Jeux de Peau
Serge Lutens (2011)

Jeux de Peau is a comforting, cozy fragrance that captures the charm of a bakery stand at an autumn farmers market, and the intimacy of a winter morning spent baking at home, with the scent of fresh bread wafting through the air.

It begins with an inviting blend of sweet apricot, creamy milk, and aromas of warm baked goods. As it evolves on the skin, toasty wheat and nutty rye keep it hearty, while licorice provides an aromatic, herbal nuance that balances the richness. Soft spices and resins add warmth and depth, which, along with a smooth sandalwood, last deep into the dry down.

Jeux de Peau is a unique fragrance that defies traditional gourmand conventions, showcasing sweet and foody notes without being heavy or cloying. This unisex scent thrives as the temperature drops, making it a perfect choice for when autumn's crisp mornings give way to cold winter days.

I have decants of Jeux de Peau available, feel free to send me a message if you’ve been hoping to get your nose on it!

Jeux de Peau from Serge Lutens, composed by Christopher Sheldrake.

Undisputedly my all-time favorite gourmand perfume. Not a fragrance family I gravitate toward, but there is a handful of them that manage to offer that savory/gourmand olfactory experience while remaining mature, cleverly done, sophisticated, unique, and complex enough so I never get bored wearing them, or should I say, get a sugar crash.

This one goes far beyond the savory theme rendered so well that I will go to say that is the most complex Serge Lutens perfume on my skin, and I have tried and owned almost all. Linearity is a foreign concept here. This brings me to the name itself, which in French means "skin games." I often questioned the choice of words, thinking of a plethora of more suitable titles, yet now I see how the pun was placed and agree that it is an aptly chosen name.

The major theme of the perfume is the smell inside of a French Boulangerie, aka Bakery. Think of freshly baked bread and warm croissants. And it spans further to wheat, flour, yeast, butter, and warm milk. All of that is encompassed in this composition and rendered to perfection. The aroma of barley and bread is among my favorites. I don't eat a lot, but I sure love the smell. I searched high and low, sampled many compositions that promised to deliver that olfactory experience, and stopped at Jeux de Peau. Not only does it present that "vision" accurately, but somehow stretches that accord throughout the life of the perfume such that it never loses its identity but builds on it and adds intricate nuances.
As mentioned, this perfume offers a slightly different experience of my skin each time and seems to depend on how much I apply or my body temperature. Smelling it close or in the air will also unveil slightly different facets. I like to term this type of olfactory structure as "prismatic" or "in spades," where the structure, or the main thread, is consistent, but different nuances emerge under certain conditions and at different times without a set progression. As opposed to the classical top-heart-base linear build and evolution. Consequently, Jeaux de Peau is constantly playing games on my skin. It feels like having breakfast in the same bakery shop every morning, yet each day the game of flavors and circumstances are slightly different.

The bread/barley accord dominates. It is the canvas that Sheldrake built and on which he strikes various elements at different times. The opening is a tour-de-force in terms of facets unveiled simultaneously. I pick up the anise, even some artemisia that calls back Douce Amère, a delightfully savory and crispy saltiness, and faint herbal nuances. Shortly after, the bread accord holds its ground for a while with only the salty facet playing along, in crescendo, at times. Later, the soft herbaceous elements get through with the everlasting flower and the fruity osmanthus. Then, it transitions from bread and butter (main course) to the dessert served as croissants with apricot jam and steaming warm milk on the side. I love the way Osmanthus announces the apricot accord, in an almost logical fashion, just as the buttery texture introduces the milky one later.
The latter makes me think of Dries van Noten from Frederic Malle and how the milk acord is showcased there through a heavy use of Sulfurol. It makes me wonder if Sheldrake decided to opt for a similar material in this case, however, it feels more poised and carefully dosed to the point where the "meaty" and "nutty" qualities are omitted. Finally, the sandalwood base becomes ever more tangible as the hours go by, and still, I would never think of it as a woody, let alone sandalwood perfume. The material is put to great use but never claims its presence with enough authority. It feels like the tabletop or the wooden cutting boards were made of it but no more than that.
One last thing I want to mention is that the sweetness never feels overbearing, jovial, or excessive, as some have mentioned. I believe the perfume is brilliantly balanced and that the herbaceous, and most importantly, the salty facets, help to keep the sweetness in check at all times. I would say it feels more savory than sweet. Therefore, people who don't like their perfumes excessively sweet (I sure don't) should still sample Jeux de Peau. Especially if you enjoy the smell of wheat/bread, the idea of smelling like a Boulangerie, or just curious to try something utterly unique and evocative that bears all the trademarks of why this house is donned by many as the "parent of niche perfumery" as it came to be.

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Opening of licorice all sorts and freshly baked bread. Settles down almost buttered rum and golden syrup. Vanilla overtones and leans very patisserie in quality. It's an odd set of notes that all somehow manage to work out. The vanillin/amber base is very comforting and thankfully doesn't lean too sweet. Very nice winter weather scent.

Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau is a bready, spicy, sweet gourmand that has vanillic overtones with bits of character via the licorice and apricot, though admittedly I don't detect much of either, specifically, and a milky transparency that makes it easy to wear. It's fun, comforting, and apt for cold-weather wearing despite not being dense, at least to me.

As far as bready scents go, I'd say that Jeux de Peau is quite agreeable, a gourmand apt for even those that usually don't like gourmands, since the sandalwood, amber, and spices bring it more back to the middle, toward most perfume, rather than specifically the gourmand. It's not as dense and deliberately delectable as, say, 4160 Tuesdays Captured by Candlelight, the first and foremost logical comparison that came to mind.

Decently-performing and quite agreeable, its scent is matched only by its great price, a mere $53 for 50ml on FragranceNet. Certainly a bargain to be had, given its quality.

7 out of 10

I sampled this as part of my increasingly forlorn search for a fragrance with the tangy elegance of Eau Noire.
I can't fault Jeux de Peau for not being anything like that. But on its own terms wearing it was a really dreadful yeasty experience that went on and on and on. Not for me.

The Siesta, by Vincent van Gogh, 1889–90