Serge Noire

If people allowed serge noir to develop for more than 5 minutes they’d see that whatever challenge the opening poses quickly morphs into one of the more beautiful Japanese incense inspired accords on the market. Is there a humanistic quality to Serge Noir? Absolutely. The fear that we have in western society of smelling like an actual human should never get in the way of art. Thank goodness Serge Noir challenges this fear. People would rather smells like disinfectant spray or body wash than to enhance their own natural chemistry. Serge Noir envelops the wearer in a cloud of smoke. Imagine high quality Japanese incense, clove-laden, where each tendril of smoke carries with it warm, glowing embers drenched in spice and wood. Overall Serge Noir is relatively tame. I just think that if the idea of smelling like cumin or, I don’t know, a HUMAN, is so terrifying to so many who have been indoctrinated to believe that sweat is somehow Filth is not only unnatural but it destroys our connection with nature and ourselves. Don’t let the brief opening of “rotting onions” as other have described scare you off. There’s literally people that claim Zoologist Squid smells like a rotten fish market (it doesn’t) and neither does Serge Noir.

To date, this is the ONLY SL fragrance I actively dislike. I had too scrub it off my hand in less than 2 min. It was straight up BO of a person who ate a lot of spicy food and didn't have a chance to take a shower in a week. I seriously has a visceral reaction to it. And I love challenging fragrances, have a very large collection of SL. This one is just an absolute NO for me.

Whoa--Opens with so many different, distinct scents hitting all at once, many of them combine to make something like a powdery, intoxicating rootbeer accord. Really interesting, and great. Quickly starts drying down to something like a "sophisticated playdough". This sounds weird, but kind of works. Spicy. Dark. Subtle woods. Thankfully, not sweet. The cloves and incense are here really strongly. Another fragrance from Serge Lutens that has really impressed me. Not sure I love/need it enough to buy it, but this is a very well made "winner" for someone.

Provocative & florid reviews below of Serge Noire had me bracing for something repulsive or borderline sinister, but I'm getting none of that at all, really. I'm pretty sensitive to animalics and anything that veers into body odor territory, and the only "funk" I can suss out is coming from fiery spices. Smelling spicy BO emanating from someone's body, breathe, etc. and deeply inhaling cumin or cloves from your spice rack are two entirely different sensory experiences, and Serge Noire is firmly reminiscent of the latter to me. The dry down mellows out the sharp, metallic spiciness into something more smoky and rounded, and I can pull out some creamy sandalwood alongside a floral component from the cloves. I certainly wouldn't call Serge Noire an easy crowdpleaser or safe blind buy--there is a 'savory' quality I can see being off-putting to some-- but this is not the menacing beast reviews make it out to be imo, especially after the opening few minutes (which are a little rough, at worst). I do get the gothy impressions-- if I smelled this on someone, I'd probably assume they just finished smoking a clove cigarette, not that they haven't showered in days. Anecdotally, for what it’s worth, my non-frag head friend who wears more mass appealing scents like The Noir and Tuscan Leather sampled Serge Noire and fell in love, so you needn’t be some niche connoisseur to appreciate this.

Evil Uncle Serge. Not so much noir/black in the opening as it is a big yellow-toothed snarl. Be ready for cumin. It is going to breathe down your throat like an angry, bloodied, fangs-out wolf in a secluded forest away from any help or safety. In combination with cinnamon, clove, and a sharp elemi resin, the cumin-forward opening is hot, salty, body odor sweaty, metallic, and ready to push every fear button in your amygdala. It doesn't take too long, relatively speaking, for the wolf to back off and depart but it will feel like a long time due to just how pushy and rough the opening is. Once you're alone, nothing left of the wolf but the spittle and drool it launched onto your face, the cumin is still there but much softer and woodier, allowing the warm and sweet labdanum, earthy and vanillic patchouli and tonka, incense, and woods to come through as if the forest is trying to tell you, "it's ok now, relax, it's gone." Serge Noir is going to separate perfume wearers into two camps, and you only need to read the polarized reviews of it to confirm this. In one camp will be people who want to smell good, and will thusly have neutral to poor opinions of the perfume, and in the other camp will be those who want to smell of art, who will have a solid opinion of it. It is, indeed, one of Lutens's more artistic and very pushy creations; a challenging statement in a bottle. If you want to smell good, or smell art that smells good, you will likely have to endure quite a bit until the final dry down. As a whole though, beginning to end, positive or negative, it's a very interesting piece of work that is very well put together as we'd hope and expect from Lutens and Sheldrake. You'll simply have to decide if you want to put in the effort to domesticate this wild beast or accept it for what it is and let it run free.

First Impression: I don't care for this atm. I absolutely love Amouage Fate Man and TF London so I was hoping I might get a mix of the two. Nope. What I get is, you know when you leave a bathroom hand towel in the bathroom for like a week and it gets that moldy, dingy smell? That's the smell I get from this. After an hour it does become more likeable. Now I sense a little Fille En Aiguilles dna in there. But hey, I love challenging scents. These tend to be my favorites eventually, so I'm looking forward to continuing to wear this and really getting to know it.

Serge Lutens #9 – The Dark Triad of perfumery, a case study on clove. Throughout my journey in perfumery, few scents managed to come across as trully brooding and aggressively dark. Im talking about fragrances that pull no punches, fragrances that do not seek to cater and instead Sparta-kick the door down on you. Francesca Bianchi’s The Black Knight, Amouage Royal Tobacco, Filippo Sorcinelli’s Reliqvia and to a lesser extent Sauvage Elixir come to my mind. Serge Noire joins that family today. Think of a villain, one that shows ALL the Dark Triad personality traits, with lack of empathy being in the forefront. A malevolent character wearing a black longcoat that has a dirty, dark brown fur trim made of real animal fur. A shadowy character with eyes as black as night and a stare that unintentionally betrays his true nature. Serge Noire is Charles Manson, its the picture of Norman Bates smiling in Psycho or Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. That is the sort of individual Serge Noire would be if it embodied physical form. In terms of scent, its a smokey, dark spicy, resinous-woody perfume. The main accord is the clove and its incredibly dominant, unapologetic, raw, realistic and coarse. In time, an almost fermenting or boozy sweet aroma emerges in the background. This side reminds me of Lalique’s Ombre Noire and perhaps its also an effect produced by the clove. The resinous side is sticky but non-descript, no signs of myrhh, olibanum or any other fragrant resin here. It might not even be resins, just an illusion of the woods and the dark spices. Serge Noire isn’t bombastic as the other fragrances i’ve mentioned before, it has a quieter hum but that just adds to its character. Its calm, calculated but suffocating and evil nevertheless. Still, sometimes there is beauty in such evil, and Serge Noire isn’t an ugly perfume by any means. It doesn’t make me recoil as Reliqvia does for example, a perfume i’ve called “ugly” in its review but not necessarily in a bad way. Serge Noire is like that serial killer that had dozens of victims and people keep wondering how others fell into his net yet they themselves would have been charmed aswell. It charmed me without doubt and im very happy to own a 15ml decant of this perfume. Im glad i opted for a more ornate decant vial because it does justice to the perfume. Its not a perfume for everyone, its a statement piece and a masterclass perfume by Sheldrake and Serge Lutens. If you seek a raw clove dominant perfume equal to a prime Mike Tyson's uppercut then look no further.

Serge Noire is indeed a clove-centric scent, but the cloves have been blunted and muted and don't come across as acidic, boorish and obnoxious. It's like the way butter or coconut milk can make sharp, awkward flavours a lot more palatable. It works in a way to blunt the harshness of cloves in ways unimaginable. It works like a dilutant of sorts -- removes the abrasiveness and zooms in on the pleasant parts. This has elements of Blamage to it, along with a few other elements and aspects of familiar scents I can't quite place (not yet), but it is a warm hug on a cold day, a lukewarm cup of sahlap when it's near freezing outside. It's the sound of torrential rain RIGHT after you get home. It's a wonderful, pleasant background ambiance that grows on you. Warming spices, woods and incense. All working together. It's liquid smooth. It's fluid gravity. I really like this one. (possibly love).

SERGE NOIR by While I am wating from an older bottle to be delivered, I am reviewing the Gratte-ciel here. There are not many parfumeurs that can work with an overdose of cumin and make the scent brilliant and radiant. It comes to mind Desprez with vintage Bal a Versailles, Corticchiato with Aziyade, and Anatole Lebreton with his evocative Grimoire. Serge Noire is a spicy culinary bomb that opens with an overdose of cumin that soon mixes with caraway, cardamom, and cloves. It verges for quite a while on an interesting too humane smell that makes me want to bury my face and nose deeper in it. Once the cumin calms down, I get a very interesting and rich contrast between the savoury and the sweet aspects of this spice combo. Ebony is listed in the notes and that may be responsible for the subtle smoky character of the drydown. But the interesting part is the green patchouly that accompanies the spices rendering all this concotion a true masterpiece. Really, it is not my fault if this is so unresistable and remember that the damage it may causes are unfixable! Elegant, classy, noticable. Please, consider following me on IG @alexolympia6

I have tried my fair share of niche fragrances, my favorites often find themselves labeled as "challenging" or "divisive", but I have never encountered a fragrance that I immediately had to scrub off my skin until Serge Lutens Serge Noire. Serge Noire does not gel with my skin chemistry at all. On me this expresses as an animalic note that is so brashly pungent that it is quite literally gag inducing. I saw reviews saying that the opening note fades over time leaving behind a pleasant smell. While I could not stand it on myself, I wanted to give this a shot and decided to test this out on paper and let it sit. I let it dry down for an hour, checking in with it at different intervals. After an hour, that animalic note did fade a small amount and, while no longer gag inducing, it was still very much present and unpleasant when I got close to the paper. The light wash of amber I got was fine, but not at all worth how terrible it smells on me. As much as I enjoy all the notes listed, this combination of them just did not work on me. I'm sure this smells beautiful on someone else. I believe you should always try a sample/decant before you buy and Serge Noire is absolutely one that you need to try first.

opening can be a little overwhelming on first impression but once it calms down it turns into a very nice concoction of cloves and cinnamon. overall its very spicy and somewhat sweet, a nice change from all the other orientals being very heavy on the sweet side. i find the scent to be quite comforting and can definitely see it growing on me more.

I absolutely love clove tea and the smell of cloves alone I mainly get cloves in this and I'm not complaining. This is amazing, relaxing and makes me feel good wearing it.

Serge Noire is pretty extreme, it's also really good. Dark, sweaty, spicy, herbal. It's for when you feel like enjoying something intense and old. It reminds me most of CDG's Jaisalmer, only darker and more intense.

Serge Noire is a fragrance I tried several times and honestly found nasty and repulsive at first—I’d wash it off right away. Over the years, though, my taste in fragrances has changed, and stuff I once loved isn’t even on my radar anymore. Despite that, I’ve always appreciated Serge Lutens for their creativity and their “zero f^&ks” approach to mass appeal. So, while I was at the Serge Lutens boutique in Paris picking up soon-to-be-discontinued bottles of Fumerie Turque and Cuir Mauresque, they gave me a few samples, including Serge Noire. A couple of days later, I decided to give it another shot. Sure enough, the opening was still super off-putting—kind of like armpit—but I stuck with it this time instead of scrubbing. About 20 minutes in, the weird sweaty note faded, and I was left with this amazing incense-and-amber vibe. It’s deep, smooth, and seriously sexy. I get why people say it smells like “dirty sex”—there’s a definite post-f^&k sheets element, but in a good, intoxicating way, not a gross one. I loved it so much I went back and bought the Gratte Ciel bottle. Then, when I got home to the U.S., I ordered another one before the big bottles disappear (I’m not a fan of those smaller cloche bottles). If you’re up for a fragrance that starts off challenging but rewards your patience, Serge Noire is worth trying. Just know it’s a bold scent and definitely not playing to the mainstream crowd.

★★★★★★★★★☆ Overpowering clove. Plus black pepper, cinnamon and incense. Spicy, dry, warm, and smoky. Among the interestingly polarized views, we do find consensus that it’s not for everyday wear. It can come across as sharp, overwhelming, even offensive for some. I wore it out once and the comments I received weren’t friendly from what I can recall. And yet I still consider this a phenomenal fragrance because the olfactory experience is so unique and intoxicating. There’s nothing here to tame the sharp edge of clove - instead, the incense fuels it. It’s so fiercely spicy like a tight, feverish grip you can’t break away from. There is nothing you can do but falling hopelessly into a warm and sensual haze. (Review based on a bottle from around 7 years ago - unsure if it has been reformulated since being moved to the Gratte-ciel line.)

So, I sampled this in store and I’m guessing context, hormones or I don’t even know what else, had me thinking it was a powerfully deep and beautiful bomb of the unusual. Fwd to the Lutens sale. Excitedly unpacking my bargain I applied it to reveal…..something unwearable on me. I have revisited it twice in hope that my first impression would be revived. This and Female Christ are the only two scrubbers I have ever possessed and this will be on eBay very soon. Longevity is eternal, amazing if you love, terrorising if you do not. 🤣. Sorry for the lack of review but I had to dump my trauma somewhere.

Lutens' scents are generally known for amber, cumin, and other arabist elements which remain largely unsurpassed by other houses. Here, however, these more familiar scents are displaced by the native plants of Indonesia's Spice Islands, and the result is totally different, an apotheosis of cold and heat. A stinging, bloodied, destructive thing which could lay waste to a town, but at the same time utterly beautiful. Serge Noire is, just like the other Mohairs, a monochromatic, somewhat solemn scent, composed primarily of ash and cloves, ground into a granular texture and left to be forgotten in the darkest corner of an ancient church catacomb. Its opening is particularly arresting, with softly animalic flint-like elements creating a sense not only of the smell of cloves, but of someone desperately trying to start a fire somewhere as the 'ancient ones' close in from the dark. I do find it menacing... it smells somehow like it would burn or is otherwise dangerous in a very unsexy way. It might simply be its unrelenting nature but there's something very unsympathetic and even almost cruel in the way Serge Noire smells... it smells like an emotionless observer of immense suffering, with no desire to intervene or lend help. As it sits on the skin it does rapidly "settle in"... rather than developing as a traditional perfume, it behaves almost like a musk and starts to intermingle with the skin until it's hard to distinguish where the perfume ends and the smell of frightened, panicked sweat begins. The blend of coldness and hot spices does make it feverish, it somehow smells the way that having caught the flu might physically feel - perpetually cold and seeking warmth but, paradoxically, already incredibly hot. Lying just beneath this spicy-cold mid is a faint but nevertheless highly disturbing animalic. In brief fits and starts I detect gentle wafts of something almost urinous or blood-like, the metallic scent of a smashed tooth or some other gore. I don't experience an obvious sweetness in Serge Noire's drydown, but it does lose its menthol knives and caustic might to give rise to a somewhat gentler, but still cool-spicy finish. We must assume, I think, that the slow development of this scent (which is said to have taken many years) likely results from the fact that clove bud oil, its seeming central element, is perhaps restricted in perfumery. As such, I believe this clove accord of Serge Noire has been built at least in part by hand, i.e. by careful combining of non-clove elements to pad out and enlarge the scent of the clove itself, or perhaps by use of some arcane clove extraction. I suspect it was there, in that painstaking process of manual assembly, that Lutens and Sheldrake discovered the opportunity to spook as much as delight the wearer via some synthetics (or naturals) which remain unknown. That something so diabolical-smelling could be IFRA compliant seems a wonder in itself. Throughout its entire lifetime on the skin it smells incredibly dramatic, like a hyper-potent distillation of some exotic plant that has been bleached of all its life to give a stripped down, "industrialised" essence. I find it incredibly evocative and generally horrifying - think Silent Hill in a bottle. It does lean masculine by conventional standards and lasts a respectable 6 hours on me. It's one of Serge's most challenging scents of all (not easy with the stiff competition) and is very likely to offend others who can't see the wonder or art in perfumery (or who simply can't stand animalic cloves). For my part, I think this little clovey thing is a true masterpiece.

One of my all time faves. Seductive, dry sweet heat, cinnamon bark and clove, incense, dusty cumin and patchouli. It is strong and will offend others so I only wear at home, although would really love to wear out for drinks at a very swanky bar. I wish naysayers could smell it the way my nose does, perfectly magical. I get nothing fishy or bad, dirty sex at points yes. It does tickle my nose but I adore it anyway, a total experience for me. What a sultry blend of spices. Will forever love.

Wards off evil spirits. Smells like BO/rotting gorillas in acid vats to them.

Opens very spicy with clove and other warm spices, dries down to incense, dark woods, and light amber.

I loved the opening. The spices and amber and woods kinda gave off a licorice scent. But then it started to dry down and I started to get this fecal scent. I have a few frags that other people get a urine or fecal scent but I've never had that issue. But I get it with this one unfortunately. I'm gunna give it more time and try another day as well but can't say I'm a fan as of now.

this might be the most beautiful thing i've ever smelled. i can't even talk about it. if you ever find me about to jump off a bridge just hold this under my nose and i'll decide i want to live forever

clove, pepper and anise. You know when freshly cracked black pepper has that funky, oily fishy scent? It's recreated here too, it's unnerving. It's a fairly straightforward dry woods and spice composition. The interest lies in the tension between the camphorous-bitter opening and the warm-smoky base. Not the biggest fan of the first hour, especially when it smells like tinned fish and half-cut onion left in the fridge, but I find the rest addicting.

Explosive, crackling clove smolders like the last embers of a forest fire, pure black ash as far as the eye can see. The spices here are undeniably "dirty" and there's no getting around it. It may be from cumin and it may just be the overdose of clove, I'm not quite sure. The ebony wood underneath feels dry and peppery like guaiac, and it blends with a cool fizzy incense that lightens the whole composition and provides a contrast to the red hot top notes. As it dries down a soft, resinous base similar to Ambre Sultan reveals itself, and the spices and incense fade to just a few sparks. Beautiful, sexy, arresting, and meditative all at once.

I saw lots of reviews where people find it repulsive. I expected it to be challenging, but it's not challenging at all! It's a beautiful cooling spicy scent. Absolutely lovely. I feel camphor, cumin, clove, menthol, white pepper – that sort of thing. I also smell pine wood. If Fille de Aiguille is summery pine forest, then Serge Noire is frosty pine forest. To me it's very comforting and pleasant. Like an expensive and elegant take on tiger balm (I love tiger balm). My back ache is gone just from smelling this. Upd: it's so addictive! I can't stop sniffing my wrist. It also passed the cat test. My cat loves smells such as toothpaste, tiger balm, minty lip balms, and she is all over Serge Noire, she won't stop licking my wrist.

This is a gorgeous unisex spicy perfumes. To me, it reminds me slightly of Jo Malone 154 perfume from the initial blast of spices. Cloves are so strong at the beginning, but after 1-2 hours they start to soften up and fade into the woody notes. The ebony and wood start to take the stage. I agree with the other reviewers that it evolves over time and quickly becomes reminiscent of other spices and vanilla-like amber. The ambery feel is very cozy and comfortable. This fragrance is definitely heavy and is not for everybody. It's intense, sophisticated, complex and very straight and direct. One or two sprays is more than enough to feel it during the day. It is a masterpiece though. I prefer it over other spicy fragrances I got (154 by JM, Robert Piguet Bandit, etc).

I've uturned on this since first smelling it a few months ago. I found it meaty and repulsive, but now, perhaps because my nose has done some learning, I find it beautiful. You really have to love cloves, and the opening/first hour is not for public transport, work, etc, but the dry down is gorgeous.

This is hampered by having the most extreme and extraordinary top note of burning beef burgers! I have tried dabbing with reticence and spraying with abandon. I find the best results come from bravery - spray four sprays on your chest and either try not to breathe / stand by an open window / go for a solitary walk, and within half an hour the flaming meat has transformed into cloves and incense. What was really quite offensive becomes extremely civilized and elegant. It just requires courage and perseverance.

Serge Noire. What a scent. Do not judge a Serge fragrance based on the opening top notes. Yes it's polarizing and challenging for many. It smells of spices, reminiscent of cooking with onions... Let it sit and warm up on your skin and you'll discover an incredibly suave incense woody amber scent. Surprisingly wearable if you let it settle before appearing in public.

It's shocking. I try everything black in scent form but this is the blackest black. It's nearly solid. Tar. Hell. Unescapable. Unforgettable. Unique. And not for me. Do try if you wonder how deepest, darkest hell might smell. I could not take it, I will not revisit. I like my freedom too much.