It snowed yesterday morning, and while it didn't stick (thankfully!), there was still the snowy smell in the air, a certain silence and the special color of the sky. As much as I hate our winter, I'm not immune to its beauty (which lasts exactly until the first time I get to dig my car out, shovel the driveway or perform the miracle of walking on ice in 4" heels). If there ever was a perfume that calls to mind pretty powdery snow and a winter wonderland scene is Louve, the newest creation in Serge Lutens' export line.
"She began to walk forward, crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood toward the other light. In about 10 minutes she reached it and found it was a lamp-post. As she stood looking at it, wondering why there was a lamp-post in the middle of a wood and wondering what to do next, she heard a pitter patter of feet coming towards her."
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Lucy Looks into a Wardrobe
Louve means she-wolf, and the inspiration for this fragrance was snow capped mountains. I'm sure Serge Almighty had a very specific image in mind, but to me this perfume is Narnia in an eternal winter.
The milky almonds in the opening never go completely away. Instead, they are delicately weaved into the other notes, keeping them white and hushed. Thus, the fruity part is contained and kept from becoming joyful and giggly like in Luctor et Emergo, where the marzipan note melts into the cherry liquor heart. The almond is there when the delicate floral part appears. There's rose, but only the soft petals, not the sweetened rosewater that could have taken it into Turkish delight realms (curiously enough, the other almond-cherry Lutens fragrance is the non-export Rahat Loukoum, the name of which means Turkish delight). It is sweet but not quite gourmand, yet the notes and the connotation makes me think of the White Witch tempting Edmund with that very delicacy. Maybe that's the hint dangerous she-wolf Lutens envisioned. He saw a wild animal, I see a snow queen.
Louve dries down into a soft skin scent. It's musky, powdery with a hint of vanilla, without losing the almonds. It smells sweeter in the heat and softer outside on a cold day. On my husband's skin it felt dry, almost woody and a lot cleaner. The sillage is less than what I'd expect from a Serge Lutens perfume, but the lasting power is decent (it's a higher concentration, and comes in the elegant black box). I love spraying some into my hair and on sweaters and coats. It makes a cold day much more beautiful and feels cozy and comforting on a cold night.