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Serge Lutens wax samples question

post #1 of 20
8/12/10 at 2:39am
Thread Starter 
Are these an accurate representation of the actual fragrance? I got some of them in the mail, and I loved the Vetiver Oriental and would like to buy it, but should I get a liquid sample from somewhere first?
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post #2 of 20
8/12/10 at 2:58am
I think they are quite good, actually. It varies of course, but all my 'blind buys' have been successful based on the wax samples. If I recall well, the Vetiver Oriental was pretty accurate. I'll get back to you in a few hours and I'll check.
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post #3 of 20
8/12/10 at 3:19am
I think you loose the heads notes, but the drydown is generally near the real scent, without the skin chemistry that would develop a specific note on you (and so changing the fragrance...).
For examples, Tubéreuse criminelle , you don't smell the camphor explosion at the beginning on wax (same for La Myrrhe with aldehydes, with Rahat loukoum the bitter almond when you spray it etc...).
The wax sample is what the fragrance would be on a neutral skin after hours, imo.

I smelled all the lutens fragrance in real and the wax for comparing.
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post #4 of 20
8/12/10 at 7:08am
I find the wax samples to be very one-dimensional compared to the actual juice.

I recently received a card with 4 wax samples from Serge Lutens. One of the scents on this card, Encens et Lavande, I had tested before from a sample spray. On the wax sample I could only really smell the lavender top notes, but the smoky incense base was nowhere to be found. I found the wax sample to be a bit 'thin' smelling and not very intriguing at all, as opposed to the real perfume. That said I would always prefer to sample from a spray or vial rather than a wax sample. Maybe there are other Lutens wax samples that smell closer to the real thing, your results may vary.
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post #5 of 20
8/12/10 at 7:48am
Okay, to my lay nose the Vetiver Oriental wax sample resembles the main theme in the actual juice (I have a decant of it) quite well. I should add I don't particularly enjoy Vetiver Oriental. Of course, it is like Mon-Petit pointed out and Heerst correctly added that the wax sample can come accross quite "thin", but still, in most cases it's pretty good to my nose (exception: e.g. Chergui).
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post #6 of 20
8/12/10 at 8:09am
I would get a sample. I bought one (Chergui) based on wax and while I would not say that the wax was very different, it was different enough to make me regret my choice.
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post #7 of 20
8/12/10 at 9:12am
I definitely second getting a liquid sample first. The wax samples are extremely flat compared with the juice; you might love or hate the facets that don't translate to wax. To me, most of the wax samples smell vaguely of baking (sweet + spices) and are missing their individuality.
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post #8 of 20
8/12/10 at 9:16am
There are differences between the wax samples and the alcohol ones, and not only in the topnotes. The sillage and longevity is not the same, and in some cases the overall fragrance balance is very differente. I`ve bought one mandarine mandarin bell jar because i liked the sweet citrus aroma of the was sample, and on skin the alcohol one revealed an indolic aroma that I hated and couldn`t detect on the wax sample.
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post #9 of 20
8/12/10 at 9:58am
Why wax samples? They sound completely useless. Are they less expensive for the perfumer to make/ship than liquid samples?
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post #10 of 20
8/12/10 at 10:04am
Quote:
Why wax samples? They sound completely useless. Are they less expensive for the perfumer to make/ship than liquid samples?

Liquid samples of the non export line simply don't exist. It's unofficial decant or wax sample if you can't smell them in Paris. It's the concept of SL to not export liquid of the bell jarrs fragrances, naturally not samples.
And the BJ are cheaper for one ml than the 50ml bottles, so i don't think it's for economical reason.
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post #11 of 20
8/12/10 at 11:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosehavn View Post

Why wax samples? They sound completely useless. Are they less expensive for the perfumer to make/ship than liquid samples?

Certainly easier to ship. And one can get a bundle of them for free.

It is a great opportunity to smell a bunch of 'em without having to get decants at $6.50/ml (or whatever the going rate is for a Lutens).
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post #12 of 20
8/13/10 at 5:08am
Sometimes I've been succesful, sometimes not, judging by the wax samples. I believe they all tell you succesfully what genre a fragrance is ( i.e. floral, oriental, chypre ) but do vary from the juice considerably. Mandarine Mandarin, for example, is almost entirely missing its namesake mandarin note in wax form, which rather obscures the fascinating celery and florals accord that I purchased a large decant for.

Sarrasins was my most succesful buy based on wax, but it's a lot thicker, warmer, fruitier, and dirtier in liquid form than the rather chilly, reserved jasmine I smelled in the wax.
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post #13 of 20
6/26/12 at 3:25pm
While many of the wax samples are incredibly accurate (Mandarine Mandarin, Chene, Santal de Mysore, etc) I must say that the Fumerie Turque sample is vastly different. I'm quite a fan of FT and noticed right away when I applied the wax sample that something smelled very different so I quickly grabbed my bottle and sprayed it on my other hand to do a side-by-side comparison.

Vastly different! Now I've heard the rumors of Fumerie Turque being reformulated from BN all the way to Luca Turin's review itself but I wonder: could the wax sample be of the older batch? It's THICK, deep, warm, sweet.. the FT I sprayed on from my bottle smells, frail, thin and light in comparison. I don't think I'll ever view my FT bottle the same again! ;p

I'm not sure how big the batches of wax (actually its more like a very thick gel.. like chapstick consistency) or how many wax sample sets they go through but I wonder if its possible that the FT in these wax sets is still from the original formula? I know the wax versions aren't identical to the actual perfume itself but the FT wax vs perfume is more than obvious. The wax version of FT is superior to the spray bottle by leaps and bounds as far as I'm concerned.
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post #14 of 20
6/27/12 at 3:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mon-Petit View Post

I think you loose the heads notes,

I´ll say that in some Lutens, and not all the head notes.
In MKK -e.g- I detect very well the same explosive richness at the opening that liquid fragance gives you, almost the same in Fumerie turque.
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post #15 of 20
6/27/12 at 3:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scentsitivity View Post

I would get a sample. I bought one (Chergui) based on wax and while I would not say that the wax was very different, it was different enough to make me regret my choice.

The same thing happened to me with Cuir Mauresque. I would choose those that appeal the most to you of the wax samples and order liquid samples of them.
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post #16 of 20
6/27/12 at 3:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rickbr View Post

I`ve bought one mandarine mandarin bell jar because i liked the sweet citrus aroma of the was sample.


I did´t´ detect any citrusy sweetness on the mandarine mandarin wax sample, but rather a bitter/sour and (maybe) clovy mandarine
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post #17 of 20
6/27/12 at 3:14pm
Although I don't buy samples, I always appreciate when companies send liquid samples over others they might have.
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post #18 of 20
9/7/12 at 4:27pm
Could you... Could you wear them as perfumes in their own right? - Disregarding how close or far they are from the real thing?
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post #19 of 20
9/7/12 at 5:10pm
I wore all of mine. I expected the quality and scent representation to be questionable but I found almost all of them to be very precise and also highly wearable (the Santal de Mysore wax lasted almost 24 hours) and projection was decent enough on most. I can't imagine loving a wax sample then being disappointed with the EdP version, or vice versa. Even the sharper scents like La Myrrhe and Chene seemed spot on. Bois et Musc was the only one that seemed to have virtually zero scent to it.
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post #20 of 20
9/7/12 at 5:18pm
I don't think they're accurate. Most are missing one or more of the following: Top notes, Heart and base notes.
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