Lutece

I recently bought the Prism Parfum version of Lutece and was initially disappointed. It did not smell like I expected. I think I had was expecting a different old scent and was confused. I was about to donate this to charity , which makes me feel less guilt for buying things I do not use. Wasting money makes me feel irresponsible ! Well, I decided to give this one another try and.. you guessed it - I like it . I think there is something about it that reminds me of the fragrances my grandmother ( who raised me ) had on her dresser . This smells REALLY nice ! It reminds me of the fancy French soaps that my aunts gave my grandma when I was a girl at Christmas. It smells slightly powdery, floral , and lightly spicy. The overall effect is a rather classic and polished scent after the drydown. This proves that good things do not have to cost a fortune and good taste is not limited to the affluent , thankfully . This would be great for wearing in places where strong scents are discouraged. I find it elegant, retro , not at all harsh . I give this two thumbs up ! ( Some people might call it a grandma scent . I am a grandma and I think it is feminine , classy and I was never one to follow the crowds in a herd anyway.) Frankly some of the most wonderful perfumes, melodies, works of art, books, and poems were enjoyed by my grandma and greatgrandma and are still quite beautiful today ( and that requires an educated mind open to inquiry ) .

If you want the real Lutece based on the original, buy the PRISM Parfums Brand ( NOT the Five Star Brand ) . It is confusing, and it is best to ask your seller and ascertain which version they are selling . The Five Star is a forgettable fruity floral and not anything special. I love the Prism Parfums version of the real Lutece. Lutece has really cast a spell on me ! It has an elegant retro feel that takes me back to the day when women would not “ go to town” without primping and wearing stockings and Chanel #5 . I wish it were a bit more intense, but it is so feminine and lovely that I just spray generously. This perfume seemed nondescript and ho hum the first time I tried it . My first thought was to give it away ! Now, it is a love for me . This perfume says “lady “ to all who who come close . It smells very clean and the vetiver makes it memorable . Lutece, is underrated in my opinion, and a bargain classic worth more than it sells for . ( Be sure to order the PRISM PARFUMS VERSION-not the Five Star ! )

I want to add a few words for those who miss classic floral aldehydes . The PRISM PERFUMES version of Lutece ( NOT TriStar perfumes!) is a trip down memory lane that takes my mind back to the originals like Chanel #5 , Ivoire , L’Aimant , Caleche . The quality of this perfume blows me away for a floral aldehyde . It is far superior in quality to Chanel #5 and several other classics . Lutece was originally created by Houbigant , then purchased by Dana . It has quite a long history and has been loved for several decades , If you enjoy a classic French perfume that smells like the fanciest French soap that could be purchased in 1960 , you may love this . It is elegant , refined, complex, and long lasting . I find it quite chic and proof that the best things are not always the priciest . This is an underrated and beautiful floral aldehyde that smells like it should cost five times the asking price .

My review will be for the current version of Lutece. I've never tried the Houbigant version so I have nothing to compare it to. This is a soft floral powdery dream! My skin seems to skip right over the aldehydes and cinnamon shown at the top of the right side pyramid, and goes straight to the soft florals and musk. The top and middle phases are pleasant enough, with a well blended mix of florals and a touch of vetiver, but the drydown is divine. This blend of florals, mixed with the softest of clean musks, gives an impression of the softest powder. This is soft, floral, peaceful, feminine, and romantic. I almost think there is violet in here. I have both Lutece and Ombre Rose, which are known to be similar. I have compared them side by side and prefer Lutece. It seems to develop more beautifully on my skin. I feel like I am floating on a cloud when I wear this.

On my skin, Dana's Lutece sprays on very woody and dry. The rosewood and vetiver are very strong at first. The drydown is softly powdery, more floral, and calms the woods. There is a vague similarity to the woody parts of Ombre Rose, but Lutece is not nearly as floral, not as sweet, and has no rose in it. Well blended, Lutece resembles Navy at first spray, but Lutece is softer and sweeter than Navy. The drydown is closer to Ombre Rose. Lutece lasts all day, wears close to skin, and it's very affordable. It's soft, rosey, with moderate silage. I love it !

I think this is a lovly scent.For some reason I think of a cruise when I smell this.Aboard a luxery liner with a big punch bowl as a center piece on the glass table full of dead ripe,juicy oranges.WE dock and all along the banks grow wild peonys twined with orris root.Rich,deep,penetrating clouds of sweet flowers.U walk up the beach to a drink stand and get a cinnoman,vanilla frozen tea drink and as u walk back to board the smells of tonka beans and exotic flowers follows u home!

This is my signature scent! The powdery goodness bring back so many good memories. The only versions I like are the Houbigant (not Parfum Parquet) and Dana versions. Dana has two different seal caps that are different. After many years of collecting different Lutece, the smooth cap is the Lutece I remember growing up on. The metallic cap seems to have more alcohol in its recipe. Don't get me started on every Lutece after Dana 🤢

Note to Lutece lovers: Moppety told me about a similar perfume by Al Haramain, called “Junoon”. It is definitely similar to Lutece ,and also similar to Ombré Rose . Junoon is lovely , affordable, and also LONG LASTING ! I bought two bottles and am loving it .

The first bottle I bought was in 1986 at the Dillard's in Shreveport---that was the only place to find it. My husband LOVES it so much, that I have to keep a bottle at home all the time. I am not good at describing what I smell, but I love it.

I ran across a HUGE bottle of this one day in Burlington Coat Factory and HAD to have it. This was one of my favorite scents to wear in high school. A rich powdery scent,deep hard to describe but I love it!

AL8’s description is on point. This perfume has been unrecognizably reformulated, the bottle and the juice. It’s a good reformulation however. It’s a smooth woody floral now.

Never smelled this before, either version, got it as a blind buy and it is yummy! Light musk, powder, sweet, light and fresh. Very inexpensive, but does not smell it at all.

This fragrance has been listed by 7 different companies in this order. Houbigant Dana Swiss Perfumes Aladdin Perfumes Parquet Five Star Fragrances Prism Parfums From what I'm reading in the reviews, this fragrance seems to have gone through as many changes as manufacturers. According to the reviewer Floffles, the version that is very different from all the others comes in a purple bottle (Swiss Perfumes). Supposedly it smells like ET's Passion. I wouldn't know since I never smelled it but if that's the case it would be a drastic departure from the Houbigant and Dana's (1st.) version according to the notes listed. Moppety27 said she got her Lutece from Fragrancenet and it is very screechy. Now I'm concerned because I have what is supposed to be a Dana Lutece on the way from Fragrancenet too, but the one I ordered was on clearance and in the clear bottle with a clear cap. It seems Dana changed the formula after initially following Houbigants recipe in their first edition of this fragrance. Hopefully, I got the first edition Dana (Houbigant) formula which is what I wanted. I definitely do not want a screechy fruity floral fragrance. I adore powdery fragrances and am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be as powdery as many reviewers are saying. I'll be back to give a full review after I receive it.

I bought this out of curiosity and price. I couldn't guess how interesting this actually is!. Someone compared this to Shalimar, I understand the parable well, for myself came some La Petite Robe Noire first in my mind. I smell here that kind of licorice twist too. The opening here just for a moment appears to me really cacophonically, I get something familiar (which I can’t catch) pleasantly but sour? sour milk? whit flowers, orange, honey and mainly "rubber glue" scent to me. Yes, I like it! This might take a Nanosecond and then smell subsides soon to pleasant, (not too) soapy, flowery, honeyd tonka/vanilja, vetiver and some licorice for me.The scent is not alcoholic or mildly watered down, yet it is never sticky or overwhelming. Aldehydes make this a light scent, for day use. It should also be mentioned that I do not smell metal here. If that licorice-style atmosphere doesn’t get overhelming to me, I would definitely get a spare bottle for this. Anyway, I like this a lot. My bottle is square and clear.

My bottle from fragrancenet arrived the other day and it is nothing like the description here. Seems I got the same type as Mopity, which is a fruity floral. I don't find it screechy though. It's not bad but not what I wanted. It starts out smelling like booze, specifically Cognac. That's really strong for about 15 minutes. Then it becomes a sweet, non-descript floral with some non-descript fruit and also getting incense. I couldn't tell you what any of it is because it seems to be a mishmash of ingredients. One thing really nice though is the dry down. It becomes a slightly sweet musky vanilla scent. Silage is good and longevity not bad either. Overall, I don't think it's a bad scent just that it is not the same Lutece that had been made for years. In its present formulation it is a very young scent. I think a young girl would love this. It's certainly no worse than many fruity florals currently being sold today.

First off, thank all of you for your reviews! These wonderful reviews got this fragrance on my "want" list and thank you Rosie for the most amazing swap! This is such a wonderful find, a marvelous mix of powder, rose, wood, vetiver, and musk. It's a classic! I don't know how or why but when I was testing it I thought huh, this might just work on me... a little later, the wife came in and agreed completely! On my skin it has a musky vetiver scent, on her its more of a powdery rose, VERY feminine, very seductive scent. I am still amazed at how body chemistry can affect a fragrance so much! Okay, do I like it??? OH YES Is it for everyone??? Nope, which is a good thing because its my new favorite! Go easy on the trigger folks, she's like AT&T, you can reach out and touch someone with this fragrance if your not careful!!!

1984 I had a bottle of Lutece. I loved it - and Lutece stayed in my memories. Today I have a new bottle beside me - found it on a webshop. The smell is just as I remembered. Fresh, clean, airy and just wonderful. Still modern but not sugarsweet, still love it! 1984 ägde jag denna. Älskade den och Lutece stannade i minnet under många år. Idag har jag köpt en flaska från en webshop. Den doftar exakt som jag kommer ihåg den. fräsch, ren, luftig och bara helt underbar. Ännu modern men utan att var sockersöt - älskar den fortfarande!

This one was unexpected. I recently added this to my collection and I got this square deep blue bottle with a blue round top (Five Star Cia, made in USA). Looking at the notes here, I was expecting a light vanilla-ish floral with some soapiness. But this is quite strong and woody. A bit ofsweetness (just from the vanilla), not powdery or aldehydic. The rosewood is a protagonist on my skin, and the scent to me is a mix of rosewood, vetiver and vanilla. I don`t have anything like this.

The opening is lovely as it reminds me of chanel no5 but it soon fades away into a very powdery smell which isn't bad. The only let down is that after a while the fragrance becomes pretty boring. Just bare in mind that a little goes a long way.

This scent is a scent that I loved when I was a teenager. When I found this photo I got a big smile on my face..Hello friend - where have you been...and now I'm looking around to find this one to buy and hopefully I will find it soon.

I have the one from Five Stars. It's reminiscent of LVEB, in that scent vein. It's only a cold weather wear for me, though. perfumeglam87 described it pretty well.

I have the Prism version of Lutece, and I think it smells very similar to Shalimar EDT. The Shalimar is warmer and richer, though.

I had this scent as a kid...back then I thought it smelled very powdery & pretty. It's a classic scent; I think is very elegant.

As good as reformulated Coco CHANEL.There is nothing wrong about this cheap fragrance

Picked some of this up for a trip down memory lane. When I was a kid, this or Emeraude used to be what I’d grab when I wanted to ween myself off Love’s Baby Soft but couldn’t afford Shalimar. I can honestly say I’ve never smelled this fragrance though. It’s not just a different version of itself. It’s an entirely different animal. Bizarre. Perhaps I just remember it wrong, but I absolutely know I was a huge fan of the powder-bombs back then and this certainly isn’t one of them. Perhaps they should have just renamed this. This, to me, is floral bug spray. Like, I wouldn’t hate it if someone around me was wearing it, I’d just assume they had been camping or picnicking.

I wonder if the bottle I received from Fragrancenet contains a completely different product than what's described on this page. The contents of my bottle are screeching fruit, overwhelmingly sweet, but thankfully without lasting power. Definitely nothing feminine or powdery happening here.

This perfume (as I remember from years ago) comes across very powdery-very. It has an odd scent. It was a strong perfume too. Very different from anything I can think of.

I picked up a bottle of this for 99 cents US -- literally 99 cents, out of a bargain bin at Perfumania. I bought it because my mother wore Lutece back in the 80's so I have that fond association with the perfume, however, what I got bears zero resemblance to the Lutece of the 80's. It could not be further from that, actually. I remember Lutece as a very smooth, floral and elegant scent. What I have is a sharp, 'scratchy,' almost sweet/sour scent. After sampling it I came here to see what went wrong and learned, thanks to the savvy reviewers, that I too had purchased the 'Five-Star' company's version of Lutece, which is frankly, NOT Lutece. Not even sure how they would've come up with this formulation. Seems like their chemists could have come up with a much better match. Its one redeeming factor in my opinion - the deep cobalt blue bottle with flower motif is pretty. I may end up just donating this, sadly. At least it was insanely cheap. Edit: After spraying this a few times (not on me but into the air) I've noted how musk-dominant this version is -- again, nothing like the original.

I didn't hunt down, or plan to buy a Dana Lutece but a 1oz Dana was included with a bottle of Evening in Paris (Bourjours) I bought on ebay. LOVE! I have not smelled the Houbigant, but this Dana appears to be a WIN! It DOES smell like Ombre Rose- which I have and like, but my current EDT of OR is very very weak. This Dana is much stronger. Sillage to me wasn't great, but clothing longevity was great. My 1 oz EDT bottle looks like the bottle on this page. I bought a Dana 3.3 oz EDP from Fragrancenet just now for $10, it's not the same style bottle, so I hope the formula is similar/good. And I hate that some sellers show the FIVE STAR bottle but call it Dana. The Five Star is NOTHING like Lutece or Ombre Rose. The Five Star is a strong nice fruity sweet floral-- which just isn't my thing anymore. Yes, Lutece smells old fashioned/dated, but that is what I love about it. I love surrounding myself in Victorian smelling powder. Hehehehe. It also sounds like the Prism version is good too. Just avoid the Five Star in the square cobalt blue bottle.

Back in the 80's I had a couple bottles of this and wore it as an everyday scent; it was pleasant, feminine, soft and good for wearing to work, where I dared not offend anyone with strong perfume. Fast forward to many, many well-loved perfumes later, with Lutece a memory that had not crossed my mind in a long time. I recently ordered several samples from an independent perfumer on Etsy, Deep Midnight Perfumes. (Their scents are wonderful, with extremely unique inspirations, BTW.) One of the samples was of their namesake scent, called Deep Midnight. I applied it and a few moments later took a whiff. Wow! It transported me instantly back to Lutece. Scent memory is an amazing thing. I looked up the main components of Deep Midnight, and only two of them, vanilla and musk, match Lutece. But somehow it smells beautifully similar, and I am now enjoying Lutece all over again!

I was gifted this by a boyfriend when I was 13 years old. It would have been about 1990. I didn't really like how it smelled, it must have been the aldehydes. It was sour and dry to my nose then, I'm not sure how I would react to it now. I think it's very funny to come across this again at age 36, when I am learning about classic perfumery. I'm sure I could appreciate it more now. I do remember thinking it seemed like a classy lady perfume, and I sort of wondered how a boy would choose such a fragrance. As I recall, it had very good sillage (not such a good thing if you don't love the fragrance) and staying power. I think when people talk about perfumes having an "age", it's more about the personality of the wearer, and what they can appreciate themselves. I'm sure I would have preferred something much fruitier and softer at that age.

Powdery sweetness! Yes, this starts with a nice vetiver (the first 5 minutes are a good definition of vetiver), but it quickly moves to simply powdery softness. Yes, it's a bit floral; yes, it is a sweet fragrance. But powder is the one word that keeps coming to mind. Almost a Johnson&Johnson Baby powder--clean, fresh, innocent, innofensive. Other than that initial vetiver, I do not get any of the other notes; I have no idea what is combining to give me that powdery sense(floral musk?), but it is definitely there. I am really enjoying this as something simple and easy to wear. I don't think this would ever offend....neither is it really going to turn heads. I'm going to enjoy this for what it is: a simple, wearable daily fragrance.

Took a risk on a vintage lot of perfumes. I can say with gusto that the edition from Five Star Flatulence--oops I meant Fragrances--is absolute trash. What a waste of resources to manufacture and sell that abhorrent liquid. Rave hairspray (unscented) is more alluring, and at least it has a job. Or, spend your hard-earned (or ill-beggoten, I guess) $1.25 for a can of any EA brand knockoff fragrance at Dollar Tree. They're actually pretty good, for the price.

Could somebody who knows both editions please tell me which are the differences between Houbigant's "Lutece" and Dana's "Lutece" ? Which one is the original and which one is the reformulation ? An how is the original different from the reformulation ? And, vice-versa, how is the reformulation different from the original ? Are they two different perfumes or does the reformulation stay true to the original version ? Thank you. Angelica.

Do not buy the EDP from Five Star Fragrances in the dark cobalt blue bottle of you are hoping for anything like these notes/reviews. The most recent handful of reviews are prob that bottle. Generic fruity perfume. Not what I'm looking for anymore. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not me. Pleasing sweet fruit, good power on cloth, but so not what Lutece suggests to be. What a bummer.

If you spray this lightly it smells very similar to Ombre Rose. Very very nice. The topnotes are a bit scary and citrusy/aldehyd overload, but they disappear after a while thankfully. Powdery makeup smell, creamy, musky, soapy, a bit spicy and almost salty. I LOVE this type of "skin scents". Very inexpensive. I prefer Ombre Rose though, it ́s a bit softer and the bottle is cuter.

Just received my bottle of Lutece by five star fragrance . It might not be so bad if it hadn't said it was by Dana when I ordered. I loved the original so I am very disappointed to say the least. I agree it smells alot like LVEB which I do not care for. It smells nothing like the old Lutece I recall. Why do they do this with old fragrances

This fragrance has 11 of the same ingredients of Ombre Rose, the fruits are different this has Mandarin Orange whereas Ombre Rose has Peach, and a few other notes, like Sandalwood, ylang ylang, honey rose and iris, whereas this has rose peony and rosemary. All in all the two fragrances are very similar.

Freshly applied hairspray in a dark musty dated bathroom with the scent of a recent shower with lux soap, and a spritz of Yardley lily of the valley and you have summed up lutece for me. It is a powdery, soapy lily of the valley scent with a rather depressing feel to my nose.

Does anyone know of a good dupe for the Lutece Eau De Cologne by Dana? Absolutely loved this one but never been able to find any dupes. I also hear that the Prism version smells nothing like the Dana version although I have not tried it. Would love to find a dupe of this

This is a very powdery scent. It smells alot like Navy but this scent seems to last a bit longer than the new cheaper version of Navy. I would recommend this scent way more than Navy because of the duration of the scent. This is a very pretty scent!

The new Lutece that was released a few years ago (in the purple bottle) is closer Elizabeth Taylor Passion, with a sweet deep note. I actually like it better than the old school original Lutece, but apparently I'm the only one

A good skin scent, non-offensive sillage, and a really good buy. I reach for it when I want to put on scent to feel "pulled together", but I'm not going for a particular impression. I do get compliments on it, too.

There is a new version of this floating around in a all dark blue bottle full size. But I believe it has more fruit and tonka. Says it's by five star fragrance. It's delicious fruity boozy and sweet!

The earlier version of Lutece is much better than the one produced by Dana. The former seems to have more expensive ingredients, whereas the latter just smells cheap.

If I remember correctly, the Dana version is clearer than the warmer Houbigant. Still, this is a lovely, sparkly frag. Softer than Ombre Rose and livlier than Navy.

I wore this one now and then in High School during the 80's. It is sweet and yes, very powdery. A little goes a long way! Nice scent, but not my style anymore, LOL!

I have this one in a cologne version. First goes powder, then goes aldehydes, geranium and a hint of vanilla. Very 90th or late 80th. Very strong.

This is more like Guerlain Liu, much less Guerlain Shalimar EDT. It has more of a baby wipes kind of powder, which I don’t get from the others.

Prism Parfums in the UK have just brought out Lutece - just like it should be