Reviews of Cuir Mauresque (1996)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

For my nose, Cuir Mauresque is Daim Blond on steroids. Extremely fruity. This 'amped up' version loses the subtle charm of DB...making me turn a neutral thumb.

Hmmm, I smell more fruity sweetness in this than actual leather...

Even though Cuir Mauresque makes a respectable nod towards Tabac Blond, it's still a disappointment.

[Original submission date: 10 April 2008]

This has a uniquely sweet floral leather scent, if that makes any sense, that remains on me throughout the day. I wish it had more smoke and spice but I guess my Ph reacts differently. I don't hate it, but I'm not really sold on it either.
This definitely has strong longevity, a plus for anyone wanting to get there money's worth. A distinctive scent to be sure.

A wonderfully smooth and sensual leather, with just enough smoke and spice to keep it real interesting. When I applied to my arm, I noticed something of a floral note at first that I didn't find too appealing (I find this note in other SLs as well, such as Bois en Violette), this note fading out by the heart. When actually wearing CM, I didn't notice this floral note, instead I was just surrounded by a wonderful leather aroma. The leather starts out fairly intense but becomes more smooth over time. You can really feel the balance and twinge of fruit via orange blossom in the heart and base. The longevity is good, 7-8 hours.

As far as leather fragrances go, this one deserves a place on the top shelf with the other true greats such as Chanel Cuir de Russie and PG's Cuir d'Iris. In fact, this may the absolute smoothest among them, like the inside of a new Bentley.

The first thing that struck me about Cuir Mauresque when I sprayed it on my wrist was how it shares a similar opening combination with Givenchy Gentleman. Both fragrances open with a combination of citrus, cinnamon, leather and spice, but how they are presented is very different: GG is initially sharp and rough and takes time to settle down, whereas CM goes on smooth and round and stays this way. GG is overtly masculine compared to CM, and I prefer GG’s blast to CM’s comfort.

The leather in CM makes me think of an overstuffed burgundy armchair in an elegant wood panelled club. The leather is tinged with aloe and clove, and it is the sort of leather that one expects to sit on, but not to sweat on. To put the leather in CM in perspective, it is somewhere between the floral high fashion leather of Chanel Cuir de Russie and the weather beaten whip in Caron Yatagan. It came from an animal, but it is no longer animalic.

As the hours pass the amber in the base of CM grows stronger and sweeter, until the leather is floating in amber. At this point CM becomes boring for me, because this sweetness overpowers the leather and musk.

I enjoy Cuir Mauresque while the leather lasts, but want it gone long before the amber fades away.

On me, Cuir Mauresque starts out like some kind of cleaning fluid. It's not awful, but it's atrange and strong. After about ten minutes it starts to settle into s mild and spicy leather that's rather sweet. There is a slight floral note in there but it stays in the background. The sillage at this point is mild. While the drydown is nice, I was hoping for a leather that was either a little more animalic and/or smoky. ZZ Top was right (see his review below), on my skin this is more ambery and floral when it's all said and done. My top 3 leathers are still, Montale's Aoud Cuir d'Arabie, Tabac Blond, and vintage Jolie Madame (which can be found regularly on ebay). I think CM is a pretty scent, but since it wasn't the hardcore leather I was looking for, I'm giving it a neutral thumb.

Very compelling balsamic leather with great doze of cinnamon to my nose. It starts off by smelling really great, but unfortunetly it doesn`t behave well in the drydown : It soon releases it`s strengh, becomes sweet and very flat leather, and then it fades away completely. After this I am able to get it out only by sweatting my ass off.

So, it`s a nice fragrance with unsatisfying sillage and lasting power.

Nice arabian vibe to this one, overall. Only Lutens fragrance to this date which has some agarwood blended in.

I`m about to finish my decant of this, and that does it for me. Not FBW.

Very sweet, leathery, and spicy. A little smoky. Lots of amber. This is the best way I can describe it. My gold standard for leather scents is a vintage bottle of Chanel Cuir de Russie (which smells little like the modern version) and is pure saddles, horses, barnyard, and a cowboy with a can of Skoal in his back pocket. Now, moving on to the newer leather creations, we have Serge Lutens with the apricot suade of Daim Blonde and the spicy, fruity, leather of Cuir Mauresque. They are enjoyable, but nothing like the old, animalic genre. I'm not a big leather fragrance fan, so I give it a neutral.

Notes: amber, myrrh, burnt styrax, incense, cinnamon, aloe wood, cedar, civet, nutmeg, clove, cumin, musk, mandarin peel, orange blossom.

In the technology adoption lifecycle while crossing the chasm to mainstream acceptance, entrepreneurs need to find product and market alternatives to their product. This can also be accomplished by taking a successful product and using its features to fulfill the needs of a need in a new market. Lutens and Sheldrake take this approach with Cuir Mauresque -they take a successful leather fragrance, perform minute customizations, and then name it "Moorish (Spanish) Leather".

Cuir Mauresque (CM) is one of the more pleasant and wearable Lutens offerings. While a great leather fragrance, to my nose it also borrows heavily from Caron's nearly 100 year old classic, Tabac Blond (TB). Both feature a smoky leathery heart derived from the molecule isobutyl quinoline. The smoky leather note is richer and more forceful in TB, while its considerably tame in CM where the use of clove, aloes wood and mandarin peel strip the leather of most of its distinctive characteristics and present it as smoky-leather-lite. There is a layer of the lutens trademark oriental madness bubbling under the leather show, but thankfully it doesn't materialize or develop further. While TB ends with a rich smoky vanilla accord, CM's drydown marries the muted smoky leather note with a cool yet never overbearing incense note which to some people might spell "Tabac Blond for men".

To summarize, CM is TB with a little bit of sweetness, the same smoky leather note but toned down 5X in strength, and an incense infused drydown instead of the smoky vanilla accord in TB. If you found TB too leathery and smoky, CM might be your ticket to leather salvation. Spanish leather is marked by a distinct sweetness in addition to leather, and Lutens/Sheldrake take a fast follower approach to success by taking the TB blueprint and adding a few sweet notes to the formula - and voila!, the result is a fine spanish leather fragrance which destroys the competition (ex: Trumper etc's offerings which are too sweet and musky with barely any perceptible leather).

Note: Depending on how CM reacts on your skin, you might either get the impressions discussed above, or a heavy saccharine scent ala traditional Lutens fare (if your skin amplifies the amber and mandarin peel notes). Try before you buy.

Rating: 8.4/10

I feel tentative about reviewing Cuir Mauresque because it seems to do something different every time I wear it. On one wearing it will be a relatively sweet leather with a honeyed oriental twist. Another it will be dry, with earthy vetiver overtones, a touch of smoke, and a distinctly "nutty" drydown. It's always gratifying and sophisticated and never indulges in the diabetic-killing sweetness that turns me off of some other Sheldrake/Lutens scents. It just likes to keep me guessing.

Cuir Mauresque is a well-blended scent. So much so in fact, that I have trouble dissecting its structure, no matter which of its many moods it's in. Though it lasts well, I don't get much projection or sillage from it, so it works mostly as a skin scent for me after its first few minutes.

Cuir Mauresque is the "holy grail" of leather scents for many, but not for me. I prefer my leathers more rude or gamy: Knize Ten to Royal English Leather, Eau d'Hermes to Daim Blond, and Aoud Cuir d'Arabie to Cuir Mauresque. That said, Cuir Mauresque is clearly a top flight leather fragrance that's worth exploring for anyone with an interest in leathery scents.

What a warm and wonderful fragrance. It is a spice scent + orange citrus scent + deep leather scent all at once. The smells shift in and through combinations of leather/orange/spice like a merchant whose herd has wandered through an orange grove and the spices are being dusted up by the orange leaves. Up front is the orange peel and orange flower that is warmed up by the cinnamon, clove and nutmeg spices. Then drifting up from low places is the animal note that gives you a hint this spice trader is not so innocent. The leather is quite soft and very playful with all this madness going on around it. The three personalities go very well together and although it starts off as spice scent similar to Arabie, it ends a very fine leather with a hint of candied orange spices. A unique character. Very enjoyable.

This is easiest my favourite Serge Lutens and in the list of my top five favourite leathers. Think the leather of Tabac Blond, Chanel Cuir de Russie, the ever graceful Lanvin Scandal coupled with the candied fruits and spices of Ambre Sultan or Arabie. Very unique and wearable -- it has a "don't mess with me" type of attitude.

Definitely worthy of a bell bottle purchase.

I'm with Robyogi...and I'd add "sexy".

Well, I guess I have to come to the "defense" of one of my all-time favorite fragrances. I think this could be the most misunderstood scent in existence. First, I have to agree with Baron - there is leather here, lots of it, and in fact, it's pretty intense, almost harsh, sort of like the leather of Cuiron but deeper and richer; sort of like Knize Ten but sharper, not as buttery. This is not the vague, tough, chewy leathery quality that sits in the middle of many designer scents (JHL, Varvatos, Richard James) adding body and support to the star ingredients. It is instead a brazen leather, a star in its own right, that for some reason reminds me of the leather of high speed motion: leather seats in a Ferrari convertible, the leather jacket of the motorcyclist; maybe the leather of a whip.

Let's also remember that this is called Moorish Leather. More than just about any other scent, I believe Cuir Mauresque accurately delivers on its name. When I think of the Moors, I think of the exoticism of northern Africa, and especially southern Spain. When I think of southern Spain, I think of oranges and spices. Cuir Mauresque has those: the candied orange note, the nutmeg, the cinnamon, and the myrrhe to add some mystery, appropriate for the region.

I once used the metaphor that this is the leather of riding in that aforementioned Ferrari convertible, or that motorcycle, or maybe on horseback, speeding through some orange groves... maybe on the way to dinner where a spicy middle-eastern dish awaits. It starts off harsh and exotic, it smooths and warms as you wear it, but never becomes "comfortable" the way Knize Ten does. I think it challenges what we take "leather" to mean. For us, here in the 21st century western world, leather has come to mean leather chairs and sofas in expensive restaurants, lounges, and gentleman's clubs, maybe even fancy leather gloves, or the leather purse. All these are smooth, sophisticated, buttery. Cuir Mauresque is not these. It is exotic, mysterious, and challenging. To quote Baron once more, it's a masterpiece.

It starts with an unexpected blast of very artificial musty candy sweetness. Then sharp soap and spice and sweet incense. The sickly sweet, smoky, oriental, heavy soap and incense scent of a headshop sums it up nicely. The orange blossom, perhaps? But where's the leather? I wanted it for the leather. The closest thing to leather I get is a smoky, tar-like, metallic hint, but it's drenched in sweets and soap.

Buyer beware. Picture a fruitcake wrapped in leather and then amplified 100 fold. Completely unwearable leather scent that didn't do anything for me. If you like Arabie and Fumerie Turque this one is for you. If you don't, then avoid it like the plague.

Absolutely gorgeous leather scent. On the one hand, the leather is quite brazen - it almost has the quality of body odor. On the other hand, the orange and cinnamon sweet notes balance out the animalistic qualities with perfect harmony, making this scent quite smooth and soft. A real masterpiece.

Honey and leather. Divine!

I never thought Tabac Blond could be improved upon. Cuir Mauresque is a beautifully rich and smooth leather fragrance with a very subdued candied orange note. It’s sweet, muted, powerful, and very rich. Tabac Blond can be difficult to wear in many situations; it’s heavy and unrelenting, but Cuir Mauresque has a balance and user friendliness that Tabac Blond does not. This is also much in the same vein as Dzing! A sweet, almost gourmand leather fragrance.

Very, very, very similar to Creed's REL, the components will indicate that as well. It wears like a charm. Gorgeous