Luminous Lemurs

After reading Matt Morris's insightful review of Luminous Lemurs as part of the Fragrantica's Editors' Favorite Perfumes of 2020 series, I was very curious about it. I knew very little about natural perfumery, and the few that I'd tried had always left me unimpressed. To my pleasant surprise, I discovered that the creator of this fragrance, Laurie Stern, lives quite close to me. We exchanged a few emails, and she was kind enough to invite me to her workshop for a socially-distanced, well-sanitized sampling session outside. We chatted about the history of perfume, her own creative process, and her inspiring travels abroad. It was such an unexpected pleasure, and as the last reviewer said, Laurie was incredibly kind and engaging. I did end up buying a bottle of Luminous Lemurs, as well as another fragrance and some of her gardenia hand creme. While Matt's review was spot-on, it did not fully prepare me for this wondrous concoction. I used a tester strip to apply a bit of this to my wrist, and even as I was raising my arm to sniff it, it wafted first to me, carried by my body heat in the cool afternoon air. The spicy, earthy clove and brilliantly pungent blood orange registered first, complementing and restraining one another perfectly. Then came one of the loveliest iterations of ylang that I've ever smelled: fruity-floral magic, not quite indolic to my nose, but suave, lush, and playful. It filled the middle space left between the two top notes, and paired perfectly with the powdery spice of the carnation. At this point, the combination of the ylang, citrus, and clove recalled something like a tropical cola bubblegum—something totally removed from that industrial strawberry aldehyde nonsense, evoking instead a rich landscape, faraway in space and time. This was the most magical moment for me; I felt overtaken by a nostalgia for something I'd never experienced. It was a strange, warm, dreamlike sensation. Soon, the vanilla and sandalwood rose to the top, smooth, grounding, and divine. On the whole, I'd qualify this as a spicy-powdery gourmand oriental. That's not to say it's sweet; the vanilla is full and natural, but not sugary. The ylang is certainly the star, but all of the supporting cast play their roles with impeccable timing and intensity. As far as performance goes, Luminous Lemurs doesn't last as long as many of its mainstream, synthetically augmented counterparts, but that's in keeping with most natural perfumes—natural compounds are simply a bit more volatile and prone to dissipation with time, heat, and skin chemistry. It's totally worth it, though. For me, this is a cool weather scent; it blossomed so beautifully on skin in winter, and will work well in fall too, I imagine. All-occasion, all-gender, and good for day or night. And part of the proceeds go to a good cause! Thank you so much for everything, Laurie! I hope to get to know more of your creations in the future! ^_^

This reminds me very much of another of Laurie Stern's fragrances, Black Cat. The two share the blood orange, ylang ylang, and vanilla notes, but in this one, the orange doesn't dominate the composition for me the way it does in Black Cat. This scent does somehow manage to have a sort of "luminous" quality to it and I'm not sure exactly how to elaborate on that. It's sweet and tangy and fruity and softly spicy all at once, and like Black Cat, reminds me of the kind of scent one would encounter in a New Age shop. This one strikes me as a little more floral and less gourmand than Black Cat, possibly because Black Cat also features cacao. This one is also for a good cause as a portion of the proceeds go to protect lemurs' native habitat on Madagascar.

Spicy blood orange desert. Natural smelling. This is nice but lasting power is non-existent. I think this is a super natural perfume or something like that. I bought it for the fun, I wear it at home. Makes me smile but this is it. It's aromatherapy more than a perfume imo.

Not really for me, a bit too bubble gum for this guy.

Laurie Stern has to be one of the nicest people in perfumery. I’m not just saying that, she comes across as one of the nicest people you will ever meet. The type of person who doesn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body. She’s just one of those special people. So, when I saw that she had made several “Best of 2020” lists with her wonderful Luminous Lemurs, I felt genuine happiness and excitement for her. Not only because it’s such a lovely perfume and wonderful cause, but because I simply adore her. Luminous Lemurs is dominated by a lush and hefty blood orange combined with ylang ylang and it has a beautiful fruitiness that smells very natural (because it is). But there is also a deeper, richer quality to it, coming from an aged 20 year old sandalwood and Madagascan vanilla, plus a touch of spices (clove, nutmeg and cinnamon) and some gentle carnation. It has a very handmade and vintage feel to it and is lovely to wear. Rich and substantial but with a soft, smooth quality. A wrist sniffer!