Un Bois Sepia

This is more conventional than most of the avant-garde Lutens line, but if you are scared of going outside smelling like Play-Doh (Ambre Sultan), a Thai curry (Santal De Mysore) or an apple pie (Bois De Vanille) then this might be the Lutens for you. It starts with a dramatic blast of chest-thumping woods, a la Bois de Portugal, with a shimmering burnt sugar note but, alas, dies down all too quickly into a much better behaved, demurely exquisite skinscent, quietly twisted and a little melancholy. This is a much more distinctive fragrance than many paint it. The soured milky boiled fruit accord sits rather uneasy with the woods and vetiver and this gives the juice a strange, sophisticated beauty. That trademark dissonance makes this very much a Lutens fragrance. Not to be dismissed or belittled, this one is very much worthy of your attention if you are looking for a different take on woods and vetiver. Try a sample first though - it's not for everyone. Update: been running around town, quite sweaty, and the wafts of Un Bois Sepia rising up are just the most sumptious thing I've smelled. This is officially gorgeous. Most refined fragrance I own. Let's see more love for Un Bois Sepia! A major Lutens IMHO.

Okay this is a minor Serge Lutens creation but it is still so beautiful and enjoyable. The perfume begins with bright notes of vetiver and cypress transitions to a middle consisting of opoponax and patchouli and dries down to a sandalwood and patchouli. Although it is not by any means very innovative, it is a gentle, beautifully blended and uplifting scent with moderate sillage and good longevity. A nice summer day scent. Enjoy!

Early 90’s-styled masculine fragrance. Lost in a cypress forest. Aromatic, green and slightly woody. Extremely smooth, one of the most undervalued SL fragrances, bottle worthy if you want that old-school masculine style but at a better quality.

This is an underappreciated scent. While it does smell a lot like a generic men's scent (from Polo to Sauvage), the ingredient quality sets it apart (at least the bell jar version I have). There's a bomb of cypress, which is mainly what gives it the big 1980s scent, but there is a lot of interesting stuff going on just below the surface. It's not my favorite bell jar scent but it's undervalued even by me.

Not bad, I guess, but first impression is that this smells like so many generic aftershaves. It is similar to Platinum Egoiste,I agree. I wouldn't dream of this and would never describe this as unisex. It screams "aftershave" to me. That having been said, if I smelt this on a guy, I'd be pretty happy ;-)

Medicinal linament anyone, I have a sports injury. Was that my liniment ....no sorry it was this frag. I dont dislike this frag but really the cypress and patchouli make it far too medicinal.

Not the best creation by this brand. I like Serge Lutens, but not this one. None of this notes sounds great and all of them in general. More masuline fragrance, imho.

Lavender is not listed among the notes for Serge Lutens Un Bois Sépia. All that are listed are cypress, vetiver, sandalwood, opoponax, and patchouli. Nonetheless, to my nose, this creation is a classic masculine cologne of the barbershop hot shaving cream variety. Honestly, I cannot wear this without thinking of the barbershop scene in the Godfather. The opening of this creation presents a marrow-penetrating intensity which verges on house of Lush material. After a while, that dense sharpness smooths out and the woods start to become equal partners and eventually more dominant than the "lavender-esque" quality of the opening, which is apparently cypress, though in my experience cypress has always smelled greener than this. In any case, my opinion of this perfume has not changed in the least since I first encountered it (last month) in the wax form. The liquid form seems just the same to my nose. In both the wax and the liquid dab testing, I found the opening to be super strong. It's also too masculine, verging on a cliché, and definitely not for me.

80s men's sporty cologne. WTF. The only thing interesting about it is the rather piercing (one might say shrieking) violet leaf. If you want to spend niche fragrance prices for a manly man cologne, here you go. Otherwise, why not try the excellent Cool Water? You still get to smell like every other man out there and you won't have to break the bank to do so.

I can't believe Un Bois Sepia is by Lutens. Gone is the typical dried fruit quality, the density and the bold oriental structure. What is left is a generic smelling woody fragrance that continuely winks at tones of modern mass-market masculines. Weak and uninspired. Thumbs down! Rating: 5/10

Woodsy and fresh, as weird as that sounds. If someone told me that this was a Serge Lutens I'd ask to check for myself. Not what I was expecting AT all. As a matter of fact, I can't believe this is a SL release at all! It smells like a Ralph Lauren flanker!!!

Un Bois Sepia smells like typical men's cologne. It's not too original, very strong opening but softens at the dry-down. It's nice, but I am not too crazy about this one, although I am big fan of SL fragrances.