Yet another Leather thread

There are so many great leathers it is hard to know where to even begin (although Knize Ten certainly is a good starting point as classic leathers go). Aramis and I never clicked, but if you can get your hands on the discontinued Cuiron by Helmut Lang it is my reference soft suede leather, Cuir Pleine Fleur by Heeley is a fabulous floral leather, heavily animalic leathers (a group i personally dislike) like Cuir de Russie by Chanel, and then there are compositions where leather is not the focus but the scents still feature great leather notes like Maxim's pour Homme and Giorgio VIP for Men.

Aoud Cuir d'Arabie

Dior Eau Sauvage Fraiche Cuir

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Dior Eau Sauvage Fraiche Cuir

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Dior Eau Sauvage Fraiche Cuir

I like Floris' Mahon Leather.

MPG Parfum D'Habit

Well, duh, you better get to trying the Knize Ten already.

I was favorably impressed by Ford's Tuscan Leather last time I was sniffing about.

Vintage:

Leonard pour Homme
Van Cleef & Arpels pH
Francesco Smalto pH
Fendi pour Homme

An interesting new leather release is Fan di Fendi pour Homme

I've recently entered a leather exploration phase, so I acquired samples of:

- Cuir Ottoman (Parfums d'empire): Very nice and wearable, reminds me of L'instant de Guerlain pour Homme with a little suede on top. I might see myself buying a bottle of this.

- Knize Ten: I have been scared half to death by a smelling strip of K10, but I decided to bite the bullet and try it on skin anyway. I told my GF to be afraid, very very afraid, etc. and... well, we both LOVED it! It's powerful stuff certainly, but nowhere near as "nasty" as it seems on paper - and it was (much against my expectations) a massive compliment-getter on New Year's Eve. Buying a full bottle next week.

- Knize Ten Golden Edition: I actually tried wearing this before K10, and I rather liked it, but it's not quite "there", if you know what I mean. I believe it's supposed to be a more wearable/modern interpretation of K10 and, in these terms, it succeeds; the problem is that what makes K10 old-fashioned and "hard to wear" (not necessarily, but you know what I mean) is also what it makes it so enticing and effective.

- Cuir Pleine Fleur (Heeley): exceedingly civilized - somewhere around the smell of a shirt after it rested in a leather bag for a few minutes, say - and way more feminine than I expected. After loving Menthe Fraiche and the wonderful Sel Marin I was expecting something stunning, so I'll admit there's a bit of disappointment here.

- Yatagan (Caron): Not a leather fragrance, no matter what I was led to believe. My GF loves it, I think I'd love it too if it weren't for the overbearing and infamous "celery" note that hides a lot of the nuances, as far as my nose is concerned.

- Dzing! (L'Artisan Parfumeur): *this* is leather. More exactly, this is the tiger cage - for the first 30 seconds. Afterwards, it turns into something surprisingly nice that hovers between a leather jacket and the memory of soap. I think it leans ever so slightly towards the feminine side of leather, but it's absolutely wearable by a guy (provided you can face the beginning).

and full bottles of:
- Tauer's Lonestar Memories: my experience with this is the opposite than with K10: loved it on paper, bought it and found I can't really wear it on skin. The main leather note, which is what I find so overpowering on my skin, is rather peculiar and the end result is something more like "new car smell" than "leather jacket" or anything like that.

- Aramis Classic: I've been circling this for ages, sniffing it on paper and finding almost unbearable everytime. The last time I found a smaller bottle for (almost) cheap and took the plunge - ten minutes later I was in love. What I found out after spraying it on skin is that it's actually not a leather fragrance at all: the initial pungency is more related to lemon than to anything else, and what remains is a strangely spicy/earthy fragrance that's very easy to wear and appreciate.

Hope this helps =)

Personally I do not like Knize 10. It smells too dated IMO. But I would certainly recommend trying it if you haven't - many people seem to love it. So, if you are doing your homework on leathers, this is a must-try

My favorite is (discontinuted, but may possibly be able to find) Creed Royal English Leather.

Others that I like quite a bit are:
Cuir Ottoman (probably my 2nd favoirte)
Puredistance M
Ambré Baldessarini
Dirty English (not mostly leather, but its there)
Chanel Cuir de Russie
Byredo Bullion

So many great leathers mentioned already.
My favorites are perhaps the two butchest:
Etat Libre d'Orange Rien: bitter, musky, and animalic. Go light on this one, it doesn't seem much when you spray. Then the animal comes out
Bandit: s&m leather with greens

Then there's the classic Knize Ten, still great. Aramis and perhaps even better the sister Estee Lauder Azuree, which is very similar, less musky and more citrusy up top.

For smoothness, ELdO Tom of Finland (lemony-saffrony) and Chanel Cuir de Russie (especially in parfum concentration). Interesting, with something fresh and vetiver, there's Vero Kern Onda (which is also animalic) and the airy Lancome Cuir.

cacio

Maybe I just don't understand what is meant by a 'leather scent' but when I browse threads many of the usual suspects come up, most of which are mentioned in this thread. With this in mind I tried K10 and Lonestar Memories but I found neither could scratch my itch. Neither could Montale Cuir D'Arabie

From everything I've tried the only fragrance that really blows me away with what I would call a proper leather smell is:



I wish it wasn't so expensive and that it was more widely available, although as my search continues and I find no other fragrance can stand up to it in terms of really smelling like leather, I will probably have to swallow hard and pay the price of admission.

John Varvatos

Definitely Cuir Pleine Fleur by Heeley.

Derby

+1 yes this is the only real leather, forget about Chanel:-) , and some other smoky bitter scents that are not leather!

Lancome cuir is nice femminine style leather

Bandit is not leather to me,

Leather must be animalic:-) , but not dirty or fecal, just like leather jacket! Its never fecal:-)

Never tried Onda, but i have high hopes for it!!:-)

I did a poll on this question last month with more than 130 people voting and almost 50 posting answers - the top three were Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, Knize Ten, and Chanel Cuir de Russie.
You might find that thread interesting: http://www.basenotes.net/threads/317...her?highlight=

cuir ottoman
bandit

Creed Cuir de Russie (fresh top note), Royal English Leather and Royal Delight (with vanilla); but Knize 10 remains one of my favourites. Also Aramis, Sybaris/Puig and Hermes Bel Ami.

My favorite leather, and one that's not discussed often is Serge Lutens Boxeuses, dark plummy, shiny black leather.

Cuiron if you can find it.

Some not mentioned yet ...

Guerlain Arsene Lupin (violet leather)
Parfumerie Generale Cuir d'Iris (what it sounds like)
Serge Lutens Cuir Mauresque (tannery)
Cabochard by Gres

I know basically diddly-squat about leather frags but I know I love Cuir Velours by Naomi Goodsir.

All the one's already referred by fellow BN'ers &

To add - Or Black by Pascal Morabito, Amen Parfum de Cuir, Odori Cuoio, Moni di Orio's Les Nombres d'Or Cuir, Dior Prive Leather Oud, L'Artisan's Traverse du Bosphore, L T Piver Cuir de Russie & list goes on...I own just the first 4 on these

My fav is Knize 10 of all leathers - and this is one of the most underrated amongst leathers; Cuir Mauresque, Or Black, Odori, Cuir Ottoman all come 2nd IMO...

Knize Ten - one of my favourites too! And for a gentler alternative the Sec version.

My reference leather is still Knize Ten. With that said, I'm a freak for almost anything leathery-phenolic-animalic-tarry so most of the fragrances already mentioned have been big winners in my book...

I'll second and/or add...

Bandit
Azuree
Cabochard
Jolie Madame (vintage)
Cuir De Russie (Chanel)
Puredistance M
Bal Ami (vintage)
Onda
Derby
Cuir Pleine Fleur
Rien
Aoud Cuir D'Arabie
Cumming
Cuoio Odori

...to name a few....