Fragrance Reviews by chromatone

Although this is marked as a fragrance for females, I found that it works quite well for male also. Initially it is very powerful, but the dry down mellows out and stays true. First impressions of passer-by's point out notes of almond and a smooth variant of baby/talcum powder. Louve wears down on me dry, velvety, smooth, and unimposing - yet strong in its purpose. It enjoys a solid foundation in Vanilla with a touch of very mild Amber. Not too much sweet candy syrup, as found in some of the others in the Lutens line. Louve is welcome on my skin any day.

The initial scent of Chêne is that of a fairly standard "wood" with a few sweet extras lingering in the back. However, the drydown quickly exposes a copious dose of sun-baked car seat cushion and dry-rotted dashboard vinyl, with a healthy side serving of faded "pine tree" car freshener, rust, and antifreeze. Essentially it shared many tonal qualities with the interior of an older, unclean automobile left in the sun. To be sure it was not a bad reaction on my own skin, I applied the fragrance onto a friend of mine who came to the same conclusions, who added that Chêne has a bit of asphalt and car wash notes. After cleansing with warm soap and water, the scent still imposed on my skin for another 12 hours before finally leaving me in peace. I am a big fan of the Lutens line, but this one makes me wonder if it is just a joke in a bottle.