Boxeuses (Serge Lutens)

By Thomas

When my son whines to me about life being unfair (which is quite common), I consider that we live in a very warm climate and thus cannot sensibly enjoy Monsieur Lutens’ output, except for during a few weeks in January. Then I agree with him and offer to move the family to Greenland. Suddenly life seems a whole lot more fair, for the moment.

Speaking of Lutens’ output, I now have a small split of Boxeuses: a leather (!) with a name that evokes women boxing – which offers an interesting contrast between grit and grace. Boxeuses purports to be a fruity spicy Russian leather – which brings to mind birch tar – but the actual effect is, well, not very Russian at all. Very little grit here, mostly grace, and quite familiar at first blush.

I first thought: Chanel Cuir de Russie (review forthcoming, BTW). Well, after wearing both side-by-side, I could not have been more wrong. Where Cuir de Russie is dry, graceful, and elegant, Boxeuses is sweet and substantial and fairly leathery without being rough. They do share a sense of uprightness, propriety, that sort of thing.

So, what does it smell like? Well, it reminds me a bit of the love child of John Varvatos and S-ex: a fruity-plummy boozy leather, with a glossy space-age sheen. The opening is plums (although I also think candied orange peel a la Cuiron), spices, and tad sharp and up-front. There’s more to this – much more – but teasing out the individual notes is quite hard. It’s inscrutable, not unlike an experienced boxer.

Somewhere along the way, we wind up with a soft leather, surprisingly rich, barely sweet, and dense. Also of note: soft powdery florals and anise, lending a blocky pongy black somethingness. The overall effect reminds me of Amber Absolute, of all things. Actually, cross Amber Absolute with CdR. Maybe.

Towards the end of the day, we’re left with an astonishingly soft beeswax/musk/leather. Sometimes it’s nearly edible, other times very much not so. This doesn’t quite beat me over the head, but is rather charmingly underplayed.

So the bottom line is that I like it very much but the frustrating part is that this is similar to…well, I can’t quite tell you what. There’s enough going on here that calls to mind other scents, but no single comparison withstands scrutiny. Longevity is…strange. Boxeuses bobs and weaves – er, I mean fades in and out (although I do have a small atomizer here). It’s here at lunchtime, taking a break from the ring in the afternoon, but shows up in fits and starts later in the day. Sillage is quite muted, though – this wears really close to the skin. It has the ring of familiarity and won’t embarrass you or bloom uncontrollably. Then again, I kinda wanted this to take flight and fill the room. Ah well, life isn’t always fair.

Year:2010
Perfumer: Christopher Sheldrake
Notes: Wood, Leather, Licorice, Plum