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What is leather?: an ingredient or the effect of other ingredients?

post #1 of 6
2/4/07 at 4:26pm
Thread Starter 
As a relative novice to appreciating fragrances, I have a question that so far I don't know the answer.

In fragrance pyramids, leather can be found as an ingredient (sometimes preceded by an adjective), and usually -but not always- in the basenotes.

Is it an ingredient (if so, what? leather oil? how obtained?) or the effect of other ingredients usually found in 'leathery' scents, such as labdanum. cistus,
styrax, birchtar, etc.).

A salesperson at a niche house in NYC told me it is an ingredient.
Yet somehow I feel I don't know the answer.

I seek your expertise.
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post #2 of 6
2/4/07 at 6:43pm
It is not an ingredient. You are correct--it is an accord of leathery notes, usually the very ones you mention, plus or minus.
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post #3 of 6
2/4/07 at 9:26pm
Also many people use different things to cure the leather so you get say: Russian Leather, English Leather, etc. Quite a while back little kids were paid to collect dog poo to treat the leather, but that was quite awhile ago.
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post #4 of 6
2/6/07 at 5:22am
Leather scent comes from the time when perfumes born not just as waters to put on themselves but also as scented potions to mask the (so considered at that time) unpleasant smell of tanned leather for gloves (tradition imported by Caterina de Medici at the french court).
Hence the use of blending leather-like and other notes (florals, citrus etc.) to let them melt with the tanned leather smell making it more appealing.
It became so characteristic and well concocted to become also popular and not considered anymore "unpleasant" then and so it has been carried till nowadays.
A leather fan.
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post #5 of 6
2/6/07 at 6:19am
I also read somewhere that the city streets of old Paris and London stank horribly with the garbage and sewage so that the aristocrats in their carriages would raise a gloved hand to their nose to sheild themselves--a leather glove, and heavily perfumed.
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post #6 of 6
2/11/07 at 3:01pm
Thread Starter 
To Shycat, TDDanae, and Magnifiscent: my thanks for the helpful
and historically interesting information.

The picture I get is that there are likely several accords that stand for what is termed 'leather'.
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Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Just Starting Out › What is leather?: an ingredient or the effect of other ingredients?