Arabie Serge Lutens 2000

For more than 10 years, I kept an eye on it - and now this fragrance belongs to me. I wasn't really ready yet! But when I received it as a gift today, I knew - there’s no turning back.

Almost reverently, I apply a cautious dab on my wrist.
I can't dissect scents, and although I own considerable amounts of resins and woods, and more than 300 spices - I can never smell them out individually! For me, scents evoke scenes and images, moods, memories, longings, and sometimes fears!
And this fragrance?
It is like a lavishly set table! There are piled-up overripe figs and fresh dates, and next to them - salty preserved Moroccan lemons in clay bowls! Katayyif on silver, engraved plates and Algerian green olives in brine! Muhallabiya with rose water shimmers like mother-of-pearl in the bowls! Salty almonds with a spice crust, still hot from the oven! White and black mulberries promise juicy, sweet coolness! Baklava soaked in orange blossom syrup shines seductively. Flavors, scents, fragrances blend so naturally, just as they do in real life. Sweet and salty, cold and warm, fruity and spicy! Like the woman who showers in the morning and applies fine perfume, and later in the day stands at the stove cooking! This is how life truly smells! I sit a little apart from the table and admire this abundance! And suddenly I smell it.... I have to search for it a bit longer, but then! Shahi tukra! Arabia in India... It’s actually not so far-fetched and fits incredibly well! Shahi Tukra are bread slices coated in batter, similar to French toast, but they are drenched in sweet saffron milk! So saffron-like that you wouldn't want to smell saffron for a long time afterward.... Here, however, at this table, they shine golden and juicy, and my mouth waters! Heavy, fragrant smoke rises from incense bowls - Siam benzoin and Greek labdanum, a pair of coal granules of styrax - but maybe it’s all just a figment of my imagination!
I am already sure - not often, but when I fall into this very special nostalgia, I will dream back at this table... I will walk around it again, dip my finger into the Muhallabiya and then lick it off with pleasure! I will inhale the aromas and know that my skin will store them for a long time, and I might still smell them on my scarves days later! But what do a few days even mean? Here, life doesn’t flow, it drips thickly and richly aromatic...