Mind Games: My First Decant – Jeux de Peau

When I first read on NST the description of the upcoming release of Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau, the idea of this perfume was very appealing and romantic: bread, childhood, memories… But even though buying bread was one of my chores when I was little, the memories that surfaced weren’t related to that. What I remembered was how my friends and I would buy bread, still warm, from drivers of delivery trucks. I have no idea if they had any authority to do so (I would think not) but the bread that we ate with dirty hands after running and playing outside for several hours was one of the tastiest treats. And a huge part of the attraction was that bread’s smell. That was what I remembered when I read about Jeux de Peau. I wasn’t compelled to run for testing it immediately but I put it on my “to try” list.

I’ve read many positive reviews of the perfume (see links to some of them below) but then I came across a review that… Ok, not only I cannot find it any more but I do not remember what exactly it said. I do remember a picture of waffles with either honey or some syrup on them (*if you recognize that vague description, please share the link!). The image was so vivid, it contradicted memories I conjured and it was a little off-putting.

One weekend last month I had some free time in the city so I went for a brief sniffing session in Barney’s. Since it was an impromptu visit, I didn’t have any plan or list so I just went sniffing through several lines, mostly on paper. Out of all the perfumes I tried Jeux de Peau was the most interesting so I dared to apply it on my skin. I sprayed it, smelled it and told myself: “It’s a nice gourmand scent, I like smelling it but I’m not sure I want to smell like that…”

“Hmm… It’s an interesting scent” was a leitmotif for the next several hours as I kept bringing my wrist to my nose again and again. And again.

I knew about perfume splits for a long time but haven’t participated in any. Until recently when I read the announcement about Jeux de Peau split and saw that Dee was one of the participants. I was sold. I mean, I bought [into] it.

Jeux de Peau is a very warm and comfortable scent on me. For my nose it’s not even close to bread or a toast. It’s sweet but not cloying. The closest food association for me is golden-brown palmiers. It feels like I’ve used a bronzer. I’m not talking about the scent (so far I haven’t found any artificial tanning product with more than just tolerable odor) but the feel. I imagine a golden glow on my skin when I wear this perfume.

I’ve just started my 10 ml decant and with the perfume’s excellent tenacity it’ll last me for a while. But when it’s up I can see a full bottle of Jeux de Peau in my future.

As always, feel free to post a link to your blog’s post(s) related to the topic.

Image: a clip from the alpinberry’s recepe

For real reviews see: 1000 fragrances, NST, Olfactoria’s Travels and Grain de Musc.

Dee’s recent article on splits.

Update: the review I was referring to and couldn’t find was from the eyeliner on a cat blog.