Cuir Mauresque by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, 1996

A superb scent, blasting off with Tabac Blond notes, then settling down into an identical copy of Knize Ten. Points off for lack of originality, but copying the greats is an act of homage. Since Knize Ten is cheaper per volume than Cuir Mauresque, it makes more sense to stick with Knize, but in terms of quality SL's version is excellent and has great longevity.

Along with Muscs Koublai Khan and Chergui, this is the very pinnacle of the Serge Lutens range. Unlike MKK, however, this won't cause people around you to scrunch their noses up in revulsion. After the initial (admittedly less than stellar) spicy leather opening, the jasmine becomes more noticeable, and for this reason alone Cuir Mauresque becomes instantly more appropriate for an office environment than other strong, linear leather scents. In fact, this fragrance is the very opposite of linear - the leather stays throughout but the supporting notes change from spicy to floral, and then to powdery. The caraway notes make this lean more towards being a masculine fragrance, and for that reason I find it better than the stellar Cuir de Russie by Chanel. Longevity is exceptional, all day and into the evening with a couple of sprays.

Starts like Myrurgia's Maderas de Oriente, turns into Knize Ten.

A Scrubber...Smells exactly like a truck-stop lavatory. Like urinal cake deodorizers, and wet leather boots. Awful.

This is one of the worst fragrances I've ever smelled .This should not be called "Cuir", it smells like soft velvet . Top notes are horrible , cough syrup+ glue is what I get .You want a true leather? Try Knize Ten, Cuir Ottoman or Cuir de Russie . Mr Lutens , this is a stain in your catalogue .

What a great Leathery and Exotic Spice scent this is ... a Bona fide "UNISEX scent. A man would be comfortable in wearing this as an evening scent. Like I did . yet..... I'd love to smell this on a well dressed woman ... she'd have to be a very confident and mysterious one much like this fragrance is .... The mandarin peel and orange blossom with cedar notes listed are sooo subtle they are indiscernible. The dry down is powdery and brings to mind CHANEL - CUIR de RUSSIE and a bit ...of "CARON's Tabac Blonde" I'll just say ...... Entertain Inspirations...... Embrace Decadent Cravings... Reward Yourself...... I'm reveling in all its sordid exotic scented ironies...

If you like butch and sweet floral leathers, Cuir Mauresque is a terrific fragrance well worth checking out. Somewhere between Knize Ten and Tabac Blond yet no match for either.

Taken on its own, Cuir Mauresque is a lovely fragrance. It does not, alas, exist in a vacuum and there are several fragrances that long ago provided the basis for Lutens's offering: Cuir de Russie, Knize Ten, Amouage Gold Men, et cetera. I greatly enjoy these classical floral leathers, but I prefer mine a bit smokier and a bit dirtier (or oilier). As a leather scent, the leather here is tad too demure and the florals a bit too vociferous. As a floral, it is superb and would be essential if the aforementioned fragrances didn't exist. The "thumbs" system is always a bit arbitrary - this smells too good to pan but at the same time it is quite generic and derivative that it's not quite fully deserving of unqualified praise. Nice work but even the best Elvis impersonator is still an imitator.

well i do not where to begin. When i tried it i began to wonder what old old scent it does resemble. Cloves, a bit resinous notes and smoke, yes some leather but then rises the oldest part; sweet oakmoss. Yes mitsouko. I do not have an sample to compare but i remember so. Of course cuır mauresque is more sophisticated. But i will code it as mitsouko in leather. well one can forgive mitsouko for being so old, overpowering, cloying because it is old. It is launched at the end of first world war. It is historic. And what is excuse of cuir mauresque? I apreciate even older scents. I am not a modernist. It is not about age but about timbre. Think mitsouko and Champs-Elysées from Guerlaine. They are like sounds of a church organ and violin. They can be equally old but first can be funerary and second can be lively. If we go back to cuir maresque; it is old fashioned and heavy. Not wearable to me.

It's Bal a Versailles, just a little creamier. Not for me. Smells too old world.