Aoud Cuir D'Arabie
by Montale

When first applied this scent smells either like some strange, pungent cheese, or like someone just got off of a spinning ride at Coney Island and vomited. The kicker is that I love this stuff, because after a few patient minutes, those initial notes pass and what emerges is the fine rich leather that this sent is supposed to be about. However, simultaneously you get something like a used ashtray and fresh human sweat note that creates a kind of biker bar atmosphere around you. By now you're probably looking at that "Thumbs up" icon to the right of this review thinking "huh?", but what ties it all together is the warm rose that weaves in and out of the leather the whole time. This scent is NOT for the shy or reserved. Male or female, you have to have a sense of humor to carry this off. It has a real personality that creates a whole performance as you wear it, featuring seedy characters making cameo appearances and all.If I had to campare it to something else, I'd say Dzing! but with black leather arm bands with metal studs and a little less underlying sweetness.

This review is under revision.

OMG! For the first few minutes, this stuff reeks to high heaven in an extremely bad way! However, it eventually develops into an impressive high-quality leather scent.

This is one of the few Montale aouds that I really admire but its moderate sillage and longevity (roughly 4 hours) has left me doubting if this stuff is bottle-worthy. Still, it’s definitely one of the best leather scents I’ve ever had the pleasure of wearing (well, after the topnotes subside, that is…).

However, I urge you to repeat this mantra:

Try before you buy
Try before you buy
Try before you buy
Try before you buy…

Cuir d'Arabie-- Fresh leather with a bit of hay. There's a light mint, maybe vetiver? This goes flat on me and reminds me of those red erasers on top of yellow pencils. Weird.

Continuing my rounds of the Montale Aoud line, I've finally gotten to Aoud Cuir d'Arabie, and this, along with Black Aoud, is among my favorites to date.

Aoud Cuir d'Arabie launches itself in a spectacular blaze of oud and dark, smoky leather. Utterly intoxicating, if you've got the nerve to wear it. A rich tobacco note (think Cuban cigar) soon joins the fray, and the oud begins to settle down and integrate.

As the heart opens up, the rose note so common among the Montale Aoud line members comes into focus, adding yet anotehr dimension, though its sweetness also leads the whole composition in a slightly more conventional direction.

In its early phases, Aoud Cuir d'Arabie shares a compellingly rugged, untamed quality with Black Aoud, though it becomes a less jagged scent after the first couple of hours. Aoud Cuir d'Arabie also develops along a more conventional timescale than Black Aoud, which is to say you don't have to wait 12 hours before it starts to evolve. On the downside, it doesn't have its cousin's 24 hour-plus lasting power, though it is by no means ephemeral.

Raw, pungent, smoky. Leather for the S & M set. Cigarettes and latex. When the smoke dispels, the leather remains, still bold, but with a more natural aroma. There is a surprising, creative mint interval that I cannot explain. If I had any guts, I would wear this downtown to the Cinema XXX and see who follows me.