Reviews of Cuir de Russie (1924)
by Chanel

Well, how extraordinarily different we all are! I bought a 4ml bottle of this at great expense on eBay expecting to love it on the basis of reviews. My favorite scent is Bulgari Black, so I am not nervous of odd or 'dark' smells. But Cuir de Russie works not on me. First it smelled like the horse, rather than the leather. Then turned to soap, then disappeared. Which was a relief. So now I will be selling a tiny bottle of it somewhere, with only a few drops gone.

I am not entirely surprised to have a divergent opinion to others around smells /tastes though... I seem to be the only person on the globe who doesn;t like red wine!

I was so excited to read about this fragrance in the press that I bought it blind. I am somewhat disappointed and although I feel this fragrance is unique, mysterious and complex, however I do not like smelling like a train drivers bottom. Animalic---Yes, Fecal---Definitely, Pleasant---Erm not exactly. I am still unable to give this away as I feel that someday it will grow on me, next to Cuir de Russie by Creed, this is a poor evil smelling poor relation. Sad but true. BOO HOO.

Hmmm, this one's a shocker! I wanted more from this cornerstone scent. Perhaps it's really not for a man's chemistry, but I had to try. It opens a rather fresh floral bouquet, then develops to an animalic quality, just a tinge too much that overpowers IMO. Powdery notes enter the composition, and here I'm already thinking this is more of a granny scent, and quite disappointed from here on end. To add despair, the scent turns sour on me, but I've learned to expect this a lot when I try on a leather/chypre scent. Somewhere in the drydown, there's that familiar wood and jasmine note like Bois des Iles, but its powdery chypre notes make it just too distinct to mark a commonality with BdI. Darn! It's even ironic that I can actually feel better wearing No.5 without feeling self conscious. At least I can say that Bois des Iles is wearable in the Rue Cambon line.

This one broke my heart - when I uncorked the sample the sultry, sexy note instantly won me. When I put it on my skin, the first five seconds were heavenly. I figure that's the amount of time needed to react with my chemistry, because after 5 seconds I started picking up a barnyard scent, like cow patties. Beyond the pasture fragrance, I could smell that tantalizing sexy note, but I was going to have to wade through cow patties to get to it. Eventually the barnyard note dissipated, but so did the sultry note. I could only conclude they were one and the same.
I tried it several months later, and it was better, but still not trustworthy. There's no way I can wear this fragrance among other people without fear of it turning on me, or throwing an occasional odd barnyard note into the air. I wanted so much to be able to wear this, as the smell in the bottle is wonderful.
For those of you who were also rebuffed by this fragrance, try "Daim Blond" by Serge Lutens. It did everything I wanted "Cuir de Russie" to do.