Gris Clair (2006)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Definitely not the kind of lavender I expected to smell. Smoky, almost completely sun dried grey summer lavender, along with a really nice quality amber note create an interesting, yet linear blend. Unlike most SL creations, this one doesn’t evolve much on my skin, however the more you smell it the more familiar and comforting it becomes. A truly inspired formal winter scent, everyone should at least try.

Smokey Lavender indeed! Absolutely adore this one. This doesn't have the distinct sweetness that most Lutens harbor. Many lavender scents I've tried have failed to impress me the way Gris Clair does. Works perfect in my year round hot and humid weather.

Sorry, but... Seriously? I get grape soda and really not too much else. An hour or 2 into the drydown it smells better, but still. At these prices you want to be blown away right away without having to wait for a drydown. To me this is expensive grape soda for your skin. I'd have to be smacking bubble gum to wear this...

My favourite lavender scent.

Its crisp and sharp accords make this perfectly suitable for the warmer months (if worn during cooler weather, it’ll fail to fully bloom). Gris Clair is fresh, unapologetically dense and possesses plenty of charisma – at no point does it ever develop into generic blandness.

It’s a superb summer staple for anyone’s wardrobe.

[Original submission date: 10 April 2008]

Oh joy! A lavender scent that doesn't turn into stuffy-old-man soap! I love fresh lavender in the garden, but tend to steer away from lavender scents. Unless they have strong animalic components - like Jicky or Ungaro II - they become oppressively soapy on my skin. Not Gris Clair.

My experience is that almost every time Sheldrake and Lutens break out of their obsessive sweet oriental groove, they strike gold: Sa Majeste la Rose, Chene, Un Lys, Tubereuse Criminelle, and now Gris Clair. The element of success in this scent, I believe, is balance. The lavender is palpably real and three-dimensional, but not overwhelming. Instead, it's perfectly offset by smooth woods and soft spices, enlivened by a mild camphoraceous note, and rounded out by just the merest dab of sweetness in the base. It's not sensuous in the manner of most Serge Lutens scents, but rather quite reserved and formal.

Gris Clair is a scent that I would turn too when I'm dressing well in warm weather and want to project sophistication, poise, and confidence. Better than average lasting power and adequate, yet controlled sillage and projection add to its charms. Bravo!

I'm not a big fan of lavender scents, but I'll make an exception for Gris Clair, which I find vastly superior to the unpleasant Encens et Lavande. If EeL smells like cold, acrid ashes, GC radiates a dry heat like the scent of fire, if fire had a scent in itself, without any notes of burning wood or smoke. It feels smoky - it doesn't smell smoky. Perhaps steamy is a better word than smoky, steamy like a sauna. I guess this is the amber since I perceive many amber fragrances as hot and dry in a similar way (some are more syrupy).
The lavender is, to my nose, clearly detectable throughout, but it's a dry, warm, almost woody lavender with a citrusy freshness to it, not your green/herbal or sweet/floral variety. I think I only appreciate lavender like this, when its dry/woody aspects are emphasised in warm, musky fragrances like my beloved Jicky and now Gris Clair. I don't like it when it's paired with aggressively aromatic notes like mint or geranium in cool, green and supposedly "fresh" (more like stale and musty, to my nose) colognes, and I certainly don't like it when it's more feminine à la granny.
As much as I enjoy the hot atmosphere of Gris Clair I have one complaint: I find the basenotes unnecessarily sweet. I think the tonka is to blame.