Serge Lutens — Cèdre
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.