Chypre Rouge

Chypre Rouge - a strange fairytale, open ended All the polarizing reviews, mentions of curry spices, and messy opening experiences kept me from buying this for the longest time. But the name, the marketing blurb - aah so evocative- imagery + color of the juice itself put me under a strange spell that refused to cease. I always came back to this and eventually bought a «vintage» Palais bottle which I’m basing my review on. The pyramid here does not help at all to give an impression of CR. It’s non linear. And (of course) its not an obvious chypre, it’s Serge, hello!! There are no citruses present to create that vertical space/tension between hesperidic freshness and mossy dryness so characteristic of a chypre. But, my bottle lists oakmoss in the ingredients, and surely you can smell the moss, but only if you press your nose into your arm deep into the dry-down, or the next day. Let’s go. The scent translated into a color story: dark browns like lacquered antique wood + deep pine blue-green + rich transparent red with a cool tone, like a red gel filter leaning towards magenta. In the opening I get an almost black licorice-like and woody Immortelle with absolutely no «curried» notes, combined with an ebanol-like wood note. No cumin or caraway which are notes I actually enjoy a lot and wouldn’t mind getting. Then the red thing happens: a red tinged fruity Jello note starts swirling around me, creating a bewitching aura. It smells «red» but not like cherry, strawberry or any specific other red fruit flavor, but rather a non-descriptive red jelly, that plays a bit of hide and seek inside the licorice forest. So enjoyable! As the redness subsides, Pine appears in the near dark atmosphere over a very, very subdued amber and abstract beeswax. It smells as if opening a jar of pine needles that have soaked in syrup for 20 years. The sugar has soaked up all the aromas and crystallized and is slowly turning in to powder. The licorice is long gone and the «red aura» has become the dust in the windowsill of an old abandoned cabin where the «small sachets of moss and cistus leaves» mentioned in the press release are hanging from old wooden beams. From here the scent grows fainter into a dusty resinous thing, crumbling and disintegrating, leaving a faint oakmoss, coated with a thin confectioners glaze and powderer sugar, barely perceptable. I really love this scent. It has even landed a spot in my top 3 from the brand, which says a lot. Still, there is a problem to address. This perfume can be hard to grasp. Not theoretically or artistically. Before I catch a whiff, it’s gone again. I just want all the notes to come out bold and strong! Chypre Rouge is so elusive at times, I keep on sniffing myself desperately wanting to hold on to the beautiful and haunting first and middle stages of this composition. I just wish there was more of everything, because I’m spellbound, lost in a forest...and I never want to come back. Update: In warmer weather AKA summer evenings, the scent is really a much more bolder beast. I get a more pronounced beeswax and even a brief spicy blast of cumin and caraway, which is really cool! It feels more sticky, a tad bit floral, but still no where near what I expected from the pyramid. I detect bits of Arabie, Fille en aiguilles and Le Participe Passé in Chypre Rouge. It also reminds me somewhat of ELdO’s Afternoon of a Faun. Regardless of the gorgeous accents revealed by summers heat, I think Chypre Rouge should be reserved for cold autumn and winters, enchanting your every day life with its dark magic and fairytale vibe.

Some very interesting reviews here - I guess Chypre Rouge strikes people pretty violently, one way or another. Funny thing is that I can understand even the negative reviews, and yet I don't find this perfume bad or unbalanced, but rather, balanced unusually...like a Calder mobile. I can smell various elements - there is a LOT going on in this composition, it's not simple or sleek - but overall what strikes me is the dark, dark depth of this perfume. There's a dark-roast coffee element, along with a heavily spiced fruit compote, and yet it never quite becomes gourmand because of the astringent pine. Somehow I find that effect arresting, even addictive, on cold winter nights. A little goes a long way, so do not overspray.

I bought it for my Lutens collection not expecting to like it much, much less love it, because I generally do not like chypres. But this is not a typical chypre, this is Serge Lutens' chypre. Incredibly rich and nuanced. Very heavy on caraway seeds, I can practically taste it. I also get some kind of boozy accord. It reminds me of homemade glintwine I sometimes make when I have a cold. Also somehow smells like wet leaves and makes you think of an early fall. Beautiful, unique, unlike anything else. Definitely my favorite "chypre". Not particularly long lasting on me, unfortunately, maybe due to the age of the bottle?

You enter the enchanted forest, its canopy of trees a sea of red, and immediately step on something foul-smelling. No matter—you kick your boots through the deep sea of leaves on the ground and don't think about it again. Red and yellow leaf matter on leaf matter has made the ground springy with dark humus. Surely amongst all this bark there must be some mushrooms. You take a quick look but don't see any. Yet the trees are covered with a thick mantle of lichen and moss. Life in dark, warm places. Fullness of ends and beginnings. Somewhere ahead, there's a small meadow, red clover in clumps and borage on the borders.

A delightfully different aromatic chypre from this house that is not for everyone. The perfume instead of usual citruses opens with notes of caraway seeds and pine. The heart is jasmine surrounded by prominent notes of honey and bees wax. The perfume settles on a mossy powdery bed of oakmoss, patchouli, vanilla, slight amber and synthetic musk. The unisex perfume has moderate sillage and good longevity. Those into honeyed florals and chypres need to try this interesting variation on the chypre theme. Enjoy!

When i first tested it, a year or so ago,i was instantly apalled.. However, on the way home, i kept sniffing my wrist in awe... (btw what a horrific place to test a perfume!) Then, i revisited the shop thrice(!) to retest. Each time i drove off impressed but not sure. Conclusion: It's By Far the Most Interesting perfume i've smelled so far, and i'm about to finish my first bottle. Wonderful oakmoss, pine and honey, and somehow not that much a sweet as a fresh smell. A must-try for non-flower maniacs!!

I was stunned when I first tried this. So different, so unique. Another possible holy grail type of fragrance. On the paper strip it was spicy, but the fruit more strongly stood out. On my skin the opposite happened. It was spicy/peppery ad the fruit was present, but shy. I'm not sure about the pepper/spice bit, which on my calms down after about 3 hours...I like a little bit of spice, but this is a lot on me. I also could smell some kind of tea. And yet I am in love with it. What to do...?

I expected a raw and strong Cypress scent like TOM FORD's Italian Cypress. But I found it a very sweet, soft, and elegent, with little moss not. but sweet note in the very begining. I guess it should thank to the honey and honeywax. It is very nice fragrance, really love it.

Looks and smells like (the idea of) red wine.. Very sophisticated :)

What a very odd fragrance. I'm honestly having a bit of a hard time coming up with descriptives here. The Lutens line didn't make sense to me until I did a little research. Every offering I'd tried singly seemed "disconnected" in a way. Once I went to the website for a good read, I learned Mr Lutens & I share a birthday, we are both moody Pisces. Which may be why I am so drawn to that dark decor of the boutique. To understand the fragrance concept, its easier to read his own thoughts about it. Chypre rouge is an odd combination of a fragrance that evokes the wilderness of a forest, a la chypre-ish base notes, but it carries with it a strange sweetness. Pine & moss, almost medicinal at first, then a surrounding sweetness which is slightly dense, like berries made into jam with an old fashioned wax seal. But this doesn't control the composition. I'm not much one for sweets, so this could have ruined Chypre Rouge for me, but it certainly didn't. On the contrary, I think it added an odd juxtaposition to the "outdoorsy fresh" vibe that made an otherwise ordinary "forest fragrance" stand apart from the rest. The impression it gives is as if one walked through a warm, summer coniferous woods, then came upon the mythical "grandmothers house in the forest" which smells of odd herbs, something comforting like homemade jam, but still there are mysterious & scary things lurking in the dark corners & cabinets. Bunches of unknown dried herbs hang from the rafters exuding fragrance, and the mystery of their magical use. This fragrance is a fairytale trip, through the dark, enchanted woods. Grown up style, with all of the mystery, depth and hidden danger that we have learned to expect from such warning tales of our childhood.

I don’t understand SL sale technique. I would love to buy Muscs Koublaï Khan, Iris silver mist, Rahät loukoum to name just a few. But I won’t. And it’s not because of the price. But because of the bottles. I don’t like splash bottles. I may be in the minority but when i buy a fragrance i prefer to spray the scent directly from the original bottle, not using some plastic/glass atomizers so that i can actually use the fragrance. I am saying this because i’ve just seen that SL has moved one more fragrance to his so-called “Exclusive (splash) Bottles” collection: So no more Chypre Rouge in the efficient, comfortable and much better looking spray bottle. I guess i’m fortunate to have it in this mode. It really pisses me off but i’m not going to pay almost 200 euros for a splash bottle, even if it’s in an exclusive jar. Now onto Chypre Rouge - a syrupy, spicy and piney scent that feels warm, cosy and reflective. An intimate fragrance for those who consider perfumes a personal matter and value them as such. And don’t care if others like it or not. It is me who feast on it, not you. *****

I don't know what the forests in west France smell like but SL has captured a pine forest in this bottle. It smells exactly like trekking in an autumnal forest in Europe. It's so "foresty" it's almost medicinal in a good way. Definitely a unique scent. There is some sweetness in this probably from the flowers and the honey but its not a sweet perfume. Sillage is medium and longevity about six hours. Thereafter it still stays on clothes but very faintly. I'm not good at waxing lyrical about this as its a complicated scent but its so beautiful and pure. It's like taking a deep breath during that forest trek and having the purity of Nature clean out your lungs, refocus your brain and give strength to your body. I find its name a little of a misnomer. I don't find it very chypre and besides its deep glowing red colour, there's nothing rouge about this scent. Still for me it's a breath of fresh air and so very different from others. Another great and odd creation from Mr. Lutens.

Deep and warm reminding about the forest fragrance! Most of all I feel the pine needles, beeswax, honey, moss and amber notes in it. I would say that the pine needles note and the beeswax note are the leading notes in this fragrance. I like that it smells less sweet than some other fragrances by Serge Lutens with the honey note because it smells more the beeswax note, so it's not sickly sweet. This fragrance brings me associations with a pine forest scent with aromatic resins on the trees. It's quite calming, despite it's intensive enough. I think that it will suit more to such clothes like leather jackets or something like this, because it will hide its intensity and even bring some charm. I like this fragrance, except the pine needles note.

I am not sure why I like this - as someone else remarks, it is very much sweet cough syrup. It also smells herby like rosemary and thyme, but then the sweetness comes through again. I like it (I don't love it), but I almost don't *want* to like it, because it makes me think it is actually quite "cheap" (and Serge Lutens isn't cheap in an economic sense). It's definitely not a chypre, it is definitely not green, but apart from the syrup, I don't know why it would be 'red' either. An odd one, wearable, but not very interesting. Actually, as I write this, I have come down the other way again and decided that I don't even like it. Probably why I have had the bottle for 3 years and tend to forget about it most times.

I agree with Axum below me: overspraying is definitely a danger with Chypre Rouge. It's a scent that's interesting and original rather than very wearable; a nice but odd and strangely powerful combination of sweet beeswax, aromatic pine and spicy honey. Nice, but very strong, and very dense! I do like it, but I don't think I'd ever get much wear out of it, except maybe in the dark cold days leading up to Christmas. It could be perfect then, but on a slightly warmer day or even later in the winter when you're tired of the excesses of the festive season, it could easily become too much. I'm glad I have my little decant so I can return to this oddity from time to time, but my guess is it'll last me a lifetime.

I applied this, went for my morning walk and as soon as I went out of the door I sniffed my arm and was taken aback with the smell. This is not was what I was expecting from SL: candied pine tree and oakmoss shaken together in a box of red hots. Too sweet and too syrupy for me, but as I passed though my neighbor's trail of cigarette smoke I took a whiff of my arm again and realized how Chypre Rouge could be heavenly if it had a smokiness added to it. Back to my review now...about half an hour later this fragrance had mostly faded away and left on my arm were well blended notes of a soft, sweet skin scent. For me, Chypre Rouge is not my preference and I will not be adding it to my collection.

I like it! It's surely a different fragrance and I can see it is of neurologic interest for Luca Turin - LOL! I don't smell so much cumin here. No obvious honey, jasmine or beeswax. They probably melt into the scent and make it subtly attractive. It is very suitable for both men and women. For me it smells of candied red fruits and trees. Candied moss. It is like walking in a thick forest made of red trees with bright red fruits and leaves with a soft pink dusk around. A work of imagery. It would be like walking into such a place if the fragrance had more sillage. With one single spray you'll be the only one to smell it and content yourself, secretly. Neurologically happy.

il solito inizio liquoroso... stavolta e' il mirto della Sardegna e il rischio di berlo e' decisamente alto..ok provo a leccarmi i polsi:-)))..mi ricorda l'inchiostro delle penne biro.. passiamo al naso... non credo che il cumino sia eccessivo o facilmente riconoscibile il tutto e' miscelato perfettamente e l'impressione che si ha e' proprio quella di una caramella dura ai frutti rossi.mmmmmmm:-) mi e' piaciuto provarlo ma' lo vedo perfetto di giorno per una ragazza. giovane,pulita,non impegnata,spensierata e che le piaccia essere presa a morsi! G R E E D Y

i get a lot of pine fresh pine sap, along with some summer berries, but very dry, almost singeing the nose at first. the immortelle is there but it's quite meek, no easy feat for such an assertive note. it projects a certain slow-burn heat, like a well-stained mahogany dresser in the strong sunlight. there's no curry spice rack evident but maybe a touch of anise and later, a firm mossy structure (hence the name, i suppose). this is quite exotic and though i've been wearing it for years, always surprises me with its strange vibe. classic serge aesthetic

Chypre Rouge had to grow on me. Chypres are my favorite genre of scent, so I was excited when I first received my bottle. I wasn't expecting all the sweetness on top of the base notes, however, and that disappointed me at first. If I hadn't been somewhat burned out on sweet scents in general, I probably would have been more accepting of that aspect. However, when I tried the perfume again months later, I found I liked it much more than before. It's undoubtedly an odd one, but interesting; I can see myself possibly coming to love it.