Sarrasins

I confess, I’m not too fond of soliflores. I get bored with them quickly, and if it has to come down to that, I’d rather enjoy the raw material than a perfume built around it. However, if there is one soliflore Jasmine perfume that I am attached to, it’s Sarrasins. A soliflore made by an artist. I doubt there is a significant amount of actual Jasmine Sambac in Sarrasins (the real thing is prohibitively expensive for sustained mass production), but when you have someone like Sheldrake taking the lead while closely watched by a visionary like Lutens, I bet they can weave magic out of thin air. While I love Sarrasins, I must confess that for years I have struggled with it. I think it is beautiful, but to my nose, it never quite achieved the legendary status that has been bestowed upon it by so many critics and the fragrance community. I don’t find it leathery, challenging, spicy, complex, and surely not “purple,” although the way they hint at it by tinting the juice can be misleading at times. On my skin, Sarrasins always behaved as the utopian Jasmine Sambac scent. It has every aspect tuned at the right pitch to produce the most sublime outcome. A floral scent so beautiful, you know it can’t be accurately “true-to-life.” Therefore, why not go all the way and paint it purple? That is how it wears on my skin from start to finish, with only very subtle changes that I could easily let slip if I wasn’t paying attention. If I scrutinize it under a magnifying glass, yes, I can see how it could evoke a purple-like sensation due to its high methyl anthranilate content, which has a fruity and grape-like smell. I sense the indoles (perhaps challenging to some), I detect the green and spicy notes, and would even go so far as to convince myself that I perceive a suede-like texture deeply buried underneath. But ultimately, a perfume is meant to be worn, not dissected like that (at least for the most part), and in that regard, Sarrasins remains a rather linear soliflore experience. An exquisitely beautiful one, nevertheless. Everything is well balanced: the desirable facets are showcased in their full glory, while the auxiliaries are there but handled with great care, enough to entice, suggest, or, for many, even proclaim, yet never quite enough to define a consensus. Ultimately, Sarrasins for me represents the type of soliflore achievement that I enjoy more than the actual material. I don’t know if I can speak of any other perfume ingredient about which I feel that way. And that, with most likely relying on craftsmanship rather than the material itself. When I hear people say that you can’t render an accord that equals or surpasses the raw ingredient, I can only exclaim, Sarrasins! Also, for the reformulation conspirators out there, the current version of Sarrasins smells as glorious as ever; perhaps it performs slightly better. I don’t detect any difference regarding the scent profile between the 2006 Palais Royal label jar and the current iteration. And that is the main reason I suspect it never contained a significant amount of natural jasmine, because if it had, it would have inadvertently undergone some changes over the years. IG:@memory.of.scents

Lutens and Sheldrake love jasmine. So do I. They’ve given us some of the best jasmines of the last three decades. Sarrasins is probably their best, which, in my opinion, puts it in contention for one of the best of all time. Anyone who has lived with real jasmine knows that the best time to experience it is in the cool humidity of a spring night, when the jasmine blooms are at their peak olfactory expression, and that’s what Lutens and Sheldrake want to capture. So, picture this: It’s an evening in May, and dusk has passed with only slight touches of color on the Western horizon. It’s a beautiful evening. There is a balminess in the air as the evening dew begins to drop, the cooler temperatures and the slowly appearing moisture encourage the ground, grass, tress, and all manner of flora around you to relax and recharge after a day in the sun. The sky shines bright with a full moon, casting its white rays against some gray cumulus clouds, and gives the whole of the great dome over your head a beautiful royal purple and black sheen. There is a sultry energy in the air; you just had a wonderful evening with your lover and the mood was right for both of you to make more of the evening, and you did. Bathrobe on and feet bare, vulnerable and disarmed, you step outside for a post coital cigarette in the garden and you feel the cool wet grass and earth between your toes, and the air seems alive like the way you feel. On the breeze comes a rush of the jasmine growing a few feet from you, awakened by the moon. The smell is a beautiful mosaic of the warm glow of natural light yet the closeness and subtlety of dark, sweetly fruity yet milk powder dry, citrusy floral yet animalic and leathery, the green and slightly mentholated burning tobacco in your cigarette lets a tendril past your face, the jasmine seems to ask, “was it good for you?” A warm chill goes up your spine and down your arms and legs. Sarrasins is jasmine at its sultry evening and raunchy best. It’s the purr of a tiger, the electric yet smooth caress of skin from an amorous beauty, the smell and feel of their warm and humid breath against your cheek. At some point the evening must pass, the flowers must tighten up and prepare for the heat of the rising sun. Jasmine blooms don’t last long, maybe days at best, before they go earthy and fold in on themselves, one final push into the air before they collapse. Life goes on. The tryst is over and the cycle starts again. But man does it leave you itching for the next time.

glissading towards frosted flowerbeds in cemetery grounds. bowed head laden with black lace flecked with dewdrops. silent stillness of winter slowly turning to spring. delicate vines slithered through fretwork under moonlit skies. coyly hiding one's face behind white petals stained with wine. kisses shared on a gravestone. sarrasins opens with cold, dark jasmine with plummy undertones, almost icy in nature and draped in amethystine velvet. the fragrance feels silken and smooth like running water, yet viscous with a subtle syrupy quality to it, resulting in an accord close to ink. blackberry drupelets are pierced with teeth, bursting to release their juices onto snow-white jasmine, ravenous and eager to be plucked apart. ruffled carnations tucked into a corsage rest against a pale wrist, providing a sweet-spicy depth with hints of cloves. a tiny ray of apricot light shines onto snow. beneath it all, sultry animalia lurks beneath the petaled composition: powdered musk, oily castoreum, and civet with a pulse. for plutonian romance, graveyard rendezvous, and black dresses. i see sarrasins as the gothic younger sister of jasmin antique by rogue perfumery. where jasmin antique shines brightly with pride, sarrasins delicately broods in the shadows. the former is dominated by a bright yellow, banana-like jasmine that beams with sweetness—while the former gently glows in the dark with mauve, grapey jasmine. what unifies the two is a garden of lush indoles; yet a line remains drawn between their quarters, separating the sunhats from the baudelaire books. songs for sarrasins: winter by asylum party, rien by opera multi steel, le sommeil de trop by sombre septembre, i only think of you by the horrors, red ribbon by geneva jacuzzi, cemetery gates by the smiths.

Sarrasins is beautiful. I have never been the type to love a floral bombastic beauty. I usually prefer a complex blend, but something kept drawing me back to the sample. Sniffing the wax samples, my nose always landed over this one. Something creamy. As white, and soft as virgin skin. When I close my eyes & lose myself in the scent I picture only pale beauty. Unashamed, captivating and confident, she enjoys the feel of silken sheets & fine things. Jasmine so beautiful the smell brings to mind the actual tactile FEEL of a silken petal. A bed strewn with hundreds of them. And something darkly palpable, delicious tension you could cut with a knife. I feel like this perfume is for the bedroom, or a dark room. For a black dress, or nothing at all. It is for the white skinned beauty that lures you into delicious darkness. You follow her to your divine destruction.. And you go willingly into the night. Her night. Honestly, such a beautiful jasmine. Creamy, and darkly mysterious, almost palpably sexual, like a racing heartbeat & dilated eyes..I refuse to pick it apart further. I don't care to. If you love jasmine, this is a must try. I find it FB worthy, and I used to detest jasmine strongly. She has me. Time for a review edit, now that I've tried the liquid a couple of times, & I'm still very much in love. The growl is louder, there is a lot more "presence" here, than with the wax sample. There is a bit of a fruity aspect on the top that floats around a bit, but never lands thank goodness, its just for balance. I could see this perfume as being "moody" it may love you one moment & seem too strong another. But I love strong fragrances at night, and to be clothed in the dark, there is no better scent.

Sarrasins is one of the most beautiful scents I own, if not the most beautiful. I love jasmine, and that helps, but I don't think you have to be a jasmine lover to enjoy this one. It's a true "noir" scent, unlike mamy other scents that profess to be noir but actually aren't (see: chanel coco noir, jasmin blvgari noir, etc.) Dark, feminine, mysterious, creamy, magical and almost mystically alluring. It really is the scent of night. The indoles might throw some people off, but for me it adds to the experience- I think it adds a deeper, more rounded radiance to the scent and makes it feel a little dangerous. Really amps up the femme fatale quality. ;) But it's still sweet enough, especially in the opening, for sugar lovers like me. One of my biggest turn offs in scents is when they are too savoury and smokey, and Sarrasins remains a beautiful white flower throughout.. albeit one with an edge. Sillage and longevity are fantastic, by the way. This is the only perfume I would try to save in a house fire (after my boyfriend and cats, of course!) 10/10. I just wish this was more affordable and easier to acquire here in the US. The amount of money NY Barney's charges for this is outrageous (I see they are out of stock now on Sarrasins anyway) considering these jars sell for like 145 euros in France. Suzan Becker's ShopFrance is a good alternative to this, although still fairly expensive. PS- Anyone know what "Sarrasins" actually means? Would be great if a fluent French speaker would weigh in on the name! To summarize- this is a must try. Stunning and divine. A true "narcotic" floral. Edit - thanks to rossiniopera for the explanation on the name. Very interesting!

This. Is. Amazing. (How did this scent manage to evade me for so long? If it weren't sold out on the SL website, I'd be buying it *right now.* In fact, I'm crying inside because I've fallen in love with it, but it isn't currently available.) While it's not any better in the longevity department than TF Jasmin Rouge, it's still a completely different animal, and worthy of consideration. It's jasmine, but in a way I haven't experienced before. Deep, hypnotic, indolic jasmine... amped to the absolute *max.* That's what I get from this in the opening and mid-phases. It's deeper and heavier than JR (which I didn't know was possible), while still retaining that "I'm definitely a jasmine-focused perfume" characteristic. (The main difference between TF JR and SL Sarrasins, on my skin, is that I detect a bit of honey in the Sarrasins drydown, even though it's not listed -- which can occasionally go a bit sour/urinous on me, depending on the composition -- whereas JR dries down a bit more comfortably/predictably.) The hint of carnation helps spice up Sarrasins, and the musk grounds it a tiny bit... but, in the end, Sarrasins is all about jasmine (so, you'd better love jasmine if you're going to wear this). And, truly, Sarrasins is gorgeous. It's the velvet curtain of jasmine, descending upon the final act of a jasmine-centered play. Is it too indolic/too rich for many people? Maybe. But... if someone placed a bell jar of this beauty in my path, I wouldn't shy away. Normally, I might be deterred by such a dark-colored juice (knowing that it might accidentally land on my clothing), but in this case... I wouldn't care.

I normally prefer light and subtle jasmine but on rare occasions I completely fall in love with full-bodied, bold and carnal jasmine such as in this scent. Sarrasins captured my heart right away. It is a glorious jasmine scent with no trace of shyness or demure behavior. It is sensual and powerful, elegant and provocative. An unusual color of the liquid looks shockingly like dark ink, but in this case it reminds me of a velvet sky with myriad of stars shining over the jasmine grove where two lovers are locked in a passionate embrace. The sensual darkness of this scent reveals dangerous side of jasmine that I adore. The scent is carnal and in a way indolic. I hate indolic scents, but yet I crave this deep and animalistic jasmine. I admire that a simple composition like this could smell so complex and multi-layered. It does not overpower me the same way as other jasmine scents, but yet I completely surrender to its mystical charms. From the first drops and to the last, I am surrounded by perfection of jasmine, creamy and sensual. And it lasts and lasts and lasts. The staying power is superb and, if not overdone, the sillage is perfect too. I recommend this beautiful scent for all jasmine lovers. I have tried other jasmine scents, including A La Nuit, also by Serge Lutens, but nothing comes close to the beauty of this scent. If you love dark side of jasmine but can’t stand indoles like me, please give this one a try. You will be surprised at how attractive it could be when it is done right. Overall score 9.5/10.

This is my favorite jasmine; a jasmine soliflore of the jasmin sambac variety. It opens with an osmanthus brightness and descends into a jasmine leather darkness with vanilla and musk weaved through. It evokes the feeling of a clear cool night. Luca Turin said that Sarrasins smelled like it could have been part of a Chanel lineup. I see what he means. This is Serge Lutens doing French, sophisticated, abstract, understated chic. I do have some issues with the price/packaging. Sillage is intimate and longevity is 6 hours; poor performance for the price point. And I have to decant into a small atomizer because it comes in a ridiculously impractical apothecary bottle. But since I first sniffed it I was addicted. It is the most beautiful jasmine to me. There are none of the indoles of A la Nuit. On my skin I get leather/suede with an undercurrent of skank. I find it elegant and very wearable. Sarrasins is in my regular rotation, and as someone else commented, really blooms in warmer weather. Unfortunately the best of Serge Lutens is overpriced (bell jar and gratte-ciel lines). The best deal I found was directly from the Serge Lutens site during a black Friday sale. Beware, the customer service is terrible.

Sarrasins is rich, indolic, hyper-jasmine. Not green, the "sweetness" is completely floral and pollinated, not actually sweet. Super-musky. I like musk, I like jasmine, but this is so amplified, so heavy, not clean, not light, so honestly for me, not pleasant. It smells good in the sense that it gives me an image of hiking among jasmines on a suffocatingly hot summer day--and mix that with musk. The dirty grandiose kind of musk found in Alien Musc Mysterieux. This isn't like Alien, by any means, Alien has an interesting/attractive synthetic feeling, and it is kind of sweeter, cleaner, melds with my skin harmoniously. Sarrasins stands loud and doesn't blend with the skin scent, it's like a musky jasmine weapon, created by nature, unrelenting. I am anxious for summer,and enjoy passing heady flowers, as I get breathe in the fresh air. Skin hot, appreciating the Vitamin D that is like a precious gift after winter. As I write this, I am irritated. This emanates from my skin, and I don't feel up to this kind of scent. I wish I would have applied something fresher/cleaner/gentler--maybe something with citruses. Sarrasins has no dupes though. If you like it, I love it.

Congratulations Ms. Yourfoxiness for your excellent review: poetic, elegant and sensual. Sarrasins is truly sheer beauty. Something enticing and comfortable like a velvet cushion on a smooth bed. It is sweet, but mildly sweet. Creamy, very creamy and exquisite. It is like the effect of a magic spell. Jasmine comes first, indeed, with its unmistakable presence and spirit. As jasmine reduces its power (and it takes quite long to fade), Carnation crops up with an unusual green aura, most probably due to the influence of the stubborn jasmine which insists lingering. Yes, in the end there are floral and musk. Delicious musk, by the way. It reminds us of those 80's fragrances. Dior's Poison, to be more precise, with that woody-floral-musky final notes. Not the same smell, but a similar personality. Sarrasins could be the ambassador perfume of Les Salons du Palais Royal, Serge Luten's official boutique in Paris. From the cristal bell jar lines to the colour and scent, Sarrasins evoques quite well the atmosphere the boutique gives its clients. Have you ever been there?

Sarrasins is a mysteriously coloured liquid; a poison that clings to the skin and stains it like a bruise. It is a dark and animalic jasmine, slightly fecal and fruity; an aspect brought by castoreum—a material that also evokes gouache, ink and leather. This slightly fruity accent oscillates between concord grape and apricot, but also recalls osmanthus. Sarrasins is a warm, deep, indolic and leathery jasmine that slowly and languidly embraces, and then makes the night fall. I love this perfume. I was in search for the perfect sambac jasmine fragrance. After reeding a few reviews, I decided to buy a small decant to try it. I fell in love. Its animalic note is what makes it special. I bought a full bottle in January 2022. Sadly, Sarrasins has been reformulated between my sample version and the FB one. It is still beautiful, mind you, but that animalic note has been toned down quite a bit. I compared my sample side by side with my new bottle, then asked friends to confirm that I was not crazy. I am not. So sad. But I stil enjoy it very much nonetheless...

360 I waited for a long time for this one after having my sample for a while and I still love it, but ouch$ Also yeah, hate bell jar. I transferred a portion of the purple liquid into a nice perfume bottle with a sprayer. I love the mixture of the Jasmine which is a touch mothballish and fecal with the lightly sweet plummy grapiness that tames this. Someone said it was more animalic once, can’t imagine, in what way? This makes me think of lilacs for some reason. Also reminiscent(but not same) of Poison and Moon dance, but sweeter, fruitier. I agree it probably blooms best in at least 70-f, with a light spray. Anamandy-what is/are your favorite jasmine scents? Is anything else close to this one? I’m not a fan of the strongly fecal ones, but looking for something that is more of a pink jasmine fragrance or interesting interpretation. 9/10-nice addition to my wardrobe, yes, maybe overpriced but unique as far as my experience sniffing around goes. Not a jasmine lover, but my door is cracking open slightly to Jasmine interpretations.

The ghost of a female poet writing her final woes on a sheet of parchment. She weeps each tear of a thousand pearls upon the dusty paper. Drip after drop, the paper becomes soaked, but her words still hang heavy. Her hand writing is neat, and swift in manner. And when she scribes it is sure to strike banter. But she is now gone, like the wind in winter. Untouchable to the common man or woman. So now, she cry's and writes, her poems still being pursued by the living for her flowery language. How did she die? Not even she knows, but what she dose know is that a hole is in her chest that did not belong there previously. If she may find her killer, she would not know what to do. For she is a ghost, a spirit if you will. Untouchable, and forbidden. But if you walk in her manor, and you stride across the halls. You may hear the faint sound of whimpering, coming from inside the walls. Overall 10/10 I love this perfume. 😭❤️

A fragrance that captures the essence of Serge Lutens' dark aesthetic. Officially described as sleepless nights, a combination of fear and desire. La Religieuse (Sarrasins) is derived from the Arabic "شرقيين", which means Eastern. Sarrasins is a sensual and animalistic jasmine, strong indole with powdered carnation and musk, surprisingly intense. Sarrasins are surprisingly beautiful. Because it is pure enough, it collects the feminine parts of jasmine and infinitely magnifies the slightly mysterious qualities of jasmine. It is plump, soft, seductive. Unclean skin seems to have a fine layer of white powder all over the body. Black and white are all Sarrasins, which have no absolute description and definition. Inside the pale and feeble appearance, there is a sinister and gloomy temperament, Sarrasins is an excellent presentation of Serge Lutens photography. This has to be the best jasmine you can buy on the market.

I promised a further review when my 2024 bottle had sat for a while. My original had definite horsey leather undertones. Well worn saddlery that years of horse sweat had imbued with an animalic polish. This was overlaid with jasmine in all its indolic glory, supported by the spicy clove of garden carnations & fruitiness of Osmanthus. The 2024 bottle has lost the horse sweat & well worn saddlery. Even after 18 months of sitting, the base has changed to a simple musk. The clovey carnation & apricotty fruitiness remain to support the erotic jasmine. Yes, the jasmine is still dirty, breathy & heated but I miss that sweaty saddlery base. I do wonder if Musc Koublai Khan, which also has been rumoured to have had a formula tweak, has lost its infamous sweaty saddlery depth too. I think Sarrasins will go into my sell pile. I’m in the UK & if you’re interested & also UK based drop me a PM

Sarrasins is all about jasmine. Much indolic than other jasmine scents and much more masculine than any flowery fragrances. Perfection in the botle and history of using jasmine as most masculine flowers by Persian fighters. It helps you understand why males from Islamic culture often decorate their hair with jasmine. This is nothing about female. It can be at least strange for western people but we have to "recalibrate" our thinking. Sarrasin is like vacation in the Middle Eastern countries - warm and sensual nights, best food, amazing people. The fragrance is very deep, a litle sweet and woody. Jasmine in Sarrasin is very natural, flowery not artificial at all. You can almost feel juice freshly extracted from flowers. It lasts forever. It can be a little challenge for western man to weare it but believe me it is amazing experience. Go and taste it.

I’m completely smitten with myself wearing Sarrasins... sumptuous, narcotic and alluring. I can see why people have compared this to Jasmin Antique... HOWEVER, while JA is powdery, musky and mature (to my nose), Sarrasins ditches the dust and instead has a fruity umami quality to it, which brightens the scent profile and gives it youth. And yet it remains mysterious and undissectible... giving Sarassins her dark edge. She invites you in and seduces you with her magic. Beyond the atomic purple juice and exclusivity of it all, she truly lives up to her reputation. With this, Tubereuse Criminelle and A La Nuit, Sheldrake and Lutens have produced the most fascinating white florals money can buy. Sarrasins is giving the jasmine counterpart to Tubereuse Criminelle, while A La Nuit is more piercing, green and clean. All of them are pure magic.

This is simply the best jasmine fragrance I’ve ever smelled, and I’ve tried quite a few. It’s incredibly naturalistic, almost like looking at jasmine under a microscope, capturing every tiny detail. The indoles are definitely amped up, but never to the point where the scent becomes overwhelming. I don’t really pick up any other blossoms or carnation. They seem to just support and push the jasmine even further into the spotlight. I’m not sure I would call it a soliflore, though. It feels a bit too musky to fully fit that label. Christopher Sheldrake is truly a magician when it comes to working with jasmine. Fils de Joie is also brilliant, but quite different (less indolic and more honeyed). I smelled A la Nuit ages ago, and I remember it being fresher and more botanical.

I was absolutely not into the whole indolic jasmine thing until I met Sarrasins. One of the most indolic and dark but gorgeous jasmines I have ever come across. I'm not one for animalic skank but this, despite being so, is dewy and fresh in a sense which balances everything out. The first spray was a bit much, but it soon settled into my skin beautifully. There's just this thing about it that draws you in and makes you keep wanting more, purely addicting. Like the juice, it's dark, but not in a heavy, creamy way, but more like a midnight walk on a full moon that is shinning down a glimpse of light on the dark purple hue of the night. Dewy flowers surround you, giving you a fresh lively night breeze.

Sarrasins is jasmine, but not the easy, solar-clean white-flower kind. This one is green, dry, and almost austere, yet unmistakably narcotic. It carries a honeyed richness reminiscent of that sweet-but-not-sugary, nose-tingling aroma of muscat grapes, combined with wilted rose petals and the soft dryness of old paper. A slight powdery texture drifts through the composition, grounded by something subtly resinous and camphoraceous, perhaps benzoin or a balsamic nuance. It seems Lutens’ fragrances tend to share a distinctive olfactory signature: dense, textured, and perfumed in a way that feels both raw and composed. Sarrasins stands as enigmatic, intimate, and darkly luminous. Gorgeous.

I suggest it's not about jasmin (see a la nuit) or even sex (feminite du bois), but pure passion. It excites the soul and awakens smth deep inside you, smth pushing you forward. It's about moving, the power to move (but there is definitely no trace of soaked horses or unwashed bodies). On blotter it's much easier, just a nice clean scent with a pleasant sweetness, not as rich and special as on the skin. Longevity on the skin is up to 8h, projection is heavy first hour (from two drops on the wrists). It's the evening scent for sure. By the way it's too personal and rule breaker to wear it in the office.

A very well-done and spooky jasmine. Dimensional. Spicy, bitter, urinous and under all, a very heady sweet purple powder that illicits the word "potion" in my mind. However I have to admit it challenges me in the best possible way. Mortuary florals and a slightly lighthearted edginess. Purples, porcelain whites, cool grays and blues. Purposefully unsettling if not overtly so. A feeling of something Charles Dickens or Edgar Allen Poe would either ironically or very unironically contribute to the fragrance world depending on if they felt fragrance was an art in the same ways as literature.

Sarrasins is my reference jasmine. I’ve always preferred Uncle Serge’s oriental and woody scents to his florals, but this is undeniably a pinnacle in his lineup. Like stop-you-in-your-tracks great. There’s a through-line that connects MKK and Sarrasins. It’s as though the furry, leathery musk from that masterpiece has been imbued with the deepest of jasmines, as though it’s been given a jasmine “filter.” This is the smell of a clock tower striking midnight. A velvet cloak to wear under the cloak of night. Utterly seductive. Take me now. I swoon. I melt. I submit.

Beautiful astonishing jasmine and various strange smells, which is stunning, and wonderful! Yes it has a dirty aspect, but that's how jasmine is to me. It's an extraordinary flower, and has hidden depths. This perfume has mystery and secret dark chambers, and I feel like a witch when I wear it. It's fabulously weird, yet voluptuously feminine and splendidly erotic. I adore it. It lasts incredibly - 12+ hours and is strong for the whole time. I am totally besotted by Sarrasins; and the bottle too! Completely in love and bewitched by it!

Its a masterpiece, bright, sensuously rich and optimistic. I do have similar scent - Thierry Mugler's Miroir de Envies -they both have within themselves a HEART of jasmine-flower as it is, I feel deeply moved and seriously, but happily intoxicated. Jasmine is slighly indolic, like the one you can inhale straight from the tree after the rain...Narcotic with fruity undertones, don't miss to test it if you are into jasmine, - it will make you happy. That's like a Kingdom of Jasmine-The-King. Thanks to lovely Lilah for my decant(s)!

Opens very plasticky and kind of sweet, remiding me of mothballs It is not pleasant at all at first but you have to give it time As it's drying it becomes soapy floral with carnation coming off a bit spicy Then it settles into a pure, delicate jasmine blossom that is still just a bit plasticky with some indolic qualities It is laid on a bed of musk that makes it even more soft To me it's a very gentle and pure jasmine scent that is coming off just a bit indolic and animalic, mostly it's just soft, a bit sweet and floral

Serge Lutens took jasmine, in all of its white glory beneath sunset rays, and turned the petals black, and shimmering under the moonlight. I have found myself becoming one with this fragrance, submitting to its sorcery. To my nose, this smell more like jasmine sambac, concord grape accord, leather accord, and castoreum or maybe civet (and in this order. At first I didn't smell anything animalic about Sarrasins, but the skank really showed in the dry-down). The notes simply don't do this beauty justice.

Jasmine exists in so many perfumes, that it becomes easy to overlook it as it could sound standard, monotonous - a uninteresting or overdone idea - Sarrasins is first of all, a beautiful name second of all, a attractively deep purple color and third ( arguably most important) a very wonderful jasmine that perked and freshened up the flower as a whole to my nose-mind connection which had been uninspired as of late- ...but more than this gave me the reminder that second chances are worth giving

Compared with A la Nuit, this feels a more complex and ultimately more enjoyable perfume to wear despite/because of being more unconventional. Like the aforementioned scent, the star is definitely an supremely indolic jasmine bloom. Sarrasins ups the indoles and adds into the base a horse-ey leather note that complements the flowers beautifully. Wearing this is like walking around a beautiful, humid, tropical climate at night, inhaling the nocturnal scents of white flowers all around.

What I love about Lutens' soliflores (actually, floral-dominated scents, namely ISM, TC and Sarrasins) in particular is that they are an artistic rendition rather than a photorealistic approximation. Simply put, instead of pretty flowers you get space carrots, tutti frutti flavored vapo rub, apricot and banana pulp with a suspiciously horsey note. The outrageous and disgusting factor is what makes them so unique and as beautiful as an expressionist painting. And they're wearable, too!

The simpler the fragrance the harder it is to describe dissecting it, so here goes an anti review, this is what Sarrasins is not: *Scratchy *Loud *Predictable *Cheap smelling *Green *Universally appealing *Feminine *Innocent *Main stream *Uncomfortable *Limiting Just wow! I have tried and purchased many jasmine centric fragrances and soliflores in my 40 plus years of obsession, nothing comes even close in quality and execution to Sarrasins. Lutens and Sheldrake are unbeatable...

Mmm..what an amazing jasmine fragrance of the night. This is not for the shy. I agree about the jasmine being king here but it is strongly supported by sweet, strong musky animalic notes. I do like the kick of spiciness from the carnation. I don't think I would love this so much without it. I might have found it too musky. I think it would take a confident man to wear this as I find jasmine quite a feminine note. My fella seems to agree. Good sillage and lasts for many hours.

A sophisticated floral musk with a beautiful central jasmine note. The perfume briefly opens with labdanum, bergamot and osmanthus leading to the central jasmine note in the heart surrounded by slight carnation and patchouli. The perfume as it settles gives slight hints of musky castoreum. Very French, feminine leaning with moderate sillage and projection and good longevity. A striking, somewhat pensive and altogether beautiful creation. Enjoy!

Serge Lutens Sarrasins (2007) - Jasmine Castoreum - If I could wear a Jasmine perfume all my life, this is one of them. #christophersheldrake creates a classical jasmine accord mixed with a candle-wax, animalic Castoreum and Ciste Labdanum. The animalic, leather and smoky elements are enhanced with warm amber-like spices and incense. A dark and brooding perfume, not a traditional jovial perfume you would associate with this floral family.

jasmine, nor any soliflore for that matter, is really my thing. but this was so darn purdy in the swank lutens hq, i just had to take a chance on aesthetic brilliance & hope for the best. my wife said "too feminine" but i persevered, cuz i just wanted to smell like this, associations be damned. sure enough, it has become an elegant treat, much like ISM, La Myhrre and Sous le Vent that i wear when inspired. vive serge lutens!

This is a jasmine bomb, but it has carnation to give it spice, and musk to give it a deeper, just a bit dirty edge. This is my kind of white floral. This isn't this debutantes first rodeo, and she knows what she wants and she's not suffering fools lightly. She is simply rolling her eyes and turning her back on the fumbling idiots and the smug, haughty, pretension. She's real and worth more than all this, and she knows it.

Oh it's wonderful!! Very strange and luxurious. Gorgeous deep full luscious jasmine, and some dirtyish undercurrent which I'm mad about!! It's incredible and I love it!!! And the bottle is fantastic!! One of the most divine bottles I've ever seen!! I am wild about both the amazing perfume, and the stunning bottle. They both have real solidity and power. Oomph!! Such a fantastic black/purple and silver!!! I LOVE it!!

Indolic and animalic are not attributes I seek out in a perfume, but Sarrasins is in a different league. A stunning representation of jasmine, a thick warm envelope of scent. I don’t smell the other notes though I sense they are present. For several hours I get little surprises, a reminder that Sarrasins is still projecting. Absolutely a masterpiece, nothing more I can say about it.

For me it is a sort of ALIEN brought to perfection! THe deepness, the darkness, the staying power of that wonderfully gorgeous jasmine is to me MY Jasmine signature scent...and I used to Love Alien so much.. this is my new love and for now I say goodbye to you Alien..maybe we meet again someday..It is worth the price and I got myself the brilliant bell jar bottle at least..

Serge Lutens fragrances start to bore me, because they aren't or don't seem to be very complex. Sarrasins is a great jasmin fragrance that is very natural.. quite linear though , but for once that's not bad when you're a jasmin lover.. give me indolic jasmin any time!

A jasmine so ripe and opulent it's almost like a fruit. Is there a touch of apricot? Then an animal smell - a hint of dirtiness and smooth leather underneath the sweet flowers. Then the lightest veil of powder falls and covers everything softly.

Sarrasins is back on the SL UK site. I broke my £ per ml line as I had to have it back in my roster. Further comments to follow when I’ve got to know this bottle better. First impressions are where has the leatheriness gone?

"Hell's Garden Jasmine" It has the beauty of jasmine aroma associated with something dirty and strange. As a floral lover, I felt in love at first sniff. beautifully awkward.

There are days on which I absolutely adore it on my skin, and days were I smell horse stables only. It’s a tricky one to me, but I still love it for those ‘adore this’ days.

It is dark as night and the white jasmine petals shimmer as its stars in the Lutens Universe. If you can see beauty in the darkness, Sarrasins will work for you

a dark, howling, musty, velvet jasmine. i will wear this on the full moon to scare away creepy sniveling man babies, nemeses, etc & to converse w sexy demons.

I am very privileged to have a sample of this magical dark potion. It is jasmine to the fullest - dark, moody, feral and so mysterious.

A beautiful dark and lovely jasmine! Immediately became my new favorite.

The scent of a voluptuous purple jasmine. Intoxicating.

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers here, but I am smelling this much differently than most. I don't think this fragrance is dark or too dirty at all. For the most part, it actually wears quite clean on me, which is a surprise considering all the things I've read about this fragrance throughout the years. It is a beautiful fragrance, for sure, but personally I don't think it's the be all, end all of jasmine fragrances or deserving of the hype or cult status, particularly as a sultry jasmine fragrance. For me, that description better fits Perris Monte Carlo's Jasmin de Pays. Maybe Sarrasins achieved that mythic status because this fragrance has been a hard to acquire unicorn. I suspect that either knowingly or unknowingly, SL is to blame for this, as the sporadic production might have contributed to that air of exclusivity. Of course, everyone perceives things differently, so my experience might not align with your experience. And since scent is subjective, that is to be expected. So, if my experience is different from yours, please don't take that as a personal affront, because it sure isn't intended that way. I have tried this fragrance multiple times from a generous, pretty expensive decant I purchased. I wanted to allow myself multiple wears and to spray as much as I wanted to really test it out and have more than just a passing familiarity with it. I also purchased a 1ml. sample from another decant site to validate that what I purchased is truly the same scent. After all, I am looking at possibly making an expensive purchase here, so I need to be sure that I not only love it enough to do so, but that what I am trying is indeed the actual scent I will receive in the event I do buy. Okay, now that I got that out of the way, onto the fragrance. On first spray I get a bit of soapiness and an underlying aromatic spiciness from the carnation, which brings to mind a fine milled soap. It then transitions into a clean jasmine with grape and plum undertones. Hmmm, I have no idea where that is coming from because it's not listed in the notes, but supposedly, SL's always keeps some notes close to the vest. So, who knows. Then midway through I get a little bit of indoles and that rubber tire scent that some jasmine perfumes have, like Lush Lust and A la Nuit, but nowhere near Lust's level. As it moves along the jasmine loses the rubber and it becomes much creamier, still slightly indolic, then takes on a little bit of a vintage vibe as the carnation becomes apparent once more with its spiciness toned down by the musk. By this time, it is a little better than a skin scent with delightful wafts here and there. I feel a little bit at a disadvantage testing this now, because even though it has been close to 50 degrees every time I've tried it, I really think this fragrance needs heat to bloom. I have a feeling this would be just stunning in warmer weather, though I still don't think it would fit the dramatic descriptions I've read. Honestly, I'm a little bit perplexed as the descriptions from its devotees seem more fitting for Serge Luten's Fils de Joie or A la Nuit. This is almost safe by comparison. Put another way, I would have no problem wearing this to church, but wouldn't feel comfortable doing the same with some of the other Jasmine perfumes I own. Would I buy a bottle of this? No, not with the way it smells and performs right now, especially at the price being asked. That might be subject to change when I try this again in hot weather, though I doubt it since I own so many very similar jasmine fragrances, like the already mentioned JdP, Jasmin Antique, Lush Lust, vintage Le Galion Jasmin, and AA Jasmina, to name a few (can you tell I'm a little crazy for jasmine?). One thing I really dislike is the dabber bottle. It might look good but it's impractical as hell. For this fragrance, it's also a little deceptive because it might lead one to believe this perfume is so strong it actually warrants that mode of application. It doesn't. Mostly though, my dislike of the bottle stems from a fear of, horror of horrors, accidentally knocking it over - not to mention worrying about the expensive juice inside evaporating away. So, to sum it up, while I think this is very, very beautiful, it's not my favorite jasmine fragrance, because I've already found that, (whose performance btw blows Sarrasins out of the water). But it was nice to finally try this after so many years of procrastinating. I will put the rest of this decant away to try next summer. Hopefully, it will come closer to the reviews than what I am experiencing now.