Reviews of Cuir Ottoman (2006)
by Parfum d'Empire

If you like your leather scent to be less floral but more leather-like, look no further. This is the real deal. Unlike the fine leather impressionists such as Heeley's Cuir Pleine Fleur and Serge Lutens' Daim Blond, CUIR OTTOMAN's florals are subdued enough to allow a more realistic projection of the leather scent you smell off shoes, bags, even furniture. There is also a certain dry 'saltiness' about it that reminds me of preserved fruits. Rather mouth-watering if you ask me. While I can imagine men wearing this, this is not for me. I don't wish to smell like a pair of shoes. I also feel the only women who can pull this scent off with panache are the leather-clad rock chicks. But then again, with that much leather in their attire, they probably won't be needing this scent at all.

Everyone seems to be getting something a bit different out of Cuir Ottoman. Could it be a "chemistry" thing?

For me Cuir Ottoman went on tart, with the leather, a fresh, bitter green note, and something vanillic in the background. During the first hour the opening tart note becomes positively sour - even a touch vinegary - before softening and melding with floral and fruity heart notes and the now-prominent leather in a new accord. The impression is of something sweet and fruity: perhaps a cherry candy wrapped in leather. Odd and intriguing, but also a bit artificial or synthetic to my humble nose.

The tart note continues to fade over the next few hours, allowing the heart to soften, and the fruit and florals blend more completely with the leather. At this stage Cuir Ottoman began to ring familiar, though I couldn't immediately decide why. Then it hit me: Daim Blond. That's right, the Serge Lutens fragrance plays the same kind of fruit and leather game, though prehaps with a bit more finesse.

Leather and vanillic notes hold sway over the drydown, though the sweet floral elements never fully lose their grip. The whole performance takes place close to the skin, with only minimal projection. This is a nice scent, and if you like Daim Blond you probably ought to try it. Me? I'm more compelled by other leathers, including Oud Cuir D'Arabie, Tabac Blond, Knize Ten and Cuir Mauresque. Oh, and mochi227 is right - its unquestionably unisex.

Cuir Ottoman is amazing. It opens with a strong, luxurious leather scent. The leather stays through the wear. Notes of wood and tobacco come through to me. There is a slight floral or vanilla tht begins to open up and soften it, but never makes it sweet. I have tried to many leather scents to count, and this is definitely the one that achieves complexity without betraying the essence of leather.

Leather and Iris, that's what I got when I sprayed this on my arm. The scent dries down to a less vanillic Bulgari Black, a bit more subdued and refined.

Classy offering, definitely wearable for a man, but nothing groundbreaking.

Cuir Ottoman starts off rather boozy, for the first five minutes I could smell is a note that reminds me of Jack Daniel's Old No7. The floral heart notes start to creep in on top of the boozy note with the leather not far behind; at this point in its development Cuir Ottoman seems to lose coherence, becoming a raucous cacophony of rather synthetic smelling notes. The iris comes in adding an earthiness and a little dirt but it still seems muddled by the time the basenotes are fully apparent.

After all of the good words I have read about this fragrance, I wish I could find a redeeming factor... but it eludes me. This is an unbalanced, muddled, synthetic smelling mess of a fragrance; all in all quite a horrid scent.

Slightly dirty and kinky leather with iris, fruits, and something balsamic. Intoxicating sillage. A guilty pleasure.

Interesting, this smells like leather and... candy powder. Like Romeo Gigli for men. Leather and florals in reality, it just doesn't get anywhere else aside from SweeTarts dipped in tanning solution. Smells very well construction but definintely not for me to wear.

I will join to the neutral reviewers gang here.

CO is a nice, well done leather scent, but it doesn`t deliver me any particular vibrations.
Dark, little bit chemichal burnt styrax note and oily leather engaged with iris, jasmine and some balsams. Nice blend, but it really lacks that wow-factor plus overall impact despite the reasonably edgy character. I`m not quite sure whats wrong with it, but it really doesn`t melt my heart at all.

For the fan of Aoud Cuir d`Arabie and Knize Ten like me, this just isn`t that satisfying fragrance.

The very first note made a flash scent memory from childhood. The old sewing machine of mum; the lubricating grease combined with the leather strain on the metal wheel you run with foot. In ten minutes you notice leather but synthetic and metalic note stays over leather for half an hour. beside being very chemical to my nose the leather note in it is not the soft alluring note of tabac blond or daim blond but the cloying and masculine note in the royal english leather by creed.

When this first goes on it smells like soft, exquisite, freshly-tanned leather. I find it quite intoxicating. As it dries down it takes on a fruitier character, although I can't quite identify the fruits other than to say it's a mix of berries, though they never turn sweet, exactly.

Vibert mentioned a "vinegary" phase in his review. I pick up a note of balsamic vinegar on certain occasions when I where this, though not always. I can't say I find it a particularly pleasant note (although I love balsamic vinegar on salad) and it's the only mark against this fragrance in my book. Who wants to smell like vinegar? Fortunately, I only detect it intermittently.

Not for everyone, but definitely worth trying.

"Smoking handbags" was the considered opinion of my chap when I wafted my be-Ottomaned wrist under his nose.

I tend to agree...when I first put this on, I could just smell very pure tobacco and leather notes...

I guess the holy grail of the perfumier is to create a fragrance that makes people want to describe it in adjectives that are nothing to do with actual smell, but which instead conjure up a place or a feeling. Unfortunately all too often this results in a narcolepsy-inducing bog-standard fruity floral "celebrity" perfume...but what a find!...Cuir Ottoman succeeds completely in this for me, reminding me of my grandfather's study, all expensive wood and ancient books and fine brandy.

I don't get any floral notes at all, weirdly, but am only just starting to train my nose to fine gradations of scents. There is a fairly strong suggestion of incense (not sure what the technical term is), and generic timber too.

More of a winter fragrance I think - but it's comparative lack of sweetness means it doesn't cloy in the summer - I wear it to work every now and then. I love the sillage and its reassuring cuddliness. It's strong and reassuring and Mr. Darcyish, but so reminiscent of luxury-goods I think it would be happily at home on either a woman or a man.

The comparisons to Tabac Blond are interesting....I had high expectations for TB but found it sharp and uni-dimensional and air-freshener-y...sort of like a stroppy, aggressive businesswoman who thinks she's being assertive and go-getting but actually just alienates people ...Cuir Ottoman is the same sort of genre of perfume I think, but for me, CO is like a businesswoman who's as fabulously calm, stylish and kind as she is talented and capable. Definitely a thumbs-up from me.

Basically, a ‘fluffy’ version of Daim Blond (but minus the apricot notes). Longevity is average on me but its sillage is even better – the way it envelops the wearer is certainly its strongest point. However, there’s an airiness about Cuir Ottoman that I don’t particularly like. Added to the fact that it comes across as a tad too perfumery for my tastes, I’d rather pass on this one. I wouldn’t say it’s completely feminine but it does seem to attempt to be heading in that direction.

The bottle’s beautiful, though.

Like some of the reviewers before me, I find the variety of interpretations as to just what this fragrance smells like are quite surprising.
Bearing in mind that I'm relatively new to the fragrance world and this is my first test of this fragrance, here is what my nose tells me.
Cuir Ottoman opens with a sweet, powdery, almost tangy violet note. This is probably caused by the orris, but the orris here is so strongly modified by the other florals as to send it directly into violet territory. The scent almost reminded me of Parma Violet candies, which were favorites of mine as a kid.
The leather entered fairly soon after the brightness of the top notes faded, but it's very soft. While related to the leather note in Tabac Blond - the closest as far as my nose has experienced - it's far, far more mellow than that leather or for that matter, any of the other leathers I've tried. If this was translated into leather, it would be sueded cotton. It is, however, a realistic leather note, especially as its presence becomes more noticeable in the dry down.
I didn't sense the other florals too strongly. I think I might have smelled a touch of rose, but no jasmine, despite it being listed.
The base notes came as a surprise to me.
I noticed two distinct base note sections. The first happened about five hours after I put it on, when the leather faded and the violet morphed into a recognizable orris note, that scent dominating for some time. After about two hours of this, the orris mellowed out, bringing forward the benzoin and balsam, a gentle vanillic quality initiating the second base section.
The smell at this point is almost gourmand; it reminded me of fresh-baked sugar cookies. There's a slight impression of almond, too; those who've experienced Farnesiana will find it in miniature here, hidden in the last phase of this fragrance.
The sillage and longevity are both great on my skin.
All in all, a lovely leather fragrance, though I hesitate to call it unisex and I'm pretty sure it's not for me.

Had to review this because I just don't know what the other reviewers are smelling. Could there be a variety of samples out there?

A very gentle and soft leather - possibly the softest leather I have sampled. Very wearable. There are no animalic, stinky elements here, and no castoreum or tar - very warm and alluring. It's like Daim Blonde without the apricot opening. A suede leather - leather between an elevating iris opening and balsam finish with nice leather in the middle. An old leather club chair. Very Chanel in its gentle leathery quality. A nice one.

Beautifully made composition; a mix between Knize Ten & Nostalgia from Santa Maria Novella.
Smooth sweet and dry leathery smell, with good lasting power, really nice to wear.
As someone else pointed out Cuir Ottoman is listed here as a Women’s scent… estrange…I would say very masculine.

Interesting. My experience was totally unlike robyogi's. On me, Cuir Ottoman is redolent smoky styrax (I thought castoreum at first), gasoline, and leather. It smells like hot asphalt being laid down by hot sweaty workmen in leather coveralls. Not to say this is a bad scent ;)

The day after, on my jacket, this scent had shown a shimmer of sweetness, but during its long wear on my skin, it was all dark, sticky tar and leather, with nothing sweet about it at all. Was quite interesting on a cold winter night.

Surprised its listed as a women's scent. To me this is about as unisex as you can get.

Ah, what an exquisitely dry and smokey leather, almost with a hint of tar and gasoline, like som chic, urband CdG but stronger and more rugged, more like a worn leather chair with a biker in it.

Parfum d'Empire has to be one of the most overlooked houses. Every one of their scents is, to my mind and nose, successful in what it tries to do. This scent is all leather, smooth and refined. There's a slight powdery and sweetly floral quality to it, but I can't pick out any individual notes. The scent it most reminds me of is Pierre Cardin's Cuir Casaque. Cuir Ottoman is actually pretty close to that scent, but less powdery, less floral, and because of that, to my nose, more unisex and more approachable. It's softer, wearing closer to the skin than Cuir Casaque, which to my mind makes it more wearable for those semi-formal occasions where I imagine scents like these work best. If you like smooth, powdery leather, you need to try this. Another winner from this house, which already boasts one of my favorite "citrus" scents (Iskander) and one of my favorite Ambers (Ambre Russe).