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Shiseido – Feminite du Bois – A Twilight Walk Through an Enchanted Forest

When encountering new fragrance releases, I am often tempted to “edit” the formula to suit my liking. A little oakmoss here, a touch of civet there and voila, the fragrance would be perfect. With the exception of certain houses which continue to produce thoughtful, quality fragrances, the current “race to release” phenomena has resulted in a number of momentary fragrances which are not likely to withstand the test of time, let alone the next marketing launch. It is during these times that I re-trench and seek out those golden standards who await me like so many old friends.

Even more frustrating is the alternate scenario: perfumes so sublime as to be nearly mythical in their compositions which mysteriously vanish from the shelves, driving us to scour the dark corners of the internet to seek out lost treasures. One of these treasures (of which I will freely admit to having a secret horde) is Shiseido’s Feminite du Bois. For our French speakers, and those who do not mind reading subtitles, here is Serge Lutens himself discussing the reformulation issued under his brand name.

Launched in 1992 as a collaboration between Christopher Sheldrake, Pierre Bourdon and Serge Lutens this groundbreaking scent ranks highly in my list of fragrance perfection. And yet… I cannot help but wish for one tiny change. While the name Feminite du Bois aptly describes the perfume’s highly successful and innovative transformation of cedarwood into a beguiling feminine scent, the name does not in any way prepare you for the magic and beauty of this composition.

Experiencing Feminite du Bois for the first time is much like a twilight walk through an enchanted forest. The fragrance opens with a dusky scent of spices, an inviting delicate breeze of cardamom, ginger and cinnamon, beckoning you deeper into the forest. The dark quality of these opening notes is rendered in a shadowy manner, a gentle whisper of the exotic wonders that await you.

As you make your way slowly through the warm dark opening notes, you suddenly smell light blossoms of orange, violet, and rose on the breeze, each coming together to form an impression of tiny flowers carving out a space in the forest floor. In keeping with Shiseido’s minimalist aesthetic, the floral notes are subtle and silky. Moving closer in, you notice a small gathering of trees, each bearing perfectly ripe peaches and plums, the fragrance of which catches on the breeze and makes its way to you. Animals are drawn to the soft sweetness as well, and you detect a soft honey note and remnants of beeswax as its inhabitants eagerly seek out the source of the sweetness. All of these scents here in the quiet of the forest lull you into a light dream and you stand for a moment, just breathing in the beautiful warmth, when suddenly you see her, the Lady of the Wood.

mode, architecture, beaut,

She has stood there all along, watching you as you made your way through the dusky paths, silently beckoning you with the warmth of woods and the slight musky wetness of the forest so as not to startle you with her presence. As you stand there beholding her, you are awed by her stealth, subtlety and beauty, and you are without words. For she is a wonder to behold.

Spicy Woods

Notes: cedarwood, orange blossom, peach, honey, plum, beeswax, clove, cardamom, and cinnamon.

Serge Lutens – Chypre Rouge

It is said that there is a fine line between madness and genius. Nowhere is this more apparent in the world of modern perfumery than in the creative duo of Serge Lutens and Christopher Sheldrake. Even the most classically beautiful of the fragrances in the Serge Lutens line have an underlying tension and subversity which make them fascinating at best and challenging at worst, but never, ever mundane.

Chypre Rouge was released by Serge Lutens in 2006 as part of his export line. I found this to be an interesting move, since the house generally releases those fragrances fit for U.S. (i.e. less sophisticated) consumption, and by many accounts, Chypre Rouge can be a challenging scent. Out of the bottle, Chypre Rouge smells thick: a plummy, jammy, spicy mash that feels more like something you would spread on toast than an actual perfume. The spices invoke all of the warmth and opulence of Lutens’s beloved Marrakech, and makes me feel completely transported. True to its name and hue, Chypre Rouge smells deeply red and calls to mind autumn leaves on the forest floor, damp and musky, with a hint of decay, sweet and pervasive like dense maple syrup.

On skin, however, the fragrance tells a different story. Similar to his Tubereuse Criminelle, Chypre Rouge’s opening belies a softer, more accessible fragrance underneath. As the intense oriental opening diminshes, the spices simmer down to a mere whisper, allowing a soft, sweet and slightly creamy woods to emerge with notes of honey and vanilla. It is in these deeper, twilight hours, that we experience the chypre aspect of the fragrance, as a light mossiness overtakes the dense immortelle-like scent, creating a sedcutive, silky veil. The sillage follows suit, wearing closer and closer to the skin as the hours pass, though as a Lutens creation, it is tenacious.

As I have found to be the case with other fragrances in the Lutens line, the aspect which I initially find most defiant in the fragrance ultimately becomes my favorite. Hours into the more demure drydown, I find myself missing the heady, viscous opening, leading me to carry around a sample vial whenever I wear it to recapture the initial assault. My sincere thanks to Messrs. Lutens and Sheldrake for creating provocative fragrances that push our limits, for it is through this olfactive adversity that we grow.

Oriental Chypre

Notes: thyme, pine needles, honey, beeswax, jasmine, patchouli, vanilla, moss, amber, musk

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Shiseido – Feminite du Bois

Serge Lutens – Chypre Rouge