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Serge noire 2008

7.5 / 10 363 Ratings
A popular perfume by Serge Lutens for women and men, released in 2008. The scent is spicy-woody. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Spicy
Woody
Smoky
Resinous
Oriental

Fragrance Notes

Charred woodCharred wood FrankincenseFrankincense

Perfumers

Ratings
Scent
7.5363 Ratings
Longevity
8.1268 Ratings
Sillage
7.3242 Ratings
Bottle
8.0225 Ratings
Value for money
6.740 Ratings
Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 10/28/2025.
Interesting Facts
Apart from the name of the brand's founder, Serge also refers to a type of fabric that is created in a special weave called Twill.

Smells similar

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Reviews

38 in-depth fragrance descriptions
Oriane

139 Reviews
Oriane
Oriane
3  
Neuter Skin Scent
The listed notes for this fragrance are not in a traditional pyramidal structure. The listed notes are Patchouli, Cinnamon, Amber, Woodsy Notes, Incense, Clove, Spices, and Ebony Wood.

I was gifted a sample of Serge Noire, and I like it. I am surprised there are not more positive reviews of it. This is definitely a warm and spicy scent. I smell cumin, cloves, and incense mostly. There are other spices--I cannot delineate cinnamon from the lot-- but I do not have a highly tutored sense of smell, either. It is not sweet smelling to me. It has very little projection. It is a skin scent on me. Longevity is not very good. I expect it would wear longer on clothing than on skin. I find it enjoyable for myself to wear on the right day/night, but I do not imagine wearing it for others, and I would not say that it is sexy in any way. It is not especially feminine in the way some orientals such as Samsara are "feminine." It is definitely unisex, or more precisely non-sex. I would label it "neuter."

Fragrance: 5/10

Projection: 3/10

Sillage: 3/10

Longevity: 3/10
0 Comments
ClaireV

969 Reviews
ClaireV
ClaireV
2  
French onion sweat
The topnotes of Serge Lutens Serge Noire - smoky, dried fruit incense - draw me in every single Goddamn time, like a mermaid's song. And then I am dashed cruelly against the rocks that are this scent's downfall - the unmistakably oniony sweat of unwashed (male) armpits.

Ask me how I know. No, really. I first smelled this when I was visiting Mont San Michel with my family when I was seven. The children had sat down in a grumpy, sun-beaten heap on the doorstop of the nth church, refusing to indulge our parents any further in their unquenchable thirst for the various religious icons and tchotchkes of French medieval churches, which seemed to us to be identical to the ones we had back home, only a little older and grimier.

From our vantage point, we got to study the interiors of everyone's nostrils, skirts, and armpits. People passed over us; we were ignored, perhaps not even seen. A middle-aged man stopped under the mantel and leaned against the cool wall for a moment to gather himself, and in that moment, I understood that dried sweat could smell like onions and black pepper and celery - the makings of a mirepoix, practically - when suspended in droplets in the thicket of a man's armpit hair.

The onion sweat accord can be parsed out later as clove, cumin, black pepper, and incense. While I love clove in stuff like Eau Lente (Diptyque) and the Eau de Parfum by Commes des Garcons, I admit that it can come off as sweaty and metallic to an almost objectionable degree. But the operational word is almost. There's always something in those fragrances to reign it in – herbaceous oppoponax, a bit of honey, some sandalwood. In Serge Noire, the clove business simply goes too far. It sidles up to the breaking point of human endurance and then waltzes brazenly past it, lurching unchecked into pure onion sweat territory whence it cannot be redeemed.

I keep trying it, hoping I am wrong or that my perception will loosen up, allowing me to glimpse the true beauty of this scent as others describe it. But as of May 2020, and upon my 14th attempt, I have to admit defeat
0 Comments
CuirCuir

35 Reviews
CuirCuir
CuirCuir
2  
Incense + cloves = perfect
It is absolutely brilliant, master perfumer at work. Spicy smoke, very masculine. Cloves and incense are dominant. Not a huge fan of cloves but here it's perfectly blended in, not in a bothersome way. Give it a go to find out what's been missing in your life:))
1 Comment
Pepdal

238 Reviews
Pepdal
Pepdal
0  
Spice Lovers
Lovers of spice, particularly clove should probably put this on their list to sample. There is always something interesting to try from this house, and this one is no exception. Thank you for watching.
0 Comments
Monsieur

14 Reviews
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Monsieur
Monsieur
Top Review 48  
A Fragrance for Special Occasions
After not writing a comment for 100 days and using the holidays more for wine, Vienna, and singing, I guess it’s time to write one on the weekend.

Let’s imagine the following tricky situation:
A hardened bachelor in his early 30s, in his prime, has to fend off attempts to set him up - far too many people in his gigantic circle of acquaintances mean well for him...
Now he’s caught again: a nearly unavoidable date has been arranged in his absence, be it through an aunt who knows a nice colleague who would supposedly be a great match for him, or a friend of his mother who knows a super friendly acquaintance from commuting on the train, who is to be recommended...
Well: in any case, there’s now this coffee date on early Saturday evening, and from everything he’s heard about the lady, it’s probably not going to work out: vegetarian, militant animal rights activist, spiritually inclined with a mix of Buddhism and Taoism, as much sense of indecent humor as Mr. Higgins (Magnum), and with an attitude that doesn’t even allow for fun during sex IN marriage (practicing beforehand is out of the question) - just somehow totally nice and totally boring..
Well, that’s not really a problem; although acting like a baboon is out of the question, because firstly, he doesn’t want to offend the nice girl, and secondly, he doesn’t want to embarrass the mutual acquaintance - but exactly for this case, I have my secret weapons: warm up a bit of vinegar and inhale it until the nasal hairs are burned away, and due to the acetic acid, you certainly won’t be able to smell anything for hours; then take out the super weapon from the vault and douse yourself with Boris Becker, and off you go to the date; there, be really nice and friendly and wonder why the young lady suddenly has to rush home so quickly. Since he tells her at the beginning that he’s currently working in a chemistry lab (internship, minor in chemistry, who knows), she can’t hold it against him and won’t tell the concerned mutual acquaintance anything unpleasant; he was polite and all, but unfortunately, the spark just didn’t fly...
So far, so simple. But now the following happens: just before the obligatory date and the procedure with the vinegar, he meets a really interesting young lady, and unfortunately, she is only available later that Saturday evening.
Since the first date of the evening certainly won’t last longer than a mandatory hour (ordering drinks, drinking, polite conversation, waiting for the waiter to finally come for the bill), he can easily fit the second one in, but: with Boris Becker on the burned skin, he certainly can’t show up at this meeting; washing it off and spraying on a casual scent won’t work either, because he can’t get rid of Boris Becker, like a TV omnipresent character - so what to do?!
We have the solution for these very special cases - it’s Serge Noir!
And it works as follows:
You douse yourself generously with SN, which smells really nasty of ammonia for the first 3 hours = pigsty for me; we tell the first date that we’re currently working on a farm (You know: internship, experiential education with the class on the farm, etc.), after an hour the obligation is fulfilled and the fun can follow; if you time it right so that you have the second date about 2.5-3.5 hours later, then it actually smells quite good, spicy, and can already be a panty-dropper. The important date goes really well, afterwards the post goes through the roof so much that the neighbors above their apartment start making noise on the floor, and they stay until breakfast, and only then do they head home - all the while, there’s still the distinctly pleasant spicy scent supporting them...
Life is unfortunately quite complicated, and you can’t often use this fragrance in the described situation, which is why it’s hard to evaluate it in general or for everyday use; at first, I found it terrible, then I endured the pigsty phase several times, and the beginning also became more bearable through habituation. It is certainly a work of art in itself, difficult, not everyone’s cup of tea, hardly universally wearable, but still interesting and a character that is one of a kind, provocative, polarizing. It leaves me with this strange mix of aversion and fascination, just like Kouros, etc.; however, I certainly have no intention of buying it at the moment...
38 Comments
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Statements

60 short views on the fragrance
2 years ago
2
Peppery wood. Spicy. Smokey.
A nutmeg note reminds me of coca-cola.
0 Comments
2 years ago
2
One of a kind fragrance. Supposedly , this is Mr Lutens’s signature scent and we can see why. Incense with a touch of cinnamon and cloves.
0 Comments
1
ABSOLUTE DISASTER. Opens woody-spicy, vintage feel. But up-close, it smells a bit like a sweaty shirt in a dusty attic (feel of cumin).
0 Comments
1
Most challenging Serge fragrance. Dark, spicy, bitter and ashy. It can wear you if you are not ready for it. Original but odd.
0 Comments
I don't want to sound rude or disrespectful, but in a moment of the performance, it reminded me of the smell of used men's underwear...
0 Comments
47
52
1972. The room is filled with incense. Batik fabrics envelop.
Patchouli devotees. Tantric caress.
New! Hallogallo.
Smell it all over your body.*
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52 Comments
45
40
Clove fire breathes through the nostrils of the black horse
wrapped in wings of cinnamon and smoke
Benzoin soft and warming
Your heartbeat against my back
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40 Comments
36
32
Fog drops
Woven
Frozen
Dark amber
Glowing resin
Clove smoke weaving
Cinnamon dust floating
In the sky of black wood
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32 Comments
33
50
There's more to it than incense and wood. I suspect there's some cumin and resins, as the scent develops a certain sweetness over time...
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50 Comments
4 years ago
34
33
Reliable & simple woven,
but also incredibly fine
in its clove-warm,
soft-resinous spiciness.
Feel-good material.
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33 Comments
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