Clair de Musc

Clair de Musc is a song of the perfumed angel where musk wants to be clear and gentle, the better to envelop us in its divine sensuality...

Clair de Musc, Musc Koubaï Khän and “Les Trois Nuits”

Accustomed to offering deep animalics or demonic perfumed angels, Serge Lutens managed to surprise everyone by turning toward the luminous side of his strength with his aptly named Clair de Musc. Gentle as the night that carries us toward our most beautiful dreams, with Clair de Musc it seems that Serge Lutens amused himself by composing, with his favorite perfumer, a perfect antithesis to the powerful Musc Koubaï Khän. But perhaps this is not a matter of opposition but of complementarity.

The pretty limited-run collection composed for Le Printemps Haussman in September 2013, Les Trois Nuits, could well be one of the answers to unravel this mystery. The Les Trois Nuits collection highlighted a decomposition of the night according to Lutens through three iconic fragrances: the magical night of Datura Noir, the wild night with Serge Noir, and the night of dreams with Clair de Musc.

The so demure Clair de Musc would therefore be a perfumed allegory of a gentle night lulled by tales and legends? Once again, Serge Lutens stands out and surprises by delivering a fragrance at the opposite end of the usual sensual depths of his legendary compositions.

Clair de Musc, where musk forsakes its animalic nature for gentleness...

The pretty, understated and graceful bottle lets us glimpse a woolly white juice like a full moon that had settled in our bathroom to let itself be caught. Dressed entirely in clarity, Clair de Musc promises the caress of a serene night.

As if to better intoxicate us with its candid composition, Lutens opens Clair de Musc with scents of bergamot and neroli, creamy and cuddly like the perfumed notes of children's fragrances. Then the rose heart reveals its infinite floral purity, and its pastel facets seem to paint a picture akin to a Debussy piece, airy and light. Tuscan iris makes its appearance in the base notes to powder this graceful ensemble and offer it to the tenderness of enveloping white musks. A touch of sandalwood in this cottony sillage recalls the sensuality of Lutens fragrances.

More light than ever, it promises a caress. Advancing with moonlit steps, musk here forgets the beast to keep only its bearing. Serge Lutens for Clair de Musc.

Between an Ambre Sultan, a Musc Koubaï Khän and Clair de Musc, there is a priori little connection, apart from a shared Lutens signature. And yet it would seem quite reductive to believe that Clair de Musc is any less accomplished. All the more so since it offers, at last, as some would say, a gentle and airy interpretation of the star of perfumed raw materials: musk. Novel, original and tender, this Lutens has absolutely nothing to envy in its predecessors.