Luce
Beth Terry Creative Universe (2000)

Beth Terry Creative Universe LuceWhen you're a colognoisseur do you have an everyday scent? Is there a scent you pull on like an old flannel shirt when you want to feel comfortable? The answer is probably yes and the answer is probably different for all of us who love perfume. I have found that Beth Terry Creaitve Universe as a line has become the group of scents for me that have filled that purpose for me. Mare, Te', and Vita are the ones I have tried and like very much. Beth Terry's third creation for her line was 2000's Luce. Ms. Terry has used tea as her inspiration for all of hjer scents and in particular bergamot is present in all of them. Luce is the first scent that the tea theme doesn't go beyond the bergamot in the top. Along with the bergamot she uses one of the classical pairings of lavender but there is also a tart apple note that is also present this really makes for a unique opening. The heart is a mix of the "almost rose" of geranium and actual rose. This floral aspect is kept very light. The base turns woody with a hint of amber. What makes Luce and all of the Creative Universe scents so easy to wear is the lightness of composition. Luce like its labelmates never will knock people over with its sillage. On the other hand for such light compositions they have an unusual longevity which makes them unique Ms. Terry is a perfumer who does not push out scents one after the other and I believe the care shown in making and perfecting them one at a time shows through clearly. It is definitely nice to have more than one comfortable t-shirt to choose from.

I can't add much to calchic's excellent description: Luce is an uninspiring scent that is masculine, light, and boring. I would try to describe this scent but its really too difficult for me to describe “boring,” except to say that I might take it a little farther than “boring” and assert that the ginger note becomes annoying. And calchic is absolutely right about Mare – go with Mare if you feel you want to buy something from this company – Mare is a wonderful fragrance. And if she's right about Luce approximating Monsieur de Givenchy, then definitely get Monsieur de Givenchy – it's a much better fragrance than Luce, which is entirely too bland and empty.

Nice for a man - sort of a niche perfumer's take on Monsieur de Givenchy - but Luce is not for the ladies, or at least this lady. Lavender, lemongrass, ginger and musk add up to a definitively masculine scent here, a nice one though somehow lacking in that little *spark* that it seems to need. Something is missing and it's hard to say what; the ginger should be adequate to give Luce a hit of the spice it calls for but somehow doesn't deliver. This one rarely gets worn around my house - my husband seems to find it as basically unexciting and blah as I do. If you want to get a Beth Terry scent that's failsafe in its uniqueness, go for Mare. I haven't tried Vita yet so I don't know how it ranks in the Creative Universe universe, but Mare is a truly genius fragrance. Luce just is not.