but I'm sure that it's in fact not that subtle at all, given it's EdP and all the natural ingredients. It's very long-lasting - pretty much all day, and I can even smell it on my wrist in the morning. Given you can't get it in too many places (mainly Harrods and Harvey Nichols), you won't be smelling it all over the place. Interestingly, the Serge Lutens website doesn't list it, so I wonder if it's just because it's new or because it's some sort of limited edition. Also, it's more of a gourmand scent, so that again limits the user base. Definitely a winner!

While at my local Barney's New York, this fragrance was referred to me by the very cute salesgirl. I expected a deep, beautiful wood, but was instead unpleasantly surprised by a harsh, sharp floral note - my nemesis, the tuberose. I sprayed some on my skin right before leaving the store, to see how it dried down and perhaps give it another try. The shrill tuberose note was present all the way through the drydown of the fragrance, and I never felt like the scent truly settled on my skin. I had to resist the urge to wash it off many times throughout the day. The name "Cedre" is highly misleading, as this is primarily a tuberose fragrance, albeit a very poorly done tuberose fragrance. If it's tuberose you're looking for, Frederic Malle's Carnal Flower is FAR superior.

I went to the store with the intention of buying Chergui. I ended up walking out with Cedre. (Though I eventually returned for Chergui too!). Cedre is sweet, but it dries down to warm woods and amber. I don't understand what people are talking about when they say it's nauseating, saccharine, or cacophonous. On me it is very pleasant and balanced. I suppose this is one that only works for a lucky few. But believe me, when it works, it works well!

Tuberose is just plain nasty on me. But Cedre works,that strange medical note like an addict I just want to keep sniffing it. Rich what else from Lutens,the tuberose is behaved and the cedar makes sure it stays that way.

A disappointment - camphorous, odd and cacophonous. I tried and tried and tried, but never felt like I warmed up to the scent. The cedar is there at the base but sadly so is a touch of tuberose and the entire composition is far too sweet.

This is perfectly balanced on me - honeyed amber with a cidery hint. It's not as long lasting as I'd like (especially given its strength) but while it's there, I'm drawn all too frequently to have wrist to nose.

Cèdre sounded pretty scary to me (tuberose!!!) but after the instant tuberose attack it was suddenly smooth sailing with lovely soft spices and cedarwood. After the tuberose top note has passed Cèdre is soft and gentle and reminds me a bit of Féminite du Bois. I was sceptic but Cèdre was a very nice surprise!

Ugh. A rare mistake for this wonderful house.

Although I am sure many will love Lutens' newest creation in the export line, I was incredibly disappointed. Cedre is supposed to marry cedar to a tuberose opening and some warm spices--hmm, interesting, maybe I'll go find a store which carries it and check it out in person, I thought. So I went to Aedes and spritzed. Tuberose--overly sweet but not nauseatingly heady. So I decided to wait for the drydown, which would of course be luscious cedar. Sadly, no. The scent did not develop on me at all, but remained saccharine tuberose. Ick.
However, some people have found the tuberose tame and the composition balanced. Lucky them.

Admittedly, I like my fragrances soft and delicate, or on the sweet side. I love Serge Lutens Bois series, and for some reason, that is what I was expecting out of Cedre. NOT! I did detect the tuberose on a second test, but this went very masculine (overpoweringly so) quickly. Bitter, harsh amber is what I think I'm smelling (with some vetiver thrown in?). I know Serge doesn't like to classify his scents, but IMO, this is not even close to unisex, and most likely intended for the male gender. Nope, just can't do this one at all.