Douce Amere

Bittersweet according to a direct translation. But who knows if that’s literally true; this is Serge Lutens remember. It checks out though. Douce Amere is a beautiful contrast between sweet and bitter. My nose is acutely toned to detect sweetness, sometimes to my own detriment. Sweet smells and sweet flavors are my least favorite palate category. So, to me, Douce leans quite a bit more sweet than bitter, but that could also just be me. So let’s break it down that way: The sweetness comes in the form of muguet, and a lot of it. Lily is given a big wrapping of spun sugar; I have an image in my mind of a bouquet of muguet surrounded by cotton candy. But this is not to the detriment of muguet’s other characteristics, namely the meaty and unctuous, slightly salty, and watery qualities. Muguet often smells heady and honeyed, but here the sweetness is more of a hot sugary aroma, something akin to a lightly browned caramel, a touch vanillic, if not cotton candy. Then comes the bitter, which is, unquestionably, a wormwood accord. Ahhh, now this is much more my speed. It is herbal and woody at the same time whilst being bitter and bracingly green; bitter herbs and young wood. It is most readily apparent in the opening, which, in terms of this lily imagery in my head makes the lily seem like it’s still a bud and unbloomed. Curiously, it stays unique, and separated by a distance, from the cinnamon and anise notes, which seem to want to accent the sweet muguet. The spices with the sweetness is scrumptious, but my interest lies with the bitter and portentous wormwood stringing its way from top to bottom of the perfume. It holds into the heart but considerably less strident than it was in the opening, holding on for dear life. Just like my life; always holding out for something other than sweet but being beat down. Its watermark is ever present throughout the life of Douce, just not as much as I wish it was. It is present by proxy via a pungent, green, and piquant cedar note in the dry down. I’m not throwing out many compliments here, and certainly a fair number of criticisms, but that is not reflective of what I truly think of Douce Amere. This is one of Serge Lutens’s underrated gems. That’s probably because Douce is a little weirdo. It is so angular and highly contrasted, a black and white presentation - no grays, light versus dark - no shadows, that I’m sure many of the average consumer segment find it difficult to understand and adding polarity to their individual experience of it. “I want my sweet, creamy, baking spice flecked latte - what is this bitter stuff?! Coffee?!” Whereas the coffee lovers are asking the same but vice versa, “what have you done to my coffee, you heathen?!” I can understand both perspectives, but I live in the middle of them with the grays and the shadows. Wonderful work.

I've never met a fragrance which fits its name so perfectly like this. Douce Amere. Bittersweet. My first experience with it tested on my wrist has been rather disappointing so in this light I was not prepared for the loveliness of Douce Amere, but being a hot sunny day today I craved for a refreshing scent so I gave it a second chance. The choice was just perfect. Bitter and sweet notes blended beautifully, none of them tried to dominate. Soon after the first sniff I envisioned ouzo. Ouzo is an anise flavoured spirit (optionally added other flavorings, such as star anise, coriander, cloves, and cinnamon) traditionally known in Greece (and Albania as I know from a friend). It does not change drastically on the skin, this note never really fades made the scent so lively throghout the day. The sweetness is presented by flowers but I am unable to identify them although I'm fairly sure that I can't smell jasmine which is one of my favourite notes. The tenacity is exceptional - with a lovely sillage - considering that I sprayed it at 5am and 12 hours later I can still smell it in full bloom. (I have to admit that I could seen Douce Amere to tend annoying when the wheather warms up because of the toothpaste-like freshness. Nevertheless, I would definitely want a bottle for the hot summer days.)

Surprise! On opening the sample vial, the first thing I smelled was lots of sandalwood, not what I thought an absinthe-inspired fragrance should smell like. Within seconds, however, the anise came through loud and clear, like pure ouzo being drunk from a sandalwood cup. There’s something dry and herbal along with the wood and anise, presumably the artemesia that one would think should be a prominent note, and just a little hint of flowers. I like the fact that the cinnamon doesn’t overpower the anise, but instead blends perfectly with it. Wow! Once this develops it is unique and marvellous. After a few hours it dries down into a mostly woody scent with notes of sandalwood and cedar, nice in its own right. Later, the vanilla becomes prominent, and for the last several hours it is a sweet and almost ambery skin scent. It’s a lovely sequence of very different perfumes, three for the price of one. Sillage is good, and the scent lasts all day in one form or another. I read that Douce Amere being discontinued - why, oh why, when it’s one of the best SL creations?

I was on a short trip to Paris and I defiantly wanted to go to Serge Lutens flagship store at Palais Royale so I could try all "old" perfumes that they sell now in bell jars because you can't find then anywhere else. I made a list of 8 perfumes that I wanted to test out and out of those eight I liked Douce Amber the most. It's really beautiful and interesting green vanilla scent but absinthe alcohol green like and because of that it leans more on the masculine side IMO. Yes it's sweet and little bit powdery but still it doesn't go into average sweet powdery vanilla scent profile. Definitely unique scent and everyone that likes vanilla as a note should definitely try this one because I don't think they will find anything similar to Douce Amere. In the end I got my bottle from Vinted (old Palais Royal version from 00's) because I was not sure how I'm gonna use it if I buy bell jar version because I like to spray my perfumes. (they prob supple you with a small decant bottle that you can fill them up and then spray it but that's a bit annoying for me)

Just found a bottle of this scent--I forgot how cozy and comfortable it is. It's hard to believe it didn't do well enough in all markets to stay in the "export" line, as it always struck me as very loveable. What I appreciate most about it is that the bittersweetness is so well balanced. The wormwood and anisic notes are absolutely there, but the vanilla, musks, a light white florals provide such a complementary counterpoint. This has also always smelled to me a bit like Chergui but without the big coumarin note--in other words, the contemporary haziness of hedione, iso e super, and various white musks cocooning a huge vanilla. In Douce Amere, that beautiful base serves as the structure for a gorgeously green and herbal wormwood/white floral core instead of the spices and incense and hay of Chergui. Some other light touches of things (a hint of citrus and one of those pineapple-galbanum aromachemicals, maybe a light sprinkle of something like cinnamon) continue to contour and shape it.