L'Homme Accompli (2016)
by Divine

Genre: Leather

I have to hand it to Divine: this outfit has taken great care with their line. They’ve introduced something like a dozen fragrances over roughly three decades, and there’s been little if any dross among those offerings. L’Homme Accompli extends the tradition of L’Homme Sage and L’Homme de Coeur in presenting a comparatively sophisticated, understated, yet complex fragrance, apparently aimed at the man with discerning tastes and a nose for quality. While L’Homme Sage is a spicy woody oriental and L’Homme de Coeur is a masculine iris that makes Dior Homme look positively crass by comparison, L’Homme Accompli is a clean, suave leather scent that can stand without shame alongside Tom Ford’s Tuscan Leather and Helmut Lang’s Cuiron.

After the briefest citrus flourish of an opening, L’Homme Accompli moves directly into its central leather accord, which is relatively dry, crisp, and transparent. This is not the plush leather of Chanel’s Cuir de Russie, the animalic leather of Montale’s Aoud Cuir d’Arabie, or the dense, fruity leather of Knize Ten. Nor is it the kind of smoky, tarry leather Andy Tauer gives us in Lonestar Memories. I come back to Lang’s Cuiron with its relatively clear, clean leather accord, as an analog. L’Homme Accompli’s leather shows signs of birch tar, but also some violet leaf, vetiver, and cedar. The overall transparency and the use of violet leaf and vetiver draw a distant parallel to Heeley’s delightful Cuir Pleine Fleur, but L’Homme Accompli is much more of a conventional, straightforward leather composition, modern not in its novelty of structure but in its lightness and clarity of texture. L’Homme Accompli is largely linear in its development, with moderate power and projection over a period of several hours. Those seeking a leather powerhouse will have to look elsewhere, but L’Homme Accompli is perfectly balanced for daily wear. The drydown, when it arrives, consists largely of cedar and vetiver, and feels smooth and natural. All told, an attractive, eminently wearable scent that ought to make plenty of friends among those who enjoy leather fragrances.