NEW FRAGRANCE REVIEW: Serge Lutens De Profundis “Eros and Thanatos” + De Profundis Draw

"Vitriol D’Oeillet" was the scent of dandyism. "De Profundis" is the scent of literally loving to death; passionate diehards who go far beyond earthly love. "De Profundis" marks the first words of Psalm 130 from the Bible, a hymn dedicated to hope and redemption. It is also the title of a poem from the famous collection "Les Fleurs du Mal" by Charles Baudelaire, one of the most famous names in French literature, a poete maudit (and one of the first to break the rules of conventional poetry and morality of that time) who brought imagination and complexity of feelings to his works. "De Profundis Clamavi" which means "I shouted from the Depths" is an ode to melancholy and boredom … especially in the case of Baudelaire.

 


 
"De Profundis" catches the eye almost before the nose. The color is actually a deep purple, powerful, similar to a magic potion which will invite you to partake of its charms. Magic, mystery, and even the name of this elixir invite contemplation. Serge Lutens created a fragrance that plunges into a secret world of the unknown, a source of all fantasies. A world where Love, Death, Eros and Thanatos meet

De Profundis is an innovative departure, extremely ornate, almost heady; of a meeting between violet and chrysanthemum. Then, slowly, as it swells it heats up and is adorned with round and leathery notes, making it more identifiably Lutensienne. Buoyed by high heat, it also shows a touch of incense that reconnects with the biblical reference. More discreet than "Vitriol D’Oeillet," yet it is a skin scent which "dares” to be all out there because it is pretty darn sleek and dark.


 

Violets and chrysanthemums, as two inseparable companions, will be most noticed. In France, the chrysanthemum is the flower that dresses the tombs on November 1, All Saints' Day, to honor the dead. A flower whose symbolism is popular despite that it is dedicated to the dark, even in misfortune. Violet is a flower rather maligned by the French and considered quite dated. Yet these two flowers deliver a shared message forming an absolutely stunning perfume, a flowery liquor which has only one desire: to be totally stunning. Like all the perfumes of the highest quality,

 Dino Valls-De Profundis

"De Profundis" is not engaging the first time it touches your skin, but as you wear De Profundis you will embark like Orpheus into Hell and will reemerge on Earth hypnotized as if in a narcotic trance.

 


With De Profundis, Serge Lutens seems to have invited us into a fragrant world darker than usual. The name, the perfume, the composition, the color of the juice, everything is an invitation to contemplation and dark thoughts. Yet, it is also a habit with this great master perfumer, to expose a hidden side. In De Profundis that come from the chrysanthemum flower, which may be a flower of misfortune for Europeans but in Japan is a floral symbol of joy, the same one that marks the seal of the imperial family.

 


 
Hard to believe that the Lord is an afterthought …

De Profundis
Eau de Parfum – 75ml – € 120
Exclusively at the Salons du Palais Royal (Paris)
ReleasedSeptember 1

Note that "De Profundis" will be released in two limited edition engraved bottles, two pieces of art.

We have a draw for a courtesy of Serge Lutens, of at least one concrete and courtesy of our Contributor Claudia  Kroyer one sample vial.  To be eligible  leave a comment on an aspect of the dark side in poetry, religion, music, painting,history, your life or another Lutens fragrance. Draw closes August 31, 2011

-Emmanuelle Varron, Editor

Art Direction -Michelyn Camen-EIC

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62 comments

  • Alnysie says:

    Thanks for the draw! De Profundis sounds very interesting! I immediately thought of Arvo Pärt’s De Profundis. I don’t know it much but I’m listening to it right now on YouTube and it’s both dark and extremely beautiful… And it’s based on Psalm 130. It would be nice to try listening to it while wearing its perfume namesake!

  • thescentinel says:

    “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it” – Mark Twain
    I can’t wait to smell this. I’ve been craving a new Serge Lutens recently, it’s like you know what I’m thinking!

  • Kate S. says:

    Coincidentally I was just thinking about Anna Akhmatova yesterday. She was an amazing poet. This is still spectacular even in English and note the title:

    “De Profundis…”

    1
    1944
    De profundis… My generation
    Had been fed without honey. Aft that
    Just a wind sings in gloomy recession,
    And remembrance of them who is dead.
    Our business have never been finished,
    Our time had been marked by the end;
    ‘Till the watershed of our wishing,
    ‘Till the spring’s top, that might be so grand,
    ‘Till the blooming with fiery passion –
    There was distance in only one breath…
    By two wars, my generation,
    Had been lighted your awful path.

  • chrisskins says:

    A perfume that attempts to capture the combination of darkness with the inevitable counterpart of hope, renders this a “must sniff”. I have Daim Blond; want the sister in the thick black glasses who says amazing things quietly.

  • MollyG says:

    My favorite conte fantastique is from a contemporary of Baudelaire: Véra, by Auguste de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam. It is the story of a love beyond the grave. A youngish (30-something) count becomes a widower when his wife dies of a heart attack — in the throes of passion, if I remember correctly. He buries her in a coffin lined with velvet and violets. She comes back to him on the anniversary of her death, and the count thinks he dreamed their reunion. When she vanishes, he cries desperately “How can I be with you again?” And the key to her tomb falls onto the bed.

    I like to think that when Véra returned to the count’s bed chamber, she smelled something like De Profundis. And I would love to try it for myself.

  • ElizabethN says:

    My dark side comes out in my taste in music: Depeche Mode, NIN, and the like. I also love reading Thomas Hardy, which is fairly dark and depressing. I would love to try a real “dark” SL – I don’t really see it as a dark line, and can’t think of one I’d consider truly dark. thanks!

  • Irina says:

    I would love to be able to try it
    I keep thinking of T.S.Elliot’s “the waste land”of Bacon’s portraits and of Pina Bausch’s “Orfeo and Euridike”

  • Lisa says:

    The other Lutens fragrance that I think of as having a “dark side” is Encens et Lavande. Others might not think of it in the same way I do, but I get a herbaceous, greenish opening before the soft lavender unfolds. But then… the deep, haunting incense. To me, Encens et Lavande is like a study in the interplay of light and dark, all about the chiaroscuro.

  • Kathleen H. says:

    A truly dark SL? Or a thing of deep beauty?

    My own darker side manifests in music… how sometimes hearing the melancholy lyrics of the blues or jazz or even the somewhat more arch works of the more romantic early punk-gothic era artists like Siouxsie & the Banshees & Bauhaus evokes a depth of feeling and that color… like black and white movies of the film noir era capture a mood. Exploring depths of passion, despair, monsters… makes breaking back into the light even more intense.

    I would very much love a chance to try De Profundis!

  • Nina Z says:

    For the Japanese, flowers always represent impermanence. But while cherry blossoms are spring and youth, chrysanthemums are fall or winter, in the dark season, the last flowers of all:

    When the winter chrysanthemums go,
    there’s nothing to write about
    but radishes. — Basho

    A dead chrysanthemum
    and yet – isn’t there still something
    remaining in it? — Takahama

    (I’d love to smell a perfume based on a chrysanthemum note.)

  • kastehelmi says:

    When I think of the dark side, I think of so many things: Heironymous Bosch paintings–a glimpse of hell through the depth and detail of Bosch’s brush is truly frightening, moving. There are many great Russian poets (Yevgeny Yevtushenko comes to mind) and the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich, that really give a sense of yearning, willpower, and dignity while relating tales of war, betrayal, the decay of morals and the nearness and inescapability of death. Symphony No. 14 by Shostakovich is one of the ultimate odes to darkness, with 11 movements based on different poems about death–the first movement is “De Profundis” by Federico Garcia Lorca–the poem is simple:
    De Profundis

    Los cien enamorados
    duermen para siempre
    bajo la tierra seca.
    Andalucía tiene
    largos caminos rojos.
    Córdoba, olivos verdes
    donde poner cien cruces
    que los recuerden.
    Los cien enamorados
    duermen para siempre.

    The one hundred lovers
    sleep forever beneath the dry earth.
    Andalucia has long red roads.
    Cordoba, olive trees
    where to place one hundred crosses
    that remembers them.
    The one hundred lovers
    sleep forever.

    And to listen to Symphony No 14 I think “Symphony No 13 (Babiy Yar, after the Yevtushenko poem) indeed wasn’t frightening enough. I crumble inside, and weep, and feel more alive than ever.

    I have often wondered about such big puffing flowers with such delicate petals signifying death. I am very glad to hear these beauties signify honour too, and would love to smell this new Lutens masterpiece–even if it would be difficult to wear it sounds like an intimate perfume, pushing the wearer to greater awareness while wrapping her/him in darkness….

  • angie Cox says:

    I don’t think there is a darker aspect to life than my own depression. I am very drawn to the dark side of flowers in violets which freshly plucked are deep and dank and suggest the underworld .

  • saran says:

    For a beautiful but dark song I would reccomend Strange Fruit by Nina Simone. It always makes me cry. I would love to be in the draw for this. Thank you!

  • Larimar says:

    Lovely review, thank you!
    One of my great Serge Lutens loves is the truly dark and rather malicious Rose de Nuit. I like the dark side in all art, be it music, perfumery, paintings… it’s usually where I can be found. 🙂

  • Ines says:

    I actually try and forget there is a dark side to my character and I do my best to make the good side come to the fore. But I think it mostly gets displayed through the books I read.

    I don’t know if it’s a European thing, crysanthemums are the flower of choice for tombs here as well on November 1. I don’t see it as a flower with dark side. If I were to choose a dark flower, I’d go with rose.
    And a rose oud perfume to make my dark side appear. 😉

  • sara says:

    when I think of the dark side of the arts I think of jazz compositions written celebrating the night. this fragrance made me think of the Stones’ Dead Flowers. the photographs of Joel-Peter Witkin represent a dark side of humanity to me. please enter me into the drawing.

  • Mihaela says:

    Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons.
    Oscar Wilde – De Profundis
    I’ve always loved Wilde’s writings; the letter he wrote to Lord Alfred Douglas while he was in prison has a haunting quality that I’m sure the new Lutens fragrance shares.

  • Michelyn Camen says:

    In Latin American countries purple is the color of DEATH
    In the arts it is my love of urban noir novels, Hitchcock,poems like la belle dame sans merci, The bell jar (ironic Sylvia Plath) Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, the Spanish artist Dino Valls (the picture I used for the man with the knife)and in music- Jazz – Charles Parker, Billie Holliday and Chet Baker.
    Dark side of humanity is genocide and killing throughout the ages in the name of religion, ethnicity, greed and ignorance . Nazis used purple arm bands for certain ethnic groups
    People who favor purple are likely to be creatives or eccentrics. It is my favorite color, so that is the dichotomy of the color purple.
    Enough intellect how about good ol darth vader and the romulans
    Ok
    Iove sci fi
    Something wicked this way comes~
    Ray Bradbury

  • Masha says:

    I find Encens et Lavande to be the most contemplative, most pleasingly melancholy of the Serge Lutens line. It’s also one of my favorites, so I’d love to try De Profundis. So sad it’s a Paris exclusive!

  • Holly F. says:

    That color- gorgeous! I would love the chance to try this. My dark side comes out mostly in poetry, but also can be noted in the music I listen to, the literature I read, photography, almost all aspects of art in my life. What attracts me is the interplay of light and dark, the shadows, the most interesting part of the big picture to me.

  • Candice says:

    I am so drawn to the color of that perfume. For me, I love dark perfumes (who does it better than Serge Lutens?) To see me in real life, I look as I would wear the most innocent of perfumes, but in reality love the dark ones (and heavy metal music:) Please enter me in this draw!!

  • Asali says:

    The title for this perfume reminds me of another flower, since I always think of Gautier’s poem ‘Le Spectre de la Rose’ and the following part of the poem/ the beautiful Berlioz song.
    Mais ne crains rien, je ne réclame
    Ni messe ni De Profundis;
    Ce léger parfum est mon äme,
    Et j’arrive du du paradis.
    However, I love the smell of violet and chrysanthemum, and am very excited about this new fragrance from SL.
    Would love to be entered in the draw, thank you 🙂

  • June says:

    My favourite Lutens fragrance to date is Feminite du Bois. It is a dense, serious fragrance that feels like the embrace of a woman who doesn’t let go until she’s had her way…

  • Felicia G says:

    I can tell you that this bottle instantly reminded me of the wicked witch from sleeping beauty. She had a purple potion in that exact shade. And she was a bad ass. But you see, I have always associated purple with royalty. I know it has two faces and thats whats most intriguing about it. I think Poe got it all right to scare reality into you the Raven was great. Today what scares me is ignorance truely frightens me. I see kids talking about things and voicing opions on thisngs that they are far too young to understand and yeah I know every genteration has always said that but now were talking about kids like 7 years old because its gone that far. I am also scared of the natural disasters we have had anyone remember the thousands of dead birds and fish? How about the blood red tide? Now tsunamis earth quakes and hurricanes are all too regular occurences. I am scared of resources and joblessness. I am scared of having other countries see my great country as a parasite. I am afraid like others of what the world has been coming too? Purple still makes me happy and I sure would love to have a Lutens in my humble collection. Thanks guys:)

  • MemoryOfScent says:

    The term “dark” in fragrances is quite vague. It relates to each ones visions and nightmares so one person’s “black” can be another person’s “white”. Not everyone can be pleased.

    From all Serge Lutens fragrances for me Gris Clair… is the darkest. The combination of lavender, amber and ironed clothes note caused me a very intense emotional response the first time I tried it. Vetiver Oriental has a classy darkness. It is a fragrance I would imagine Oscar Wilde would wear.

    Very enticing review.

  • Serendipity says:

    My love is as a fever longing still,

    For that which longer nurseth the disease,

    Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,

    Th’ uncertain sickly appetite to please:

    My reason the physician to my love,

    Angry that his prescriptions are not kept

    Hath left me, and I desperate now approve,

    Desire is death, which physic did except.

    Past cure I am, now reason is past care,

    And frantic-mad with evermore unrest,

    My thoughts and my discourse as mad men’s are,

    At random from the truth vainly expressed.

    For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,

    Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.

    Dark Lady Sonnet 147, William Shakespeare

  • Sibirinka says:

    love the purple color. everything Mr Lutens does is worth a sniff!

    the dark aspect of life… the second, double, imaginary life we are all leading when no one is around. we do things we know we shouldn’t but since no one is there we cheat. in words, late night snacks, not going to the gym… many things we do know about ourselves yet keep in that little dark corner.

    maybe we do need to get the demons out once in a while so they dont ruin our light filled days…

  • Tara says:

    My favourite Serge Luens perfume with a dark side is Sarrasins. From it’s dense purple shade to it’s birch tar leather, it is gothic glamour to me.

    I too love Chet Baker; the combination of that angelic sounding voice with the dark side of his character just mesmerises me.

    I’d love the chance to try De Profundis and even more so after this wonderful review. Many thanks.

  • Isa says:

    I love literature and poetry from Romanticism period. Romanticist writers had a special ability for describing the dark side of things. I love how they wrote about misterious, lonely places, castles, churches, woods…
    There is a Spanish poet called Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer who used to write about ghosts and love beyond dead. In fact, he died too young, and madly in love.

    This is one of his most famous poems, but this is more sad than dark:

    The dark swallows will return
    their nests upon your balcony, to hang.
    And again with their wings upon its windows,
    Playing, they will call.

    But those who used to slow their flight
    your beauty and my happiness to watch,
    Those, that learned our names,
    Those… will not come back!

  • Elizabeth T. says:

    i would absolutely love to see Mr. Lutens do a fragrance inspired by a classical piece of music. Could be chamber music, could be a dark symphony, could be a famous or obscure piece… it doesn’t matter to me! I’d love to see what he would come up with.
    Favorite Lutens Scent to date: Chene

  • Tourbillion says:

    “My life is a dark room.” -Beetle Juice

    OK, maybe it isn’t really that dark. I do find Un bois de Sepia to be quite dark, but I do love it. I hope I will love this one too.

  • Hazel says:

    When the darkest of nights hits our lives…we always try to find ways to help us rise from it into the light once more…

    Wrapped in Purple De Profundis promises to do just that…take you to the depths of a winters death and leave you in the rebirth of Spring forever changed from the journey…

    And the journey itself is what makes life an exciting adventure.

    Please enter me in the drawing.

  • deOwar says:

    While I was affraid of the concept of this perfume for the very first time, I’m gradually becomming more and more curious, what this scent really evokes. Not death, I suppose, rather something ancient, deep, very important but often forgotten feeling of the fragility of our existence. De profundis.
    It was a great joy to read your review!

  • Lyubov says:

    Oh, what a review! I lost my breath!
    I adore violets in perfume and I am curious to smell how they were blended with chrysanthemum since I have never tried such a combination.
    The moment I started reading I thought : Mahler, Symphony No5! Listen and read again the review – melancholy from the beginning till the final notes!
    Thank you for the draw – undoubtedly this aorma should be a brilliant piece of art!

  • brigitte says:

    My dark side? I suppose that would be my obsession with the writings of Thomas Hardy- I have read everything he as ever written! Also, I adore violets. Many say it is a melancholy fragrance, yet I find it as fresh as a bright spring day! Would love to be entered in this draw!

  • Warum says:

    Kate, I immediately thought about Akhmatova, too.

    I love the dark side of perfumes. While it is very important what we say and how we behave (most of the time appropriate to the situation), what we give off as a sign is important as well and tells the others who we are. And it is absolutely fascinating, how sometimes a kind person has a brooding streak, a quiet person has outbursts of anger, etc.

    A lovely, calm , and chirpy-cheeful person may have a drama inside and a lot of emotions in the store if you come closer. So here’s to a perfume with a dark side — a chance for a last step back in case you recognize the drama and do not want to get too close! Click glasses to it!

  • joy says:

    sounds like the perfect fragrance for a scorpio (which i am). i’m already thinking of which bell jar i want for my b-day. would love to try this.

  • Nancy says:

    Darkness found in the bible when you read in the book of Romans in the first chapter that “(those) who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the ‘creature’ (whatever is in place of God) rather than the Creator….” WOW. Makes ya think.
    Just some thoughts…
    Please enter me in the draw. This sounds like a winner.
    Thank you

  • Joe says:

    I love the “dark”… the night. While I have many melancholy aspects to my personality, that’s not what I associate most with the dark. I just love the sense of mystery and quiet that goes along with it. When the world is mostly silent.

    I am very eager to try De Profundis. Something about it makes me so curious. I also love chrysanthemum, especially its unusual scent. This sounds like a very special scent. Thanks for the sample draw opportunity.

  • The Candy Perfume Boy says:

    Tubereuse Criminelle is an amazing perfume to be because it has that huge, dark camphor note that at once smells gothic and absolutely beautiful. But the darkness doesn’t last forever, Tubereuse Criminell has more than a few tricks up her sleeve, she may scare you at first, but once her camphor has died down she becomes a warm, sweet and fleshy tuberose. She is the queen of all tuberoses.

  • Ginny says:

    Beautiful color….it sounds so very intriguing! Would love to at least sample this.

    A fragrance that relates to hope & redemption and darkness….well….how can you NOT want to experience this?

  • Claudia says:

    Purple is a beautiful deep and regal color. The fragrance is sort of mysterious sounding. Definitely a winner 🙂

  • Wendy says:

    ME! ME! Oh my gosh, do I ever want to win this one. Ok, on to the challenge. I teach poetry, both reading and writing, and my sense is that 99 percent of it is dark side. Most humans don’t need an outlet for their light side, since that is the side we have to show to our loved ones and our bosses, most of the time. Its the rage and pain that needs to be transformed into art, lest we all become lunatics.

  • Feliciag says:

    Wel I would love to have this one for my very own:) I would happily spray some unshowered neighbors with it:) I feel bad for this bottle that he was left unclaimed:( I would provide him: a nice home on my vanity, lots of use,admiration and gratitude. Thanks for the re-draw I hope this little purple guy finds himself in a wonderful loving home!

  • Charlotte says:

    It’s safe to say that there is not a Serge Lutens that I do not love, he is my favorite ‘nose’. If it is dark, even better, because you cannot appreciate the light until you have grown to love the dark.

  • Holly F. says:

    The dark side in Anne Sexton’s poetry- is there any other side? Love her, though. Obviously, I’m drawn to the dark in art, used to be in life, too. But I live on the wholesome side of the tracks, now, and explore my dark side through poetry and perfume. I would love to win this! Thanks for the (re)draw.

  • Shamsi Ruhe says:

    Makes me think of the “God Warrior” from WifeSwap…”DARKSIDED!”…Most good art comes from a “dark” place in my estimation. Even movies with happy endings tend to have some misery or heartache. I find that good comedies also have this element of darkness, even silly ones like “Groundhog Day”, which addresses existential angst in a new and hilarious way.

    I love the dark side as it informs and shapes the light.

  • Tamara F says:

    This fragrance sounds so interesting… Loving to death… It kind of reminds me of the death and resurrection of Christ, and His portrayed love by dying for the world so there would be a better life for those who love and believe in Him after their own deaths. A love that surpasses the bonds of death…And can still live.

    I find the use of violets in this fragrance interesting. I think of it as a very dark, solemn flower, not bright and sunny as daisies or as most other flowers. Perhaps, this violets were planted near the cross as a sign of commemoration and love and a sign to remember the promise of eternal life…

  • Perilously Pale says:

    Just as I’m discovering fragrance and it’s many “sides” and abilities to elicit emotion I’m also discovering my dark side and tendency to be swallowed by it. I think for many of us it is easier to be consumed by the darkness rather than revel in and appreciate the light in our lives. The dark side, whether it be in art or our own lives, is something to appreciate and embrace as a path to a life full of light and happiness.

    De Profundis sounds like such an intriguing scent and one I would love to experience.

  • Hernando says:

    Always in for Serge! This is sure to be one interesting frag. The Light shall prevail over the Dark.

  • Leslie says:

    I have always been attracted to the dark side: in film, in literature, and in fragrance- which is probably why SL is one of my favorite perfumers- please put my name in!

  • Veronica says:

    When I die, I want to wear in my coffin my Versace silk dress with my violet blue suede shoes, cream stocking, and my hair, neck and hands liberally perfumed with De Profundis. This is the way to leave in style.