Serge Noire by Serge Lutens - a review

I scored a 5 ml decant of Serge Noire by Serge Lutens in the recent 10% off sale at The Perfumed Court. SN is one of my most highly anticipated releases this second half of 2008 (right behind White Patchouli by Tom Ford).

The last two Serge Lutens (export) releases I had strong hopes for: Rousse and Five O'Clock Gingembre. On paper, the notes sounded like exactly what I like. On my skin, after several repeated wearings, they failed to impress me seriously. In fact, I found Rousse slightly uncomfortable after repeated wearings.

Serge Noire, however, is fantastic.

The top notes, a blend of dry smokiness, resinous incense (not frankincense...well, shall I say not burning frankincense, but the incense resin itself and some other kind of pine based almost citrus spiked incense) - very dry. At the very edges of the incense is a wonderful spice accord. Not the candied Red Hots of Rousse or the ginger from Five O' Clock Gingembre. No sweet spice - rather, the smells of a fresh ground nutmeg pod.

As it dries on the skin, the scent actually gave me the impression it was 'warming' my skin. I even looked at my skin the first time I tested this, just to check that I wasn't having a skin allergic reaction to the scent (I wasn't). But, the olfactory impression of warm skin and spice is uncanny. There it was, buzzing atop my skin.

When I have Christmas parties at my house, right before the guests arrive I usually grab a few whole cinnamon sticks and whole cloves and boil them in a shallow pan of water - to fill the house with a fresh spicy scent. Once I left the pan on the stove idle for too long. I rushed in, the spices burning and sticking to the hot pan, when it ran out of water. I am reminded of this smell, the first hour of wearing SN.

The honey notes come and go, in amidst the incense, spice and resins. Not too strongly, and almost imperceptible at times - but still enough to link the scent to my impression of a Serge Lutens scent. It's skillfully blended and it's not sweet honey. It's one of my favorite parts of the scent.

The longer one wears the scent, the more sweeter the spice gets. It starts to really smell like cinnamon at this point (yay...I love cinnamon!!) but because it occurs at this stage of the drydown it is a subdued and restrained sweetness. Not candied or syrupy.

I enjoyed the longevity of the scent - almost five to six hours later my skin, smelled up close, revealed even still the incense: dark, filled with hints of ash (less smoky than Avignon by CdG...more warm), almost raw. However my skin, smelled from far away, revealed the spice and oleoresins: freshly ground, nose tickling..

In India, ground nutmeg is smoked. Imagining a burning, nutmeg scented, hand rolled cigarette. I am certain wearing Serge Noire comes close to replicating this olfactory experience.

This scent is amazing.

It really is wildcat. I imagine the upcoming cooler weather will be the perfect weather for this scent too. Please try it.

Interesting.

I have been playing around with a sample of EEL for a while now. I haven't given it too many full wearings because I was trying to wrap my head around my new bottle of Gris Clair and I'd heard they were so alike. I wanted to 'get' GC before I went off and tried to unravel EEL.

I think I prefer SN more than EEL, for now, simply because I will always pick spice (cinnamon) over herbal/aromatics (lavender).


Thanks javagreen. So then have you smelled someone smoking nutmeg? I'm intrigued.

I still haven't smelled Mandarin-Mandarine, however Sarassins I am still on the fence about. I think it reminds me too much of my favorite jasmine A La Nuit and I haven't worn my Sarassins sample enough to 'get' a difference. Turin's review of Sarassins really had me perked up, but on my skin it seemed flatter and more mysterious than ALN. I tend to prefer jasmine bright and clear. Please try SN Vibert, I'd love to hear what you think about it.


I'm going to have to give EeL more attention, it seems.


Cool. I used to smoke clove cigarettes (kretek) when I was younger (and when I smoked). Haven't smoked for almost 6-7 years...but the nutmeg cigs sound delicious.

Yes it's cozy and I almost used the 'cashmere sweater' adjective myself in my review. It's quite refreshing to find a smoky and incense prominent scent that's not too sweet and isn't made by CdG.


I hope you do Lucius.

I am not that familiar with the two scents you mentioned, but I will say that the nutmeg is like no other fragrance I've ever smelled. I get a hint of it in Jaisalmer (Series 3: Incense) by CdG, but in Jaisalmer it's loaded with Iso E Super, and perhaps other synthetics giving it a bright and sharp tang. In SN, it's warm and dark. Incredibly different effect.


Please sample this t_g_l - I wouldn't urge anyone to blind buy this one, but I think you should really smell it. It seems, IMO, that Lutens/Sheldrake have done it again.

Thanks 3xasif. Lucky you. Enjoy your bottle when it arrives!



Lutens scents are not easy to 'get' everso - it sometimes takes many full wearings (on skin, of course) before they start to show their personality.

Which is why, as I mentioned above, it's taken me a while to figure out that I'm not going to ever like Rousse. It is nice when I have 'instant love' with a Lutens scent. But most of the SL scents take time to wrap my head (and nose) around. The same can be said for most MPG scents.


Thanks jenson - please try it when you can, I'd love to see what you think about it.

What a coincidence: I wore my sample of Fougere Bengale last night and you're right FB is so kitchen smelly, whereas Serge Noire is much more spice prominent to me (no curry whiffs from SN!). I doubt SN has fenugreek in it (I kinda hate the smell of fenugreek) but yes, that drydown...neat huh? It's like flint, ash, kodo incense and cinnamon all rolled into one.

I'm also agreeing with you on the top notes, I don't think they're too challenging. Yet a few people I've spoken to (and read reviews) mentioned they thought the top notes were 'difficult'. Perhaps I have a higher 'difficult' threshold.

Aedes and Luckyscent (preorder) now have Serge Noir.

You have no idea how tempted I am to buy a bottle!!!

(sigh)

I have never smelled FT. I've always wanted to...feel free to send me a sample!

From what I have read about FT, it's tobacco smoke, then a strong boozy sweetness...then leather. Am I right?

SN has no tobacco notes. The smoke is from the incense. There is sweetness but its spicy honeyed sweetness, not rum (booze). And there's NO leather.

I'm certain that tmp00 has smelled both - hopefully he'll read this thread and chime in with his thought.

I agree. I noticed that in a recent interview with Monsieur Lutens, when asked what was his favorite fragrance, he avoided sweeping generalizations but happened to say that Serge Noire he had worked on for about 9 years so obviously he had a very special feeling for it.


I remember reading Kevin's review at NowSmellThis and laughing out loud...he said it smelled like so many gross out things. I have to say, it's ALL about skin chemistry.


How sad Galamb. Again...skin chemistry is so wonky, isn't it?

SN has that skanky, mentholated opening that Jaisalmer doesn't. Plus the cinnamon in SN is much more integrated into the entire scent...top / middle / base.

Jaisalmer is very sharp and aldehydic with it's blast of spice at the top notes and then it has that fizzy, wood, incense thing afterwards.

The only thing that is similar about them is they both have spice and incense. Besides that I see them as different scents. Also, I think Jaisalmer is an easy to wear, anytime, any day kind of scent. SN is much more chilling, serious, introspective. I, personally, only wear it on Sunday evenings. It's that kind of scent, to me.

Only if you are indoors, in air conditioning. It is not a summer scent. If I were you I'd wait until cooler temps.

How sad. I get no immortelle (chicken soup) note in SN, thank goodness! I do get a large helping of it in El Attarine by SL (and Fougere Bengale by Parfum d' Empire).

Immortelle done right, smells wonderful. I love Eau Noire and Sables. But when blended with certain other notes, the chicken soup effect happens for certain noses, mine included.

Which is what I find so odd in Andylama's experience, since I am almost certain there isn't immortelle in SN.