Serge Lutens Fourreau Noir

Serge Lutens Fourreau Noir was created by Christopher Sheldrake. It starts with a blast of incense, abating slowly, revealing a milky almond, tonka smoky core. As I noted when I reviewed it in 2009 - "it’s the Sonic Drive-in where Encens et Lavande, Chergui and Fumerie Turque all show up, their brakes go out simultaneously, and they all wind up in an incredibly interesting jumble on the menu, something like: 'Lavender Pancake Syrup with Hookah.' It's Serge Lutens so that's pretty normal and not nearly the mess it sounds like.

This from Fragrant Fanatic's review - "I'm thinking about a post apocalypse movie photage. First you see a deserted city, houses in ruins, fires, rubble everywhere. You zoom in on the rubble and you see it consists of burned childrens' toys and smashed up household items. If anyone remembers the intro of Terminator 2 you know what I mean. Then the camera zooms out and in the midsts of all destruction there is a single lunatic in a tattered robe, conducting a caricature of a Catholic mass by himself. That's the start of Forreau Noir."

I think I like that description a lot. Starts out as complete chaos, with no idea what it will become, just strap yourself in for the journey, it's not boring. 

Fourreau Noir is in the Oriental fragrance group.  

Reveiws of Serge Lutens Fourreau Noir from noses that may or may not sniff like your nose. 

from perfumeposse - "Our own Lee said: … Serge Lutens Fourreau Noir for all its masculine posturing, is a sad little scent, a front of machismo hiding a well of tears… It´s the 80s writ large. All front up front: the male fougere smells of lavender, coumarin, and synthetics such as dihydromyrcenol to give the thrusting metallic edge, the purr of the engine. All sadness beneath: smoky melancholy, myrrh, quietude.

Patty said: Think of it like this, it´s the Sonic Drive-in where Encens Et Lavande, Chergui and Fumerie Turque all show up, their brakes go out simultaneously, and they all wind up in an incredibly interesting jumble on the menu, something like:  “Lavender Pancake Syrup with Hookah.”

But here’s the thing: I’m kind of loving this train-wreck of a scent.  I think much of my advantage stems from the fact that I’m not a guy and have never dated guys who wear much cologne, and so I don’t have endless personal memories of choking on some nasty sharp 80s fougere, the man-whore equivalent of, say, Giorgio or Poison.  Instead, the lavender and metallic-freshness-plus-Comet-cleanser smell prompts a whole different and kind of novel scent-tableau for me.  It’s the virtual-reality version of standing at a stainless steel kitchen sink, steel wool in hand, with the hot water blasting into a skillet squirted with lavender dish soap, and the faint remnants of some kind of dessert (pancakes?  almond cookies?) hanging in the air."

from thenonblonde - "Fourreau Noir is musky, but to me it's a fairly clean musk with a hint of fruitiness. The tactile equivalent is of a soft silk-merino knit, kind of like the long wrap sweater with caressing kimono sleeves I'm wearing now as I'm typing this review. This coziness is helped greatly by the sweet gourmand dry-down. Tonka bean, almond cookies covered in very light powdered sugar and lots and lots of immortelle. I love immortelle on its mapley goodness, and in this case the maple smells like it was aged and smoked in old wood barrels. This is the kind of stuff I expect and enjoy from our favorite uncle."

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