In the latest round of scent battles, Byredo’s La Tulipe takes on Serge Lutens’ Fleurs d’Oranger.
La Tulipe. Last night I watched the third episode of the BBC Perfume documentary, which followed Ann Gottlieb on an excursion to Brazil to market-test a new Axe body spray. She and several of the other commenters, when talking about perfume desires in Brazil, used the word “yummy.” Although it’s a word often associated with gourmand fragrances, I think it captures the quality of certain floral fragrances as well. La Tulipe is such a fragrance. As other reviewers have commented, the first moments conjure images of freshly cut flower stems, green and vegetal. (Abigail’s description of “vegetal” in this perfume is spot-on, in my opinion.) There is a hint of vetiver along with a very smooth floral note. Others (see NST, for example) have identified this as freesia, and I will take their word for it. Just as I don’t mind what kind of flowers anyone brings me, I don’t mind what kind of flowers are in La Tulipe. They are lush, rich, and yummy.
Rating for La Tulipe is “4: I really, really like it!” Why? Because it’s delicate without being a wallflower; slightly green and vegetal, which gives it a more realistic floral vibe; and pretty without being insipid.
Fleurs d’Oranger. I went on a bit of a binge of orange blossom fragrances earlier this year. They’ve never really interested me before, but apparently my tastes have changed. It helps that orange blossom seems to stay well on my skin, and I usually don’t mind when it goes soapy. Serge Lutens Fleurs d’Oranger brings together orange blossom with tuberose and jasmine, strung on a thread of cumin. When the scent is doing well on my skin, it’s lush (like La Tulipe) with a bit of saltiness. When it’s not, the cumin is … a problem. It sometimes adds a strange “heat”, which makes it seem as if the scent is rising off of my skin in a nasty and uncontrollable waft, like bad breath. (I’m sorry if that image is as disgusting when I write it as it is in my head.) In Fleurs d’Oranger’s defense, this effect is only really apparent up close, but it is there.
Rating for Fleurs d’Oranger is a “1: This is definitely not for me.” Why? Because it smells like a steaming pile of filthy, and not in a good way. (Note: this rating is being added after the above review was written, and therefore after further unpleasant experience with Fleurs d’Oranger.)
No surprise that La Tulipe won this little battle!
Photo credit: Oragallu.net
Although I’m not a big fan of tulips, that fragrance sounds wonderful! I haven’t tried much of the Byredo line, but will add this to my sample list.
You should! It’s a delight, and I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten more fans.
Oh I love the sound of La Tulipe, anything that’s green and plant-like is good for me
I will definitely cheer-lead for La Tulipe. It’s great.
I smelled La Tulipe in a store and even managed to get a sample but it still sits in my drawer waiting for the right time… Tomorrow sounds like a right time. Right?
Yes!
I’ll be interested to see what you think.
What have you done?!!
It’s such great summer (well, spring but with our summer…) scent! I want it. And my sample is really small, I have just one wear left, I think. Good thing – I do not like the bottle, so I do not want it. Bad thing – I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find a decant. I’ll try.
Isn’t it nice?! I really like it. If I get a bottle (and I think that is likely), I can make a decant for you.
Two things:
1. You can count me in for 10-20 ml (whatever you can spare), just let me know when and where to transfer money.
2. You need to increase the number of nested levels (it’s a setting somewhere, I saw it).
Two answers:
1. Will do!
2. Thanks! I will look for it.
I have yet to try either of these perfumes! The Lutens is on “the list” and I am definitely adding La Tulipe to it!
Is La Tulipe a contender for your wedding perfume?
I definitely recommend La Tulipe, and it is a strong wedding contender.
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Hi, Natalie! Happy blogging!
I am quite used to orange blossoms and I used to love SL’s Fleurs d’Oranger few years ago (it was my very first truly beloved scent), although this one tends to be really sweet and, as you said: so LUSH. I live in a sunny mediterranean place -hot and humid weather- and it seems to work gorgeously here. Anyway, I remember quite a bit suffocating in hottest days, so I reserved it just for spring and/or summer nights use (and early autumn, too). My bodychemistry was always right with this uplifting, beautiful fragrance. As I see, it is 90% Womanly, and there’s something almost ‘Childish’ in the drydown that I love (probably I associate it due to such amount of neroli baby products).
I stopped using Fleurs d’Oranger just because I’m a bit of a perfume-aholic and I can’t be faithful to just one fragrance. FdO lasted me almost 8/9 years (I used some others, meanwhile)… Now FdO is over (full empty bottle), but I’ll keep it in mind and I’ll never forget that it could be my very signature scent… so we will see in the future, maybe I’ll come back to it.
I haven’t tried much of the Byredo line. I remember ‘Blanche’, ‘Bal d’Afrique’ and ‘Fantastic Man’, apparently ‘La Tulipe’ was still not launched. I found that three nice and pleasing, but in general terms they are too much thin, weak and short longevity to me. Also, they are quite a lot in the unisex territory. I know a fragrance does not have a gender (Lutens’ philosophy), but I don’t want a fragrance to resemble that of a man’s, so I tend to prefer the unequivocal, predominantly feminine ones instead of the unisex/masculine types.
So well… now I’m really curious about ‘La Tulipe’! I agree FdO is not as interesting and unique fragrance as many others are… it’s just lovely in its simplicity.
It is nice to read about a “true love” story with FdO, even though it didn’t work for me. And you know you always have it to go back to if you are in the mood. I think you might like La Tulipe, as to me it is not at all unisex. The Byredo line does tend to be pretty “sheer” somehow, even when it is very lush as in Pulp. I had not thought of that before, but I think you are right.
Well, looking back at the past, I realize how few “true love-perfume stories” I’ve got in my life, and I can count on the fingers of LESS than one hand! (do you feel the same?). There are many “love affairs”, though.
Yes, true love stories are few and far between for me, too. I noticed when I was doing the index to perfumes by rating how few 4 and 5 star perfumes are represented.
Be careful with ratings, you know that true love stories never have endings…!!
Today I see there’s a new one in your life! let’s celebrate…. Hoooooray! :party:
This is true! Yep, a new one joined the ranks.
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Perfume is simply beautiful! It’s very interesting and it’s acting like an floral bouquet, very feminine nad captivating I would say. Nobody would guess that there is tulip based perfume.
Juraj
This is a beautiful one, isn’t it? Thanks for going into the archives!