SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire

So, for lack of smoky meat perfume, I went with meatless smoke. And it was nice, even if it wasn't quite what I'm craving right now. To chase that craving, I'll be sending off for some samples based on folks' kind recommendations in the comments to yesterday's post.

I was reassured to learn that Heeley Cardinal and Serge Noire have quite different roles--a bottle of each in my collection wouldn't be redundant. Serge Noire is much spicier and more challenging, even several hours after application. Cardinal is clean and smooth, with, as I've said, no "side dishes" other than a temporary waft of fruit at the beginning. They'll serve for very different occasions.

If I buy Cardinal, that is. But of course, that would be Wrong.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Rise0011. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire

I didn't actually apply Serge Noire, but I wore yesterday's sweater again. And Serge Noire is that way.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Dave Wheeler. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire, and Angry Scents

I was grumpy today. Burned-up, smoldering, grumpy. So I decided to choose my perfume accordingly.

But it didn't quite work. As I commented once before, but forgot, Serge Noire is not at its best in halfhearted weather. It needs cold or heat, and on mild days like today it's just sticky.

Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle would have had a better explosive vibe. Or Chanel No. 19 would have served well as the scent of "don't mess with me" - and I see that I logged L'Arte di Gucci in that category as well.  Or Cuir de Russie might have given me that above-it-all feeling.

This is all reminding me of Miss Manners' assurance that while etiquette is normally about making others feel at ease, it can instead be used to make one's enemies feel very much the opposite, while avoiding bloodshed. The same for perfume. At least in my own head.

What about you folks? What are your angry scents?

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Jon Sullivan. Wikimedia Commons. and PDPPhoto

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire. Again.

On skin, Serge Noire lasts a good long time. On a sweater, it lasts forever, or until laundry day.

Since I needed to re-wear that sweater, I decided that Resistance Was Futile. Volcano ash again. Yum.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire

Incense. Smoke. Volcano. It's lovely. That is all.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire

This is one of my very favorites. Sadly, it was the wrong choice for today - a cloudy, dull, day, neither hot or cold, one of those days when you keep putting the sweater on and taking it off again, when you alternate between feeling chilly and unprotected, or sweaty and crowded.

It appears that Serge Noire is better for days with more decided weather. I've loved it in the cold, and in the summer heat, and in air conditioned chill after stepping in from summer heat, and in heated spaces after stepping in from the cold. But it apparently doesn't like halfhearted weather - that sort of weather brings out too much of the  sticky resin and too little of the glorious stone dust.

It's still a grand perfume, just not for today.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Photo: By AJHall1st. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Serge Noire

I continue to be surprised at how much I love this one. When I first sprayed it on my arm, long ago at Barney's (visualize nostalgic Mists of Time... OK, it was just last year or so) I thought that it was somewhere between unimpressive and unpleasant.

I had something much sweeter and more inviting (Chergui?) on the other arm, so when we rushed away (Barney's usually needs to fit in after a show and before dinner) I was happily sniffing that, and occasionally checking in to see what the deal was with that weird, sour stuff on the Serge Noire arm.

Then the weird, sour stuff started to develop, and became not sour, but dry. And still weird, but a dark, wonderful sort of weird. When I smell it, I see an endless desert of jet-black powder-fine sand. Maybe with a volcano nearby, long cold, but you can still smell the fact that there was once fire there.

After an hour, I was sniffing the arms equally. After ninety minutes, it was the sweet arm that was only occasionally getting a sniff. After two hours, I'd forgotten the sweet arm entirely and was dividing my attention between my dinner (a very fine dinner) and the wonderful black dust.

I still delight in this transformation, every time I wear Serge Noire. I don't like the top notes much better than I ever did, but they make me happy, because I know what's coming.

Review Roundup: Love it or hate it, this one gets a lot of opinions! Perfume Posse and Fragrantica and Perfume Shrine and Grain de Musc and Pink Magenta and Nathan Branch and Now Smell This and WAFT and StyleCaster and BitterGrace Notes (one sentence review) and EauMG and Grain de Musc and Basenotes and Fragrantica and Perfume Shrine and Perfume-Smellin' Things and Fragrantica again and Pink Sith.

Edited to expand the Review Roundup.

Photo by Mila Zinkova. Wikimedia Commons. Click for details.