A Little Bummed

Okay folks, I have gotten back from my weekend trip and I am tired and slightly cranky. Out of boredom, I looked at the Barney's website and the Serge Lutens cloche perfumes have come in. I have been drooling over Sarrasins for a while now and have been wanting a bottle for a while now. Rumor had it that the price was probably going to be steep but I was still amazed at the price. Sarrasins' current price at Barney's is $300 and still cannot seem to buy a bottle online. In Europe (after doing a conversion), the going price there is about $130-$140. Some will say it's cheaper than a plane ticket to Paris. But going to Paris would be a great trip and worth the price of a plane ticket. My way of thinking is that I do not find that for 75ml of Sarrasins is really not worth the $300 price tag. Serge Lutens creations, while good and original, are not worth that kind of price, unlike an Amouage perfume. I can justify the price tag with an Amouage. The reason is that I smell quality ingredients, one small spray lasts all day and there is loads of richness and depth with an Amouage perfume. But $300 is a little outrageous for Sarrasins.

Serge Lutens Cuir Mauresque Review

After Perfume Shrine had reported that Barney's New York was going to be getting the Serge Lutens non-export line, I was excited. Excited because I didn't have to save up lots of pennies to go to Paris to get a bell jar of Sarrasins. But I had a few questions. On the comments section, one of the commenter had said those of us who really wanted a bottle would be looking at shelling out $290 USD for 2.5 ounces of perfume. I was able to find out that a 2.5 ounce bell jar would equate to about $140-$150 in American money. I have dropped $260 on a bottle of Amouage. Amouage uses the best ingredients available with the budget they got. After smelling some of Serge Lutens' creations, they don't exactly have the budget that Amouage has. That's okay if he doesn't but if the $290 is true, I would be put off on getting a full bottle of Sarrasins. Now, on to the review.

I absolutely adore Chanel's Cuir de Russie and was curious on what Serge Lutens's Cuir Mauresque would be like. I have tried a few of Serge Lutens' creation and I either find them strange, to be a spice cabinet or simple. When I first sprayed Cuir Mauresque, I thought that I had sprayed on Arabie. But I do not have a decant of Arabie but a full bottle of it. It was a monster blast of spices that did calm down somewhat after 45 minutes. Then I got the old but well taken care of leather purse filled with expensive lipsticks on top of the spices. Then Cuir Mauresque morphed again. It morphed into an odd cross of Arabie and Feminite due Bois with leather. I'm lukewarm of Cuir Mauresque because it's a great idea but the whole spice cabinet is slightly headache inducing in August. This lasts for a good 8-10 hours on me. I do not think that I will be getting a bottle of this though.