twilight sleep - Serge Lutens' Sarrasins

while i know that the word 'sarrasins' is supposed to mean Saracen, or the old word for Muslim, i cannot help but be entertained that it also is the word for buckwheat. i have a pillow i use, filled with buckwheat hulls, which always smells slightly like the fur of a cat. therein lies an essential component of the fragrance - the almost-narcotic scent of the flower combined with an animal, prowling smell.

the differences between Sarrasins and the more decadent, syrupy A La Nuit are legion. they are both jasmine-based smells, but where A La Nuit is reminiscent of French courtiers and Debussy, Sarrasins is like falling asleep outside, alone and unprotected in a wild country, surrounded by nightblooming flowers and the sounds and smells of nocturnal animals. you can lie with your face up to the purple dusk, counting the trilling stars as they come out, and breathe in the dreaminess. the animalic and spice notes can be jarring if you're not ready for it; however, the ultimate sensual nature of the scent cannot be denied. unlike Muscs Koublai Khan, there's no dung or barn in the animal undertones, only a slightly predatory sense. the jasmine is so heavy-lidded it could make kohl redundant... and after an hour or so, there's the machinery note that i know so well from the communal bouquet of New York's dry rieslings. i find it truly fascinating that on my skin, it has the faintest tinge of the metallic scent of blood. this doesn't come out when it blooms on a blotter - it only occurs on my own skin.

while i cannot claim to know the perfumer's mind, i can't get away from the sense that this is a formula that is meant to combine the positives of a great number of his scents. darkening A La Nuit, lightening Muscs Koublai Khan, expanding Cuir Mauresque... i can see all of it in this scent. then, by naming it Sarrasins, it's almost as if it is intended to de-alienate a culture that is largely demonized in my own American mindspace, and illuminate it into the being that Rumi saw. i admit to a bit of disappointment at Lutens' continued fetishization of the Arabic, but this is not the fault of the scent - this scent could live nearly anywhere, not just the Middle East.