L'Eau Froide by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, 2012

L'Eau Froide opens with peppery lemon notes (I believe the lemon comes via olibanum) over light, refreshing spearmint. The result is a kind of cold, breezy fragrance with a prickly, resinous edge. I believe this is the "sea water" accord that everyone is recognizing. As it dries down, vetiver emerges along with a light-to-medium-bodied incense which brings with it some smokiness and a bit of a change in the overall scent-impression. This occurs around the 4 hour mark and remains for the rest of its life, which all but fades completely after about 6 hours. L'eau Froide seems well suited for the summer as it is very cooling and not the least bit heavy. However, that does not mean it is weak. It projects well and has a sturdy, solid construction. In other words, the notes aren't thin, fleeting, or flat despite their levity. I commend Serge Lutens for taking a risk and creating something atypical of the house. This time it was done well and ultimately adds some variety to the Lutens lineup. This is a comfortable and easy wear. Consider L'eau Froide if you are looking for a cool, refreshing summer fragrance built around mint, resins, and incense.

L'Eau Froide opens with a minty menthol over a smokey incense with a soapy feel. Very fresh and light, interesting as well. As it dries, the soapiness wears off, the smokiness emerges more, I guess the incense is becoming more prominent here. Musky undertones, and slightly floral in to the base notes. Longevity is kind of poor, as I only get about 4 or 5 hours with this one. If somebody told me this was a Serge Lutens fragrance, I probably wouldn't believe them. It's far too light and transparent. It is nice though, just not my thing.

I'm probably not the right person to be reviewing this fragrance because I dislike most Lutens' output - too gourmande, heavy, spicy and sweet for me. Though they're always interesting. This is not treated like incense usually is at all, it's not spicy, religious and mysterious, it's freezing cold and stark. There's a huge citronellol gust which reminds me of toilet cleaner, along with the mint which I can never cope with in fine fragrance. Also a weird (defiantly non foody) citrus accord (think flash floor-cleaner) which adds to the "industrial bathroom" feel. It doesn't smell of anything I've ever come across in nature (not that that's a bad thing) It's completely stark and quite eerie with a weird fresh-air metallic edge (helional?) that really adds to the industrial ambience. If someone isolated the accord that makes mainstream men's fragrances so disgusting in that hissy metallic way (is it dihydromyrecenol and calone?) then built a clever sophisticated fragrance round it, it could smell a lot like this...

Hmmm a light citrus incense, gives off a cool 'steely' effect with touches of herb and mint. I didn't get the marine notes. It's ok but not amazing. Had to keep spritzing it all day to keep it going. Could you wear it with a hangover? Probably the only Lutens you could :)

The name is wrong; nothing cool or watery about it. It is an interesting take on Olibanum, and for the first hour or so it is an enjoyable fragrance. After that, it fades away into nothing. Shame.

This is a very pleasant, minty-cool citrus scent. It has quite a lemony opening. This settles into a soapy, clean sort of scent due to the musk. It is rather minimalist, low-key... the antithesis of most Serge Lutens scents which tend to be dense, sweet and foody. The mint and pepper give a refreshing 'bite' to the scent. It would be a good summer splash and wears well (in a very, very restrained way).

An intensely bright citrus musk with a clear, piercing incense note. Clean and refreshing; I don't find it especially 'cold' except for a 'nose of faith' resemblance to the metallic scent of a copper pipe in winter. Another easily wearable Lutens scent, unfairly marked down by those expecting each new scent from this house to match or surpass its precursors for wackiness. Unisex. Longevity about 6 hours. 

One or is it two words? Buttermint!

Yesterday I received a sample L'Eau Froide...exciting! Unfortunately I have to conclude that Mr. Lutens seems to have lost track: the Vitriol d'Oeulliet of last year was kind of adventurous but unwearable, and this Eau Froide is nothing more than a mainstream 13-in-a-dozen kind of Xeryus Rouge/Bleu de Chanel copy of a copy of a copy. It really is time for rigorous changes 'aux Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido'! Time for the return of the daring and unique experiments with which the brand became known. It is too long ago that Serge presented his last masterpiece!

It seems the good people at Lutens got together and said: Guys, we are missing a marked segment, namely the customer who absolutely hates every product in the Lutens line, who has a great disdain for the Lutens signature. We need to satisfy that customer. And that they did. Froide is a sweet musky scent with a discrete incense hovering over it. Not disastrous by any means. It's pleasant enough, it's office friendly, hangs around all day, doesn't make a statement, doesn't get in your way. If you thought Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker was just too raunchy for its own good, this is the "proper", sanded-all-the-interesting-bits-off version.