Or du Serail

Or du Serail has a lot of fast-moving odd facets: first it's a juicy fresh apple, then there's a cellar-like dank rootiness, then a dried herbal phase, then a flash of honeyed amber. It's rather sheer, and extremely mercurial. By a few minutes in, it's settling into mostly a tobacco scent; a dried-leaf mellow version of tobacco, with a tiny wisp of smokiness and a lot of beeswax-y balminess. Not very sweet, and still pretty sheer and weightless; this isn't one of your sticky dense pipe tobaccos. It's graceful. Over time, the honey-amber sweetness strengthens a bit and blends with the beeswax, but the main event is still the mellow, steady tobacco. The whole scent's tonality is a warm medium golden brown. Underneath the tobacco, there's a definite cellar-y woody dampness, a sort of wet-leaf or forest-floor scent, that recalls the weirdness of the opening. We're sort of in an Oriental honeyed-tobacco fantasy, but we're also in someone's basement. By an hour in, it's distinctly woody, with that damp-cedar note, a bit of light smokiness, and a return of the apples! The wood and apples begin to blend together until I start to think of apple brandy. You can think of this as a "thinking man's tobacco". Sheerer, more complex, and weirder than your usual amber-tobacco scent, with interesting fresh-apple and damp-wood facets. Masculine-of-center. For some reason I'm imagining a scholar-antiquarian's basement home office, with maps, cigars, old books -- and damp wood and a bowl of apples. But is it a good perfume? I'd say yes. It has that signature Duchaufour heavy-light thing going on, and all the scents on this strange and winding journey are pleasant. It would never have occurred to me to want to smell apples, wet wood, and honey-tobacco together, but it turns out pretty great.

One smells the rich unsmoked damp pouch tobacco scent, the only iteration of it which I find vaguely bearable. But there is a plethora of fruit, that bright jewell like thing of the tropical symbol blazing, date syrup, an incredible rich blue musk. I pride myself in remembering every single one of my bottles and decants, yet this mind blowing beauty was sat in the shadow of Nuit de Bakelite. And then I look it up, it’s a Bertrand. I only have 5ml left in a decant. The only way I can ever get more is by buying a fb. Woe woe woe

An explosively rich opening like a bowl of tropical fruits which has been left out on a windowsill in the sunshine and reduced to an exotic soup of overripe mush. (This is not a bad thing by the way!) Mango dominates with notes of ylang ylang and coconut not far behind. Honey and beeswax bring further cloying warmth to the heart of this insistently opulent creation. It’s big and brash and curiously beautiful. I love it!

So sorry to say, this is true urinal cake with intense piss to my nose.

I love the opening, the first hour ok , it’s very fruity on my skin , after few hours smells like dry saliva , a no for me.

Smells a lot better than many 'niche' fragrances I've tried. What is truly baffling is niche snobs bemoaning people for wanting to smell nice, well not everyone wants to smell like a furry animal's nether regions crossed with a mouldy Camembert cheese that was abandoned in a derelict bedsit only to become a shrine to the rodent population.

Multidimensional — you can sense something different in them every time. A honeyed, warm base; I detect incense in them, but not smoky or heavy — more like incense that hasn’t been lit yet. They’re enveloping, sweet but not overwhelming, with light notes of vanilla and wood, and somewhere in the background, coconut and the sweetness of some fruit. After about two hours, they become closer to the skin.

Hello everyone, I am very interested in Naomi Goodsir Or du Serail. If you have an opened bottle, even partially used, that you no longer wish to keep, I would be happy to buy it from you. I am based in Poland, so shipping within Europe is preferred. Please feel free to contact me if you are willing to sell — I would be very grateful! Thank you in advance for your consideration.

The Eurocentric hetero-masculine driven fantasy of the master of a Harem is able to work its way through scent as well. Imagine this master laying drunk in a pool of the finest Calvados and all around a serraglio of amber, tobacco, and gold. An orchid outside with bales of hay that are lightly coated with honey. In the lush gardens, exotic Indian davana flowers emit a tiny apricot scent, next to the custardy richness of ylang-ylang. But the best part id yet to come! At the palace’s heart is a courtyard where nubile concubines lounge on aromatic woody divans, dressed in thin silks made from vanilla. They dust their bodies with a light sprinkling of cocoa, as they nibble on toasted nuts and puff on a hookah that wafts a fragrant fruitness. One of the concubine is slowly moving toward her master with a smile glowing like a jewel. The air is indolent, warm, musky, sweet, and filled with the smell of decadence, but darkness lies just around the corner. Slowly, shadows of tobacco and dry woods sweep over the ambered gold, covering it like an eclipse does the sun, until night finally falls over the harem and the master exhausted lays drunk: that the price of overindulgence. Overindulgence is really the key to appreciate Or du Serail. It begins with a wonderful tidal wave of heavily liqueured, ambered sweetness. Brandy oak barrels bob along a vast ocean of Calvados, whose waves spread apple’d alcoholism out as far as the eye can see. A tiny suggestion of rum lurks at the edges, next to the liqueured apricot of the davana flower. A second wave of cognac hits you, but this one is infused with the aroma of bright red apples, as well as a sprinkling of tart red fruits, and a small slice of orange. Unsmoked fragrant tobacco with accentuated hay tones adds to the alcoholic mix. Like many Duchaufour fragrances, Or du Sérail changes slowly, sometimes just by fractional degrees so much that you can see it as sweet, boozy, tobacco amber with fruitiness. With time it becomes woodier and muskier with the adding of a damp cedar. IG @alexolympia6

Beautifully golden and thick honey, dark and voluptuous. This fragrance has body. Scent trail is divine. I just wish the spicy notes in this didn't lean into body odor and skanky territory. Even as someone who likes animalic, spicy, woody, oudy and tobacco fragrances, I cannot get past that note here. I'll have to keep searching for a deep honey perfume that's not lemon-cake-vanilla-gourmand.

Beware! Underground passage near subway station where homeless people reside. Sweety underdrawing to diseased skin lingers thorugh the air and urine is ubiquitous here. Unpleasant journey that lasts too long (also 25 years old heavilly used rental car with rum spilled on chafed suede seats, coconut fragrant tree hanging from rearview mirror and ashtray full of cigarette butts, take your pick).

On my skin, it opens as a sweet fragrance. The rum note isn’t immediately obvious, but after a minute it adds warmth to the fruity, slightly gourmand opening. Apple and pepper are noticeable early on, giving some lift before the scent thickens. As it develops, vanilla, honey and tobacco come forward, creating a dense, sweet profile. It reads as playful rather than restrained — more youthful than refined. It could suit a younger wearer in casual settings. Less appropriate for office or formal use, and potentially risky for dates. Longevity and sillage are low to moderate, with the top notes fading relatively quickly. Works year-round, best suited to casual evenings.

Another splendid offering from the Naomi Goodsir brand. The nose behind this perfume is Bertrand Duchaufour, who usually is a hit-or-miss for me (blind-buying Dzongkha was one of my grave mistakes). This time, however, it is definitely a hit. The Gold of Seray starts with radiant honey and amber, very sweet but a mature way. You can smell some tropical fruit, such as mango, coconut, glistening in gold and laid over a slightly skanky base. The whole thing vividly evokes the image of opulent harem quarters. It’s heavy but not suffocating. Longevity is eternal, after a few hours I get that same shimmering golden glow I get from Shalimar once the citruses finally fade.

I remember back when this first came out, booze was really hot in niche perfumery. Or du Serail came in a boozey sample pack from Luckyscent along with Lubin Korrigan and Frapin 1270. Although I admire all six of Naomi Goodsir’s scents, this one remains my least favorite. But only because I have trouble with this level of sweet, especially with such vivid fruity notes and this kind of thick, rich amber. It is technically a great perfume and still a triumph for its’ theme. But, I’m no good in the tropical humidity that this style of oriental conveys. I can see this on Beyonce in Lemonade when she has on that yellow Cavalli dress. 2.5 out of 5.

@somniator I contacted them regarding the smell of my sample and they checked things on their end and they come to the conclusion that they have something wrong with their batch and have to discard it so we were right about this weird smell 😄

Honey tobacco, a little bit dirty/animalic.

@markvel i think the same thing happened to me as well. when i tried this one in the nose store it was fruity honey tobacco, now it just smells like a strong woody hay.

I order this one and Cuir Velours as samples from Nose Paris and they are almost identical? Are they? There is nothing fruity here when I smell this on paper or on skin. Smoke and barbecue that's what I smell. I think they sent me a wrong one...

This perfume is TROPICAL. I live in the subtropics, and this perfume reminds me of the weather we get here in summer. Swelteringly hot and suffocatingly humid. I might be broken but I feel like this perfume actually works well in this type of hot weather - but only if you actually enjoy the sordidness of fruits getting overly ripe in the sun while you get drunk on rum and smoke pipe tobacco. I happen to be one of those freaks. P.S - the opening IS gross, but fortunately it only lasts a few minutes.

classy tutti frutti tobacco macerated in honey long long ago. not syrupy, however distinctly candy-like with amber dry down. not my vibe but def a good time

I don't typically like gourmands but this one is very nice and mellow and fruity - without feeling too sticky or heavy. However, not unisex enough for me. This leans too feminine i think.

This beauty start with a ripe mango and coconut burst that recedes very shortly after and almost immediately like a magic trick a very dense , dark tobacco with a clearly distinguishable mate note, the honey is barely there also but is present, the rum note reminds me of Ursa from Tiziana Terenzi. Projection and longevity are pretty good.

This perfume makes me feel like a LUSH store, but all grown up. Like LUSH with a PhD. This smells like a concoction of ripe fruit, a blend of teas, incense cones, powder, and a syrupy goodness which I believe to be the honey. I ordered this, but it wasn’t in stock. What a shame, I was really looking forward to picking this up. This is really, reallyyyyy good. If you like oudy, honey, tobacco, tea-like scents or if you’re into middle eastern fragrances, then you’ll love this! Wearing this perfume makes me feel like I’m wearing wide leg dark wash jeans, a slick back bun, my white Dr Scholls, and an oversized cashmere sweater. This perfume is an experience. Let it transport you! It makes me feel like I’m visiting an upscale boutique of some sort. Or I’m crashing a fancy art show.

Redvines! In a good way.

I don't know about this one... It's interesting. It smells like someone let fruit soak in spices rum over night and then threw it into a hot toddy loaded with honey. It's very much an "autumn" scented candle smell. It's fine and I also hate it.

I’m not sure what everyone else is smelling but this is offensive to my nose. The opening is like a smack in the face with rotten tropical fruit combined with urine, it’s vile. I don’t know if I can get past that to smell the dry down.

i did a deep dive on naomi goodsir since i have and love corpus equus. the final ranking had this one in second place (after bois)—but when i tried it on skin, all hell broke loose and this was a pure dessert. far too sweet for me, but as far as sweet fragrances go, definitely among the most complex.

Opens with a honeyed punch to the face and never really lets go. Thick, sweet, and slightly sticky, like someone spilled a jar of beeswax in a high-end lounge. It softens over time, but the sweetness lingers like it paid rent. Leans femme and feels very “perfume-y” in that classic, unmistakable way. No surprises here... it tells you exactly what it is, then keeps repeating it until you either give in or tap out. 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇: 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚 — decadent, indulgent, and unapologetically extra.

I got one of the best compliments wearing this fragrance.My friend told me that she was enchanted by my perfume.This fragrance is special.The first time I sprayed it was a rainy day.I went outside to my car and I could smell all the notes popping in the air.I was enchanted as well.I sat on the curb and closed my eyes it was so good.On my skin the green apple,mango,tobacco,and honey are the main players.This is for fall to spring.I don't get the same magic in the heat unfortunately.To me this is not a summer tobacco at least not for a summer in L.A.I would wear this anywhere I would want to make a statement and if I was wearing the color gold.

OHLALA! Animalic honey, syrupy, sexxy. Definitely in my full bottle wishlist. Would love it on my man too. God, is this sexxy. A 10/10 for sure. 2 weeks later: oh, no. The perfume I received smells like tobacco and beeswax, less mango, less honey, less coconut, less gourmand. It is similar, but doesn't smell nearly as good as the one in the store 😭 why does this happen ... 3/10.