It is hard to imagine a dinner "guest" more suitable for a dinner that began with exchanges of both "Shabbat Shalom" and "Ramadan Mubarak" than Serge Lutens Sarrasins. My gracious jet-lagged guests arrived, bearing not just the awaited bell jar, but also some Pernod, assuring a dinner that would end as splendidly as it began.
Carefully, I opened the package, preserving the monogrammed seal on the outer wrapping. I got cotton swabs and passed one to my guests, who were my Algerian friend and his wife, and my two children. First of all, that is some purple juice and at first sniff it smelled "purple" in the way I remember grape soda as a kid. This could very well be castoreum. Yes, indolic jasmine to start, then throughout the evening, a waxy sweetness would waft up from the crook in my elbow, which seems to be where Lutens all like to live and bloom.
More about that color. The photo does not capture the garnet red where an LED desk lamp shone through the bell jar. As you can see, I used this inky juice to test on some graph paper (Rhodia, also French!).
My friends enjoyed getting the Lutens for me; she also like Rahat Loukoum. There are three samples in the bag, too, Nuit de Cellophane, À la Nuit, and Datura Noir.
I really can't further describe how Sarrasins smells, but I can describe how it feels: post-coital bliss with a bowl of ice cream. Luxe and sated.
ps—still can't get the photo to post full size. Click on the thumbnail to view.
Carefully, I opened the package, preserving the monogrammed seal on the outer wrapping. I got cotton swabs and passed one to my guests, who were my Algerian friend and his wife, and my two children. First of all, that is some purple juice and at first sniff it smelled "purple" in the way I remember grape soda as a kid. This could very well be castoreum. Yes, indolic jasmine to start, then throughout the evening, a waxy sweetness would waft up from the crook in my elbow, which seems to be where Lutens all like to live and bloom.
More about that color. The photo does not capture the garnet red where an LED desk lamp shone through the bell jar. As you can see, I used this inky juice to test on some graph paper (Rhodia, also French!).
My friends enjoyed getting the Lutens for me; she also like Rahat Loukoum. There are three samples in the bag, too, Nuit de Cellophane, À la Nuit, and Datura Noir.
I really can't further describe how Sarrasins smells, but I can describe how it feels: post-coital bliss with a bowl of ice cream. Luxe and sated.
ps—still can't get the photo to post full size. Click on the thumbnail to view.
