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rra181speagoessenda – :
This is like Dior’s Poison but with jasmine, and even better. Lush, rich, animalic, SEXY, slightly syrupy (in a good way) white flowers. Definitely best reserved for winters/night but WOW, a true stunner. It also reminds me of Lush Lust, but it’s a far more refined and also avant-garde take on it. One of a kind, this will turn heads. Sex in a bottle.
DIKII1258 – :
I really do love this scent. I perhaps love jasmine more than any other flower, and for that reason, I am very harsh with my thoughts on any fragrance that attempts to capture that gorgeous scent in any way that does it wrongly. Jasmine should be explored, and has many facets, but some noses manage to twist it into something overly sweet and without character; this is not the case with Sarrasins.
I get a brief hint of camphor by way of introduction, alongside a gentle intake of jasmine and something citrus, which I assume is the bergamot. It conjures up a feeling of walking in a garden on a late Spring day, just cool enough to need a light jacket. Because it is not terribly warm, the heat has not done its work to open up all of the floral molecules and other surrounding environmental scents. Everything is measured in soft, gentle tones.
Later, I imagine walking into a barn, where horses nicker and the warm smell of well-cared for high-end tack is brought out by grooms to prepare horses for an evening hack by owners just getting off work. The scent of leather and something slightly animalic is present, but feels restrained, as though it is still in the background of the jasmine.
If you can locate and secure a Palais Royal bell jar, I recommend it HIGHLY. I have owned both jars, and the vintage is most definitely richer.
ETA: I think someone is playing with the scent pyramid LOL! This is really ONLY Jasmine and Leather – there are no ambiguous florals or really, anything else. This is perhaps the most clear SL this clever man has ever made!
sova – :
A beautiful dark and lovely jasmine! Immediately became my new favorite.
die3el – :
Mmm..what an amazing jasmine fragrance of the night. This is not for the shy.
I agree about the jasmine being king here but it is strongly supported by sweet, strong musky animalic notes. I do like the kick of spiciness from the carnation. I don’t think I would love this so much without it. I might have found it too musky.
I think it would take a confident man to wear this as I find jasmine quite a feminine note. My fella seems to agree.
Good sillage and lasts for many hours.
Promah1 – :
Makes me feel like I’ve walked onto the screen during a showing of “The Wizard of Oz.” Beautiful. Gorgeous.
gen1384 – :
Beautiful astonishing jasmine and various strange smells, which is stunning, and wonderful! Yes it has a dirty aspect, but that’s how jasmine is to me. It’s an extraordinary flower, and has hidden depths. This perfume has mystery and secret dark chambers, and I feel like a witch when I wear it. It’s fabulously weird, yet voluptuously feminine and splendidly erotic. I adore it. It lasts incredibly – 12+ hours and is strong for the whole time. I am totally besotted by Sarrasins; and the bottle too! Completely in love and bewitched by it!
ZoroOptophY – :
Oh it’s wonderful!! Very strange and luxurious. Gorgeous deep full luscious jasmine, and some dirtyish undercurrent which I’m mad about!! It’s incredible and I love it!!!
And the bottle is fantastic!! One of the most divine bottles I’ve ever seen!! I am wild about both the amazing perfume, and the stunning bottle. They both have real solidity and power. Oomph!! Such a fantastic black/purple and silver!!! I LOVE it!!
igor699 – :
A jasmine so ripe and opulent it’s almost like a fruit. Is there a touch of apricot? Then an animal smell – a hint of dirtiness and smooth leather underneath the sweet flowers. Then the lightest veil of powder falls and covers everything softly.
actuathThuddy – :
This is a jasmine bomb, but it has carnation to give it spice, and musk to give it a deeper, just a bit dirty edge. This is my kind of white floral. This isn’t this debutantes first rodeo, and she knows what she wants and she’s not suffering fools lightly. She is simply rolling her eyes and turning her back on the fumbling idiots and the smug, haughty, pretension. She’s real and worth more than all this, and she knows it.
PawlMatonoula – :
“Hell’s Garden Jasmine”
It has the beauty of jasmine aroma associated with something dirty and strange. As a floral lover, I felt in love at first sniff.
beautifully awkward.
vispa70 – :
Alright, I am truly conflicted by this one.
I’m a lover of jasmine in my perfumes, and so many people suggest this one along with A La Nuit.
Sarrasins confuses me. I can smell the jasmine, the musk and an interesting, yet unidentifiable, spice. And that’s all amazing.
But I also smell something else. And I sat there wracking my brain in attempt to figure out what it was. At first, I blamed it on the indoles present, and they still might be to blame. Still, I knew that I’d smelled this scent before, and then it hit me– this has an uncanny resemblance to whatever deodorizer they put on portable toilets!
Half the time I smell it, I get this beautiful soliflore. The other half, a plastic, sweet smell.
Is this my favorite jasmine scent? No. Do I find it fascinating? Beyond yes.
I think I still need to become more acquainted with Sarrasins. I do prefer it over A La Nuit, I believe.
greyfoxx – :
Gosh!! This is scrumptious!!!
Jasmine Absolute coaxed so gently by supporting ingredients into an elixir
intoxicating to both sides of my mind.
Here, I see Romance and Reality combined.
Just enough of the Indoles rounded off to make fuzzy moments. Just enough Indoles laid bare to offer clarity.
Patchouli and Castoureum. Basenotes that have been so craftly applied as to be sensed as top notes. The Jasmine, alone, rises to the Heavens, on Golden (Apricot) Wings.
Did I say anything about it being Heaven in a bottle.
королёк – :
What I love about Lutens’ soliflores (actually, floral-dominated scents, namely ISM, TC and Sarrasins) in particular is that they are an artistic rendition rather than a photorealistic approximation. Simply put, instead of pretty flowers you get space carrots, tutti frutti flavored vapo rub, apricot and banana pulp with a suspiciously horsey note.
The outrageous and disgusting factor is what makes them so unique and as beautiful as an expressionist painting. And they’re wearable, too!
denis05081979 – :
Among the two main jasmine offerings from Serge — Sarrasins is a winner. A la nuit is a beautiful, fresh jasmine soliflore while Sarrasins has some funk to it besides the funky jasmine. But it’s gloriously purple and narcotic with some spice to it. Of course, it’s more expensive than the other jasmine but its the better jasmine.
BlackCat_Odessa – :
I really wanted to love this as Jasmine is one of my favourite notes. On my skin it smells like the stable boy and the lady of the manor had a romp. Their fragrances linger on each other all day..a reminder of all that forbidden passion with the smell of horses and feces dominating…I love horses..I just dont want to smell like them!
onelvidolla – :
Jasmine exists in so many perfumes, that it becomes easy to overlook it as it could sound standard, monotonous – a uninteresting or overdone idea –
Sarrasins is first of all, a beautiful name
second of all, a attractively deep purple color
and third ( arguably most important) a very wonderful jasmine that perked and freshened up the flower as a whole to my nose-mind connection which had been uninspired as of late-
…but more than this gave me the reminder that second chances are worth giving
vova80 – :
Its a masterpiece, bright, sensuously rich and optimistic. I do have similar scent – Thierry Mugler’s Miroir de Envies -they both have within themselves a HEART of jasmine-flower as it is, I feel deeply moved and seriously, but happily intoxicated. Jasmine is slighly indolic, like the one you can inhale straight from the tree after the rain…Narcotic with fruity undertones, don’t miss to test it if you are into jasmine, – it will make you happy. That’s like a Kingdom of Jasmine-The-King.
Thanks to lovely Lilah for my decant(s)!
deargeinirm – :
A boring jasmine soliflore – maybe the best straight ahead jasmine out there (outside of actual jasmine absolutes, but they are more daring and dirty), but still boring. Pretty color, at least.
Clauss – :
@Alayna: Sarrasins means Saracens, a generic term for Muslims widely used in Europe during the later medieval era. Another term used was “Moors,” referring to the medieval Muslim inhabitants of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.
From SL website: “Applied at night in a Moorish silence, it barely touches the skin before it starts to resonate, like a ritual conducted in gilded surroundings (…)”
Sorry I can’t say anything about the scent itself, but it sounds interesting 🙂
DIMA-76 – :
Sarrasins is one of the most beautiful scents I own, if not the most beautiful. I love jasmine, and that helps, but I don’t think you have to be a jasmine lover to enjoy this one. It’s a true “noir” scent, unlike mamy other scents that profess to be noir but actually aren’t (see: chanel coco noir, jasmin blvgari noir, etc.) Dark, feminine, mysterious, creamy, magical and almost mystically alluring. It really is the scent of night.
The indoles might throw some people off, but for me it adds to the experience- I think it adds a deeper, more rounded radiance to the scent and makes it feel a little dangerous. Really amps up the femme fatale quality. 😉 But it’s still sweet enough, especially in the opening, for sugar lovers like me. One of my biggest turn offs in scents is when they are too savoury and smokey, and Sarrasins remains a beautiful white flower throughout.. albeit one with an edge. Sillage and longevity are fantastic, by the way.
This is the only perfume I would try to save in a house fire (after my boyfriend and cats, of course!)
10/10.
I just wish this was more affordable and easier to acquire here in the US. The amount of money NY Barney’s charges for this is outrageous (I see they are out of stock now on Sarrasins anyway) considering these jars sell for like 145 euros in France. Suzan Becker’s ShopFrance is a good alternative to this, although still fairly expensive.
PS- Anyone know what “Sarrasins” actually means? Would be great if a fluent French speaker would weigh in on the name!
To summarize- this is a must try. Stunning and divine. A true “narcotic” floral.
Edit – thanks to rossiniopera for the explanation on the name. Very interesting!
plt124Bessinepome – :
I have redacted my previous review in favor of one where I have become more acquainted with this fragrance. I’ve now spent a week with it on my skin and, somehow, something has twigged. It’s become the perfume I expected, what I thought it would be… and it’s borderline perfection.
Yes, it does open with a bright, just-budding jasmine, heightened by spicy notes and a swirl of other floral tinges, but it settles down in time to, what I would call and as others have mentioned, a sort of ‘reduced’ jasmine; a representation rather than the actual thing. Like a painting or, indeed, a sculpture of a jasmine flower as mentioned below. It becomes dry, progressively sweetening, dusty, slightly metallic / cold, almost clove-studded. The budding flower has been abandoned and left to wilt, scorned for its austerity, and collects powder in some forgotten corner. This stage triggers some quite powerful memories and images for me… It is a sad, melancholy perfume on my skin and in my mind. Deep and dark, yet somehow aloof and cold, powerful, all at once.
It moves once more however to the final stages, as waves of indoles and animalics, reminiscent of MKK, begin to sweep in as the jasmine finally begins to rot. The powdered sweetness cannot hide the browning petals as they droop, releasing the smell of their spicy decay. It’s as if the whole life-cycle of the flower is played out before me, on my skin – from budding to eventual wilt and death. Beautiful.
This process isn’t short-lived either From initial spray to end, it takes approximately 8 hours, before settling into that musk-tinged, sweet-touched, almost leathery jasmine. It remains at this stage for a *very* long time – I’m adding this review 36 hours after application, and it’s still noticeable. A must-buy for me!
sergiugarabajii1998 – :
I had high expectations for Sarrasins considering all the favorable reviews and the exclusivity (not to mention price) of this bottle. Notwithstanding, I have much respect for the quality and composition of this fragrance.
However, Sarrasins is the least animated of the jasmine-centric perfumes I’ve recently sampled.
On opening, I get a metallic note along with jasmine. Indole begins to bud, but then is harnessed by the metallic blue/green note of clove-like carnation. I think similarly the clove is what some reviewers are identifying as bloody in SL A La Nuit. I feel this note brings death to the jasmine’s natural urge to mark her territory with her erotic effluvium.
I have discovered jasmine perfumes across the spectrum as delicate and innocent as Yves Rocher Tendre Jasmin, to the notoriously salacious Lush Lust, but Sarrasins is the first that I dare categorize as the matron of jasmine. She is mature, sophisticated, wordly, refined, and has hallmarks of a passionately lascivious past.
oal591InsuffBooni – :
I had only a 1/4 of a sample and spilled it all over my wrists. I just LOVED the opening which was a promising quite sugary and spicy floral fragrance. The first ten minutes I was perfume heaven and very sure it would enter my wantlist. But then after half an hour I picked up a subtle chemical note which I didn’t like. I guess it’s the jasmine that doesn’t work very well on me.
It got better after a while again but the good stuff were since long gone and what I had was a slightly weird smelling musky floral with medium projection. I guess “try before buy” would be my advice, unless my sample was bad?
kapudop – :
I’ve worn Sarrasins for days. I love indolic white flowers, but, somehow, at the end the white flowers section in my shelf is almost filled with dry, smoky and balsamic ones.
Sarrasins should have take over the “Sa Majeste” of the SL rose. However I have both A La Nuit and Sarrasins, they are as mentioned before (or below) different. But one thing I don’t agree with is that Sarrasins is far away from being indolic,and this trait made me give it up four years ago when at the Palais Royal (ou Palais Lutens). Instead, Sarrasins tends to be dry and even with a sugared fruit facet to me. The presence of jasmine here is nearly immobilised as a sculpture. It doesn’t radiate, but awe everyone with merely its presence. The drydown is splendid with carnation note – not a real one, but a perfume idiom within French perfumerie I think: powdery, spiced with clove buds, and lots of musky things, which makes Sarrasins noble and supreme from beginning to end.
in Chinese language circle, some people described Sarrasins as a ferocious leather jasmine… I totally don’t agree with it either. I am addicted to leather and I don’t even detect a rabbit one in Sarrasins.
DjDudkin – :
It’s similar to A la Nuit but without the green sparkle. A fantastic jasmine dressed in dark purple velvet.
One of my favourites, if not my favourite fragrance.
6h later: Still there! Very soft, but noticeable. And it’s been getting muskier and muskier by the hour.
DREAM300 – :
@farang:
After reading all the poetic and sensual reviews for this fragrance I felt a bit ashamed to post my honest opinion: that it smells like a porta john, more than just a bit…
I’m glad to know that other untrained/unabashed noses do definitely register the heavy indoles as ‘poo smell’. I was reminded of urinal cakes and that made me sad.
However I can see it’s a very creamy white floral too, she’s just a bit too wild for me. Also I have to be careful of what I wear in my workplace (it’s important it’s downright attractive and NOT off-putting to anyone!!)so this would never work for that purpose.
Too indolic for me I guess; oh poo =/
… 😉
Damn you, beautiful dark purple liquid in your beautiful glass bell jar…! I wanted to like it, honest!
luska – :
Fantastic jasmine with some serious horse power, drydown to die for.
tamerlan013 – :
This is a fantastic noir done with my favourite white floral. I am pretty sure it’s the animalic notes in the base that make it such a good example of a noir.
I get some indoles with the first burst of jasmine, but not at concentrations that are unpleasant. In fact, I can find nothing unpleasant about this scent. I am treated to a heady jasmine rounded out by the other florals on application – I would never have been able to name carnation, but find it a good balance to the jasmine at first. Whether it is suede or leather, I DO get that note along with the musk in the middle/base notes, and I am enchanted.
I am fairly confident men could wear this as easily as women, and while it could be worn during the day easily enough, for me this is a perfect evening scent.
I do not often find myself distracted by any scent I am wearing, but this one has managed as much repeatedly over the last day. I _really_ don’t need another full sized bottle of any scent, but this one has just rocketed up to the top of my list for retail therapy indulgences.
sanekass31 – :
Congratulations Ms. Yourfoxiness for your excellent review: poetic, elegant and sensual.
Sarrasins is truly sheer beauty. Something enticing and comfortable like a velvet cushion on a smooth bed. It is sweet, but mildly sweet. Creamy, very creamy and exquisite. It is like the effect of a magical spell.
Jasmine comes first, indeed, with its unmistakable presence and spirit. As jasmine reduces its power (and it takes quite long to fade), Carnation crops up with an unusual green aura, most probably due to the influence of the stubborn jasmine which insists lingering.
Yes, in the end there are floral and musk. Delicious musk, by the way. It reminds us of those 80’s fragrances. Dior’s Poison, to be more precise, with that woody-floral-musky final notes. Not the same smell, but a similar personality.
Sarrasins could be the ambassador perfume of Les Salons du Palais Royal, Serge Luten’s official boutique in Paris. From the cristal bell jar lines to the colour and scent, Sarrasins represents quite well the atmosphere the boutique gives its clients. Have you ever been there?
cuplidlisee – :
I love many of SL’s fragrances and florals. After a bit of dry down, Sarrasins is indeed a beautiful – not sharp – Jasmine. And completely unisex.
The opening is rather challenging though. Someone asked me: What’s that sewage smell in the room? Obviously it starts very indolic and it last for at least one hour. If you can get pass the opening accords without much fuss, then the rest is bliss.
hem355Bessinepome – :
Sarrasins is beautiful. I have never been the type to love a floral bombastic beauty. I usually prefer a complex blend, but something kept drawing me back to the sample. Sniffing the wax samples, my nose always landed over this one. Something creamy. As white, and soft as virgin skin. When I close my eyes & lose myself in the scent I picture only pale beauty. Unashamed, captivating and confident, she enjoys the feel of silken sheets & fine things. Jasmine so beautiful the smell brings to mind the actual tactile FEEL of a silken petal. A bed strewn with hundreds of them. And something darkly palpable, delicious tension you could cut with a knife. I feel like this perfume is for the bedroom, or a dark room. For a black dress, or nothing at all. It is for the white skinned beauty that lures you into delicious darkness. You follow her to your divine destruction.. And you go willingly into the night. Her night.
Honestly, such a beautiful jasmine. Creamy, and darkly mysterious, almost palpably sexual, like a racing heartbeat & dilated eyes..I refuse to pick it apart further. I don’t care to. If you love jasmine, this is a must try. I find it FB worthy, and I used to detest jasmine strongly. She has me.
Time for a review edit, now that I’ve tried the liquid a couple of times, & I’m still very much in love. The growl is louder, there is a lot more “presence” here, than with the wax sample. There is a bit of a fruity aspect on the top that floats around a bit, but never lands thank goodness, its just for balance. I could see this perfume as being “moody” it may love you one moment & seem too strong another. But I love strong fragrances at night, and to be clothed in the dark, there is no better scent.
bed12iv – :
This is absolutely beautiful. It smells authentic,like sticking your face in a freshly bloomed jasmine bush. The Jasmine is knockout and it lasts a good 12 hours too, so although it’s a high price, it might work out good value long term.
It ends in a little honey and musk and is so pretty. Reminds me a little of Serge’s A La Nuit.
vladimi154 – :
Sniffed and tried a solid sample of this today. It’s Madonna Truth or Dare – exactly, or more likely Truth or Dare is it…..
Someone mentioned below a rotting smell. Yes, maybe the jasmine but I think carnations alone naturally smell rotting – not ‘animalic’ or anything like that, just bad rotting, can’t stand them.
uoe788InsuffBooni – :
I Had high hopes for this based on the reviews. I like my florals to be slightly animalic and when I first opened the tester I got a nice whiff of very realistic jasmin with a touch of horse like you sometimes get from red wine (which I really like). However, when I tried it on it felt like a practical joke. I can smell some jasmin in the top notes but it is completely overwhelmed by a very strong smell of horse and feces. It is exactly what you would smell while changing a diaper in a stable. I was so fascinated people liked this I made my husband smell my wrist just to see his face. And he really liked it. He usually goes for the flowerbomb type of frags so it definitely wasn’t an appreciation for the complexity of the perfume that did it for him. He could smell only flowers. There must be some chemical in this that only certain people smell. So just a warning if you like this and plan to wear it in a public place.
acousticianss – :
According to the Serge Lutens official website, when Sarrasins is “applied at night in a Moorish silence, it barely touches the skin…” Sarrasins made its mark when I applied one spray to my dry, ivory skin just below the wrist. The pale violet stain almost appears as a bruise, yet this is my secret to hold. This fragrance, however, is anything but a secret; a bombastic cloud of jasmine cut with grape jam fills the room. This white floral struts, tosses her hair, wears too much gold jewelry, and spends all day on her iphone. I was just about to dismiss Sarrasins as another hyper-feminine fruity-floral (albeit high quality), when suddenly, the initial romance receded to expose the underbelly of contemporary humanity: melting plastic, sweet animalic excess, and yes, feces. A monster.
Sillage and tenacity: Good
Overall 4/5
Valentin_321 – :
It has that decaying rotting real jasmine smell with more decay than flowers. Not my taste at all.
maks_kg – :
I actually hate the smell of real jasmine so I’m not sure what made me buy this. Because this is real, mighty real, in the jasmine category. Poopy. But it also smells harshly chemical, like shoe stores used to smell when I was a child, so I love it. Then it flattens out and becomes sweeter and fruity but still intense. Challenging in the same way as Aromatics Elixir or Joy. Aggressive in ways we don’t expect perfumes to be today, in 2012. Joan Crawford in grey fox and suede open-toed 1940s platform heels. Sarrasins is ready for war, or at least a war bond drive: can stand up to mass quantities of cigarette smoke. If it was a WAC officer her name would be General Admission. One of the best.
GOGA1963 – :
I normally prefer light and subtle jasmine but on rare occasions I completely fall in love with full-bodied, bold and carnal jasmine such as in this scent. Sarrasins captured my heart right away. It is a glorious jasmine scent with no trace of shyness or demure behavior. It is sensual and powerful, elegant and provocative. An unusual color of the liquid looks shockingly like dark ink, but in this case it reminds me of a velvet sky with myriad of stars shining over the jasmine grove where two lovers are locked in a passionate embrace. The sensual darkness of this scent reveals dangerous side of jasmine that I adore. The scent is carnal and in a way indolic. I hate indolic scents, but yet I crave this deep and animalistic jasmine.
I admire that a simple composition like this could smell so complex and multi-layered. It does not overpower me the same way as other jasmine scents, but yet I completely surrender to its mystical charms. From the first drops and to the last, I am surrounded by perfection of jasmine, creamy and sensual. And it lasts and lasts and lasts. The staying power is superb and, if not overdone, the sillage is perfect too.
I recommend this beautiful scent for all jasmine lovers. I have tried other jasmine scents, including A La Nuit, also by Serge Lutens, but nothing comes close to the beauty of this scent. If you love dark side of jasmine but can’t stand indoles like me, please give this one a try. You will be surprised at how attractive it could be when it is done right. Overall score 9.5/10.
czu098intitytek – :
jasmine, nor any soliflore for that matter, is really my thing. but this was so darn purdy in the swank lutens hq, i just had to take a chance on aesthetic brilliance & hope for the best. my wife said “too feminine” but i persevered, cuz i just wanted to smell like this, associations be damned. sure enough, it has become an elegant treat, much like ISM, La Myhrre and Sous le Vent that i wear when inspired.
vive serge lutens!
andrtew13 – :
Serge Lutens fragrances start to bore me, because they aren’t or don’t seem to be very complex.
Sarrasins is a great jasmin fragrance that is very natural.. quite linear though , but for once that’s not bad when you’re a jasmin lover.. give me indolic jasmin any time!
VLADISLAV123MBB – :
I’m usually not a big fan of white florals but some Lutens, Malle and JAR make extraordinary exceptions. Sarrasins is surely among these.
A word of caution: In my opinion Sarrasins is one of those fragrances that should be approached at a certain point of one’s personal journey into fragrances. It’s not one of those compositions that are easy to fully appreciate by everyone, expecially by those who haven’t never related to white florals’ indolic facet.
In fact, Sarrasins opens with a breathtaking accord of indolic jasmine that brings to mind of Tubereuse Criminelle. The similarity here is not to be found in the smell itself but in the challenging power that both fragrances deliver expecially during their initial phases. TC is about tuberose, Sarrasins is all about Jasmine but they’re definitely both wowers.
After the initial assault, a fruity osmanthus note joins the party and together with a suedey presence turns the fragrance into an extremely elegant floral leather that continuely remarks its presence with its decadent beauty. Thick but not too loud, slightly gothic and a tad grotesque. Just beatiful. Agrees with purple velvet and a wan face.
Rating: 8.5/10
russkiy04.63 – :
A very carnal and arabian style jasmine, that does evoke the 1001 Arabian Nights- and can be worn by both men and women( unlike A La Nuit).
1229ai – :
Sarrasins is all about jasmine. Much indolic than other jasmine scents and much more masculine than any flowery fragrances. Perfection in the botle and history of using jasmine as most masculine flowers by Persian fighters. It helps you understand why males from Islamic culture often decorate their hair with jasmine. This is nothing about female. It can be at least strange for western people but we have to “recalibrate” our thinking. Sarrasin is like vacation in the Middle Eastern countries – warm and sensual nights, best food, amazing people. The fragrance is very deep, a litle sweet and woody. Jasmine in Sarrasin is very natural, flowery not artificial at all. You can almost feel juice freshly extracted from flowers. It lasts forever. It can be a little challenge for western man to weare it but believe me it is amazing experience. Go and taste it.
ilfaton – :
Jasmine, jasmine, jasmine and then some more jasmine. Sweet and heady and indolent. I guess jasmine lovers will appreciate this, but I surely don’t.
Захарий – :
I was wondering what a bright purple perfume would smell like. Would it be thematically appropriate? The answer is that it might represent purple lilacs, but doesn’t quite do it. Right out of the sample vial I smell a strong lilac note, possibly an illusion produced by the expectation of something purple. In any case, it quickly morphs into an indolic white floral, namely a huge jasmine fully worthy of the 1980s. As another reviewer pointed out, it is what Alien could and should have been, although it doesn’t have the longevity of Alien.
The jasmine sillage lasts for 5 hours or so, then dries down to a slightly sour-smelling jasmine skin scent. I suppose that if you’re going to make yet another jasmine perfume you need a gimmick, and the bright purple color certainly provides one. Jasmine soliflores are some of my least favorite perfumes, so Sarrasins was overall a disappointment. However, if you’re a jasmine lover, you will probably love Sarrasins.
MNcfgYTF – :
I remember attending a lecture at university about ancient Indian jewellery, in which the distinction was made between the way we polish up precious stones today in comparison with their 2,000 year old counterparts.
Walk past a jewellery display and the stones are polished to a shiny gleam that stretches out of them as many beams of coloured light as possible.
But Indian jewels were buffed to a dull matte finish, so that any light passing through would glow gently with a sultry warmth.
If Patou’s ‘Joy’ or Luten’s own ‘A la Nuit’ are bright, classical treatments of jasmine that are polished to a contemporary gleam, Sarrasins is a tribute to la fleur in the Indian mode, leaning towards an heavily indolic suede that brings out a melancholy I have come to expect (and love) from Uncle Serge.
This is all in stark contrast to the sharp blast that kicks the perfume off, when I detect menthol, pear, eucalyptus and jasmine all together in a loud minor chord that takes a good few minutes to settle down into its leathery central theme.
Jasmine is a note that I love on the blotter but never consider wearing. If I were to change my mind, this would be the first on my list.
svistok20001 – :
Jasmine is so prominent, even all the other notes are here for my nose too. I don’t know if I like it, but it is very memorable, hard to forget scent with a strong character. Purple color and the bottle are gorgeous. I am not a lover of floral scents or the note of jasmine, but this scent is impressive.
Edited: at the dry down the scent becomes sweet (like aldehydes sometimes smell) and musky on my skin.
svetlana kuripko – :
I wish I could wear this, but I am clearly not ready for it. The opening smells like cat-poo and bad breath on me – with a little bit of flowers too. I tried to be patient, but I had to scrub it off after about 20 minutes as I couldn’t bring myself to wear it to work.
ttptyqa839 – :
first wearing today. haven’t experienced dry down yet, so i won’t comment on that or longevity.
top notes for me: ‘floral notes’ comes off as ylang ylang with a sharp, sweet-plasticky tang. then, if I hold my nose to it to let it develop, I get something a tiny bit animalistic, like brushing my face against a clean sheep skin with traces of lanolin. this fades fast and becomes more recognizable as jasmine – freshness with an underlying hint of fleshy decay. fascinating.
after a few hrs, i’m still getting jasmine, but it’s sweet, persistent, and