Bois de Violette

Bois De Violette from Serge Lutens. Another poetic and complex creation from the house, one that keeps me guessing whenever I wear it. To be more specific, I don't smell much of the violet flower here nor the violet leaf, at least not in a "tangible" way. The perfume is all about the spices, mostly cumin and the woods, with an ever-present purple hue that leaves room for interpretation. I wonder why Monsieur Lutens decided to add no color to this perfume. He loves suggesting what his perfumes are about to unfold by painting them accordingly. I would have had Bois De Violette, a light purple color. Yet he decided Sarrasins should be a deep purple. That, I never understood. For me, Bois De Violette stays true to the Feminite Du Bois structure (the perfume that sprang the entire "Bois" series), taking away the difficult facets and perfecting them. I could never bring myself to like Feminite. As much acclaimed and loved as it is, I never fancied it - always felt too sharp on the spices and the cedar, and too fruity. More suited for women, I feel. Bois De Violette tones down the spices but keeps the cumin, maybe even amplifying it a touch, smooths out the woods in the base by adding a touch of oakmoss and fluffy musks, and tempers the fruity aspects to a mere suggestion. It smells how I wanted Feminite to smell - more melancholic, poetic, rounder and well-behaved, unisex. The opening is spicy but focuses mainly on the cumin note, not overly done but present. Immediately, the purple color starts to permeate the scent profile. At this point, I am left guessing the source of it. Is it plum, or violet, perhaps both? A fresh and crisp breeze blows through it like the chilly air caressing the grass in the forest. And then the cedar in the base feels supported by some additional creamy woods, musks, and bitter-green moss. A spicy and woody take on violet, devoid of trivial sweetness and full of surprises. Whatever creates the omnipresent purple sensation is going to be a perpetual source of intrigue for me. And that is why I feel this perfume is among the most poetic and intelligent from this house. It lets the wearer add his/her hero to the plot while laying down the grounds for the story. IG:@memory.of.scents

There is so much more to Bois de Violette than the notes listed and many have been left out (such as plum, peach, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, musk). It is part of the Bois series that includes Bois et Fruits, Bois et Musk and Bois Oriental, which are all very close relatives of Feminite de Bois. You can look at the notes on those to kind of see what is missing. They all smell incredibly similar and to most people who were not sniffing around for the difference, they may be mistaken for being the same perfume. I happen to be in the LOVE camp on ALL of them...so much so that I have full bottles of Feminite, Bois et Fruits and also Bois de Violette. They are so incredible that I can not live without a single one of them. I assume the woody cedar base is something you either love...or do not. I can not imagine smelling this and doing anything but swooning but I realize fragrance strikes us all differently. Bois de Violette is the softer and less intense version (as compared to Bois et Fruits and Feminite)...less cinnamon and spice. It is overall a much more gentle fragrance. The extra violet on top of the SL cedar Bois base makes for an incredible combination. While it contains synthetic ingredients (as most perfume does), in no way is it some bad synthetic department store smelling fragrance. This is high quality and complex and interesting and I am madly in love with it. Violette is more casual and wearable for me as compared to Bois et Fruits or Feminite. I wear all of them and love all of them (with Feminite probably being my favorite) but I feel that Violette has a more relaxed feel to it and something that I can wear more often. If you own Feminite or Bois et Fruits, you probably have no need to add this to your collection. Unless you are like me and are completely obsessed with this smell and have to have all of them. I feel like they are something truly special and I just can not be without them. There is a reason why Luca Turin said that when he bought a bottle of Bois de Violette that he felt like he was “carrying the most precious object in the world.” I pretty much feel the same way.

I think it's a fantasy smell because it's hard to control. Almost every time, Bois de Violette can bring me different ideas, ranging from physical discomfort to pure, beautiful moving, and several differences are related to the spraying method and spraying amount. Bois de Violette is the most recognizable variation of the classic Feminite du Bois. Reduce the sweetness a little, and combine the two kinds of unpleasant sensations of fat powder and green (leaf) to give birth to such a psychedelic perfume. (Violet Leaf has an iron or metallic flavor.) I stubbornly want to touch the beauty that the perfumer in heaven praises. In the afterglow of the setting sun, purple light and shadow were reflected on the ground, and the pattern of the kaleidoscope changed and shone before my eyes, and the pieces of purple and pink glass reflected the luster of gems. And I am surrounded by the rose window, in this atmosphere, immersed, seeking a moment of peace. The Bois de Violette is to me what the stained-glass window is to me, as the Gothic church is to me. The colors of Bois de Violette are the colors of dreams. Bois de Violette smells surprisingly simple. Its flesh is not plump, but slender and fragile, a violet quality, linear. A crystal clear, thin to sheer powder, I'm sure there are many fragrances inspired by it, one example would be Iris Cendre (Naomi goosir). Bois de Violette and L'Heure Bleue come from different brands and are composed and expressed by different fragrances. For their connection, I lean towards heliotrope, or a violet-iris bond. The texture is all a fine, powdery, farthest to the 1906 Apres L'Ondee. To be able to appreciate, I will not miss the violet. A "deep" first impression, good or bad, I think, can be the worst perfume you've ever tried, or the most beautiful perfume you've ever tried. I hope everyone who owns Bois de Violette can understand its value.

Fantastic. I got a sample and ordered a full bottle the same day! The combination of the woody spice and slightly sweet floral violet is brilliant. It does smell "old fashioned" but only in the sense of a truly classic novel of manners (think Jane Austen) or a high classical concerto. Perhaps there is a touch of Victorian era romance here. I picture the Victorians very taken with violets. I liked the previous review mentioning a "violet patch sprung up in the midst of an oak forrest." Yes, that sums it up for me, too. Not a heavy, hit-you-over-the-head floral like some of the Italian scents I've sampled lately- much more subtle, but sensual, in an understated, spicy/woody way. Give it a sniff! Checking online, I do not see a lot of availability for the smaller bottles and hope this is not being discontinued. Smaller jars were not featured on the S Lutens website... only a bell jar at $310.

Violet is such a charming note. The subtle ubiquity of it makes it feel at once naïve and sophisticated, haute and base. One makes countless associations, everything from candy to flowers to sunscreen. Violet just seems to wander around singing its sweet, moody lullaby for everyone it encounters. In this series, Sheldrake wraps the cedar around his finger like a brushed gold ring--soft and luminous— amplifying whatever green notes are present into a lively shimmer under the top note, in this case a big, dark, cushion-cut violet, and sends all that green-gold warmth sparkling through it. The result is rich, brilliant, and entirely unexpected. Bois de Violette is a Grande Dame of a perfume. This is about as sophisticated and commanding a fragrance as you can get under the name “Violette”.