Carlo Corinto (1986)
by Carlo Corinto

this fragance created in mexico city by Jean Pierre Duran and Lilia Ritally was a riot and a hit, I wont deny it was the 80's hit in the discos, but it is not a scent for me. the firm has been developing new fragances which will be a hit.

For me, there is an anistic quality about this one, and the leather comes through loud and clear. But it's also nicely blended, and certainly wearable if you don't apply too much. One spray is enough for me. I couldn't imagine spraying this one three or four times per application. Why complain that this juice is too strong, when it means you can just spray once and save money? There's absolutely nothing "wrong" with this fragrance, though it may not be to your sense of taste, of course. I like it as a "change of pace." It was very inexpensive, and definitely more wearable than Jacomo de Jacomo, Quorom, and some of the other "old school" ones I've tried.

One 80's leather fougere I can live without... feels weak compared to the others I've tried. But god in its own way.

Well, I’ll weigh in to the spirited discussion in progress! First, a visit to the Carlo Corinto website (a particularly well-designed one, BTW) revealed a fragrance pyramid different from that here in Basenotes. Here is Corinto’s list:
TOP – bergamot, basil, thyme, lemon
MID – sage, cedarwood, olibanum, raspberry
BASE – patchouli, vanilla, leather, vetyver
I suspect this represents a current tinkering with the 80’s formulation; the fruity note in the middle (a feature of all CC’s current line) suggests that is the case. Given that, the bottle I have may be the previous version. Here’s what I found. First of all, let’s have some common sense and approach these old-school scents with caution. Apply it lightly, and writhing on the floor and banishment from the workplace won’t happen. Even in small doses, this is powerful stuff. I find it to be a cool-weather scent: it really came alive when I went outside in the early morning and worked in the garden. In hot weather and in an office, it might not be the best choice. There is a brisk citrus-herbal opening. The middle is excellent, containing good pine notes with woody spice. Everything smells fresh, natural, and balanced at this point. Discretion pays off in the dry-down, which gets rich and substantial. Leather, patchouli, amber notes are there. The cardamom interacts well with these for a while. In sum, I liked the opening and middle best, the dry-down is OK. I like CC, but will carefully pick the times when I wear it.

I believe that this complex and interesting scent was one of the few perfumes that the reclusive dandy Jean Floressas Duc des Esseintes took with him when he chose to retire from the world to his house at Fontenay on the outskirts of Paris.
His reasons for this choice were noted in his diary: "Since Carlo Corinto contains echoes of so many other scents, perambulating from the sublime and serene to the grotesque and ridiculous, it is obviously more economical, in an aesthetic rather than a merely commercial sense, to encapsulate all these variegated odours and atmospheres within a single perfume. The serene minty abstraction of the slightly bourgeois Azzaro Pour Homme, the aristocratic weight of Van Cleef & Arpels Pour Homme, the poetic autumnal smoke of Leonard Pour Homme, the masculine ruminations of the underrated Quorum, the almost criminal vulgarity of the noxious messes that are One Man Show and Krizia Uomo, the metaphysical peregrinations of Oscar Pour Lui and Zegna - plus a certain flat monotony that is all its own - they are all there. I am convinced that Carlo Corinto will memorialise for me the whole gamut of joy and sorrow, beauty, ugliness and boredom which pervades the world I am abandoning!"
His experiment with Carlo Corinto could, I suppose, be called a success. On occasions, the two elderly servants whom he had brought with him from his ancestral home at the Chateau de Lourps would find him quietly sniffing his wrists, an appreciative look in his eye. At other times, they found him writhing in anguish on the carpet, gasping for breath, as if suffocating from some unspeakable stench from the sewers.

Somewhere between the horror of Quorum and the lunatic howling of Jacomo de Jacomo comes this 80's right cross to the jaw.
Even stronger than Jacomo, but without any of its redeeming qualities, this is the one that will get fragrances banned from your workplace. Or get you fired.
Pass on this King Kong smell and Godzilla sillage.
Or give it to someone who whines about scents with poor longevity.