Douce Amere is a gorgeous scent. It combines the familiar sweet, hay-like base of Serge Lutens that is reminiscent of the drydown of Chergui with a crisp, icy anise opening. It has a slight boozy feel to it in the top notes that might remind you of a whiff of Chartreuse liquor. It settles into a comforting, velvety middle with signature SL cues. It’s a great addition to the line, and a pity that it’ll be infinitely harder to get (for those of us outside of Paris).

I guess a set of photos of one tan labeled Serge Lutens is not much different than the next, but Serge does have beautiful bottles, so I figured it couldn’t hurt. Here are just a few that I snapped – nothing fancy, but for those new to Serge, it’s a nice way of checking out the bottle!

I sniffed the Back to Black directly from the stick and immediately thought “wow, this is going to be good.” I put a bit on the back of my hand and looked forward to what would come of it. It opened with a jammy berry note, almost so tart and pungent that it could tingle your glands. It then transitioned into a wonderful almond woody note, sweetened by vanilla and honey with a touch of warm patchouli. All seemed to be going well. A good while later into the dry down, the honey started to come out a bit more than I was hoping. It was similar to the honey note in the base of Miel de Bois by Serge Lutens. Not good. Hours later, all that was left was the pulsing honey note, all too close to the smell of a well-used port-a-potty on a hot day. Honey isn’t listed as one of the notes and the Kilian website isn’t updated yet, but it seems like a number of people are getting a big honeyed tobacco note pretty strongly.

I’m going to revisit it in hopes that it was a fluke – perhaps applying it by swiping didn’t let it develop the way it needed to.

Longevity and projection are both huge – just from the bit I had on my hand, I was getting wafts of it all afternoon. Also, from that same little bit on my hand, I could still smell it the next morning and still traces after showering.

I’ll try again soon.

Notes from Luckyscent:
Bergamot, raspberry, blue chamomile, cardamom, coriander, saffron, cedarwood, vanilla, almond, vetiver, cistus labdanum, patchouli, oakmoss.