Serge Lutens, the perfumer artist with a thousand stories, transports us with this Baptism of Fire in a world of sensuality and warmth, of festivities but also of fears. Conceptual and architectural, we gladly dive into this Baptism of Fire which intoxicates us with gingerbread and ginger to better bury us in a wind of autumnal leaves …
When the fire of the festival mixes with that of violence is born Baptism of Fire
“My emotion is fluid. Like a wax that flows into a mold, it strengthens what appeals to me, like here, this gingerbread heart. These are the few words that Serge Lutens agrees to tell us about this Baptism by Fire released in July 2016 in the wonderful baroque Serge Lutens boutique at the Palais Royal in Paris.
We should therefore want to unravel the mystery of this fragrance with its adventurous and evocative name in order to better understand it. The visual first of all makes us understand that we are in a fair tinged with a red and white target or in a much more dramatic tale… That of the climate of fear and violence that we have been facing for a few months.
Like this very particular visual, Baptism by Fire is built around the strong and symbolic contrast between the party all dressed in red and the fear of blood, also red. There is only Serge Lutens to tell us such a sad story, also beautiful … A scent of drama, a scent of life, Baptism by Fire cannot leave you indifferent .
A baptism of fire that smells of autumnal gluttony
Baptême du Feu marks a brilliant return to the sources of this genius perfumer: raw materials of choice, a refined design and communication as well as a slender and transparent bottle that shows nothing, except the red juice ( blood?) of this perfume with an atypical history, wickedly original for some, totally crazy for others …
Christopher Sheldrake and Serge Lutens have joined forces, as always since Féminité du Bois, to create this furiously original perfume with a taste of childhood, fabulous memories and some cruelties too … However, lightness takes precedence over this Baptism of Fire which begins in a fresh citrus wind of mandarin to better open up to a gourmet heart perfumed with the sweet scent of gingerbread.
Then the ginger comes to elevate this childhood perfume towards adulthood with an aphrodisiac taste by tinting it with powdery notes. Osmanthus will mingle with woody notes to better transport us to this enchanted and deliciously autumnal forest that the magician-perfumer promises us. Finally, animal notes and leather accords propel Baptism of Fire towards deep sensuality.
With Baptism of Fire Serge Lutens wanted to recreate the rather contrasting universe of “the renewed taste of a fear of gingerbread”. Obviously, this elegant and sophisticated brilliant red juice does not hesitate for a second to get drunk on childish sweets the better to provoke us with earthy and sensual scents that leave you as thoughtful as perplexed … It will therefore be necessary, as always, a good dose of imagination to understand this perfume of broken innocence which has never ceased to dream. Fortunately!