A Bit More Communing with Uncle Serge

Had a vaguely irritating trip into town for ortho appointment last week that included catching an earring in a favourite scarf, which now requires darning. Yet again, my ortho appointment was midday, when the teenage lemmings were … being lemmings (made sure to make next one when they are in classes). Sorry about the pic quality. In any case, if you’re thinking I am overreacting, well, this is what the whole of the centre of town is like from 11:45 till 2 pm. Really, lemmings.

Then, there was some sort of blockage (police or fire emergency) on the roundabout that leads to the road to go home. So, faffed around roads following other cars in the hope they would show me the way to where I needed to be (they did). All in, feh.

Oh, and my covid jab appointment was moved from this past Saturday morning to early Monday (ie, today) morning.

Plus, the temp dropped around 5 degrees Celsius overnight on Thursday and the heat turned itself on. It’s beautiful, the sun’s out … why do I feel befuddled? But, we’re due to enter a rainy period, which we actually need, as the county is under a drought warning. Yeah, southwest England, which historically got 40% more rain than London, is dry as a bone.

So, I bought some Serge Lutens samples after March’s post including L’Innommable because I am a sucker for the idea of dates and coffee.

We’ll do three today.

Number 1 is L’Innommable. The opening of this is Middle Eastern grocery on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Absolutely dates and coffee. And made me a bit sad and nostalgic for shopping at Sahadi and then walking home down Court or Smith Streets looking at the people and the shops. This has the Lutens base but the coffee note (or whatever it is) elevates it. As noted by March, released 2018. The notes list is Lutens as usual with no mention of coffee. But we use our imagination. A fair bit of cumin but under control so it doesn’t dominate. On me, this doesn’t develop much but it doesn’t matter because that date/coffee thing is so very perfect. I may have to go back to the sample place where I bought this and get a decant for cold weather. We shall see.

Number 2 is Perilleusement Votre. This is from 2020 and translates to variously Perilously Yours or Dangerously Yours. As ever, fine. Boy, do I love this for the first couple of hours. It’s so good on me. My brain did the fizzy thing of give me, give me. Rose and oud. That’s pretty much it. Plus saffron and leather playing vague support. This was among the Gratte-Ciel tall black bottle, very pricey range, but now appears to be available in a Belle Jar. The reviews I read weren’t terribly complimentary: saying this accord etc can be found in a number of places and done with more panache; not terribly original, etc, etc. And, sadly, after those couple of awesome hours it’s just cedar-ish and does that through the drydown. Pencil-shavings. So, I’ll enjoy spraying on my sample, sniffing my wrist and then forgetting about the fragrance two hours in.

Number 3 is revisiting Chergui after a couple of decades. Really, I’m sure it’s more than 10 years since I last sampled this. I recall a wonderful tobacco incense that didn’t quite work on me so I never bought a bottle. My current sample is basically cumin. Of course, there’s an undercurrent of the Lutens base in the line’s orientals, but the cumin is so dominant. I get having to reformulate to address new standards but this is sort of sad.

So, that’s me this week. Please, any suggestions for ‘better’ rose oud fragrances as I think I am now down that rabbit hole big time.

Pics: mine, pexels