Hey, guess what?! The three-week plumbing job that could have been done in two days is finished, woohoo! Slowly migrating my possessions back into my bedroom and closet. This place really needs some tidying up since Winter is Coming … do you do fall cleaning? Spring cleaning? As little cleaning as possible?
Today I am pining for a lost Serge Lutens – lost to me, that is. I was wild for El Attarine back in the day (i.e., ca. 2009). Basically, “Cumin? Sign me up.” It certainly wasn’t everyone’s cup of … souk, although Robin at NST also loved it, here’s a link to her review. Like Robin, I much preferred El Attarine to Arabie – separate from the cumin, it was quieter and more honeyed. But Arabie was certainly the more popular, and remains in the line today as far as I know.
courtyard, Al-Attarine Madrasa, Fez, Morocco.
The Lutens release blurbage for El Attarine was the usual amount of unhelpful with the notes; Fragrantica says cumin, immortelle, honey and woody notes, which sounds about right to me. I remember it being less spicy and savory than Arabie, and less of the stewed fruits. It was more … elegant, more straightforward (to the degree that any Lutens fragrance could be described that way) and I thought it was wonderful.
I went through a couple of decants while I was cleaning up my mess of a life at that time. When things settled down and I got around to pondering a bottle, it was gone from the line and could not (and still cannot) be found. I had one 10ml decant left when I moved out here, and along with a couple of other things it disappeared. (Nobody stole anything – they were all packed in a giant cooler, and my sorting and packing was chaos by that point.) So, no more El Attarine for me. I keep an eye out but my guess is they didn’t sell a ton of it to start with, which makes the resale market thinner. I keep holding out hope they’ll reissue it, which they do occasionally with older scents. In the meantime I’m making do with Lutens’ Fleurs d’Oranger, which isn’t the same at all but it does have that unexpected cumin top note which slowly morphs into an astonishingly lovely, deep and syrupy neroli.
I googled for anything remotely similar, although what are the chances of that? El Attarine was distinctive in its stripped-down way. I’m ordering a decant of Pierre Guillaume’s Fareb which is supposed to be in the same general vein, we will see. Maybe I give Arabie another whirl? Also, if anyone reading this knows of a source, I’d happily buy a squidge just to smell it again, all these years later; send a message to perfumediva at gmail.
Do you have a favorite departed Lutens? Were you smarter than me and stocked up when you could? If you tried/remember El Attarine, can you think of anything similar besides Arabie?
cover image via Pexels – traditional lanterns in a Marrakesh souk. Image above via Pexels — the Al-Attarine Madrasa in Fez, the inspiration for this fragrance.
Pity you didn’t mention this nine months ago, I just sold my sealed vintage backup bottle. It is indeed lovely but I think Aziyadé and Arabie are close enough for when I run out.
Why do I love that you mentioned your life was messy at one point? Cause mine is. And yes-I clean in the fall and especially in the spring. In the fall cause I know winter is coming, and in the spring cause the light has changed.
I have three favourite Serges that will be hard to replace: A La Nuit, Daim Blond, and Fille en Aiguilles. These three suit me and make any day better. I have Tubereuse Criminelle and Bone, both in the grate riel version. They’re both beautiful but the other three I mentioned are my faves.