Sarrasins

While I love an animal of jasmine, this lives on the opposite side of the field. Slightly sweet, earthy, almost powdery, but fresh. It’s a paradox of dark purple liquid and sunshiny jasmine. I find it extremely versatile. I wear it for both formal and casual occasions. It’s not a seductive jasmine—it’s somewhat youthful. Probably because I spent much of my youth in 1980s Christian Dior Poison. This would be Poison’s younger, better behaved sister. A little mischievous but ultimately innocent. The bell jar packaging is divine. I treated myself to a full bottle after stretching one decant out for 10 years. I’m glad I waited and glad I finally got the real deal. I love it.

Edit: two years later, I’ve retested in the depths of winter and its a bit less sweet. Cool, smooth, strongly scented, leathery jasmine. A hint of sweetness (which references the grape below). I like it best when there is only a trace of scent left. Not bitter or animalic on my skin. I haven’t worn Poison in decades, but there is a resemblance if Poison were put through a diet and exercise program and modernized. . . . Added another lippie though this is not for me. ———— Sarrasins is Unexpected. I am not a Jasmine or white floral person, but I keep thinking that I could be one if I only found the right one. So I keep trying. This teeters on mothball camphoreous (I don't get urinous from the indoles here; for that effect, it's Caron Narcisse Noire vintage) plus a bit of horse and leather saddle, but thankfully does not plunge over the edge in the opening. If it stayed like this, I would rate it higher. I wouldn't mind a slightly skanky Jasmine in the repertoire. The problem is that I get Jasmine plus a hint of grape jelly which GROWS into powdery Jasmine with a strong Muscat grape gummi candy smell. I used to adore pale green Muscat grape gummy candies (you can buy them in bags in Asian stores and big city delis), but I am not a gourmand perfume person, and I don't want to smell like any flavor of gummy candy wrapped in Jasmine perfume. Far dry down (several hours later) is mainly Sweetened powdery Jasmine , but by then (I've tried this on my forearm on several separate occasions), I am feeling that I am on the verge of a headache. It's strong and sweet. A dab is sufficient. And it's dark purple color makes me wary of staining clothing. For a very different uber feminine friendly Jasmine, SL a la Nuit For a green unsweetened Jasmine, plus leaves and stems and vines, Creed Jasmal For a cheap vintage Jasmine, DVF Tatiana EdP; I think Sung by Alfred Sung is also a Jasmine. And, vintage Poison I think was both Jasmine and grape. . . For a Jasmine that is a secondary supporting character: Creed Royal Delight (leather, woods, Jasmine then ambergris); Creed Jasmine Imperatrice Eugenie (woods, woods, woods, then Jasmine, then delicious Creed ambergris base) I would have to re try Songes as I don't remember it well enough to compare. And, if you want to just spend, then by Killian Love and Tears does a green, un leathery Jasmine. . . .but I don't recall it as a must have by any means.

Oh you lucky ones to smell the beauty that escaped me. I sampled Sarrasins, La Vierge de Fer and De profundis at the Palais Royale Boutique and as everyone else who has been there, was told to leave and walk around the courtyard for 20 minutes to let the scents evolve. Sarrasins, from the first sniff of the tester, smelled fecal. But I wanted to try it. I wanted to love it. I walked the courtyard, I sat and had lunch, I kept sniffing the inner elbow to which Sarrasins had been applied. Even after an hour it was still...fecal..oh so fecal. Nothing else...not a hint of jasmine or any reasonable facsimile of jasmine. I returned to the boutique and happily walked out with my bell jar of De profundis. Although La Vierge de Fer was bottle worthy indeed.

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

A powerful earthy apricot jasmine, yet paradoxically has a sweet airy quality that makes it quite an easy and optimistic wear for me (A La Nuit requires a little more commitment in my opinion). Absolutely unique, yet another master stroke from the Lutens - Sheldrake union...

I agree with KelseyP below, this never gets to the swooning, beautiful part on me. I'm not a fan of Jasmine so there's that but also I'm a novice in learning about perfume and maybe don't have the knowledge to appreciate this and how it differentiates from other similar scents. I like obviously pretty scents yet hope my nose "grows" to be able to appreciate more complex ones. That said, I love to try new perfumes/makeup wise, sort of like a "beauty itch" I have to scratch when I've heard about a product getting raves. So I'm glad I tried it but maybe the finer things in life are wasted on me. This is why "we" can't have nice things lol

Excellent jasmine-based fragrance. But not your average jasmine, mind you! it's rich, deep, cloying, skanky. Definitely indolic (and you may want to consider this carefully, as indolic may not be appropiate for all occasions!). It's sweet and sweaty, enlightened but some rays of fresh jasmine, with a strong dirty leather note. Super feminine. Drydown is rich, ambery and leathery. Excellent frag all in all, but must be worn in small doses (can be cloying!). Absolutely a must try!

Jasmins playing good cop/bad cop. One facet of it is airy, sunny friendly jasmin while the other is lush and indolic - unfortunately, I don't get on well with indoles. These two facets take turns on my skin, one following the other for a good 3 hours. Actually one sniff takes me to my mother's garden where airy, amicable jasmins sometimes had this indolic note - not to this extent, of course. I'm grateful for the nostalgic experience but don't enjoy this on me.

Sarrasins is predominantly jasmine. This isn't the soft, innocent white jasmine of À La Nuit, but a big, syrupy sweet jasmine, and the juice is a shockingly rich grapey purple. Underneath the sweet jasmine is an odd leather note. I don't know why, but this reminds me of one of the babes from an 80's metal video. I wish I liked this more, but the jasmine is too sweet for me. I've already been spoiled by what I consider to be far superior and more realistic jasmine fragrances. I do like the leather, and find it the only truly interesting thing for me in Sarrasins.

Imagine you are going horse riding and before you go you spray on a good quality jasmine. After about a hour of heavy riding you get home. You are damp, sweaty, and smelling of leather saddles. This is what I smell in Sarrasins. Jamsine,sweat, indoles and leather. make you want to roll round in the hay with a groom or maybe a gamekeeper! Lady Chatterly should have worn this.