Serge Lutens · 2014

L'orpheline Eau de Parfum

Serge Lutens L'orpheline
Longevity Very long8-12 hours
Projection CloseArm's length
Polarising Mixed

Smoky incense and cool musk haze

Scent Notes

Woody / Smoky
Buy Now

Affiliate link. We earn a small commission, you pay the same.

Snapshot

The full profile.

About This Perfume
L'orpheline by Serge Lutens is a fragrance for women and men. L'orpheline was launched in 2014. The fragrance features Incense and Musk. 1. Yet another girl! Yes, if you believe that she is the abandoned part of me. Child, I have cut the world in two. On the one hand, a girl, The Vanquished – not the loser! - and more precisely, that which germinated in her and which in myself, I raised; and on the other, a boy, The Victor. For a child, the world comes down to three people: himself, his mother and his father. Without everyone making such a clear-cut choice as mine, each one will be dependent on it throughout his life. 2. Did your choice present itself as the mother? Not the mother, her wound; I bore it. It is undeniably an identification. As for each and every one of us, I owe my life to chance. The famous throw of the dice appears exemplary to me – it is a sacred number – it is the one which leads us there where we should have been born or not to have been. I shall not recall the significant episodes of my destiny but, between what was and what I felt, the difference was greater. However, the child is the clairvoyant: he foresees. Since I accorded all the qualities of the feminine to the wound, she named me. 3. From now on, should we understand that the masculine was denied in you? From what to my eyes was officially required: the army, authority, power, order, moralism, yes. I was at war with the Male: Maleficence. It can be expected that from this moment, I invent a woman and bring us up to date, it is the baptism of blood. 4. Coming back to the orphan girl. Is this you? No, originally it was a virgin territory, it attracted me but I didn’t recognise myself there; this territory which I denied was that of men. My mother, she was the wrath and I, her son, its revenge. 5. And the father, where is he? The father is the declared enemy. I was hatred on Earth, on Father. Of the mother I was the figurehead, and of the father the assassin. The wound did not heal. I could blind myself but I could see: the father was immortal. From him I keep the feminine which he betrayed. 6. How did you recover the road to perfume in this labyrinth? It is the memory, forgiveness and like this, what we have today, it was able to survive: From the dust. It is not only in the feminine but it also has no plural. It is the wake of my life, that which remains when all has disappeared. It is the invisible which, veil after veil, there where it is forgotten, fades into grey. —Serge Lutens
Concentration
Eau de Parfum
Projection
Close
Gender lean
Leans unisex
The verdict

Best for

The Brand

Serge Lutens

Serge Lutens is one of modern perfumery's most influential artistic houses, the Paris-based line whose collaborations with perfumer Christopher Sheldrake set the template for what "niche" would come to mean in the 1990s and 2000s. The Palais Royal exclusive collection remains the reference point for narrative-driven perfumery. The 24 live pieces on Scendira are entirely unisex (22 of 24) and heavily Woody (9), with strong secondary counts in Gourmand (4), Warm & Amber (3), Floral (2) and Leather (1), the accord fingerprint is unmistakably Lutens: spicy, resinous, smoky. Prices run $52.85-$375 (average $153). Standout live pieces: Fumerie Turque ($249,.26, smoky honeyed tobacco with warm suede), Borneo 1834 ($248,.23, smoky cacao incense with earthy patchouli), Chene ($249,.20, smoky cedar sap, green thyme, oaky rum), Écrin de Fumée ($81.60,.17) and Vetiver Oriental ($82.43,.11, earthy vetiver under sweet dark chocolate). This is niche fragrance at its most self-consciously artistic.

Explore Serge Lutens by scent family

Related Collections

Every Serge Lutens perfume here is catalogued from real notes, accords, and independent community sentiment. No paid placements.

More from Serge Lutens

Vendor: Serge Lutens

Arabie

sweet dates and cloves over smoky resin

$320.00
View →
FAQ

Common questions.

Scendira is a fragrance discovery platform helping you choose from 136,000+ perfumes across 8,500+ brands — aggregating what 1 million+ real people said on Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Fragrantica into honest, independent ratings.

A fragrance judged relatively approachable without trying first. Each Blind Buy Safety score combines community ratings and first-wear reports with available fragrance data — not marketing.

No. Scendira is not affiliated with any fragrance house and does not accept paid reviews. Verdicts combine community discussion with Fragrantica and Parfumo data.

Reddit r/fragrance, Fragrantica, fragrance Facebook groups, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon and Sephora reviews — more than 1 million community voices aggregated and synthesized.

Dira — Your Scent Guide

Find my  fragrance.

Honest, community-verified perfume matches. Not marketing.

Buy Now