L'Eau Serge Lutens by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, 2010

I'm not sure what to say about this fragrance. The idea was interesting, a perfume for those wanting a break from perfume, but the execution wasn't on par with the intention. The fragrance is your typical 'clean linen' cologne - clary sage, aldehydes and citrus. Nothing groundbreaking, and not done especially well, in my opinion. This is SL's attempt at a lighter, ozonic cologne-style fragrance, but I wonder why not make an Eau de Cologne (this is EdT strength)? I cynically presume because EdCs don't, by nature, last long, and SL wanted to keep the price tag high on this. So it's an average EdC style fragrance with EdT longevity. Which is a good thing if it can retain its fresh feeling for the whole time. After a few hours, however, this dries down into just another musky skin scent, ruining the whole feel of the fragrance.

I guess I'll have to eat crow on this one. When L'Eau first came out, I smelled those dumb aquatic topnotes on paper at the store and immediately wrote it off. I even had a sample that went untouched for two years. Then, I finally tried it on... It kicked off with grassy leafy peppery greens, sort of like Cristale but what you'd get if they made an aquatic version in the 90's by adding that cheesy fake melon and dusting it with pepper. Fairly quickly, the melon faded into that background, leaving room for a dry oregano smell to come in, accompanied by something kind of like really salty clay or hot bricks. Somehow, the sum of these parts (mostly salty oregano over an abstract background of sweet but dry mineralic greens verging on clay) actually smelled quite good on me. While I'm comfortable wearing all sorts of food smells, for some reason the strong oregano sillage was a step too far for me - I spent the day worrying that I smelled weird. But I still found L'Eau to be artful and interesting. Sure, it's no Chergui or Arabie, but it does what it does well and without feeling cliched.

This is not antiparfum but anti Serge Lutens. But it smells wonderful anyway. Perfect for daytime or office wear.

L'Eau is a nice warm weather fragrance--very crisp, clean, and like others have mentioned, uncomplicated. It smells like a refreshing summer cocktail of vodka with orange and grapefruit juices and wedges of honeydew melon.

If you like really clean and fresh colognes, this is better (less bad) than most. The soapy quality of it is not too unpleasant, not going too far into the "shower-fresh" territory of too many modern masculine fragrances. It's sort of an "updated" fougere type - it has that licorice-like fern note and vague hints of lavender (or perhaps it's the sage) and citrus.

Fabric softener for Snobs. Just add two bottles of L'Eau to your wash and you'll get that April-fresh Procter&Gamble smell in your laundry. An all-time low for this once glorious, now rather directionless house.

I think everybody on here is overreacting. This is a competent entry into a well worn genre. It isn't terribly unique, but it is a bit unique amongst its "fresh" peers. It has a beverage-like quality not unlike lemonade. In fact, I would say that this fragrance is the lemonade to L'eau par Kenzo Indigo's iced tea. It's quality, like the whole line, and when worn it always makes you think, "gee, that's nice." As people approach you you will be confident that they will like your lemony goodness. Also, even when pressed against the nose and hard-core-huffed, I never detect anything artificial-smelling (but we all know that all perfumes contain artificial ingredients). If this were gifted to me, I would certainly wear it, possibly often. It definitely has a pleasantly unobtrusive quality, and not once during my testing was I even slightly off put. In fact, pending further investigation, I may snatch me up a bottle. When a brand does something you're not used to, it's easy to just yell, "sell out," but then you might miss something great, like "Bleeding Me."

Never thought I'd say this about a Serge Lutens Fragrance, but ho-hum...I'm bored. Thankfully it was a gift so I'm not out of money. I really appreciate that my friend thought of me on her trip to Paris, knowing that I like Serge Lutens fragrances, I just wish she would have asked me first so that she wouldn't be out of money as well. I may eventually wear this on the hotteset of summer days, but I don't see myself reaching for it just for the pleasure of savoring it as there isn't much to go on in complexity or sillage-wise. Hopefully my friend won't ever see this review.

I had high hopes for L'Eau Serge Lutens because a) I respect the creativity and quality Lutens puts into his scents, and b) I love clean, reserved fragrances, so the idea of a scent that smells "like a clean, white shirt" intrigued me. Unfortunately what I experienced upon wearing L'Eau Serge Lutens smelled more like plastic and melted cheese. Basically a grilled cheese sandwich wrapped in cellophane. No freshness. No purity. Sorry, Serge, but we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I'll continue to enjoy Gris Clair (fresh lavender against the backdrop of a bonfire) and Five O'Clock au Gimgembre (autumn and winter holidays in a bottle).

Sporenburg has a point here. I haven't tested L'Eau on my skin yet, but have smelt on a strip. It reminded me of when you first open the washing machine and the, not unpleasant, soapy clean blast that hits you (without the heat). Of course, a lot of water softeners and washing up powders use the same notes and oils that are found in perfumes, albeit on a cheaper scale. I think L'Eau is trying to reach out to a wider audience, so they couldn't really produce another 'Datura Noir' or 'Cedre' and it is a bit disappointing -- it's indicative that a perfumer is not listed. I just hope Lutens has the balls to revert to their more innovative manifesto and not get dragged into the 'perfume vacuum' like Chanel, Dunhill, Dior, Gucci, Davidoff, Boss et al. Update 7th July 2011 This was on sale at Les Senteurs for £35 for 100ml -- so snapped it up. Having now worn it for a day (it could have easily been 2 -- amazing longevity), I must admit it does have some generic nuances -- I'm thinking Calvin Klein for some reason, but it always manages to pull itself away and show some class. So, innofensive and not very original, but a delight to wear.