Turkish Delights have inspired more than a few perfumes. And why wouldn’t they? People seem to love Turkish Delights and their flavors are already rather “perfume-y”.
Serge Lutens Rahät Loukoum is a really sweet fragrance. It opens with a slightly waxy almond cherry. Rahat Loukoum stays in this Luden’s Wild Cherry Cough Drop meets almond scented candle territory much longer than I would want it too. Once that fades, I finally start to enjoy wearing it. Rahat Loukoum becomes this sweet, almost mushroom-y (white caps) musk with this cup of steamed milk with honey. The dry-down is this sweet “fluffy” musk that makes me think of spun sugar.
I understand that people like Turkish Delight perfumes and I think that is why there are quite a few on the market. However, I really don’t get why *I* keep sampling lokum perfumes. I never like them and frankly, I don’t even want to smell like one. They’re just so sweet. In fact, when it comes to Turkish desserts, lokum is my least favorite. To me, lokum is up there with macarons in the “Victoria thinks they are overrated” territory. And if I do eat a Turkish Delight, I prefer the mastic variety. I don’t want a cherry or fruity one. Rose or mastic, those are the ones I’ll eat.
Anyway, the Serge Lutens one isn’t very Serge-y to me. I expected for the line to go in the mastic direction. Instead it went into this wild cherry/candy floss direction. That’s not bad, but it’s not what I want to smell like. OK, that’s a lie. I will wear cherry or cotton candy perfumes, but I don’t want to spend this much to smell like that. I think out of all of the Serge Lutens, Rahät Loukoum is my least favorite to wear. I’m rarely in the mood for something like this.
Notes listed include aldehydes, almond, cherry, hawthorn, Turkish rose, heliotrope, white honey, vanilla, tonka bean, balsam and musk. Launch date 1998. PERFUMER – Christopher Sheldrake
Give Rahät Loukoum a try if you like sweet, gourmand perfumes or almond scents. Or if you like perfumes like Keiko Mecheri Loukoum, Montale Sweet Or*ental Dream, Ava Luxe Loukhoum, Dior Hypnotic Poison and/or Serge Lutens Louve.
Projection is average. Longevity is above average.
The 2.5 oz bell jar retails for $300 at Serge Lutens.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A spun sugar musk…with almond and cherry. It’s a Turkish Delight perfume so it’s sweet and nutty. And it’s not my favorite from Serge Lutens but it has its fans.
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This sounds kind of awful, and it’s refreshing to read an honest review that isn’t all roses. 🙂
There are lots of people that like it. It just did not work for me or at least isn’t what I want. Oh, well. I can save my $300 🙂
On reading the notes, I should and do like this (ie hypnotic poison), but my family and fellow students sit very far away from me. I guess I can’t live the loukoum dream.
On paper, this should be my dream perfume. It has all the notes I love. However, I don’t like it. Oh, well. But I do love Hypnotic Poison 😉
[…] I feel it’s disconnected, it does smell good on. I don’t have the best history with Turkish Delight perfumes, so if this one is in that category, it’s good for […]