La Couche du Diable

Reading the comments here, a random person could easily get scared. Even its name sounds scary. Okay, the perfume is definitely black soul, but it is just as dark as LL The Noir 29, Guerlain Patchouli Ardent, or FM Monsieur. What "lightens" all this darkness is the fact that the Serge Lutens DNA can be felt from start to finish, it is most prominent right in the opening, during those first few minutes, so I am sure it won't be overwhelming to noses already familiar with this house. There is some simmilarities with Fille en Aiguilles. While Fille en Aiguilles is polished and somehow clean and spiritual, Diable is the distant relative from high society who succumbed to an alcohol addiction a short time ago. Tangerine, resins, warm spices, woods (not pine), and labdanum. A true boozy oriental, with 0 animalic facets, im just feel sorry cuz i can't pick up much of churcy incense. It is perfect for winter weather to warm up a cozy black wool turtleneck and create a small, warm, boozy, "naughty" cloud around you. The performance is not at an enviable level, but it is neither stronger nor weaker compared to Fille en Aiguilles.

Sinful, wicked, and dangerously addictive. An invitation to a sweet sin or a deadly temptation, one that will fill you with fear and regret. But at the same time, it is magnetically good that you ease into it without a shame or regret. It entices, excites, and fills you with curiosity. It's hell: you don't want to be there, but you can't help the unstoppable desire to see what happens behind its gate. The Devil’s Bed Spicy, warm labdanum opening & dry sweet plum nuances with a leathery undertone. Two minutes in, it cools a bit, then you begin to notice lemon peal & bergamot with leathery warm labdanum, smoky incense & roses in the background. It’s warm, deep, dark & surprisingly not heavy, yet it’s super mysterious. The heart is dark & tempting, full of slightly sweet spices, green, fresh spicy roses, light sweet pine, ylang ylang nuances & cinnamon with a hint of violet & iris. It’s woody, ambery with smokey incense that reminds me of famous vintage Arabic incense blends that were used around the 80’s & early 90’s in Khan Al kahkaili market in Cairo Egypt, with myrrh & sweet resinous blanket underneath it. It feels slightly sweet, medicinal, bitter & it’s very inviting to enter the gates of hell. The base is woody, ambery with dry resinous aroma & a hint of woody bright oud. You can sense a light coniferous & subtle sweet balsamic note, with sweet pine, warm honey & a hint of dry hay with a touch of sweet vanilla & a touch of sweet oriental tobacco. All settling decadentaly on a bed of dusty incense & a touch of musk to add depth to other notes. I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again the measurements of incense & resins that Christopher Sheldrake uses is to the point, not as used in many other perfumes on the market that can easily become boring after a while from spraying, but here it’s used to perfection & comes out very interesting & inviting. The Devil’s Bed is not for the majority; it’s only for the selectives, with unique taste & certain requirements. Performance is good with good sillage, it stayed on my skin for 8+ hours IG Sir.Fragrances

The liquid of my bottle is a dark green color This starts off very spicy with a whiff of clean oud. Almost kitchen cupboard. Mostly cumin like scent, not even saffron nor cinnamon. As it dries down, spicies subside and I am left with a powdery rosy soft oud scent. The light smoke is still present, and this smoky powderiness is my favourite part. At the very dry down, all spices are gone. It is a hard opening to bear but oh worth it.

This perfume makes me laugh. Serge Lutens has always had a great sense of humor, and frequently at our expense sometimes. The title of this perfume is lewd and puerile. Lutens loves a wordplay game and La Couche, a singular form it should be noted, most likely means diaper. And it’s an oud composition with a sense of humor, which is always welcome since oud and its devotees take things far too seriously. This is actually a labdanum perfume, and, more specifically, a cistus labdanum perfume to my nose rather than labdanum. For this reason as well, I tend to think of it as more of a deconstructed oud perfume rather than a strict presentation. Strict is not a thematic element that would jive with what seems to be La Couche’s intent. Curiously absent in La Couche - I’m still chuckling at this every time I write it, I’m such a child - are the fecal, animalic, barnyard notes most readily associated with oud. So, again, to an earlier point I made, this isn’t really an oud composition, but the argument could be made against another statement I provided that you cannot truly have a “deconstructed oud” - or something to that effect - without the animalic facet. I don’t find La Couche (lol) accruing defect because of this though; all of the other facets we associate with oud are there and just enough to spark a lightbulb moment where you mind says “oud!… But… hold up a second.” Instead, what I smell is one of the darkest, resinous, woodiest, rose perfumes I can recall. Deep, dark brown, earthy resins of enormous viscosity that almost renders them immovable. The woods of aromatic trees touched by forest fires, swatches of black and brown in their exposed cores leaking sap. Woody spices as well, like a very pungent and fresh nutmeg and cinnamon combination, and probably a rather heavy touch of allspice. And then there’s that floral note, the rock rose, the cistus labdanum’s high note. This perfume might want association with the devil, but this floral note will make you sing God’s praises. This rose smells black in color. Many oud varietals have a natural floral aspect to them that is a bit “rosey” in many/most presentations, so, to my mind, this works. There is nothing fruity jammy, peppery, or green to this floral note at all - it is muscular, resinous, woody, and earthy in a hallelujah-God’s-knightly-warrior sort of way. As an oud-not-oud in Serge Lutens’s typical dark humor that makes me the butt of the joke, I am more than happy to laugh along with it while also being very taken with its superb materials and handling (very likely at Sheldrake’s masterful hands). Oud purists will not like it. Good. Stay away. It’s not for you and that means more for me. That said though, I’m not sure who this perfume is for. If the oudists won’t care for it, and those who don’t like oud are likely to find the commonalities off-putting, then who will this appeal to? Maybe the Satanists amongst us. I might convert (from whatever it is I currently am). Excellent work.

Dark, evil, violent. Powerful. Volatile. I hate this perfume because it genuinely scares me. It's possibly the closest thing to hell i have ever put my nose upon and probably what Dante's Inferno smells like. Under the thick fumes of booze and resins there is a smokiness to it that borderlines metallic like blood. One of Serge Lutens' finest creations that stays true to its theme.

As if someone was cooking a curry in the depths hell - amazing in theory but not for my skin chemistry

Opens very acrid, sulfurous and strong. Not exactly pleasant. Still had to repeatedly smell it directly again and again to confirm. The human condition. Settles a bit and you get kind of a brimstoney accord. Rocky mineralic. Burning metals follow this and overall the effect is a bit leathery on the support side of things. Longevity is mid. Gets very soft after 1.5 to 2 hrs, and loses a lot of the burning presence, gets sweeter and ambery. Some of the accords and action remind me a bit of Ganymede, mostly the burning metal over suede aspect it has, but this scent is much denser and heavier overall. Doesn't have that airy quality that makes those scents float and be pleasant. Not a terribly enjoyable scent. Aside from the opening, is OK.

Evil, ghastly fragrance. Dark, spicy, heavy, almost smells red to me if that makes any sense.

Orthodox church incense (frankincense), dark wood, spice, and amber sweetness. Very heady and thick. Smoke without the barbeque. Witchy, ancient, unisex.

Possibly the most opulent fragrance in my collection - which is largely composed of rich, spicy, overpowering scents. La Couche du Diable doesn't project massively, but it is powerful, intoxicating. Sweet, spicy, boozy, it's almost gourmand; but too there is a profoundly dark, smoky, almost austere quality to it which puts me in mind of some incense-filled monastery or ancient temple. Something about it is imposing, larger than life. I'm almost intimidated by it - can I really pull off such a scent? I spray it on nonetheless, and every few minutes put my nose right to it and sigh with delight. Is this the scent of the devil's bed, as its name suggests? Biblical imagery certainly comes to mind, but I rather find myself picturing communion wine - not that found on Sunday in church, but *the* communion wine, that which Jesus bled. Trust that I am embarrassed to write it, and well aware of the pretentiousness necessary to compare a perfume to the blood of Christ (and I'm not even a Christian!). My shame at putting these words to the page should only highlight the earnestness of my review. If I liked this scent any less, I would have the decency to be more measured about it.

Serge Lutens #16 – This devil lives in a church, loves its booze and sour cherry jam. Not long, perhaps a year or two ago was when i first learned of Serge Luten’s creations. I recall at that time there were still bottles of La Couche du Diable to be found at discounters. Few leftover bottles, true, but one could still get it and for relatively reasonable prices. Thing is, back then even those “reasonable” prices were not something i ever thought i would spend on this hobby. Ahhh, how things change and what a sweet summer child i was. I remember looking at the bottle, looking at the name and how edgy it looked and sounded. I already had L’Orpheline at that point and i could imagine the two bottles sitting beside each other like two polar opposites. On one hand L’Orpheline representing sad innocence and simplicity and on the other La Couche du Diable as the work of the devil. Fate has it that after entering a conversation with a girl who sold me a perfume, she gifted me a sample of this. Some perfumes reach my nose before i put it to my hand and La Couche du Diable was one of them. My first thought when that happened was: ”Hold on...sour cherry jam? That ain’t devilish, thats yummy!” Sure enough, an upclose sniff confirmed that. La Couche du Diable to my nose is actually a semi-gourmand. It eerily and unmistakenly reminds me of sour cherry jam. It ain’t a run of the mill, supermarket massproduced artificial jam eighter because its completly homemade, with an added naughty boozy twist. Big chunks of sour cherries make it almost unspread-able and you might get unlucky and bite on a seed aswell. Ouch! As im smelling the perfume again and again, im trying to look behind the curtain, checking if Sheldrake played a theatrical trick on me. Im looking for something else then the gourmand picture, thinking that perhaps the scent is something else then what im getting. I tried “deconstructing” it, tried picking it appart in pieces with the intention to “reconstruct” it into something else. With patience and some focus, i can separate the building blocks of La Couche du Diable because there are resins, amber, smoke, warm spicy powderyness and most definetly sweetness. Later down the road, the resins develop into a more familiar and authentic churchy accord, still accompanied by the syrupy sweetness. A nice transition that, disregarding the sweetness, leads to the most churchy interpretation of resins or incense i’ve smelt in a Serge Lutens. In reality, i have no reason to view the perfume from multiple angles because its interesting and fine as it is. My mother makes compotes and jams of all kinds and our stash in the cellar is usually full. I feel guilty at times for not reaching for them, because they are made with care and there’s no greater compliment to someone’s produce then to savor it. I guess lazyness and the readily available sweets we buy in stores prevent me from enjoying something homemade. La Couche du Diable actually makes me want to get up out of my chair and rummage through that stash down in the cellar. In the end, as much as i instinctively tried picking it appart, its better left as a whole because it evoked a wholesome thing to me. It can be seen as devilish, altho not in a malevolent, but naughty, playful and yummy way.

One of Sheldrake’s best elixirs. Very unique sweetness & resinous with a most delicious diabolical heart ❤️🙏

It's ironic that it's the devil's bed, but I'm getting Orthodox church. The church is even stronger than Nicolai's Incense Oud. It honestly reminds me of a shop in my city owned by a Coptic man from Egypt who burns incense on a regular basis. Don't be afraid: for the first few minutes it really smells like a cough syrup, but that fades quickly. It's very balsamic, resinous, smoky, and woody. I am also getting wine, labdanum, citrus, Coca-Cola, cloves, and dried fruits: plums, apricots, raisins, and cranberries. Warm, but not as warm as Nerotic (Laborattorio Olfattivo), and without the rubber. Overall it leans masculine, is seductive, and definitely a niche fragrance. Do not blind buy. Autumn and winter. Don't spray this on white fabric.

This is Satans's s***.

potporri'sh spicy woody scent. didn't workout for me.

@scentific, I am a woman, and I find this scent appealing. More than appealing. I am wearing it right now. It is spicy, dark, and oh so good. This is one of the best Serge Lutens I have ever smelled. Divine.

2.20 PM two small sprays on my forearm. At first it is smokey, with an incense whiff at first, but a bit later the smoke subsides a bit and leaves the incense as an undertone. Two hours later, it was a skin scent of the same type. Mind you, it was just two sprays, and my skin usually 'eats' perfume, so it might project more for others or with more sprays. A day or two ago, when it was 10 degrees C warmer, it went towards (Tonka) Cola territory, now it's churchy. Interesting range of transformations. Will have to test it further.

Try it before you buy it. On me it smells like someone spilled red wine on an old slightly dusty wooden cabinet. On my partner it becomes much warmer, smoother, sweeter and darker, to the point where I finally start to see a bit of that “couche” and “diable”. No red wine either. Even so it's still a very bitter scent. Long lasting, criminal to wear in the summer heat. Edit: I took to mixing La Couche du Diable with La Fille de Berlin in order to smell like a 19th century gothic novel. La Fille makes it slightly less bitter while La Couche gives it depth. Would recommend.

Stunning Perfume Got gifted a full bottle (Bell Jar) after purchasing one for myself, so now I'm selling this one. PM me if interested

Your rude friend snuffed out their cigarette on your leather seats after you explicitly told them not to smoke in the car to begin with. After settling some, the resin comes in to provide a bit of sweetness. Not nearly enough, however, and as a hater of cigarette notes and oud I struggle to not find this musty and gross. From a few inches away, there’s also that distinct plasticky tape smell. Clear packing tape smothered in spiced medicinal honey, taped over leather. That’s it. I can also see any mentions of animalic and medicinal, both of which I stay away from.

Dark Souls (or Game of Thrones) in a bottle, La Couche du Diable is one of the best faux ouds out there, albeit now sadly relegated to a bell jar. I originally hated it, but its sour-savoury fruitiness, blood-tinged ambery profile and dark woodiness are rich and compelling, and pull you back again and again like a repulsive yet oddly addicting liqueur. It does have a "demonic" smell, and is fully replete with smoke and embers as the press release suggests, it does also exhibit peaty notes of rotting wood and gasoline, and is as challenging as that sounds. Though dark, it is much more so an unsweetened labdanum than any kind of real oud, but is sufficiently complex and alluring for me. One of the greatest recent Lutens, I nevertheless think LCdD struggles in a background milieu of thousands of faux ouds, though it is perhaps greater and more artistically executed than most of them. I'm part way through my 2nd 100ml spray bottle, and am not looking forward to exhausting this smouldering, huffing beast down to its final breath.

Another Lutens Stinkbomb (Affectionate). La Couche du Diable is sweet, piney-resinous, medicinal, a little bit animalic…an aggro dense syrup in the best Lutens tradition. Not very much “oud”, mostly spicy-prickly-herbal ambers. Not for everyone, but I find it a pleasantly “evil” scent. Sorcerer-alchemist vibes.

I have to laugh, because this so obviously copying Dev 2. & charging twice as much for a weaker version, & even has the audacity to name it The Devil's Bedsheets. At least dupe brands are copying to make scents accessible to people with lower incomes. What exactly was the point of a large perfume house like Serge Lutins stealing from someone smaller than itself? Serge Lutins can go 🤬 itself on this one.

With a name like this (The Devil's Diaper) I had high hopes. What I got was a perfume that smells like many other Lutens perfumes. Which is not to say it's bad, but it's so close to those several many others that I feel totally bored by it. Think Le Participe Passé meets L'incendiaire meets Ecrin de Fumée meets Périlleusement Votre. And in fact here, the synthetic oud is scratchier than in the aforementioned ones and is already irritating me after five minutes. Big fat meh. Update: it's mostly a labdanum soliflor, I don't get any of the other notes, just synthetic oud, some resiny sweetness in the opening, and labdanum.

This time La Couche du Diable is made of rose petals on a agarwood frame :) The opening was spicy, I could swear cloves are present, but I see they are not. Cinnamon this time totally absent. The blend is grown up and not at all cheeky. Today it reminds me of La Fille de Berlin. It is fresh, rose petals with oud backing.

I fell in love with this demonic scent right in the SL boutique. Not just a stunning perfume, but a dark poetry of scents that sometimes play quite differently on my skin. I am not a fan of sweet scents, but this one is exceptional because it sounds so seductive, romantic and dark at the same time! My other favourites from Serge Lutens are: Ecrin de Fumée, Muscs Koublaï Khan

لا به لای لایه های این عطر میشه گم شد در شروع؛آب پرتقال غلیظ که با پوست پرتقال جوشانده و تغلیظ شده رو به همراه یک وایب چوبی_عودی_تنباکویی پیچیده در دُز بالایی از دارچین و زعفران حس کردم که بی نهایت استادانه و با سلیقه کنار هم چیده شده بودند این وسط یک وایب آروماتیک اما بسیار تیره برای من وجود داشت که حس ای شبیه به سوختن چوب دارچین تازه چیده شده رو منتقل می کرد یا حرارت دیدن معجون مرکباتی_ادویه ای _آمبری روی یک سری هیزم خشک و تازه(کمی وایب آلبالویی در کنار دارچین) رز بسیار موقر و سنگین ای توی عطر کار شده؛در کنار حس شرقی و صمیمانه ای که منتقل می کنه،ابدا زننده نیست و طیف سلیقه افراد ای که با رز زاویه دارند رو هم می تونه پوشش بده و ازش لذت ببرن در یک کلام فوق العاده ****************** scent:9.5/10 longevity:7/10 sillage:7/10 purchase value:5.5/10 ******** overall:7.3/10

The journey I went on with this fragrance was like being in a relationship that goes past its expiration date. The initial few dates get you hooked and wanting more, so you invest your time and money in hopes that it'll turn into something fruitful, only to be disappointed in the long run. Things simply get stale beyond the honeymoon stage and you realize that it just wasn't for you, but neither party wants to make the first move to end things. I don't know if this has been reformulated or what, but the official sample I tried had much more warmth and depth to it from a smoky/incense note that's missing from the full bottle. Even after owning it for a year, it's devoid of any of the life that initially drew me to it. What I'm left with is a cold, sweet, funky, spicy, woodsy scent profile with similar DNA to Nisean, Eau Sacrée, and Fille en Aiguilles--ghosts of girlfriends past. Sadly, I think I'm just gonna have to let this one go.

@SkinnyLegend La Couche Du Diable is not discontinued but got transferred to the exclusive line in the Cloche/Bell Jar collection, thus only available in their Paris boutiques now and occasionally in the webstore. It's one of the better Lutens to come out in the las decade or more no doubt. One of my favorites as well. I sold my export bottle because I actually wanted to change it with a bell jar:). They are some of my favorite-looking flacons. And since it is a fairly new scent and never received a special engraved design, maybe it will in the future and warrant a purchase. Sold it with a "design upgrade" in mind and knowing full well it was not going to be discontinued. They hardly terminate a scent for good, and only a few ended up like that (quite recently I might add). I always felt like Couche was the love child of Fille en Aiguilles and Ambre Aultan.

Has this been discontinued? I'm kinda panicking here because this is my signature scent, the crown jewel in my perfume collection. It's not listed on their U.S. website and the discounters haven't restocked it in a while. I can't see why they would discontinue a relatively new(er) fragrance this soon. I hope they aren't transitioning it into the gratte-ciel collection or the bell jar bottles. Idk what I'm gonna do if its discontinued. ugh...