Cracheuse de Flammes

Let’s be real, if this fragrance was released by Roja Dove, it would be praised. Serge has a specific fan base that expects a specific style and if it doesn’t fit that bill, most shun it, this and most other Section D’or fragrances are in the same boat. Just being honest here. As someone who usually dislikes/hates rose fragrances, this one manages to win me over. It starts off with a very realistic rose note, that is full-bodied, deep and luscious. After a few minutes in, The fragrance starts becoming more green and soapy, almost as if taking in the entire stem and leaves of the rose. As it dries down, the rose becomes almost powdered and the styrax and ambrette start taking hold. This makes it a powdered, slightly sweet, musky floral. Many hours into the dry down, if you told me that this was Amber Aoud by Roja Dove, I would have believed you; Just as that fragrance is focused heavily on the rose and in the same comparison, also becomes dusty and sweet at the far dry down. (This one is just a little more Gothic in tone throughout) While AA focuses more on eastern meets western style of fragrances, this one focuses more on if they took an eastern idea and made it into a full western fragrance. Also just like most of the fragrances from this line, they all have a vintage vibe to them usually of a 70s or 80s feel. If you either like or even don’t like rose, but you like a more opulent style of fragrance, just like from Roja Dove, I would recommend that you check this out. Separated from the brand that it’s associated to, and I believe you’ll find a very fascinating, complex and enjoyable experience. And yes, while this is actually more expensive if you buy retail, this fragrance and most of the other line can be found at a high discount of 50% or more off which makes it around $300, which falls in line with other brands and based on the ingredients used, I do feel this is a fair price for what you’re getting. I never thought I’d say this, but I actually for once want a rose focused fragrance, and this is the one.

Ah, La Belle Époque again.. A wonderfully boozy and sweet-metallic apricot and pear compôte opens up for a glorious golden-ambered Rose Otto, magnificent and sultry, decadent, flamboyant and rich, surrounded by dancing musk and underscored by dark, supple and elegant calf skin leather. Over the top but in a classy way and never messy Cracheuse de Flammes is a scent I'd love to encounter late one night on a balcony over the roofs of Paris, worn by a woman dressed in red sipping liquor who can speak of the things I dearly remember and whose name I won't be told. Lutens bottles dreams like no other.

The Flame Spitter is a lovely vintage style Floriental composed around a heavenly Turkish rose note. The perfume has a brief opening of pear and apricot leading to the central Turkish rose heart. As the perfume dries off one can detect hints of amber, leather and synthetic musk . A sophisticated expertly constructed female leaning scent with moderate to strong projection and excellent longevity this is the smell of a aristocratic lady of days gone by. Enjoy!

There's no way around it, the price is beyond ridiculous. But. Once you let that earthy logic go, you can enjoy a fantastic fragrance. I can't ditect the ingredients, I have a sense of orchids which I know aren't really there, but the reason this is, for me, a love at first snif, is this perfume feels like home. It'a unfamiliar and utterly familiar at the same time. This is magic to me

Fille de Berlin has found her long lost twin! This is a rich, opulent dark red rose that does not change much throughout the entirety of the evolution.

Upon applying Cracheuse de Flammes on my skin, I envision a dainty, tiny pink rose bud, still retaining a fresh greenness and ready to bloom. However, the fragrance soon takes an unexpected turn: a deluge of metallic aldehyde and crystalline clean musk sweeps the rose off, leaving only a minty, even mentholated-like note behind. This distinct metallic greenness is quite bold on my skin. As someone who enjoy Laine de Verre, I find this phase of Cracheuse de Flammes also quite interesting, even though the supposed protagonist - the rose - is far far away from the center stage. After about 90 minutes, this metallic shimmer dissipates, and the rose resurfaces. The rose here is still very dainty. Even though it also has a fruity jammy sweetness (sometimes even veering to rose candy), the fact that it's bathed in a sea of white musk, makes it feel very nebulous in nature. This already hazy rose eventually gets pushed to the sideline by a peachy white musk base after about 5 hours, and Cracheuse de Flammes remains largely so until the very end. The sillage is very soft from the start, and becomes extremely discreet once the metallic aspect disappears. The longevity is around 6 hours. I found the metallic green phase in the beginning of Cracheuse de Flammes intriguing, and thought that it would fit nicely in the export range among his recent releases which all feature more or less some metallic cleanness. However, the blurry rose and white musk dry down lacks distinction, originality and more importantly, the Lutens magic in his earlier offerings. Needless to say, I would not particularly recommend this fragrance, especially considering its price.

In general all the perfumes of the "Gold" collection are very direct in their reading of the notes, there is not much evolution. The quality is high enough without doubt, do we smell the difference with all the other Lutens? not really. They would have made great additions to the normal collection and we can not help thinking that this price is a profitability operation of little elegance. Cracheuse de Flammes is a pretty rose-oud, fresh at first and that powdered as and when it evolves with carnation, tubereuse and iris. The background remains very woody but it is reminiscent of some old Guerlain, a grandmother style in the best sense. Very classic.

The most expensive fragrance of the Section d'Or line is a pure shame. A faint cosmetic rose with aldehydic facets. Fresh, no sillage, no longevity. For only 600 euros!!!

An olfactory platitude, this is little more than a plumped-up rose perfume over a light vanilla and tuberose base. It’s huge and migraine-inducing, smelling like a cross between some ‘80s power-dresser fragrance and something from a tween-celeb line. Although I’m sure it’s loaded with top-shelf materials (well, not so sure actually), it delivers very little given its brazen price tag. I can’t see any need for something like this to exist.

As many people have pointed out, it is very similar to La Fille de Berlin. It is a fragrance that combines La Fille de Berlin and iris, and labdanum. Or I can say La Fille de Berlin 70 and Vitriol d’œillet 30. A carnation is here that makes it a musty and dusty vintage nuance. at this expensive price... I would have regretted it if I had bought it blind.

So, this is one of the 50ml colognes from Serge Lutens priced at $600? God knows what is inside and outside the juice! What an incendiary product! Of course, the name says it all!

It is a light version of keiko mecheri damascena