Serge Lutens perfume La Religieuse EDP 50 ml

Stunning perfume, as to be expected by this house.Delivery was on time, everything was nearly packaged. Very happy with my order.

I received a sample of this purple juice imagining it might smell a bit like flowers and incense, gothy with a hint of Catholic Church perhaps. I don't smell a single drop of any of it. Sadly, this is pure jasmine white floral. It smells expensive and fresh (not synthetic), but it's extremely conservative and headache inducing (like something a very boring old monarch would wear). It's well done for what it is, but not my taste at all.

An easy-to-wear "natural ginger soda" sort of scent: honeyed, fizzy, aromatic. I find it more pleasant than thrilling, but it would make for an undeniably sophisticated office scent.

This promised to be an iffy wear for me, what with the note pyramid and various reviews suggesting a gourmand–not my favorite genre. Fortunately, the candied ginger and honey don't come across so sweet on my skin, and the cocoa reads as unsweetened or bittersweet. JackTwist's review cites an uncredited oud/cedar note as a negative; I got what I thought was oud as a positive, which makes me wonder if some aromachem in the base eventually got reclassified as a synthetic oud. But then, it could be the cocoa/pepper/patchouli combo, and perhaps that's also what reads as cola to other noses. Regardless, this has turned out to be quite the enjoyable wear, running neck-and-neck with La Couche du Diable for favorite amongst my small selection of Lutens samples

Both my husband and I can wear this, it's not the same smell but has that rich sexy vibe that Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanilla has. I'd call it unisex leaning masculine.