Jeux de Peau (Serge Lutens)

By Andrew

The much-ballyhooed reference to baked goods in the press around Jeux d Peau’s release is spot on. This sort of doughy effect is not entirely new, having appeared both in the highly abstract context of Jacques Cavallier’s Le Feu d’Issey and then as a more blatantly culinary allusion in Jean-Claude Éllena’s Bois Farine. Nor is Jeux de Peau Sheldrake and Lutens’s first offering in the gourmand style. Both Rahät Loukoum and Louve reference Turkish delight, while Five O-Clock au Gingembre and Arabie each conjure their own vision of Christmas fruitcake. Jeux de Peau smells neither of Middle-Eastern confection nor holiday baking. Instead it suggests the corner patisserie, filled with the morning’s assortment of fresh croissants and frangipane tarts.

While Jeux de Peau is undeniably sweet, it reveals little spice, syrup, or vanilla. Instead, the dominant accord is yeasty, buttery, and nutty. Besides being obviously culinary, this French bakery accord is unusually well integrated. If I try hard I can make out hints of sandalwood, apricot, and a powdery amber, all warmed by a very light dab of immortelle, but by and large the combination blends into a seamless olfactory mass.

The French bakery construct hangs together for several hours, and while its texture is extremely soft, it lacks nothing in potency and covers its wearer in a conspicuous mantle of eau de croissant. I very much appreciate this linear tenacity, as the interesting accords at the heart deflate into a disappointingly flat, dusty cedar in the drydown. The wearing experience is largely pleasant, but I can’t help feeling that this clever composition deserved a less pedestrian close.

Year: 2011

Perfumer: Christopher Sheldrake

Notes: Bread note, spices, licorice, apricot, immortelle, sandalwood, woody notes, amber