Tubereuse Criminelle Serge Lutens for women

I am wearing now Carnal Flower on my left wrist and Tubereuse Criminelle on the right. I just cannot believe that TC is soft! on my skin after the first 15 minutes. While CF is overpowering and too sweet for me, TC is elegant and yes, soft.
Eventhough I think both are great, none of them really suit me. The search goes on...

I'm wearing tubereuse criminelle for the first time today and plan to
buy it . On me the prevailing notes are warm florals , spices, and a
touch of green. The tuberose is drier and more elegant than other
tuberose scents .
I don't get the camphor nor medicinal properties on my skin. The floral,
fresh spice turns warmer ,deeper and more sensual. If you like tuberose,
this is a great one.

Its really not as harsh as everyone is saying, or at least not on my skin. I get the opening blast of menthol, camphor or whatever that clinical, medicinal note is which doesn't bother me at all... After 10-15 minutes the spices take over and the white flowers emerge - green, watery and sheer. I love this part. The end just gets more delicate and floral. Its transparent, sweet tuberose, not heavy and cloying like Eden or Fracas and not bitter and sweaty like Carnal Flower (not that those perfumes are bad, but this one stands alone). The last note is a breath of cold soil. Amazing! Oh and I think I get the Criminelle part, but I think the secret is best discovered for yourself ;)

I really don't know what to think about this scent , it's vey intriguing , and medecinal, but not in a bad way , as far as i'm concern. Because it makes me think of a medecine that my granma would use on me , don't remember for what purpose , but still i'm sure it smells like that campher unguent O_o .
So on one hand it makes me remember of my granny taking care of me, but on the other hand , would i like this as perfume ? Not sure , but i can't say i dislike it either , so ??? :-S I'm confused.
Moreover i'm usually a tuberose fan , i love Fracas, Eden, Poison , Poème , Loulou, Chloe ... So ?

questo profumo ha un potere evocativo e suggestivo notevoli. si apre con una nota fredda e tagliente,pungente,balsamica e assurda,che rievoca una crudelta',una malvagita' ...
si riscalda fra note speziate piccanti,che si muovono su un liquido oleoso,tiepido,una mistura ..ma cattura con delicatezza,lasciando esalare le note floreali che rasserenano,calmano. la scia e' violacea e meditativa,malva e seppia,vaniglia,lasciano sulla pelle un delicato tono sereno,come se il peggio fosse passato... ma e' una fragranza unica,non banale e piena di fascino.

How different can man and women notice a smell!
When the sample arrived, it was not unpleasant. I smelled sweet tuberose with medicinal menthol.
The first time I though, a juice for preparing mummy, with a hint of disinfection.
But I have to say: it refreshes and cleaned my senses, because its so different and so mentholish.

My hubby give me this review: Mmmh, it smells very good, delicious, if you enter a candy shop, this smell comes first. Really bubblegumish scent.

This is a joke perfume? It opens with a blast of Germolene. Unadulterated Germolene. Even when I HAVE to wear Germolene I stay at home if possible. The Germolene reeks in its usual objectionable fashion for about 15 minutes and then thankfully reduces to what I kindly call menthol. I never found the tuberose. So save your pennies and simply buy a tube of you know what. Thank God that I only wasted a few dollars on a sample.

The name does not lie! It is tuberose and it is certainly criminelle. The first wave of it was about to knock my nose out with the punch of tuberose, aggressive musk and spices.

For Lutens, this is not an untypical fragrance, it is powerful, it is expansive, it takes over the space and claims it its own. It is not a comfort type of scent, it is harsh, spicy, it attacks before you can. For me, this is an oriental-floral, heavy with nutmeg and resins, heavy on exotic flowers; it is a scent of an alchemist lab. As it dries down, it still has this harsh feeling to it that does not disappear despite the hints of sweetness.

It is not the same tuberose I know from Artisan Parfumeur's Chasse aux Papillons, neither is it similar to Histoire de Parfums's three interpretations, it is also very different from Fracas and Carnal Flower; it is something fitting in well in the SL line, but I think for me, this is a bit too harsh.

OMG what a punch this one packs fabulously unexpected, dark and light, ugly and beautiful it’s quite amazing. I thought menthol, moth balls, couldn't bring the name to the fore then yes, I know what the Crim part is, its GERMOLENE!! Now I happen to like the smell of antiseptic cream but not sure I want people to think I'm doused in the stuff, for obvious reasons!
I will secretly wear this one when at home so I can smell the delicious Tuberose when it pops its head out although I was of the same mind as another reviewer, “if you love Tuberose you can't beat Fracas or Carnal Flower” and you don’t have to put up with Mr Nasty but I’m starting to change my mind! This one is most certainly worming its way into my Psyche. I’m just not sure others at the office or shops would be ready for me draped in TC!
I would like to add it’s been an unusually hot day in the UK and this perfume really does have the affect of cooling you down. It does go rather well with hot weather! Right I’m off to do some grocery shopping and just for fun I’m not taking it off. I want to gage others reactions when stood within smelling distance of me. I wonder if when I’m at the checkout people will move away, leaving me to sail through the checkout trailing wafts of hospital like antiseptic after me.
“Whoah” funniest thing just happened, husband just said, “mmm, you smell nice”, what a mad perfume what a mad husband, what a mad day and do you know, I kinda like this one! I sure as hell won’t meet many others wearing the same perfume any time soon.

Whoa. This stuff is amazing! The first few minutes of this I almost hated it. It's a bit bracing. Everything that others have said about menthol, rubber, gasoline....it's all true. When you give Tubereuse Criminelle some time, it turns into one of the most amazing tuberose fragrances I have ever encountered. The orange blossom, jasmine and hyacinth is all there too but somehow TC never goes over the top maintaining a unisex appeal. It is sweet but creamy. Cool but tropical. It feels like 104 degrees here today where I live but TC has actually cooled me off. I can't even wrap my head around this one right now but I've got to have it! I don't know when, or where, or how often I would wear this but it has to be mine. It's dangerous and addicting.

First, a huge blast of...what? When I close my eyes I can almost believe I'm in the midst of a tropical night garden with big juicy clumps of flowers hanging all around me. But behind those flowers there is a hint of nasty. It reminds me of public rest rooms in Thailand. Not the piss and shit part but they use these little camphor smelling tablets to repel insects that live in the pipes, mostly roaches and silverfish. The smell of those tablets is lingering in the background. And there is gasoline, I repeatedly caught myself thinking: "I really shouldn't be inhaling this".

As the scent develops the flower part turns more toward jasmine and hyacinth. I'm also getting mothballs and lots of menthol. And orange flowers. Normally I hate orange blossoms. On me they smell dirty and remind me of tooth decay and unwashed bodies. But in Tubereuse Criminelle they fit in, making their contribution both to the flowery part and to the skanky underbelly.

Some hours later things have calmed down. There is a strong note of generic "white flower" that sometimes turns into Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum. There is also a note of mint intertwined. The mint has an interesting physical effect. As I'm not used to smell it in a setting like this I sometimes get a cold little shiver down my spine, or feel slightly unsettled by the cool sensation of it. Like I'm smelling all this flowery sweetness but I know somehow that there is something very very wrong with it. I love how the play with hot/cold adds an extra dimension to the scent.

Some associate this scent with vampires, some with a blond bombshell out of a 30ies movie. Impeccable dressed up in a black tight dress, shiny red lipstick on but just wait for a while and out comes the machine gun. For me, I think of Snow White in her glass casket. When you come closer she opens her eyes and beckons you to open the lid. When you do, you realise there is no girl there but just a mass of crawling maggots reaching towards you. An olfactory representation of a beautiful shell with very nasty things going on on the inside.

To be honest, even if I was looking forward to trying this one, I didn't think I'd like it. There are white flowers, which I'm not to happy about, and orange blossoms that I seriously dislike. But I love it. Somehow the ugliness of each one (as I perceive it) comes together and builds a very unique and interesting whole. This is not a scent for everyday wear, it's a scent that tells a different story to every wearer.

O la la, Fracas tuberose and Eau de Star menthol toothpaste - truly sounds like a crime! Do not expect another sweet tuberose scent, this one is a red lipped blonde in a black trench pointing an icy breath of a gunpoint at you. This babe might be gorgeous, but she will pull the trigger without a second thought. Definitely not for everyone, but excellent!

Robert White's review made me laugh. Be Afraid, be VERY afraid! It also didn't work for me. I got Peppermint and mothball white flowers.The clove and styrax make it smell like Tiger Balm, extremely medicinal, but with the unfortunate addition of mothball jasmine. All over it was just downright nasty on me.

I knew there was supposed to be something odd about this one, so was not too surprised when I opened up my sample vial and smelled a combination of flowers and camphor, like a garment that had been stored for years in old-fashioned moth balls and then trotted out and sprayed with perfume to cover up the odor of the moth repellant. I think the camphor smell must be what others perceive as menthol. I just shrugged, thinking “meh … Uncle Serge’s elves are at it again”, and waited to see what would happen. I actually like the smell of camphor by itself, if it’s a good one without too much of the naphthalene note, but TC smells like naphthalene. No thanks on the top notes. I don’t want to smell like my great-grandmother’s fur coat. Once the top notes slink away, what’s left is a pleasant mix of white flowers, mainly tuberose and jasmine. As the day wears on, the flowers become more jasmine-like as they gradually fade away. All very well and good, but not really my style.

Initially i got a blast of gasoline-not really unpleasant but certainly different. It softens up to a cool tuberose in no time- i don't detect menthol at all on my skin, just a little gas. I fear this may be flammable!

Eigentlich wollte ich Tubéreuse Criminelle erst morgen testen, doch der Duft reizte mich so sehr, dass ich das Wax spontan auf meine Haut verteilte. Von Tubéreuse Criminelle findet man im Internet die goßartigsten Bewertungen. Von den Liebhabern als auch von den Hassern hört man immer das Gleiche: Stark, intensiv, brutal! Das hört sich alles schön und gut an, so recht vorstellen konnte ich mir das Ganze aber nicht. Ich spekulierte wild umher, wie wird riecht es wohl, ist es tatsächlich ein so schokierendes Eau de Parfum? Bei Serge Lutens ist das vorstellbar, aber seit ich heute Morgen Sarrasins getestet habe, bin ich etwas abgeschreckt. Sarrasins war ein Graus für mich. Doch kann man Jasmin und Tuberose wirklich vergleichen? Beides sind weiße Blüten, doch ist die Tuberose von den beiden die am Meisten gefürchtetste. Mit ihr werden oft Kopfschmerzen assoziiert. Ob Christopher Sheldrake hier tatsächlich die Essenz von Kopfschmerzen eingefangen hat?

Tubéreuse Criminelle, der Name ist Programm! Der Duft startet wirklich brutal und laut. Eine starke, grüne Menthol Note legt sich über alles andere. Es ist, als rieche man an einer intensiven Mundspülung, die ,,duften" auch immer sehr stark nach Menthol. Dann, ca. 1 Minute später, wird der kühle Geruch durchbrochen von der nicht minder kühlen Tuberose. Sie erblüht, nein, erstrahlt in ihrer vollen Pracht! Kokosartig umarmt sie das Menthol und geht eine überraschend angenehme Symbiose mit ihm ein. Viele Menschen fürchten die Tuberose, ich gehöre jedoch zu denen, die sie verehren. Zwar kann ich Tuberosendüfte selten tragen (sie stehen mir meistens nicht), aber als Kunstwerk gefallen sie mir sehr gut. Da ist Tubéreuse Criminelle keine Ausnahme. Die Gewürznelke sticht nach kurzer Zeit hindurch, sie scheint eine der Ursachen für die Menthol-Note zu sein. Von den Blüten kann ich in dieser Phase noch keine genau erkennen. Bloß der Jasmin ist hin und wieder zu erriechen, was mich ein wenig stört. Nachdem ich heute schon Sarrasins getestet habe, ist mir überhaupt nicht mehr nach Jasmin zumute... Glücklicherweise zieht er sich schnell zurück und überlässt dann der Tuberose wieder das ,,Schlachtfeld". Diese hat, ähnlich wie der Jasmin, eine animalische Ecke, hier ist sie aber nicht so abstoßend wie in Sarrasins. In Tubéreuse Criminelle ist die animalische Note sehr sexy. Die Kopfnote ist verdammt langlebig und will nicht verschwinden, sowas habe ich noch nicht erlebt. Ich warte und warte und warte. Aber sogar nach über einer halben Stunde hat sich nichts verändert. Menthol, Nelke und Tuberose. Da ist wirklich Geduld gefragt. Obwohl ich jetzt sogar meine kleinste Vanillespuren zu erahnen, bleibt der Duft eher kühl. Es dauert eine weitere viertel Stunde bis sich eine kleine Menge Harz heraustraut. Jetzt lässt sich sogar die erhabene Tuberose endlich dazu herab sich zu verändern. Sie wird etwas wärmer, wobei warm die falsche Bezeichnung ist. Die Tuberose wird nie ,,warm". Sie bleibt kühl, sie ist blaublütig! Wie eine kaltherzige Herrscherin gebietet sie über die gesamte Komposition und setzt sich ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste durch. Sie ist stur und niemand wagt es sie anzuzweifeln. Wie gesagt, sie verändert sich leicht. Sie wird etwas blumiger und legt die animalische Note ab. Es passiert endlich, einige Tropfen Vanille bringen wieder Schwung in's Leben der kalten Herrscherin. Endlich präsentieren sich einige tropische Facetten der weißen Blüte, das ist es, worauf ich seit ewigkeiten gewartet habe. Es erscheinen auch anderen Blumen auf der Bildfläche, die Hyazinthe schenkt süße und erobert zusammen mit der Vanille das Imperium der Kälte. Langsam muss sich das Menthol geschlagen geben, es wurde aber auch langsam Zeit. Es zieht sich zurück, hinterlässt aber Rückstände. Wer denkt, dass das jetzt alles war, täuscht sich! Denn jetzt endlich, tritt die Basis ein, sie tritt als eine süßliche Mischung aus Vanille, Moschus und der Tuberose auf, welche zum zweiten Mal, mit einem leisen Knurren, ihre animalische Seite zeigt um nur kurze Zeit später in einem Meer aus weißen Blüten zu ertrinken. Jetzt erinnert mich das Parfum ein wenig an Saks Fifth Avenue for Her von Bond No. 9. Auch dieser Duft ist Tuberosenlastig, wenngleich nicht halb so voll und reichhaltig wie Tubéreuse Criminelle. Abschließend beruhigen sich die Gerüche alle und liegen leise auf der Haut. Zärtlich und flüsternd, das sind die letzten Atemzüge einer großen Komposition von Christopher Sheldrake!

Wow, ich bin sprachlos! Wer einen Duft erleben will, der zu 100& innovativ und anders ist, der kommt um Tubéreuse Criminelle nicht herum! Ein Duft, ein Erlebnis. Ich komme aus dem Staunen kaum raus und schwelge noch immer in der Basisnote des Parfums. Ob ich mir diesen Duft kaufen werde? Nein, wie ich bereits gesagt habe: Ich verehre die Tuberose, doch als persönlichen Duft kann ich sie mir nicht vorstellen. Ich empfehle jedem dieses Parfum zu testen, niemand soll sterben ohne Tubéreuse Criminelle von Serge Lutens erlebt zu haben. Ob man nun Tuberose mag oder nicht ist dabei egal. Wenn sich euch die Chance bietet, testet! ACHTUNG: Ich habe lediglich das SolidPerfume getestet. Das Solid hat eine enorme Haltbarkeit und ist extrem intensiv. Wenn das bloß die Wax-Probe war, wie intensiv ist dann das Eau de Parfum?

After so many reviews, I was curious about this perfume. I love tuberose, and I have read that every tuberose lover should try Tubéreuse Criminelle. Some people say, this fragrance is unwearable. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to try this Sheldrake composition.

Tubéreuse Criminelle - the name is our game! The opening is really brutal and loud. A strong, green menthol smell overpowers everything else. It's like smelling a strong menthol mouthwash. One minute later the cold smell get's enriched with the even more cold tuberose, which shines in her full glory. She embraces the menthol an adds a coconut like scent to the composition. The blend of these two accords is exciting and mesmerizing. Most people fear the tuberose, but I adore this white flower. I can not wear most tuberose fragrances, but I like them as work of art. Tubéreuse Criminelle is no exception. After a short time, the clove enfolds. I think that the clove was the reason for the menthol note. I can not detect any other flowers in this stage. Just the jasmine is detectable sometimes, which annoys me a bit. Fortunately, the jasmine disappears quick and leaves the tuberose behind. Now the animalic edge of the tuberose comes through, it is sexy and not at all fecal. Now you have to wait. The topnote is very stubborn and except of some drops vanilla, nothing changes. After another 15 minutes, the grand tuberose eventually changes. She is getting warm, but warm is the wrong word. A tuberose never gets warm. She stays cold, she is blue-blooded. Like a cold-hearted sovereign, she dominates over the whole composition. She is stolid and no one is brave enough to challenge her. As I said, the tuberose changes, she gets tropical. Some vanilla brings energy and warmth and the hyacinth adds sweetness. The cold kingdom of the tuberose melts. The menthol disapperas. But that's not all! The base is a sensual blend of vanilla, musk and (of course) tuberose. One more time, she shows her animalic egde, only to drown in an ocean of white flowers, the end of a big perfume.

Tubéreuse Criminelle is unique, strong and exciting! I'm totally stunned by this masterpiece. Everyone has to try this fragrance, even if you don't like tuberose! And now I don't want to know how often I have used the word tuberose in this review ;)

I have the solid sample on right now & it smells delightful.It must develop differently in liquid form because what I am getting it a strong but beautiful tuberose.I scraped all I could out of the sample package & I am hoping it lasts me all day ;)
P.S Although I have yet to smell the liquid for myself I have to say
I love how Vickalena says that the liquid seems to be cold & hot at the same time.That is exactly what a criminal is cold & hot.Beautiful yet cunning,Alluring & dangerous.....after it lours you in it zaps you with an intensity that you weren't expecting.Surge named his creation right.

my god, this stuff is BRUTAL...it's got this heavy heavy duty smell of menthol...like smoking an entire pack of newport cigarettes at once...I like it, but it is perhaps one of the most difficult to wear fragrances ever created...I love tuberose fragrances...but I think that you can't beat Fracas or Carnal Flower...thank you Vickalena, for the sample...this stuff actually gave me a sensation of FEAR...very artistic, but I don't think I'd spend $180 dollars on it...

Tuberose hits the tarmac, another adventure with Serge!

A flower is hit by a Ferrari. Our gallant Nose rushes the victim to wounded vegetable hospital, only to find there's no antiseptic to dress the poor stalk's injuries. Fortunately, there's some industrial cleaner used to scrub the ward floors, so he dips the bandages in that and wraps our hapless patient in it, safe from any danger of being identifed as a tuberose...

And the wrists of the world suddenly develop little feet of their own and run away.

This is a truly surreal treatment of tuberose, criminal indeed, to turn the diva into a monster. My partner smelled the topnotes and hasn't been near me since. His loss perhaps because when it all calms down, one detects, with a certain desperate relief, a traditional tuberose in the mid notes gently enhanced by lingering menthol, which crisps and cools the rich heart of the scent. There's a barely detectable undercurrent of gum.

Interesting, but this is not the tuberose fragrance to win my heart; I recall from childhood in Spain, great bunches of these in my mother's house, their scent luxurious and overpowering, heady in the heat, seductive at night.
I love Lutens but now and again, he needs to get his head out of the apothecary's cabinet and just let us smell the flowers.