# Serge Lutens — Cèdre

> Cedre is the most polite and most controversial entry in the Lutens cedar canon - a perfume named "Cedar" that frustrates expectations by burying the cedar under tuberose, honey, clove, cinnamon, and 

## Essence
Cedre is the most polite and most controversial entry in the Lutens cedar canon - a perfume named "Cedar" that frustrates expectations by burying the cedar under tuberose, honey, clove, cinnamon, and a syrupy amber base. It is closer to a sweet floriental with woody undertones than to the dry, sharp cedar fragrance the name implies. Among the Bois series and its offshoots, Cedre stands as the genteel, faintly retro outlier - pleasant, accomplished, often dismissed by Lutens devotees as the "politically correct" one in the catalog.
## Scent Profile
The opening is the most assertive and probably the most polarizing phase. The first ten minutes hit with a sharp, camphoraceous clove-cinnamon combination that several reviewers compare to a herbal cough remedy or menthol rub. A top-rated wearers review describes it as "very camphoraceous and medicinal, like a herbal remedy for cough." This bracing top is what gives the perfume its strange first impression: it doesn't smell like cedar at all, it smells like a spice-rack pharmaceutical.
## Performance
Projection is moderate at the open (the clove punches), then settles to close-skin sillage. Longevity is strong - eight hours typically on skin, well over a day on clothing thanks to the syrupy amber base. The perfume is dense enough that two sprays is plenty; three turns it cloying. Heat amplifies the honey-amber sweetness, which can read as headache-inducing in summer; cool weather gives the spices and woods more space to breathe. Humidity flattens the tuberose. Best application: skin only - Cedre's amber base on fabric is heavy. The fragrance benefits from light application and a wait before second judgment; many reviewers report initial dislike that softened with familiarity.
## Wearing Context
Late autumn, winter, cool spring evenings. Best for indoor settings: dinners, theaters, intimate gatherings. It reads as feminine more than masculine despite Lutens's unisex marketing - the tuberose-honey combination skews traditional fragrance-counter feminine, and at least one wearers contributor explicitly described it as "more feminine than masculine to me."
## Comparisons & DNA
- **Lutens Feminite du Bois** (1992) - the parent. Lutens himself called Cedre "another take on Feminite for an alternate reality." Where FdB is celestial, transparent, and luminous, Cedre is dusky and earthy.
## Reception
Cedre's reception is the most muted of the eight fragrances covered here. response is positive but restrained; response splits between "underrated" defenders and "boring/derivative" detractors. Common praise: longevity is "beast mode," the materials feel high-quality, the spices in the opening are unique, and it grows on the wearer over time. Common criticisms: not enough cedar (the most-repeated complaint), too sweet, too similar to Bois Oriental and Feminite du Bois, structurally derivative, "demure" to a fault. Critical reception was tepid at launch. Now Smell This (Robin Krug): "Serge Lutens is one of my favorite fragrance lines, but the cedar-based scents in the Bois series do not by and large appeal to me, and I am still not sure what I think of Cedre." Perfume-Smellin' Things damned with faint praise. Bois de Jasmin's 2005 review was more positive but framed Cedre as a "floriental" reinvention, not a cedar fragrance. The Non-Blonde adored it. **Blind buy verdict:** No - sample first. Even Lutens devotees split on Cedre, and its name actively misleads.
## Versions & Reformulation
Launched in 2005 as part of the export line - 50 ml rectangular bottle, labeled "Eau de Parfum Haute Concentration" (Lutens's general EDP designation). It was never originally a Palais-Royal exclusive bell-jar release. As of the late-2010s reorganization, Cedre was moved into the Gratte-Ciel collection in 100 ml flacons. With the Gratte-Ciel format being phased out, Cedre's current distribution is in the Flacons de Table bell-jar collection at sergelutens.eu, listed at 260 for 75 ml. Older 50 ml export bottles are often reported by long-time wearers as more vibrant, with later batches feeling slightly more linear and amber-dominant - typical Lutens reformulation chatter, none of it formally confirmed by the house. Single concentration, EDP. Lutens marketing has historically described the line concentration as 20% perfume oil.
## Acquisition Notes
Availability varies by market; sample before buying when possible.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- Lutens's own description of Cedre on the house site frames it poetically: "Like a pastry made of wood.
- Another take on Feminite for an alternate reality.
- True to its name, it contains cedar, to which honey is the key.
- But I have added tuberose, barely perceptible but of paramount importance." That formal "barely perceptible but of paramount importance" tuberose is the perfume's most interesting structural choice - Sheldrake using a major white floral as a textural element rather than a voice.