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Thursday, April 12, 2012

From the closet: Serge Lutens Rahat Loukoum

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Rahat Loukoum is a perfume that by all rights I should hate. I don't like sweet and I don't like fruity, but somehow I adore this. Marina calls this 1998 release "chewy", which is a fitting description for a scent that's named for the candy "Turkish Delight". It starts with a boozy hit of cherries as if you were starting the process of putting fresh ones up for the winter by boiling them in some sweet liquor, the boozy fumes palpable and heady. Almost immediately the candy starts to soften with almond and smoke. Well, soften isn't quite the word. It never becomes as soft as say, Lutens own Louve, which I bought at Barneys and abandoned when I acquired a bell jar of this. The hard-edged opening cooks down into a warm and sensual honeyed musk with just a trace of the opening spikiness in the heliotropic cherry/almond notes.

Today (Wednesday, April 11th) it's a rainy day in LA where the temps may, or may not hit 60. It's the perfect weather for this scent: cold enough to tame what could be a tiger of a scent and yet make me crave its warmth.

Rahat is sadly one of the ones that you have to be in Europe to buy. It's €125 for a Bell Jar and I have no idea if it will ever come to these shores. As a caution, my bottle is several years old, so I can't speak to whether it has been reformulated, If you've been to the Palais and can comment, please do.

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8 Comments:

Anonymous Judith DM said...

I am fortunate to have the Bell Jar, and I love and adore this. Among my very first big ticket fragrances, chosen unsniffed, it was brought to me by a friend passing through Paris! She was so excited to have found the store on my recommendation that she would not let me pay! Imagine! There is always going to be something new, that it becomes easy to forget something 'from the closet'.

2:46 AM EDT  
Blogger tmp00 said...

Judith-

I was so happy to get this one too. I ration it a bit since it's only in Paris, but I do love it on cool days like today.

1:17 PM EDT  
Blogger Dionne said...

Nice timing - I'm working my way through the heliotrope note and just placed an order for this from the Post Peasant.

4:05 PM EDT  
Blogger tmp00 said...

Dionne-

I hope you'll comment on how it worked out for you..

10:30 PM EDT  
Blogger Unknown said...

I think Rahat Loukoum and Un Lys are exactly what you say in the opening of your posts: scents that people who are not supposed to like them judging by their description, will eventually love them. How can it be that something so sweet can be so airy at the same time? An amazing feat of perfumery from Sheldrake.

6:18 AM EDT  
Blogger tmp00 said...

MOSC-

It is wonderful, isn't it?

1:47 AM EDT  
Anonymous Cristine said...

I wonder, how does this compare to Keiko Mecheri's Loukoum? It's the only one I've smelled.

11:22 AM EDT  
Blogger Flora said...

I finally got a sample of this and I love it! It's not as sweet as the KM version somehow - it has breathing room despite the intensity.

5:51 PM EDT  

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