Hey hey Perfume Posse, Naomi Goodsir, from the little I have had to do with her on email, is lovely. When first releasing her fragrances I got in touch and she was so helpful, informative and interested in what a blogger can do. I bought both her original scents and the bottles are proud inhabitants of my fragrant wardrobe. Before we all go crazy for the newest in her stable, Iris Cendre realeased at Pitti 2015 in Florence, I wanted to have a close look at her last fragrance: Or du Serail
Or du Serail by Bertrand Duchaufour for Naomi Goodsir 2014
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Apple, red berries, mango, sweet orange
Heart: Rum, artemisia, sage, coconut, geranium, ylang-ylang, mate
Base: Labdanum, beeswax, honey, tobacco, amber, oak tree, cedar, musk, vanilla
So Or du Serail is a seraglio in English. Interesting, Reading the notes gave me nothing of that, and I was a little dubious. The whole fragrance looks like so many others on the market with that note list, or parts thereof.
Straight out of the spritzer I get an extremely vivid picture in my mind of a particularly fine berry cheesecake, a boozy berry cheesecake. I know it has little to do with the notes but there it is.
Photo Stolen Flickr
Not long in and the amber/rum/coconut/honey & tobacco seem to be the focus, it’s thick, rich and luscious fragrance. Strong and bitter yet curiously sweet. A light urinous taint runs through making Or du Serail even more interesting. I don’t understand the correlation between the seraglio and the fragrance unless the women there are making honeyed tobacco cigarettes. I get little flesh, spice or bathing waters at all.
Later I do get a honeyed baklava/rose water milk sweets vibe but on my skin the vanilla/amber/tobacco is so lavishly overwhelming that other things are merely bystanders gawking. My scent memory holds nothing that offers so rich, sweet and outlandish a tobacco fragrance. Loving it. Or du Serail is beautiful and so wearable, probably a bit big for work but an excellent accompaniment elsewhere and later when it’s all honeyed sweetness they will not be able to get enough.
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Further reading: Colognoisseur and Australian Perfume Junkies
LuckyScent has $187/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/.5ml
Have you got your sniff on the latest Naomi Goodsir? How did Or du Serail measure up for you?
Portia x
I have to try this. I view Chergui as honeyed amber (with some tobacco). I bet I’ll like this one! I can’t wait to get my hands on Iris Cendre!
Hey there Hajusuuri! What a lovely surprise. Imagine that Chergui was created in 2014. Make it less ferocious and smooth the whole thing out, then add a sense of playfulness.
You have Or de Serail.
Iris Cendre will put you over the edge. Perfection.
Portia xx
Honeyed ambery tobacco sounds divine, rum is probably okay, but the cheesecake/coconut/baklava makes me nervous. But of course you have talked me in to trying it, because that’s what you do, and you do it well!
Hey there Tammy,
Fingers crossed it works but if not there’s the fun of trying something new and outside your comfort zone, then hating it, then deciding who you should share it with or give it to that may enjoy it. Even the shit ones are fun on other levels. I think i’m going to writ a post inspired by this.
Portia xx
Well, now I’ll have to try Bois d’Ascese, which I know wasn’t the point of your review. I have a large sample of Or du Serail, which is a gorgeous fragrance that I occasionally crave, but I struggle with tobacco in general so have to be in just the mood. I love Cuir Velours, and the new Iris Cendre is quite amazing.
HA HA HA MikasMinion,
The point of the post is to generate thought and discussion so now that you’ve commented…….
Iris Cendre IS amazing. The whole line is very enjoyable for me, that she is an Aussie also makes me pretty proud too.
Interesting that you’ve not tried Bois d’Ascese yet, why is that?
Portia xx
Portia, you and I are almost complete opposites in our perfume tastes, but the joy and enthusiasm you express for the ones you try and like is as exciting and refreshing to me as finding a new perfume. Enjoyment is infectious and your Thursday column never fails to make my day a whole lot brighter and reminds me not to take life quite so seriously. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your Aussie sunshine!
Hey Chris,
You have in turn made my day today. What a lovely comment.
What do you prefer to wear and what is your favourite frag, or what are three of your go-to frags? I’d love to try one that you love.
Portia xx
Ah well…Iris Cendre, L’Air de Rien and vintage Vent Vert (which I have stock piled). I tried one you wrote about recently-forgot the name-inspired by an herb African women use on their skin which makes them look btronzed. That was amazing!
Thanks again for being a true reminder that life is wonderful and good.
Chris,
Our tastes are not totally dissimilar. I currently have a decant of Iris Cendre on my desk and a card soaked in its lavish soft powdery Iris beauty. It is SCREAMING at me to buy the bottle.
Hymba by Sigilli! SO glad you tried and loved it. What an incredible experience that fragrance is.
“Thanks again for being a true reminder that life is wonderful and good.” WOW! You’ve made my day.
Portia xx
I actually never heard of this line so I haven’t tried anything. It’s probably going on my list of decant to pick up. Stupid dental work is so expensive that it’s outrageous.
TEETH!! Eldarwen22, I can hear you. Sadly I did not heed my mothers dire warnings of the naughty children who don’t floss daily and brush for 2 minutes morning & night. I spent nearly 30 years giving them a swish and a polish and now I’m paying the price, literally.
Good luck with yours.
Portia xx
Portia, I’m definitely up for trying more from Naomi Goodsir after experiencing the sparse smoke of Bois d’Ascese. The new iris release sounds very enticing. Look forward to your take on that one.
Your experience of Or du Serail sounds like it’s mostly about the base notes and all the better for it. Only you could pull off smelling like a boozy berry cheesecake.
Hey there Tara,
Currently there is an Iris Cendre soaked card on my desk that is still wafting soft powdery gorgeousness (I thought there was heliotrope and musks but no) and I have about 3 spritzes left in my decant. It’s quite spectacular.
Portia xx
Oooh, thanks for the preview, Portia! Sounds blissful.
This is one of my fall and winter favorites. I tend to be fond of Amber-tobacco blends and Or de Serail is a real beauty. My skin mutes it enough to make it a lovely office fragrance, although I think that on most people it would be better for evenings and weekends. If it weren’t so expensive I’d wear it a lot more often, and in fact weeks would go by when I wore nothing else.
Hi FeralJasmine,
Great to see you. we miss you over at APJ, there’s a FeralJasmine sized hole in the lineup. Amber-Tobacco is YUM, I bet you smell killer in this one too.
Portia xx
Hi, dear! Love this review — as always, you make me covet the scent you are spotlighting. Wish I could just snap my fingers and instantly have a sample at hand to try. I have enjoyed another scent from this line, just wish I could recall what it was. Thanks!
Hey Ann,
Maybe Bois d’Ascese or Cuir Velours both lovely and FB in my collection.
You are sweet, one day we need to meet and have a real chat.
Portia xx
Yes, yes, both of those Naomis! Would love to meet you next time you are States-side — we need to have another Posse get-together like a while back in L.A. and in Chicago. I’m the only one of the blogging gang not to have made it (kids, job, etc.) but don’t want to miss another opportunity.
P.S. Almost forgot — I sampled the Iris Cendre the other day and adored it. Must get a little spray decant and see how it does that-a way. Sprayed frags are not always the best on me. Hugs …
Where are you Anne? Of course we’ll come visit you next time.
Iris Cendre is AH MAY ZING.
I think you may fall head over heels. Best Iris for me since Monegal’s Impossible Iris and totally different.
Portia xx