English Leather Lime (1966)
by Dana

The combination of splashing (right word) citrus, lime, bergamot, cedar, woods and leather is iconic of a left back era, exotic (great men, great enterprices, great travels, cruisings ad frigo bar) and fresh. The lime feel is prominent for sure overcasting a bit the leathery feel that on the  contrary is more stressed and starring in the English Leather formula. Here, in the English Leather Lime, the leather effect comes out just very late in the hesperidic splashing burst and with a faint and subtle effect. This is not the mossy and denser  leather of English Leather yellow as it's indeed more citrusy, sporty and airy. The smell is astringent, mature and elegant.

20th January, 2012.

This gets a thumbs up because I am thinking that at one time this was probably longer lasting and projected more but the present product which is no longer made in the U.S. is rather weak.

I love limes and the English Leather lineage is in the background and together they seem to combine to make a cedar-like accord at the top and thoughout.

It is linear and does not "mature", evolve or change in any way. It must be re-applied after an hour. It is cheap and will not be a big let down for the price you pay.

Now that I think of it............I guess I'll start off on a quest for a vintage bottle of the MEM version.

31st May, 2011.

The Dana version was a poor imitation to the Mem Lime. Dana produced a more minty cheaper fragrance while Mem had a pungent fresh lime scent, attractive packaging and liquid color. It's not surprising that lime was discontinued because it just couldn't hold up to the original. Hopefully in the future it can relaunched with better packaging and a fragrance like Mem had for 25 years. Even the flagship English Leather cologne changed when Mem sold out. This is why these old new fragrances are still popular on Ebay. The Mem English Leather Lime was the best lime cologne I ever smelled.

11th December, 2009.

Personally, I rather love this. It does not smell anywhere near as cheap nor as old as you'd expect. Especially since I bought a 0.5 ml bottle for 99 cents at the 99 cents only store. Yes, you heard me, 99 cents. It smells well-formulated and delightful to me - happy, fresh, limey, lively, clean, and simply yummy. Unfortunately, it literally lasts about a minute or two on my skin, if that. But at that price, I just keep splashing it on. It's nice for an at-home "I want to smell clean but I don't want to waste a nice scent" day. I used to splash some on after a particularly smelly lunch, too. Made me feel as if I'd just showered. Very simple. Complex? Base notes? Nyet. It's lime in a cologne. End of story.

18th October, 2009.

I feel a little disappointed that they discontinued this one, but it's so weak that I won't be devastated. Once I put a fair amount on, did a full day of heavy physical labor in the sun, and realized that I wasn't smelling it at all, which really shocked me given the circumstances. Right out of the splash bottle it smells great, like the original with a good dose of an appealing but "blunted" or dulled lime, like when the creaminess of a key lime pie counters some of the tartness. I think at the time they were afraid or unable to make the lime as sharp as they might today, but that also means it doesn't smell as artificial as it might. If it were stronger I'd keep it.

29th July, 2009.

English Leather Lime is very much a 1960s American splash cologne.

On initial application, ELL has much of the same "just-opened can of Coca-Cola" accord that Eau d'Hermes has. Whether it's natural lime oil or not, that tap of lime quickly fades, as it was intended to. That's followed up with a bright spice note that reminds me of cumin more than sage, over a wood/musks base. One source listed cedar as a note, but I'm again I'm reminded far more of a synthetic sandalwood than Iso-E or No.2 pencils.

Thumbs up because English Leather Lime still is a nice fragrance that's easy on my nose.

25th July, 2009.