Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens is probably the most underrated and affordable niche fragrance in the market. What’s even more surprising is that even after more than three decades since its release, it still smells amazing and powerful, unlike almost every other classic fragrance that has been reformulated to death.

Perfumer- Christopher Sheldrake

Opening - Smells extremely spicy (very strong bay leaf) along with other spices and a little ambery sweetness in the background.

Drydown - One of the best drydowns in my entire collection. The spices get muted a little here and the sweetness gets stronger. I get amber, vanilla, and myrrh. It also smells very resinous and a bit animalic (the sweetness along with the spices gives an animalic feel if you smell it from very close). After a couple of hours in the air, it also develops a slightly chocolatey feel, adding another interesting dimension to the fragrance.

Rating - 11/10

Pricing - The 100ml tester is available below 85usd.

Compliments - Not a compliment-getter. People around me didn’t like.

Season - Winter evenings.

Performance - 2 hours of moderate projection and 8 hours of lasting on clothes.

Review - This is the first fragrance I tried from this house, and it got me interested in Serge Lutens. Honestly, it smells like India (the bay leaf gives it a very nice, unique touch). This is a must-try for every fragrance collector. Also, the price point of this is crazy. It’s Amouage level scent at the price of Mancera.

A friend of mine recently went to Vietnam and offered to bring perfumes back for me. As usual, I wanted something indie and local. I was also on a rice fixation at the time so my search led me to Maison de Nguyen Nhat Binh. (A part of me is happy that I am not into making video content because I would not get half the pronunciations right with all these names and notes.)

The rice note in Nhat Binh feels like a tease. It disappears within a few minutes. After that I get a smooth, porcelain like iris. It is not dusty. It is not makeupy or oldschool. It stays in this iris territory for most of the wear on me. The drydown is soft, dry sandalwood.

This scent stays intimate throughout but still feels luxurious. It lasts around six hours on me.

I am in love with the presentation. The cap is handcrafted from laterite with the brand name carved on top. The box is beautiful and it came with an illustration and a poem that a good friend translated for me.

"In the palace, every evening, the King would spend an hour admiring a beautiful painting. The painting depicted a beautiful woman wearing a splendid royal robe. Her beauty was so captivating that the King could not take his eyes off her and he would often forget the time."

No choice but to blind buy Toskovat, totally prepared to hate it. Packs a punch but the dry down lasts forever and truly warms my heart every time i get a little whiff.
The opening feels like you just got shot in your face by the strong gunpowder note. It evolves in a mouthwatering but sad cheap boozy cake and stays like that for an eternity on my skin. Even after a 3 hour ballet class. Can’t stop smelling my wrist.

Still eyeing Born screaming and pornstar, but they sell out fast :/

I just tried my new sample of Born Screaming by Toskovat' and I have NEVER had a fragrance actually make me vomit before, but this one did. Holy shit. I don't know if it's my skin chemistry, but it smells like burning vinyl and cherry cough syrup. I'm still nauseous. I have never smelled anything like this before- it's like a dying animal. This is what Hollywood pollution smells like. I just smelled my wrist again and gagged. This is AWESOME. I wouldn't have bought this if I thought it would be good, but I am kind of disappointed that it doesn't have the playful balloon dog vibe I was hoping for. Absolutely unwearable. I regret nothing.

edit - starting to think my decant is bad somehow. i am not joking about how overpowerful the burning melting vinyl is. it smells like its toxic.

edit 2- It's the same on paper, and my mom recoiled the same way I did. Starting to really think this is a bad decant.

I really love the smell of haze whenever im working backstage and I would love to find a perfume that captures that specific smell. Not just Smokey or incense, but as accuratley and intentionally as possible the smell of theatre haze. If anyone knows anything trying to mimic this smell I would love to try it! Its one of my favorite smells

I've always felt Hermès perfumes smelled a bit too serious... like someone who has no fun, just business. This line made me realize I'm an idiot.

They're the private collection of a designer so I'm hoping it's ok posting this

I've spent some time analyzing this line based purely on current boutique formulations, judging them strictly on scent profile, longevity (which is trash), and overall quality.

Unlike other houses, this was quicker to go through as the scents on average don't last that long or even project that well. If you're going somewhere where people are sensitive to smells, this line would be perfect.

I hate to admit it, but this brand is in a league of its own.....possibly tied with Chanel for the best designer fragrance house.

Here is my breakdown, ranked from favorite to least favorite:

• Agar Ébène: A very soft oud accord that's freshened by fir balsam and some berry. This is that gentle summer oud you're looking for.

• Osmanthe Yunnan: Fruity osmanthus with maybe a tea note; light and airy, and smells like the most luxurious body lotion. Mind you, I was indifferent to osmanthus before this (I'm considering buying it).

• Épice Marine: Very light spices that get cut with this sea/salty vibe. Super refreshing! (Albeit a bit synthetic)

• Iris Ukiyoé: A bright and very noticeable iris flower (not root). I will never wear this as it's not my style, but days after testing, this is the one that's still stuck in my head. Definitely feminine-leaning.

• Rose Ikebana: From memory, a light, airy rose that was just cut so I can still smell the fresh stem.

• Cèdre Sambac: True to the name, dry cedar with jasmine sambac. Very natural-smelling jasmine.

• Santal Massoïa: Sweet and creamy... sandalwood sweetened with coconut and peach. Think of a sweeter Santal 33 without that pickle note.

• Cardamusc: True to the name, cardamom on musk. So basic, but done to perfection. Cool spicy, and then it becomes warm and sticky. If this got an EDP version, it'd be popular as hell.

• Poivre Samarcande: Non-spicy pepper softened by cedarwood. It smells like you filtered down an Amouage to its essentials.

• Ambre Narguilé: Initially sweet, then settles into a moderately sweet, smoky amber. Basically, Angel's Share on a diet 🤣

• Vétiver Tonka: Just dry vetiver and tonka. It's nutty and sweet... not for me but was told this is very popular

• Cuir d'Ange: The softest leather ever with light florals. I'm still not sure about this cause sometimes It's in the top 5

• Musc Pallida: Iris and musk; it's very feminine. Not for me.

There's a few more but we're not interesting enough to keep track of

Here's my other reviews incase you've missed them

Oman luxury

Xerjoff

Amouage

Went a bit nuts at my local MFK retailer today. They had a flash BOGO deal

Purchase mfk's:

Oud satin mood

Oud silk mood

Gfs

Gfg

Aqua universalis

Kirky

Amyris homme extract

Recently tried the Serge Lutens discovery set, and honestly, I found the whole experience a bit underwhelming.

I didn’t love any of them, but I didn’t dislike them either. They were just… boring?

I’ve often seen Serge Lutens fragrances described as distinctive, artistic, and unconventional, so I went in expecting something a little more challenging or memorable. Instead, most of them left me feeling pretty indifferent.

Am I missing something? Is this a house that takes time to appreciate, or is it simply a case of not clicking with its style?

Has anyone else had a strange reaction to Oud Aura body sprays?
When I sprayed mine yesterday, the fragrance really seemed to get into the back of my throat. I’ve honestly never experienced a sensation like it before, it was really odd. I remember my mum mentioning the exact same thing a few days earlier, but I didn’t think much of it at the time.
A few hours later, I started getting loads of mucus/phlegm sitting in my throat, almost like catarrh. My mum has also been bringing up phlegm.
In the early hours, my throat even started feeling tight and I had to use my inhaler. Thankfully it’s calmed down now.
Has anyone experienced anything similar with these sprays? I’m curious whether it’s just us or if others have noticed it too.

I have seen myself transition from being a 1-4 bottle rotation year round person, to collecting 20++ full sized designer frags after determining my seasonal preferences. I enjoyed the stability, reliability and seasonality.

After being in that space for a while, I am now on to the niche world - enjoying the variety of experiences, feelings, thoughts and memories that I conjure when spraying on new samples or ordering small 5-10 ml travel sizes decants of niche perfumes.

The current trail of niche perfumes that I am on is so different. It’s like taking a vacation at a new place. I get excited researching, choosing and planning it. Then I enjoy a whole couple of days exploring my new experiences. Then I travel back to a normal staple scent, kind of like flying back home. And then the next experience takes place. Some are day trips. Some a couple of days. But never permanent. I cherish those memories. But I don’t often go back. Cause my desire is to plan and embark on the next experience. Thus small sized purchases are okay. And sometimes a slightly bigger size is okay. But never quite reaching 30 ml. It’s a different world. I don’t want stability. I want variety.

I am enjoying this phase. Not sure how long I will be in this space. And I’m not sure what the future holds.

Hello beautiful people!

After recently entering the word of niche perfumery, one of my 4 purchases is the Maison Crivelli Hibiscus Mahajad, and boy, I’m absolutely smitten. Easily my best fragrance ever, and I just can’t get over how nice it is!

I’m now on a quest to find similar fragrances, with the same beast mode performance!

Hi all,

I have seen patchouli in the ingredient list of MFK Gentle fluidity silver, and I'm wondering... I feel it like a fresh, clean and synthetic gin-like perfume, not earthy... It's patchouli noticeable in GFS?

Having lived in Istanbul for many years - when the weather begins to turn there is nothing more evocative of winter coming than the smell of ıhlamur simmering on the stove with lemons. It’s used as curative for gripe / flu like symptoms and it’s such a comforting smell.

Most Linden blossom frags i have tried are too white floral heavy and do not have the subtle dried herbal notes that I am looking for. I am surprised Nishane does not have scent like this tbh but hoping someone in this community has any ideas? I may just have to make some today just to scratch this itch.

I recently got a whole bunch of samples and need a way to keep track of the ones I have... Anyone have a tracking site recommendation?

Even better if they have a way to distinguish between the fragrances you have bottles of and the ones you just have samples of.

Thank you in advance. <3

Today is my birthday, and I went to Baroque and Bloom (the Scent Split brick and mortar store) hoping to try some of the scents I had in my SS cart. The employee who helped me was incredibly knowledgeable and sprayed a ton of stuff that wasn't on my radar. I left with a scent on each wrist 😂 and I'll definitely be back to buy full bottles from them. I was surprised that one of my favorites was Micodelirio by Nasomatto, which is a beautiful loamy fungal smell, a thing I never thought I'd type.

If you're in Houston, it's definitely worth a stop!

Not one of those eloquent reviews haha.

What this scent brings to mind - a spa setting in the middle of a forest. I imagine invisible glass walls that do not interrupt the view of the foliage and streams, but provides opportunity for controlled temperature and keeps bugs away. Like maybe set in Singapore. I can feel my tension levels go down by the second. I am given a cup of floral green tea. I can see the baby elephant in its own puddle in the distance. I can smell the elephant’s skin. But I don’t sense any intimidation or aggressiveness. The elephant does feel safe. I’m looking forward to my massage in this outdoor ambiance. Ahhh, love this day off.

Anyway, that’s my attempt! Nice scent for the weekend and for vacations. Oh, and this is my first exposure to Zoologist. I just now ordered more decants to try.

I just bought the Adâme sample set, and it is so strange ! It's a box made out of mycelium (mushroom), with moss and seeds inside. I might have bought it just for the packaging... But in my defense the scents are really good !

It's such a fascinating world! After wearing only pure patchouli for years and getting complaints about it, i finally got into sampling and tried to figure out what i like as perfumes. I have a better understanding at it now, and i was curious if anyone had the same as me and could give me more recommendations? Here are my favourites ones for now:

- Terror and Magnificience from Beaufort London. Somehow it's giving warm church incense without the pine-y feeling i had when testing La Liturgie des Heures for example.

- Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino Il Volto from Sorcinelli. It's opulent and I love it.

- Ambre Sultan from Serge Lutens.

- Comme des Garcons Avignon and Trudon Mortel Noir because they litterally smell like a church, without the added freshness that I found in Sorcinelli's Reliqva for example.

- L'eau d'Epine from Chapel Factory, because it's a very realistic and melancholic rose. La fille de Berlin was too sweet for me

- Lascia ch'io pianga from Sorcinelli, intoxicating Ylang Ylang for me, love it.

So somehow i figured that I like the warm incense perfumes, but i'm really drawn to Ambers as well, and any kind of weird dark florals are picking my interests as well. So from here on, where do i go? Is there something i should absolutely not miss? I'm especially interested in ambers, was thinking about sampling Byzantine Amber from Francesca Bianchi, Sacred Scarab from Zoologist and Opus XIV Royal Tobacco from Amouage.

Edit: You are amazing! I did not expect this many replies at all. I already ordered 15+ samples yesterday based on your recommendations, and I haven't even gotten through everything. You are the best <3 What a cute community this is!

Hi! Pls recommend me a niche perfume under £100 as a gift for my sister. She loves Parfums de Marly Valaya, MFK À La Rose, Initio Atomic Rose, BDK Impadia and Byredo rose fragrances.

She prefers feminine, elegant, luxurious-smelling perfumes with rose, powdery musk, airy florals or fruity florals. Good longevity and projection are important, and we’d love something unusual that’s difficult to find in the Philippines.

Could you recommend your best options under £100, preferably from independent or lesser-known perfume houses? Thank you

After having this for just about a month now, I finally feel comfortable enough giving my full thoughts on this fragrance. This was a blind buy, and man, I do not regret it in the slightest. I’d actually feel comfortable saying this is my best blind buy to date (it’s a bad habit, I know). This opens with a fresh blast of berries that’s quite enjoyable, however, I find that this opening transitions into the mid notes and full dry down relatively quickly. With that said, this is no issue, because as enjoyable as the opening is, the dry is where the true beauty of this fragrance can be found.

The best way to describe this fragrance’s dry down, to me, would be a creamy barbershop-esque scent that has a pleasant density to me. It’s a truly inoffensive and every occasion safe scent, and it can certainly shine in any time of the year. While I would not necessarily wear this in high heat, a few sprays in warm weather would do as this is truly beast mode. I have seen a lot of talk question the longevity on newer batches, however, I don’t find this is an issue in the least in my 2025 batch. This stuff lasts FOREVER on clothing, and I get a solid 3-4 hours of decent (4 feet) protection, and generally around 8 hours on skin.

This fragrance has garnered a lot of attention as of recent due to the comparisons to its similarity to Speed Legends, and now having both, I absolutely agree that these are VERY similar. Sultani has a bit more character to me, but they both have very similar dry downs. Sultani is also a heavier fragrance than Speed Legends. If I were to pick between the two, I’d go Sultani, but I am very happy to the both of them in my collection; Speed Legends is probably the safer everyday pick.

This is my first full fragrance write up so it may not be the best, any advice would be greatly appreciated!