Féminité du Bois, developed by perfumers Pierre Bourdon and Christopher Sheldrake under the direction of Serge Lutens and originally released under the Shiseido brand name in 1992, has joined the Serge Lutens export line.
Serge Lutens Féminité du Bois is available in 75 50 ml Eau de Parfum. It can be found now at Senteurs d'Ailleurs in Brussels, where it is €80, or at The Perfume Shoppe in Canada, where it is CAD $79. Update: my mistake (and I managed two in this one article); The Perfume Shoppe appears to be selling the original Shiseido Féminité du Bois.
That's great fragrance news for the new year, I loved this scent!
I wonder when it'll be available in the US? The exchange is not bad, U.S. $65.27?
Yeah yeah yeah.
Three little words: Iris Silver Mist.
I will miss that iconic Shiseido bottle. (Well, not personally miss it – there's one in my cabinet, but it just suits the juice so much better than Standard Squared Bottle.)
If I had to guess, we'll see it before Jan is out, but it might still be cheaper to buy it from Canada w/ the current exchange rate. Don't know if people ordering from TPS end up paying customs though.
I wish.
Agree — it was the perfect bottle for the scent.
3rd, I was just about to post the same thing.
Hey R ! Happy New Year!!
Fourth, that bottle was gorgeous!
Great news!!! My mom will be thrilled! she loves anything Shiseido and especially Feminite du Bois!
Agreed! And there were so many, slightly different ones. I'm very glad I have one and am tempted to go hunting up a second one now… After all — who knows what this one will smell like?
I wonder what their licensing agreement is like with Shiseido and what this will do to the distribution of the old scent?
I wish they had changed the name. This may sound very stupid but as difficult as it is for some men to cross the aisle and wear women's scents, it's a hundred times harder when they're called Femme or Feminité or Woman. And really, is there anything specifically feminine about this scent? I remember when it was launched, in that mysterious brown flaçon, and it wasn't my cup of tea (too pencil-shavingy) but I don't remember it being particularly womanly. Seemed kind of unisex, which makes the name even more confusing.
There you are.
Though NOW they re-release it. I *have* six bottles.
No idea what will happen to the Shiseido packaging or if they'll continue to market it under their name or not…
Maybe one of you can help me…in the year 2001 I was working in a spa with a girl who had worked for Shiseido and she was a perfume nut like me. She brought in an empty bottle for me to smell and I remember it being purple and weird but the smell was fantastic. I begged her to tell me where to get it and she said it was d/c. Are these two shiseido's the same? Did they ever sell it at te counters here? And could anyone tell me what this smells the most like? I remember it being plummy and dark but sweet too…. HELP!
It could have been Nombre Noir, but I thought that bottle was black. And “plummy & dark” could apply to either. Do you remember the shape of the bottle?
Will be interested to hear if others will chime in on whether or not it's particularly feminine. My “gender” meter is clearly off since I'll wear most anything, but I would call FdB unisex.
Now she's got a steady supply then 🙂
The bottle was slender and sorta tall… is it fruity at first? I didn't think it smelled manly I just remember saying “Mmmm”!
That totally sounds like Feminite du Bois to me, Kayliana. Do an *bay search and there will be plenty of pictures for you to look at…
Sounds like FdB. Here's a picture:
http://www.shiseido.co.jp/e/e9608res/html/res00052.htm
Thanks! Yes, it looked like the 50ml bottle… wow I'd love to smell it again and 65 bucks is a damn bargain!!
Its unisex to my nose, and in fact reminds me of Chanel Egoiste.
I'd say unisex, but without the usual ozone/marine notes that so many have.
And it wears well in muggy humid Sarasota?
Just ordered my bottle – $77, includes shipping to Texas…and the website says it's the original brown bottle.
If you stock up, they'll re-release. If you refuse, you'll find yourself with the last three drops on earth and a broken heart. Better get a seventh bottle.
I don't think it's 75 ml, but 50, as always in the export line. Great news anyway.
You're so right…my error!
Not a bad price!
I must go and check it out at the Shiseido counters here – last time I checked it was widely available, but my bottle is still almost half full.
I think it might already have been reformulated, to be honest. If so, the current version is sweeter and jammier, maybe more traditionally feminine than the original. It's still gorgeous on men too, either way. I don't get pencil shavings at all, but I love cedarwood and have never really had those associations.
I don't have any old bottles of EdP to compare, but my almost completely empty, 10+ years old bottle of Eau Timide and my old jar of the body cream smell slightly woodier, more resinous and heavy on the cedar than my fairly recent (two or three years) EdP.I suppose it could be just the different concentrations, though.
That's a huge price difference.
Well — it looks like what TPS has is the original Shiseido FdB — don't know why they've listed it under “Serge Lutens”. My mistake, sorry! I clearly didn't get enough caffeine before I posted this morning.
This news inspired me to buy a bottle, even though it's readily available on eBay. I may be the only soul on earth who actually prefers the SL bottle to the Shiseido one. Then again, I haven't seen it up close. Now, if only they would re-release the parfum! Heaven….
great news!
I actually scored a bottle of FdeB in Little Tokyo for $35: I felt like I won the lottery- that sort of thing NEVER happens to me!
Re-released? Have I missed something? Shiseido Feminite du Bois is available in every Sephora in Poland. Should I stock it up?
Oh, I'd be very surprised if it hasn't already been reformulated at least once.
It is being released again under a new brand name, but you're quite right that it never went off the market. Shiseido did limit the distribution though — it wasn't all that easy to find in the US.
Don't know if you should stock up — don't know if it will continue to be sold under the Shiseido brand name.
I did not know there was a parfum!
Good for you — that's a great price!
Sweet! I bought one of the Shiseido 50 ml available on that well known auction site and I really like it. The bottle is pretty but it is mostly about the juice for me. It WILL be interesting to see if it was reworked under the SL label. Perhaps there was some sort of a time deal with Shiseido that has expired, making it available to SL again?
Well, I live in cold, snowy Michigan now.
I didn't know it was discontinued… It was and still is readily available in every Sephora in Poland. Should I stock it up?
I think it was only discountinued in the US. Someone correct me if I am wrong. But now SL is going to offer it in the US…eventually. It remains to be seen if Shiseido will still offer it.
Oh and I am the wrong one to ask if you should stock up. I am a hoarder and must have starved to death in a previous life. '~)
Thanks for clarification. I hope it will not be discontinued here…
Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm a hoarder too – the day I've found out that Donna Karan's Black Cashmere (my favourite at that time) was discontinued I bought 15 bottles. And now they're selling it again…
Oh yes, and you probably wish you *didn't* know…it's divine (I'm wearing it now) and it's so hard to find. I tried to win one last week on eBay but missed the boat.
Oh, gotcha, yes that's a more forgiving climate for FdB than FL!
Yes, not a bad price at all, but The Perfume Shoppe informs me they don't have any – their supplier sent the wrong thing and now has no more FdB in stock 🙁
Oh drat!
I sniffed this about 4 weeks ago at Bergdorf’s in NYC and the SA who meticulously referred to his crib sheet regarding perfume notes mentioned specifically that the new “feminite” was lacking an principle ingredient of the original — I think the sandalwood? I don’t remember now. I had never smelled the original so did not have a frame of reference.
Interesting. The latest update to the Sanchez/Turin guide says it isn’t quite the same, but a respectful update.
Sorry, I might be a tad slow, but does this mean the Shiseido and Serge Lutens versions of this perfume are not identical? I have a sample of the Shiseido version and was going to buy a bottleof the SL version on the basis that they were the same scent.
Well, they are the same scent, but bear in mind that almost every perfume on earth has been reformulated to one extent or another in the past 5 years. If Turin/Sanchez say it’s a “respectful” update, that’s about the best you can do.