Poivre Noir Serge Lutens for women and men

Upon sniffing this in store, this one didn't move me, but somehow I ended up with a sample from one of the Paris stores anyway, so I made my spouse wear it yesterday. A very cold (low 30s F), bright spring day. At first the black pepper is very strong, along with some cold, blond woods. Something in the blend it a bit sour. The scent actually matched the atmosphere of the day very well, but I wouldn't say it was pleasant. It dried down to a very dull cedar smell and burned off almost entirely by hour 5.

It smells like ketchup. Worst Serge so far.

70% Ambro-fixative stench, 10% pepper, 20% something missing.

It doesn't smell bad exactly, but it seems lazy AF, especially for such a prestigious brand. There are hundreds of similar basic synthetic-smelling perfumes like this, it's just boring.

Blind buy disaster.
I love pepper but this doesnt smell like pepper.

Like Serge Noir & Feminite du Bois there is a spice, warm spice like cooking that just does me in.
I love Uncle Serge and have gone through several bottles of cool/cold incense and always think I love spice. Do I? This is confusing.
I can't seem to get past the food smell.

ugh. I waitied so long for this to arrive.

- update.
on him it smells fantastic. This is all very annoying.

Serge Lutens, Never Boring.

Just what it says: a tamed, perfumed black pepper up front, and the shadow of that Serge Noire spicy balsamic base humming in the distant background. I was quite surprised to be also reminded of the green-dark Aramis Havana spices, thinned, purified from their 80's vibe. There are hints of incense and ashes from different woods. It's a Noire scent, no doubt, but the plain, slightly sour cedar base in the end seems like a compromise.

Spicy black pepper on a bed of musky synthetic calones. Only Serge Lutens can pull off these linear "anti perfume" beauties like this and my favorite Eau Froide. Theres not much going on here but let it settle on your skin, then the subtle transitions happen over the 8 plus hours of its wear. The unisex scent has moderate sillage and excellent longevity. It is simple and mysterious. Some may argue the emperors not wearing any clothes. But for those initiated into this venerable brands minimalist aesthetics, the ride will be exciting. Enjoy!

It's Black Pepper alright! At first smell from the bottle, you get full pepper: slightly bitter, spicy and a little old-school.
After spraying, it unravels with something green and then something sweet. Compared to other Lutens, it doesn't develop or evolve too much, or deviate from the initial concept of black pepper. It never goes too sweet but stays fairly masculine and gives off my father's aftershave in the 80s vibes... It has its place... for me, mainly when I want something more linear and less complex than other Lutens and that's cool. I have mediterranean ollive skin and those spicy scents work well with it. The drydown lasts a fairly long time.

Picked up a bottle of Ecrin de Fumee the other day at Myer, got a generous 10ml bottle of this as a bonus. Definitely a safe scent, but still divine nonetheless, probably not full bottle worthy, but this 10ml will be definitively used. I was going to pick up Poivre Samarcande,
but this will be a great substitute.

Poivre Noir flew under the radar with, surprisingly, no reviews from YT dedicated to it so far. Why? Lack of buzz or substance? Too bad I haven't had a chance to try it yet, be it an overly safe scent or not.

I am chomping at the bit to try this one.
I love L'Eau Froide (cold water) but can't find it in oz anymore.
I love pepper.
fingers crossed as it will be a blind buy.

Right after spraying, my nose was tickled by a blast of pepper. However, the pepper calmed down quickly and was joined by a fresh ginger note, along with some citrus. Only once dried down, I started to perceive some warmth together with a pleasant and fresh spiciness that smelled like an infusion of fresh ginger, lemon and black pepper. The interesting combination of fresh and warm notes makes me think that this could be a lovely fragrance to wear in fall.

Smells very linear at first, but SL never does linear things. At every whiff I find a new layer.
Very fresh, "sporty" fragrance, I get the disappointment of all those who expect a deeper experience from a SL creation, also because an untrained nose will easily mistake it for a far more commercial scent - from the 90s.
As the initial green notes fade away I smell something more fruity, like grapefruit maybe?
The pepper comes out stronger in the drydown. Definitely not my cup of tea, but I would not say it's bad.

Quite an energising peppery fresh opening but wow did not expect Serge Lutens to put out something so generic.

Especially disappointing when you get to the base which is all designer-level cedar and so soo much ambroxan.

Freshly-milled black pepper on top of metallic woody-amber aromachemicals.

The pepper note is reminiscent of Serge Noire - black pepper with anise inflections and onion funkiness. Way more likable and less gross, though.

I can see the comparison to Comme des Garçons' Blackpepper. They both consist of tenacious pepper note on top of a woody base. Serge's pepper is more fantasical than CDG, which the latter I find too realistic and sneezy.

The drydown is where Serge lost me. Poivre Noire feels very lazy. It does smell like an entry-level masculine perfumes 10 hours in. In comparison, go smell CDG and marvel at its smoky, sweet-balsamic cedar base. Serge has been exploring new aesthetics and I think Poivre Noire would fit right in besides L'Orphelline, but I don't think that's necessarily a compliment.

I will take this loss. Serge has been producing my recent favourites such as Le Participe Passe and Fils de Joie.

Don’t know if there is something wrong with my sample. I don’t get any pepper except from the five/ten first seconds; a lovely short lived experience. After that just a synthetic blast! Nope!

A really dainty black pepper -- there's a HEAP of gentle woods in the background, also, unlisted of course, and this carries the black pepper forward, but by and large, I found this largely forgettable. Disappointing. It's not bad, in fact, it smells nice, but it's INCREDIBLY safe -- like, I'd expect a MASSIVE mainstream designer to pump this out. I expect to smell this from Zara or Ralph Lauren. I wasn't shocked that SL put this out, moreso a little disappointed, and if I'm being 100% honest, confused. It's not simple, it's not basic, it's just incredibly normal.

I disagree with the negative reviews, I can say yes it s simple non changing or linear perfume yet very nice and safe with a good quality; ok in one fact that it s a bit far from Mr Lutens creations which are more original and which used to be a more complex game of layers . furthermore i dont know if it s really formulated of 2 ingredients.

Myself i can easily buy such a masculine decent and elegant perfume.

Merci Mr.Lutens

A very nice and a simple scent, not very complex (the scent) - pure pepper with a small undertone of some kind of a citrus, not sure that it’s even citrus or twist of geranium or ginger or something green like vetiver/moss !!!! Really can’t explain.
it has some a little of leathery/oud feel.
Not very strong but either week
Long lasting and not in your face like comme des garçons kind of pepper
I like it, very masculine not for everyday use, day or signature scent.
Those who don’t like it give it some time.

Another proof Serge Lutens has abandoned ship a long time ago.

Despite the brand being known for their heady, Arabesque compositions, the much subtler "Mohairs" of Lutens include some of the greatest achievements in recent fragrance history such as Iris Silver Mist and Serge Noire. Poivre Noir now joins the collection, but I think ultimately isn't for me.
Poivre Noir opens with an unusually stereotypically masculine synthetic blast which recalls to me the mood (though not the smell) of the brand's own L'Eau de Paille (which incidentally I prefer). Yes, the first few moments of Poivre Noir take me to a drugstore masculine scent shelf, replete with names like "steel", "blue" and "sport". After a couple of minutes on skin the scent opens up and a strong, pungent black pepper note emerges but while the scent of black pepper is absolutely present the texture, seemingly, is not. To me, black pepper implies cracking, milling, grinding, and calls for a "snappy" texture, but Poivre Noir is persistently watery, cloud-like and reminds me of mist or fog. However, rather than water this fog is made of black pepper-infused tea, if that's even possible to imagine... It's not as bad as it sounds but I also don't mean to imply it's somehow good either.
I do admire the brand's continued pushing of boundaries but I'm afraid that as far as the "cooling spicy" category goes (to which Poivre Noir undoubtedly belongs) Lutens' own Serge Noire has this beat a hundred times over. It is definitely an intriguing scent and longevity on me is okay (6 hours). Extremely conventionally masculine (which is unusual for a Lutens and will be part of why it's not doing much for me) but on a woman this might somehow work better given the contrast? Not sure what to make of this one, but I encourage fans of the Mohair sub-collection to give it a try and see if they can find whatever it is I'm missing here.

Pleasant fragrance, but not the quality I expect from the revered Serge Lutens, whom I admire very much. I had wished for a little more punch and spice that keeps going on for hours. Instead it’s quite mainstream and average. I’m hoping for more power and creativity next time they launch something new.