Miel De Bois by Serge Lutens

Azumi Yoshida

Miel de Bois smells like love. Let me tell you abou it.
This is the smell of my childhood. The authenticity of the honey note is stunning.It triggers a memory in a flash.
Honey from the comb and bee's wax, watching Grandfather harvest the the rich, fragrant liquid.
The scent shifts slightly and I feel rosin, the one I use for my bow, and then it transforms into the most aromatic wood ever. This is exactly what the wood of my violin smells like. My violin was a precious gift my grandfather gave to me when I was ten years old, and always listened to me with great delight.
Miel de Bois smells like love.
The love of a grandfather for his only grandchild.

Doc Elly

Many years ago I lived in an old wood-frame house in a mid-Atlantic state. At some point we noticed that there was a dark, sticky substance dripping out of the inside of one of the window frames. On investigation, it turned out that a colony of honeybees had set up shop in the space between the walls, producing huge honeycombs filled and overflowing with honey. It was a kitchen window, so I suppose we could have set up a direct pipeline from the honeycombs and harvested the honey. However, everyone was too grossed out by the swarming insects to think about such practical matters.

This is the image that Miel de Bois inescapably conjures up for me - honey dripping out of old, dry, decaying wood, turning resinous and black in the process. MdB (the perfume) is strong! Much stronger than the honey/wood smell from the bee colony. Almost disconcertingly strong. It starts out with concentrated honey and concentrated wood, not really mingled, but operating on separate planes. The super-concentrated honey smell persists for the entire time, producing a somewhat linear progression. Somewhere in the middle there's a hint of the flowers that the honey was made from, so that you could imagine yourself as a bee circling over a dry meadow filled with clover and other bee-goodies, but it's subtle. In the end the whole thing dries down to a note that I detect in a lot of commercial perfumes that I can only describe as "turquoise". I don't particularly care for it.

I put the perfume on yesterday evening, and it was still going strong this morning. It's after noon now and it's still doing its thing, with clover honey over turquoise. I would say that it's good for at least 24 hours, so if you're looking for a long-lasting perfume, this is it.

SedNonSatiata

A thick honey and beeswax top note, over an almost spicy mix of woods. Iris is detectable all the way through. This one packs a punch, from both the honeyed and the wooded side, and the full blend lasts through the drydown. Too much of a good thing for me, but a beautiful, high quality composition all the same. Like all of the SL fragrances, it is a must-try, whether or not it turns out to be a must-wear.

Brielle87

Oh goodness do I enjoy this scent. It is warm, rich, animalic, with wonderful touches of sweetness and woods. A very unique scent, which does not work on evryone.

dacha

I so desperately wanted to like this s cent but the cat pee is just oo much for me, every nose is different.

Dixie

This is a love or hate fragrance, I think. It smells so different from any other fragrance out there, but I love it! Some say they get the "cat pee" accord from it, which is what prompted me to try it. After all, who would wear that???
But I didn't get that at all. Just resinous honey and woods. Mmmmmm!

moongdss

I have been paranoid for days wearing my new purchase... worrying one might smell of cat-pee is no fun! I can't smell that, and thankfully neither can anyone else (and I've asked them not to be polite if they can!)

I get a wonderful green-floral out of this frag... friend says she can smell the honey on me as well. I've not been attacked by bees, so it must be nice and subtle :)

Petula30

Well, I got this one as a gift from my dear friend as he knows I love Serge Lutens..but it doesn´t work for me, I sniff and I love it, honey and iris,but my skin doesn´t agree.

Mitsouko

Oh, other that from all perfum. It name says directly, true - in the bottle we have smell of wood honey. There is wild honey, bit bitter with aromatic note woood. This smell is as hot summer day, somewhere under forest, on great grassland full of flower, smelling honey. Over flowers flying clouds butterfly and bees. Calm and rattling of bee. Forest aroma too . There is a bit mint, too. Miel de Bois is thick, very sound, relaxing. It is not common-place beautiful. It is very natural, rich. Fascinating. Absolutely original and excentric. Topping.Nice. I like it very, very much.

Mrs.Honey

Beautiful! I get the honey, the woods, and the bees. I don't get any of the "skank" (in the words of the Perfume Posse) or urinal notes (as per Luca Turin). This one begs to be tested on the skin. I have gone through two samples of this one already and I'm working on a third. I think its time for a full bottle.

crisgonc

I think Miel de Bois is a wonderful fragrance. There is a special feature of a pure honey essence. This olfactive sensation is like to be involved by an oriental and mysterious aura on all the body on egypthian and noble fabrics. The scent reminds me of balsamic honey produced by powerful bees that attract the nose for a fragrant tramp, bewitched and very sweet as to drink this honey.

PR

I had to put this one aside immediately, civet or some animal odour's too pronounced for my liking.

coco76

oh my goodness, i don't think iris agrees with me! i have noticed that quite a few fragrances that have iris or orris root in them make me feel queasy, and this one certainly fits that bill. the iris became overwhelming after a few minutes and i was forced to try and scrub it off. i was shopping in Kensington market one day with my husband, and we went into a store to check out some vintage clothing...that exact same smell was filling the shop and although i am used to a lot of vendors using incense in their stores in kensington, i had to make a quick exit. i continued to feel nauseous and developed an 'aura' (for those who do not know, the beginning of a migraine)so we quickly left and headed home. i was out of commission the rest of the night. long story short, this perfume is a thumbs down for me, but i would think that if you liked iris you would appreciate the longevity and tenacity of this scent, i am having a hard time getting it off my arm.

coco76

Jeca, your article made this sound so good i am going to order a sample!

PerfumeEmpress

I think this is the next SL I shall be buying. I received a sample and have been in love with it ever since. SL made a masterful combination of honey and wood.

jeca

Yes, it is very comforting, like a walk in the woods - white honey with white woods. I like to wear it in pair with floral by SL, I like to scent my hands with Miel de Bois.

noor_jehan

This is such a nice and beautiful fragrance. So comforting, warm and simply irresistable. I like it so much. But also, the bottle is so elegant and the outer box. Really special.