Spanish Leather (1830)
by Truefitt & Hill

Reminds me of a stronger Sex Appeal

5th January, 2012.

Another member I know proclaimed this stuff to be completely devoid of leather, and I see what he meant in the sense of how soapy and sweet it is. The very top notes are surpsingly dry and citrusy, with spices way down underneath as in Trafalgar. The lavender comes out in front, so as usual I feel like I need to wait it out, but it doesn't take long for a sweet resinous leather/soap to emerge, with spices similar to those in Bel Ami but not as overdone. It does get sweeter and soapier into the mid notes, and less truly leathery, but for those of you like me who hate things as nightmarishly sweet and floral as Creed Royal English Leather, it's not nearly that strong. Still, a little bit of the bubblegum note from REL is in here, and it gives a slight candy vibe which I could do without. There's a lot of vanilla in the base as well, which doesn't help. This fragrance is trying to wear many hats, and not entirely succeeding with all of them. I think it's trying to have more leather content than Trumper's ill-named Spanish Leather, but it doesn't quite know how to do it. Ultimately, I still like it because the end result of this failed multitasking is a very creamy wood fragrance, close to Davidoff's Zino, but you have to be careful with it because it's so sweet.

5th December, 2011.

A spicy and sweet opening that quickly develops into a castile soap smell. This becomes more pronounced as the scent develops with some underlying musk present. Way too soapy for me and I detect absolutely no leather. I much prefer GFT version as at least there is some leather undertones in that and it smells more like saddle soap.

26th April, 2011.

Spanish Leather = a light Kouros Fraicheur.

Wears close to the skin like an after-shave. Doesn't last long, which is typical for Truefitt & Hill fragrances.

Why settle for this when there's so much better out there?

28th February, 2010.

Very soapy, spicy and sweet, possibly a bit on the musky side to be an "everyday" cologne for me. Seems to have an awful lot going on for the entire duration of the fragrance, but with the soapy element getting stronger and muskier as it progresses.
Overall it's not bad, but it just feels a little cluttered. It's as if they ran out of ideas so decided to chuck every spice they had in, but in tiny individual quantities. The end result is both slightly confusing and disappointingly underpowered, treading the fine line between "not enough" and "too much." It creates a nicely refined vibe, but I have no idea when I would want to wear this - too refined for daytime, too casual and ever so slightly "cheap" smelling for formal or eveningwear. It would make a really nice scent for a bath soap (which I believe T&H make), or a scented candle (which they don't), but as a cologne, it's not quite where it aims to be.

Longevity is around 4-6 hours on me, but it projects very well, as I find most leathers do. Good, but there's a lot more out there which does the job in a nicer way. The 3 stars I gave it is closer to how I feel about it than the neutral rating, but I can't justify giving it a thumbs up.

8th August, 2009.

Spicey, saddle soap topnotes seated atop a choking cloud of equine musk, that could never pass for a gentleman in polite society.

17th June, 2009.