Cuir (2007)
by Lancôme

I bought this on whim, having read the reviews above and because I love leather (and it's on special offer above!).

I think it's a pretty good leather (specially at said, bargain price), but for me it is missing a hint of vanilla to soften it. Normally I run a mile from anything sweet, but I do feel that a touch of vanilla in the drydown goes so well with leather. Cuir de Lancome has a fairly robust, almost meaty leather opening, the drydown is quite smoky. I think this would be a good scent for layering - I'm going to try it with rose. On its own I find it a little masculine.
Don't regret my purchase, but think that I prefer Cuir Ottoman by Parfum d'Empire, very similar in the opening, but the vanillic pay-off later.
If you really love leather, still a great one to have - I find Knize 10 a bit too blatant, the Lancome version a bit smoother. A good entry level leather to see how you feel about the genre.

King of leathers for me still Cuir de Russie by Chanel, closely follwed by Cuir Fetiche, Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier.

21st December, 2011.

It escapes me totally what makes this worth the hype it gets here. This is neither a refined notes blend to create a leather scent, nor is it particularly good for what it could be on its own. Sharp, cheap smelling and soon disgusting to live with!

20th October, 2011.

Wonderful leathery opening, drying down to a polite woody oriental. The reviewer who said the drydown was like a Shalimar pour Homme is dead on.

My first blind buy and I'm slightly disappointed. I was hoping - rather stupidly - for something as animalic and plush as Cuir de Russie and its certainly not that. However, its less than quarter of the price so daily application won't cause me the emotional and spiritual pain I feel when I dab on the Chanel extrait.

I'm giving it a thumbs up. It only just achieves this (a 7.5 out of 10). I hope to enjoy it more on successive wearings.

8th September, 2011.

Given the hype in certain quarters, I was skeptical when I first tried Cuir de Lancôme, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. One wearing, and it’s up there in my leather pantheon with Chanel’s Cuire de Russie, Knize Ten, Cuir Pleine Fleur, Bandit, Derby, Oud Cuir d’Arabie, and Eau d’Hermès. That said, what were the folks at Lancôme thinking? They (re?)introduce one of the most compelling leather scents on the market, and then distribute it so erratically that nobody can actually purchase it. I see no point.

Perfume critic Luca Turin describes Cuir de Lancôme as "devoid of...ambery, smoky, and animalic notes," but I agree only on the amber. I smell Cuir de Lancôme as an intensely smoky, birch tar-laden leather, akin in this regard to Lonestar Memories, though without the "barbecue" effect that renders Andy Tauer's scent unwearable for me. I also find Cuir de Lancôme decidedly animalic from the very start, with a well-integrated civet note no less apparent than that found in Chanel's Cuir de Russie.

Smoky, animalic leather and bergamot dominate the top notes. They soon receive support from a reserved floral bouquet that reveals flashes of jasmine and crisp rose among an otherwise seamlessly blended accord. Conspicuously absent is the dark, plummy fruit accord found at the heart of Knize Ten (and in the scores of leather chypres that came in its wake). And while Cuir de Lancôme employs iris in its central leather accord, its iris is not the plush-bordering-on-indulgent iris root of Cuir de Russie. The result is a dry, woody, smoky leather accord that's very much a thing unto itself. The closest analog I have experienced among my preferred leather fragrances is Montale's Oud Cuir d'Arabie, though Cuir de Lancôme doesn’t partake in the medicinal pungency of oudh.

The drydown leans heavily on woody notes, enlivened by a discreet touch of herbaceous patchouli. It's at this stage that the absence of powdery vanillic amber Luca Turin observes impacts Cuir de Lancôme most obviously, distinguishing its late stages from many another scent in this family. I'd further point out that moss is no more apparent here than heavy amber, so that Cuir de Lancôme eschews chypre references just as effectively as oriental leanings. I'm left feeling that this fragrance occupies a certain locus classics close to the very center of leather scent geography. I only hope that someday Lancôme will see fit to make it more widely available. In the meantime, I've just ordered myself a backup bottle.

17th April, 2011. (Last Edited: 18th April, 2011.)

Nice leather but due to the other notes it's a bit too feminine for me, and I wear plenty of "women's" fragrances. I think there is a kind of syrupy quality that bothers me, but I wonder if I'd like it if the leather note was turned up quite a bit. It almost feels like it's trying too hard to be liked, and that "art" was sacrificed to likability. If you don't want a leather fragrance that is sweet and powdery, then I don't think you need to sample this one. If you do, then you'll probably like it.

13rd February, 2011.

12nd February, 2011.