Reviews of Oud Cuir D'Arabie
by Montale

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.

I think I could love this concept if it was made by some other perfume house. As it is, it's too perfumey/generic/vintage-styled for my taste. I love leather scents, with the exception of vintage leather scents. This has a similar powdery/dry/sharp/sour vibe as Bandit. Not as bad as Bandit, not downright unpleasant, and at least I do get a little leather out of it, but it's like a great scent hiding in a conventional vintage costume. I think I like my scents a little more raw, with detectable notes.

Considering the complexity of oud, Oud Cuir d'Arabie seems very unidimensional and surprisingly unrounded to me. The opening is pure Band-Aid. As it unwraps, what it releases is reminiscent to me of the smell of an old housefire--furniture that has been hauled to the curb by firemen to smolder. There is far, far too much cade or birch tar, not enough leather, virtually no tobacco and if there was ever oud, it is overshadowed by being smoldered to death. Smell 10 Corso Como; that's oud.

Close to the skin, there are some detectable nuances, I love fragrances that "unfold" as you persist while we tune out the persistent familiar. But what persisted for me was a flat, burnt rubber smell after the firemen had washed any detectable top notes from the rubble.

The biggest redeeming factor of this scent was that it comes with an unscrewable lid so that I could fix it with three drops of myrrh essence to at least give it some dimension and the richness I was expecting. Some saffron, something interesting for $210, Mssr. Montale!