Les Déserts d'Orient - Songe d'un Bois d'Été (2012)
by Guerlain

Stardate 20161013:

I loved this on paper. Thought it was the best one since LVMH acquired them.
And then I put it on my skin.
Not good. The cumin and the oudy note is not well blended. They try to give it a traditional animalic accord but fail. I think cumin is too piercing here.
It does settle down to a decent frag.
I could give it a thumbs up but the price and my expectation after paper sniffing will not let me

Well who would have thought that Guerlain would come out in this day and age with a dirty leathery spicy fragrance done for a gentleman. On first application I get the cumin body odor fragrance mixed in with a leathery woody oud and saffron. The jasmine is used wonderfully to tame the beast so it puurrss and does not growl on your skin.lol

I get the associations with Dior Leather Oud, but this has been created in a more classy way. The scent is very sensual and intimate, the balance between the dark notes is offset well with the floral jasmine.

As time goes by and the spicy cumin note settles down and this scent just gets better and better. It goes into full seduction mode, the oud, leather and floral touched myrrh does smell like you could don suit and become a Lothario for the night.

I would say this fragrance is for the gentleman who wants to attract the ladies. Very well done!

Wow! Oh wow! This is truly gorgeous. I think I actually felt my eyes glaze over when I first smelled this – it’s simply stunning. I’d only had it on half an hour and I think I must have smelled my wrist at least a dozen times. Ok, fine, probably two dozen. Whatever. I think I’ve found my version of perfume crack – it’s utterly addictive. Purecaramel was kind enough to send me a sample of the perfume oil and the regular perfume (thanks purecaramel!). I tried the oil first. I sprayed (lightly!), I sniffed, and I was completely won over. This is sublime stuff – it’s sweet, spicy, smoky and deeply delicious. I get how people say they smell cumin in this, but I like the smell of cumin, and on me, at least, it’s not annoying at all. Right off the bat, I got super soft jasmine, and, once it dried down, the leather and myrrh sprang to the surface, with a smoky undertone. Three hours later I could still smell the jasmine, only softer and almost creamy. All day I’ve been getting the most beautiful wafts of this, jasmine and spice with smoke and leather – I absolutely love it. It's billed as unisex, and I'm trying to convince my husband to try this, but he's more of a traditionalist with his scents and likes 'em spicy, so I'm hoping to lure him in with some of the more masculine unisex ones. This has gone straight to the top of my wish-list. Try it, please!

UPDATE: Yep, this is definitely my version of perfume crack. Even if I'm wearing something else for the day, I often pull out the bottle just to hoover up the scent, then spend the next minute or so glazed eyed and blissed out. Then I offer a quick prayer to the Lotto fairy to give me the winning numbers so I can buy a full bottle of this gorgeous stuff. Serious love this one!

UPDATE: If I had to be stranded on a desert island, this is the perfume I'd want with me. Just sayin'...guys?...ok I'll shut up now.

Very nice!!As others have mentioned before this is indeed a well crafted fragrance. It carries the sensual elegance of the Leather Oud, the Cumin skankiness of Eau d'Hermes and hints of the scorched Coriander in Tauer Desert. A gourmand quality in that Spiciness, reminiscent of human skin after a fine Curry, Dried Fruit and luxurious Coitus. In a way it outcrafts the others by adding a Guerlain sweet and polished drydown. The Myrrh in particular is exceptional and cuts through the initial sweet opening.

Absolutely wonderful stuff. The smell of burning oud wood supports one the most tangy supple leathers I've ever tried. There's an animalic quality to the leather but rather than being fecal it displays a rich balsamic plush pishyness, raunchy and engaging yet somehow maintaining a debonair tilt.

For what it's worth I prefer this over Leather Oud (Songe's more raucous cousin), Songe just puts on a knife edge the balance of challenging/wearable in such an appealing way while sparkling with life from start to finish. Great stuff, recommended.

8.5/10