Serge Lutens - Daim Blond (perfume review)

I haven't tried many leathers but became obsessed with the idea of finding a good one, which led me to my desire to try Daim Blond (among other things).  According to Aedes, Daim Blond was "Inspired by suede so fine, so soft, so barely perceptible to the touch, like skin on skin, an aura and sensation that intertwine to become one and the same."   Ooh, this sounds mysterious and sexy and warm and cozy...

Wait a second, where's the soft nude suede?? On me, Serge Lutens' Daim Blond opens up strongly with medicinal pencil shavings - camphor, band-aids, rubber, wood. It's cool but dry. Although it's not markedly strong, it feels rough.

photo from acevola.blogspot.com

I know some people enjoy a good medicinal note, but honestly to me, it just smells like hospitals, which isn't particularly pleasant. I can imagine situations where a medicinal touch could enhance other stronger, more prominent notes, but that is just not the case in Daim Blond.

As far as I can tell, there are no other notes.  After a few minutes even the pencil shavings fade away, leaving just camphor and rubber band-aids.  Sadly they're not even awesome band-aids like these:

found on www.geekalerts.com

or

available at mcphee.com

Hehe, okay, I lied. There eventually are other notes. About 30 minutes in, it becomes evident that the 'medicinal' note I was smelling was probably somehow the iris and not the ubiquitous 'oud'. The medicinal aspect softens, and the iris becomes far more powdery and recognizably iris-y. This is definitely a marked improvement over the opening, but maybe not the best fit for me as I'm still on the fence about how I feel about iris. (So far the only iris perfume I've really liked is Atelier's Silver Iris.) And as powdery as it is, the perfume starts to feel kind of sharp and harsh to my nose about an hour in.

From this point on, the iris gets softer (while retaining it's bit of sharpness) and there's just a touch of musk, but that's about it. It really loses strength at the 2 hour mark, and feels just like a light veil of powder. The late drydown is pleasant enough I guess.

One thing Daim Blond *does* have going for it is the lack of cumin.  :)

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My rating of Daim Blond: 2 

1  -  - -  -  2  -  -  -  -  3  -  -  -  -  4  -  -  -  -  5

   Nausea/Gagging         Meh        Decent       Great         Olfactory Elation    

In short, there is basically nothing about Daim Blond that is my cup of tea.

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Daim Blond as described by the Aedes website:

Family: Spice/Leather

Top Notes: Iris

Middle Notes: Apricot, Cardamom, Hawthorne

Base Notes: Heliotrope, Musk

Perfumer: Christopher Sheldrake

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Have you tried Daim Blond? What are some of your favorite suede and leather scents?