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Post by Portia
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Hey There Fellow FUMIES,
We recently had a fragrant get togetrher at my place and Madeleine brought some unloved bottles and I bought this…
Arabie by Serge Lutens 2000
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Cedar, sandalwood, mandarin, dried fig, date, nutmeg, cumin, caraway, clove, bay-leaf, Tonka, Siamese benzoin, myrrh, labdanum
My first whiff of Arabie is all cooking spices and humanity: cooking, slightly blackened toast, baking too with loads of vanilla, spice and citrus/fruit. I get a heavy tea backnote but I could be mistaking resins/incense for smoky tea. My question is how has anyone found Arabie hard to wear? Potent? Yes, but not scorchingly so like Angel or Giorgio Beverly Hills. Warm, dusty, foody, like eating sweets at a Dhaba in rural India sitting on plastic Coca Cola chairs with only a piece of cloth as roof between you and the desert sun, or in the freezing winter cold of a Korean fishing village where you duck out of the stormy winds to get a Korean version of a donut, searingly hot with sizzling spicy sugar and juices inside, straight from the hot oil, that is guaranteed to warm you up.
Arabie is sweet and dessicated, it could be a million miles from anyone or right by their side cuddled safe and warm under a blanket in front of a fire. Each wear is slightly different for me and I think much of the difference is what I bring in my demeanor, happiness, what I am mindful of. No wonder Arabie is still talked and written about as one of the Serge Lutens must try, must have fragrances.
Photo Stolen Flickr (NehaSingh7)
Arabie, maybe the name has swayed my thinking, feels like wearing adventure. It is busy and interesting, beautiful and welcoming, lavish and sparse, all of these things at different times. Unfortunately it doesn’t have an enormous longevity on my skin as a fragrant event but turns soft and skin warmed by sun scent-ish after only a couple of hours. Then it is a wash of resinous warmth both sensual and exotic but alas only for those very close.
Photo Stolen EnvironmentalGraffiti
Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and My Perfume Diaries
FragranceNet has $106/50ml
Posh Peasant starts at $6/ml
Did you try Arabie yet? What was your experience? If not, what have you tried that correlates?
Thanks so much for wandering through my fragrant musings today,
See you tomorrow,
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
This is one of the few Lutens scents that I haven’t sampled, and I have no idea why, since I love spicy-resiny things. Must rectify this oversight. Thanks for the review.
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I am so glad FeralJasmin that i did try Arabie, it’s a travel adventure every spritz. I don’t know how Madeleine gave it up.
Portia x
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I don’t know Lutens Arabie but now will have to give it a try. I wonder why it didn’t work for Madeleine?
What a strange and beautiful photo of that oasis in the Gobi desert.
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Hey Azar, How freaky would it be to live there? What if you ran out of milk? Or Shalimar!
Portia xx
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Have to try. Somehow missed this one but there are sooooo many in this house.
Or we could just go to Arabie! See you in the souk.
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You’re hilarious Jordan. I found out today that this is the modern Arabie, the older one is a fair bit spicier and deeper.
Portia xx
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Aha.
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Dear Portia. Absolutely love your reviews and look forward to the APJ email daily. I am still to try Arabie but love Chergui and Santal Majascule. Unfortunately they don’t last long on my skin either. Looking forward to a future review of Jovoy Private Label or La Liturgie des Heures.
Keep up the great work!
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Aha! Welcome Latieslat,
So glad to have you on board and i’ll look for those frags too.
Portia xx
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Arabie, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… If there ever were such a think as travel-in-a-bottle, Arabie would be it. I love, love, love it! That’s all! 🙂 xoxo
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Thanks for dropping in Sheila, lovely to see you,
Portia x
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I’m so glad you reviewed this! I just got a sample at Surrender to Chance, and I’m in love. It feels so human, natural, alive. And I love how it changes with time, like you really are waling in the souk. Quite the opposite of, say, Tocca Florence, which smells of cheap chemical fabric softner and pierces my nose.
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Ha Ha Ha!! Solanace, that is funny. I have not yet tried the Tocca, I will forever try to give it a miss now because the only thing that will jump into my mind is “smells of cheap chemical fabric softner and pierces my nose”excellent.
Portia xx
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I have a sample of this one and I love the spice in it. I had the same problems with lasting power. Dusty is a good way to describe it. I love the fact that it’s not really sweet.
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Hiya Poodle,
Yes, not really sweet but my skin amps the little sweetness up, especially in the new formula. I am going to try extra spritzes of it this week on a LUSH Ultrabalm base to see if it works.
Portia xx
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I remember that I liked Arabie when I tried it. And I plan to test it more (I have a sample!) but I just keep remembering that 1) I like it and 2) I can’t actually wear it until I try it more – and for whatever reason I just never find time to test it more.
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