http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalaman..._2008.html#more

I'm loving the whole "sun" concept. It had me until "everlasting flowers." I am not a fan of the immortelle, but hopefully it will be great!

I'm loving the bottle!

I've heard of another one, called Serge Noir, by a writer friend of mine. She said she found it very interesting but didn't elaborate. I'm on tenterhooks!

I'm on needles and pins! The mind reels with the possibilities: a revisiting of Nombre Noir? Something dark and brooding, and maybe a little less sweet? The ultimate biographical fragrance? His LAST fragrance? Oy.

Gold, sun-drenched Topaz.... ? I thought Serge was kind've above that kind of figurative, impossible language....?

Boohoooootiful

Wouldn't it be unusual for them to release two in the exclusive range at once? I thought they only did that with the export range.

I'm very excited either way! The one is exciting enough...two would be quite a treat!

Eek! I just caught on to the "immortelles" part of the French section...I'm not an immortelle fan either. Hopefully it was meant as more of a descriptive word and not literally. :-\

How exciting! Carmencanada, we will be waiting with bated breath to hear your impressions of it as soon as it is released. :-)

Isn't it something? It made my heart skip a beat!!

This is so interesting, thanks for sharing the news!
But the description is really telegraphic, I got not too many clues about how the scent could actually be smelling.

Oh God, just what the Rufster needs and will want... Another Serge Lutens!!!!

Serge just doesn't flip me too much but I'll take a sniff. I only like 2 of his.

Lovely bottle and I do love immortelle! In a way it's a relief to know it's going to be part of the Palais-Royal non-export line. One more perfume I don't have to worry about...

I fergit: what does immortelle smell like?

I was going to ask the same question. Anyone?

That bottle is stunning and he had me at Attarine , dang .... I am not liking this one bit , usually immune to the temptations of Uncle Serge.

I was just going to say the same thing. That beautiful bottle, Denyse and Nichist talking about Serge Noir and Nombre Noir...I think I'm going to have to lie down for a few minutes to get my heart rate back to normal.

All I can say is, if you love a LE bottle, grab it while you can. I'm still mourning not having jumped on the LE Borneo 1834 bottle when it came out. The Most Gorgeous Bottle Ever, never to be mine. And this from someone who usually couldn't care less about bottles.

Rasputin, some equate it to maple syrup but while it has that thick, syrupy note, it doesn't quite smell like maple to me. Sables has a predominant immortelle (also called everlasting and helichrysum) note. Ayala Moriel's Immortelle l'Amour has it. Initial and L de Lolita Lempicka are reputed to have it but I can hardly find it in there. To me it smells like a syrupy (but not maple) flower warmed by the sun.

Gotta agree with you about the Borneo bottle--infreakingcredible. But, really, almost $2,000 for the tiny little bell jar? Even if only 30 are made...come oooon.

I was highly disappointed with the Sarrasins LE jar actually. Sort of meh.

RE: Imortelle

Think Eau Noir by Dior, Sables, Fougere Bengale...in other words, CURRY! Some people say maple syrup. I say MASSAMAN!

It's just way too foody for me, but some, like good old Leopoldo (wherever he is) is a huge fan.

The dumbest thing I've ever done was tossing empty SL bell shaped bottles. Some glass paint and I could decorate those thangs. I never knew people would make a big thing out of CHEAP pressed glass bottles.

beautiful bottle!

As I understood, it's a bell jar and an export, as usual. I don't know if "Serge Noir" was the "working title" or the actual name.

There are a lot of Lutens-Sheldrake formulas left that haven't been released yet, and Sheldrake is still authorized to collaborate with Lutens despite his position at Chanel, so hopefully these are far from being the last launches.

i love immortelle & i adore the bottle - i hope i won´t be disappointed...

I am loving that bottle! They also refer to Bond's Fire Island as 'sun-drenched' though I doubt they would smell alike. Fire Island is pure Jasmine, to me anyway..........I love most of Serge Lutens, and I am a real freak about bottles particularly loving the bell bottle.

WANTWANT.

I can't imagine this being the last release either...it'd be wonderful for them to re-release/interpret Nombre Noir, but I have a feeling it will be left as is.

There's a reply in a thread here from a few months ago from Luca Turin. Apparently Luca asked Serge Lutens if he would consider bringing back Nombre Noir, and Serge shot him a look "as though I'd asked him to bring back cholera."

Evidently the formula for NN is both extremely expensive and unstable to boot. I have a feeling it'll never happen, unfortunately.

I remember reading that now that you mention it. I've never had the priviledge of smelling NN, but I sure would like to! The last bottle on eBay didn't go for as much as I thought it would've...I should have bid! (1/4 oz - $240).

Perhaps the look of death was because he was actually working on reformulating it and didn't want it to get out? Unlikely, but hey, anything's possible.

Then again, he already has a few masterful rose interpretations in his line. Of course, that is not to say that he is incapable of endlessly reinterpreting a common theme (spices and honey, oh my!).

He's due for a grand carnation. And I said on an old thread that I'd love his take on narcissus, but neither are particularly "Noir," I think.

Notes I'd like to see interpreted:
-Oud
-Tea
-Pepper
-Iris (well, more iris...never enough iris!)

Cc, export, you say? They don't have any bell jars here. All the export ones here come in those flat rectangular bottles. But if it does come to town, it shall be tested, on my honour!

For tea: LeChevrefuille by Annick Goutal (great tea opening note)
For pepper: Parfum Sacre
For iris: Hiris by Hermes

Sorry, I meant interpreted by Lutens specifically. I have many favourites for each of those.

Seriously??? $2,000??? Only 30 made?

Good heavens.

Sheesh.

*Sigh*

Actually, what happens is that Nombre Noir is chokefull of damascones, those synthetic plummy notes, which have since been heavily restricted in such huge concentrations, therefore a re-interpretation of NN is highly improbable for commercial purposes.
It was not the formula that was extremely expensive but the origami packaging which was a sight to behold in its elegant stylishness. Another reason why it won't be re-issued in its original form.



If I may, I believe what CC meant was that there will be an export in the rectangular bottle and a non-export in the bell jar which will be this one. Two scents per year, like it has been the custom lately :-)

Serge-ness for my first post on PoL! I'm so proud

Ahem, so, I was at the Salons on Saturday, and they had several windowfulls-worth of Serge Noire, the upcoming export, but the SA refused to let me have a sniff
From what she told me, it is a very dark, incensey scent. It will be released early at the Salons, on July 1st.

Re: the other one, El Attarine, I don't know anything more than what was said on Scented Salamander. The SA described it as "hard to describe" (heh!), "very oriental", "very Lutensian", "fruity, a bit in the manner of Chypre Rouge" (what?), and... that's it!


*waves at all seasoned PoLers*

:::thud::: I don't think my heart can take this.

Thanks, Six. Welcome to POL!

I just called Nazrin at the Perfume Shoppe in Vancouver and she was totally unaware of the new release, but thrilled to hear about it. I sent her the info by email and she said she'd get back to me as soon as she finds out when she can receive some.

OK, wait a minute........850 euros for 75 mls? Who can afford that??

I meant that there will be two different fragrances as usual, one a bell jar, El Attarine, and one an export, which seems to be named Serge Noir according to my informant.

D, from what I saw, the name is Serge NoirE (same pronunciation, of course) - I assumed the "serge" referred to here was the fabric, hence the feminine "noire"...

Now I'm totally confused. From what I gather, helg and cc, the El Attarine with the immortelle will not be in the export line, right, in any bottle? This line annoys the heck out of me with its hide-and-seek marketing. Fuggeddabahdit!

Of course! That makes a lot more sense than Serge painting himself black...

Just want to remind everyone that Serge Lutens had plans for bringing Féminité du Bois into the SL line, but I don't dare to guess where this piece of information could fit.

Wow another Serge. 2008 seems to be the year of incense though...

Here is the description of Serge Noire:
http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalaman...noire_2008.html

I was about to post the same link!
It explains the textile connotations quite well and the term applies both to English and French apprently (which usually is the mark of a good name).
"La serge" being feminine of course it necessitates an "e" at the end of "Noire", while were it about Serge the man it would be without "e".

Now why would some find the advertising blurb racist is food for thought. Lutens never paid much attention to political correctness and on top of that his lyrical musings are best understood in French anyway.

I wish Mr. Lutens could be a little bit (just a little bit would be enough) more specific sometimes, but I guess this is part of the game - to stir people's curiosity.