Today is another iris, the latest entry from Serge Lutens, Serge Lutens Bas de Soie . Iris whore that I am, I’m a little nervous about this one because though it is getting a lot of admiration in the early reviews. Iris and hyacinth seem to be the notes with the main focus.
Serge Lutens Bas de Soie is heavy orris out of the perfume gate, though early on you do get some of the hyacinth very early. I wouldn’t classify this anywhere near Iris Silver Mist, so don’t buy it thinking you’re getting ISM-Lite. ISM is much rootier, with a little spice. Bas de Soie is colder, metallic, a little soapy. There’s a cold softness to it. I think the silk stockings is pretty apt, it has an exterior that is smooth, beautiful, untouchable, but the longer I have it on, it takes on a slightly bent aspect that’s almost soft and loses some of that soapiness.
Some people have noted that Serge Lutens Bas de Soie has a blue smell, and I’d agree with that, it takes on characteristics that I associate with the color blue. The thing that comes into my head every time I smell it, and it doesn’t change much at all after the first 10-15 minutes, is marble. For me, that’s not a bad thing at all. Few things so cold feel so comforting to me.
As far as how I like Serge Lutens Bas de Soie personally, I’m still mixed. There’s something a little offputting in it which is also beautiful. But isn’t that exactly what Serge tries to do in all of his scents? That point of view seems to have been missing or hard to find in the lasts few scents, so I am glad to see it back. I’d far rather not be sure about a fragrance, but turn it over in my mind a lot than to smell it, declare it great to wear and never think about it again.
So let’s give away a couple of samples of this so you can see for yourself if cold can be comforting or if you disagree with me. Just drop a comment to be entered!
please, enter me this draw
Hope it is still open
thank you
Is this still open, or has the sample been awarded? I am just catching up on my blog reading! I’d love to try this. Thanks!
I love everything silk, I have yet to have a chance to try an SL, and anything blue would be welcome right now in this ridiculously hot and HUMID summer. Heck, I’ll break my “no wearing perfume until the temperature is in the low 80s and the humidity is below 50%” for this. Please enter me into the draw :)
I am not a floral perfumista but I love Bas de Soie once the hyacinth note evaporates. It’s cold and metallic in a pastry on marble way; I don’t get swamp-vase (Hello, Habanita), I don’t get flowers of any kind. Perhaps I don’t know irises very well but this is nothing like Hiris, which I find bitter.
Bas de Soie and Flora Bella, also metallic, are my two hot weather cooling perfumes this summer.
No sample – I have the bottle :”>
Another comforting cold scent I can think of is L’Homme de Coeur by Divine. That works really well for me on summer and autumn days. Please enter me in the drawing as well :)
Oops meant to address that last comment to you Patty (and add in Nave too) since this was your post, lol.
I like many iris fragrances, and have tried Bas de Soie (so no need to enter me in draw) and unfortunately this was a no-go. The off-putting element for me is a marine note that became evident as it dried down on skin.
Another perfumista trying it at the same time I did had the same issue on her skin. Maybe this is the note that comes across as “soapy” on others, but on us it was Calone-like. I was disappointed.
Nave– thank you (to Patty too) for adding your name to your post’s title!! I love knowing upfront who is writing the post. Plus on some browsers the avatar/graphic for the author at the bottom of each post doesn’t load reliably (with Mozilla on my laptop, & on some cell phone browsers).
In the hope that lightning might strike twice I would love to be entered in the draw for this one. Thank you so much.
:)I would love to try this! I am just getting into Iris perfumes!;)
I’d love to give it a try – thanks!
Please don’t enter me in the draw, I have a sample already. I find Bas de Soie quite gentle and pleasant but I’m not sure I like it enough yet to get a decant. It’s my favourite iris so far though and I can truthfully say I don’t have anything else quite like it in my collection.
Serge can do no wrong in my book. Would love to give this a whirl!
Please enter me in the draw. Thank you and here’s to a wonderful weekend!
Just waiting for a new SL to put me down. Somehow I hope this will be the one.
Love to try it!
hi for all im bilal and i made accident from 7 years and i had injury in my spinal cord so i had paralization in my legs and im new here and i dont know what i want to do here in this site can you help me and thak you all my email is: [email protected]
Iris and Hyacinth!! I would love to try this.
My favorite irises are The Different Company’s Bois d’Iris and Chanel’s 28 La Pausa. I would love to try this one!
I’m late! I’m late! Am I too late?
Carter
OMG iris & hyacinth! Please enter meeee!
I love the smell of SL’s ISM, and was hoping that his new offering can complement it. Please enter me in the drawing as well.
I love cool green iris scents! I always find SLs interesting, if frequently unwearable. Still, I must try this.=p~ (attempt to insert emoticon who is possibly drooling?)
I am not an iris fan, and I’ve found the last five years or so of Lutens to be at best fifty-fifty (with some real disasters in the mix), but I still want to try everything he comes up with, so you can put my name up on the dartboard, please.
Love iris, and glad SL sounds like he’s back to more interesting or challenging compositions. I’d love to sniff a sample, so count me in!
Hmm…not sure what to think about the descriptions thus far…
I do have my iris faves (No. 19 and Mythique are in my top two slots), but don’t feel like I’ve really explored the note very well yet, so I’d love to try this. Thanks for the draw!
It sounds intriguing! Thanks for the review, would love to be entered in the drawing.
I like it – Don’t enter me in the drawing as I already have a sample. But so far, I have not experienced the offputting element of this scent. But I also have found that I like a fragrance the first few times and then later, not so much… Testing to see if this one is a must.
Would love to give it a try! Thanks!
Julie
Hmm . . . a blue Choking Musk Monster . . . must try! Please enter me in the drawing.
I keep trying and trying to love iris in perfume. Bearded irises are my absolute favourite flower and I adore the idea of a fragrance that captures their visual elegance. I have tried nearly every well-received iris lout there, from Iris Silver Mist to Iris Gris, and while some irises are likable (Iris Gris — but still not in any way prepared to agree that it is is the most beautiful fragrance of all time. Sorry, but that honor goes to Chamade), others have come just short of reminding me of carrot salad (Delrae Mythique, Le Labo Iris). and that combination of baked bread and powder in Iris Pallida made me feel queasy.
That said, I am game to try any new iris, since I am clearly deluded.
Did someone say “Iris”? And green? And metallic? :-?
And it smells like blue?
I am *so* in line for this one.
Like Marie, iris has been a big scent for me this summer. The decant stash that I’ve brought on vacation includes TDC Bois D’Iris, Iris Nobile and my newly acquired VC&A Bois d’Iris. I’d love to try this one too.
As for cold comfort…I went for a long swim yesterday in the cool, green waters of Lake Huron. Although I almost always choose warm over cold for comfort, there’s nothing that calms and grounds me like a solitary swim in this lake with the beautiful La Cloche mountains in the distance. Takes my breath away in more ways than one.
This sounds like just the thing to cool off in a hot summer…maybe. It’s Serge, so it’s definitely worth trying. Please enter me!
Please enter me in the draw I love iris.
I love “blue” perfumes. L’Heure Bleue (obviously), YSL Nu, and Guets Apens are all blue to me. I’m drawn to these frags on days I’m wearing deep blue – nothing else feels right!
Please enter me into the draw, as I’d love to find another blue fragrance with which to accessorize! :)
Oooooh, been waiting months to try this one, I think just because I really love the idea of a perfume whose name is French for silk stockings. But iris and hyacinth sound nice too… :d
What an amazing concept, that a scent can be some degree of strange, discomforting, unpleasant – and still we want to wear it. Yes, pure art has always encompassed these elements. However, to so identify with the issues represented by these characteristics that we are willing to make them part of our experienced and perceivable identities is a testament to the human need for examination of aesthetic and emotional issues on a visceral level.
Sure smooth and cool can be comforting. I’d love to try what “blue” feels like.
I love iris, but I don’t love soapy, so I’ve been weary of trying this one. But since I’m still curious, I’d like to be entered in the drawing.
So how does it compare to something like OJ Orris Noir? I love that one.
Hyacinth is one of those notes that sometimes smells like bug spray to me… and other times smells AMAZING. I can totally see this going either way. But you *had* me at “soapy”. Though I don’t like the *idea* of smelling soapy, I’ve noticed that I like soapy frags. So please enter me!
This spring and summer, iris has become my friend – TDC Bois d’Iris, Infusion d’Iris, and No. 19 are in heavy rotation. Would love to be entered into the draw to see if I should be adding one more!
OK…this is going to sound really lame, but I received two unmarked samples in a blog draw. One was Vetyverio, the other was Bas de Soie. One juice is pale lavender, the other is pale yellow. You would assume that the lavender is the Bas de Soie, and the yellow, Vetyverio. Even though the blogger has confirmed this, I am still deathly scared to assume. Why? Cause I LOVE one of the them, and LOATHE the other!!!
I’ve read Vetyverio described as swamp thang, but to me, that pale lavender “Bas de Soie” is SCREAMING swamp thang! And the yellow “Vetyverio”? Smells all warm and wonderful.
I admit I am handicapped when it comes to identifying notes. Makes me want to take a perfume class so I can smell the real absoluts (sp?) – learn to identify which note is which. I want to get a bottle of that Vetyverio is that’s truly what it is, but I don’t want to end up with the horrible swamp smell…
So, please include me in the draw, Patty, so if I win, I can clarify this frustrating situation! Thanks!
hi karin how are you im bilal and im handicapped too and i want and like to be freind with you if you dont mind and thank you
I haven’t tried Vetyverio. My decant of Bas looks almost colorless, but a web search confirms it’s supposed to be sort of lavender in color. To me it’s more floral & powdery & fairly sweet… do you get anything like that in addition to “swamp water.” I’m betting your yellow love is Vetyverio.
A new Serge Lutens Iris is definitely worth to try. Fingers crossed!
Patty: Slightly soapy, blue, marble,slightly offputting
vs.
Ms. Christian: The Choking Musk Monster
You guys are so entertaining! Please enter me in the draw-
Big 2nd on this comment! I’m wondering which side my nose will take!
Cold metallic iris. What’s not to like? Count me in.
I tried this one a couple of times at the store and I can’t quite make up my mind about it. I find that it starts off with the rough, chalky iris and then develops into something more green and pollen-y. It makes me think of the smooth, waxy, even slippery hyacinth leaves rather than the fragrant flowers. Definitely a green scent to me also. I still don’t know if I like it but I find it interesting and it’s quite distinctive, I can’t think of another fragrance like it.
I’ll try anything once…soapy, cold, metallic, you name it. Please enter me in the drawing!
I’m interested in all things Serge. Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks!
Ooh, I think this sounds so good. Can’t wait to try it!
This sounds interesting, as do all of Serge Lutens’ works…please enter me in the drawing.
please enter me in the draw. I’m an iris whore too, and I love hyaciths.
Having a brand new love affair with iris makes me think I should try this. I’d love to be in the drawing. Thanks.
Your description had me drooling…love iris and hyacinth….but then Ms Christian’s Choking Musk Monster jumped out and threatened me with a death clutch to its festering bosom. I am terrified of musk.
Ah, what the heck, maybe this will be the Serge for me!
Now that really sounds interesting! I don’t know whether cold is comforting, right now (rain and decidedly cool weather) it’s more of a nuisance. But cold marble can certainly be hot (thinking of my special boyfriend, the Barberini faun – possibly not safe for work, but hey! it’s art! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barberini_Faun. I visit him every time I happen to be in Munich.) So yes please, I’d love to be in the draw.
to me ,blue is very calming.please enter me in this drawing.thanks so much.
Blue could be cooling down and comforting. Please enter me in the drawing, thank you.
I love this Below the Sow thing. :@) I have a small decant, so no need to enter me in the draw.
So yeah, I like it a lot. I love the iris on opening, and the sweet hyacinth jumps right in, making me smell a similarity to AG Grand Amour (another favorite). I don’t know if it seems “blue” to me at all, but after a little while it definitely starts to feel “green.” I love the sweet floralcy and green leafy freshness of this. Definitely cool… but lovely and sweet at the same time. She’s no ice queen.
The only thing that makes me balk just a bit is that the far drydown gets a little too green — old vase-water green, as a matter of fact. :-& But just a tiny bit… and as of yet, it’s not a deal breaker.
This one might be FB worthy. Simply lovely.
Old vase water, you say??? Hmmm…makes me think I may be right on my interpretation of “swamp water” below!
I’m with Dina — iris and hyacinth, yum! Do please enter me. The idea of a colder iris sounds positively centering, in this heat.
I love iris and hyacinth, so I’m interested in this one. Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks! :-)
Please enter me in the draw, and please tell us the winners of the Jo Malone samples of her newest scents. *.*
Meeee wantsssss
please enter me in drawing! silk stockings!
Cold comfort (pun intended) could be just the thing for the hottest July on record, I’m in! And I think it’s fabulous that Serge has managed once more to provoke. I’m guessing it will be love/hate as all good iris scents are for me … I love them, have trouble wearing them …. but I must try.
This sounds so promising to me….
Iris Silver Mist and Hiris are my go-to iris scents, and I dole out drops from my discontinued AG Heure Exquise dry oil. Nothing else has come close. Most iris scents smell blue to me, but not as blue as Violetta di Parma.
I’m all for iris – and SL scents – so I’d love to enter for a sniff.
Well, I’m not an iris whore yet, but this newbie has definitely lost her virginity and it was goooooood. :d Iris, babe, you can call me ANYTIME.
Bas de Soie has joined my list of mmmmmmmm…..must…..try……
I am a fool for all things iris! Please enter me in the draw. Thanks!
The notes do sound lovely for this one, and I really need to start trying some SL frags… I’m a little curious about the hyacinth being mixed with the iris – to me, it sounds like it’d be slightly sweet, not metallic, but maybe that’s the iris… hrm. In any case, I’ll have to try to smell it at some point. Might as well try my luck now! :-) Please enter me in the draw? And thanks for generously hosting! :-)
No sample. PLEASE.
This was one minute of genteel, blissful, powdery iris wonder followed by a punishing smash to the nasal passages and then a death clutch to the festering bosom of the Choking Musk Monster. You could not pay me anything on this earth to put this on my skin again.
I hear you. For me, the metallic man breath element left me worse than cold. I very much disliked it.
That makes me want to try it more! But I’m weird; I gave sometimes like to smell of choking musk monster..
:d
For the first time since last October, I’m drooling over the description of a new fragrance. Put me in the draw, please!
Iris….:x