Papillon Perfumery Angélique: Chameleon In the Woods

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Catherine Jeltes Painting, “Modern Brown Abstract Painting WinterScape.” Etsy Store, GalleryZooArt, linked within. (Click on photo.)

An ethereal spring bouquet of silvery iris and white flowers dusted with mimosa’s golden sweetness. Then, a lush, orchid-like, champaca vanilla infused with boozy, fruited liqueur and smoky guaiac. Finally, an extremely woody fragrance with masculine elements of burnt leaves, smokiness, and musk. That was the very surprising progression of Angélique, a chameleon scent that first filled me with visions of bridal white (and thoughts of how well it was named) before it astounded me by rapidly morphing into a completely different fragrance, one that was quite a pleasant surprise. In fact, at times, I was sniffing my wrist with much appreciation. Although the drydown changed things for me, there are parts of Angélique that can well be called “exquisite” or “beautifully lush.”This is a fragrance that is so evocative at times that I’ve just barely managed to stop myself from explaining its development solely in terms of a series of images. That said, please pay close attention to the photos in this review, particularly to the sharp changes in colour, style, mood, and background, as they reflect changes within the perfume itself.

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Tola Anbar & The Gulbadan Experience

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: Fragrantica

Tola (sometimes written as “Tola Perfumes“) is a new fragrance house from Dubai founded in 2013 by Dhaher bin Dhaher. He is the nose behind its creations, a self-taught perfumer who grew up around perfumes and whose story is told in a detailed Fragrantica editorial about the line. If you’re curious about the meaning of the word “tola,” it refers to an ancient Indian measurement unit which predates the metric system. All the fragrances are available in either eau de parfum or extrait form, but I have focused on the more accessible eau de parfum concentration. In an earlier post, I looked at Misqaal and Masha. Today, it’s time for Anbar and Gulbadan.

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LM Parfums Ultimate Seduction

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Kafkaesque

She was the image of sweetness, softness, and femininity as she walked in the garden. Young, but sure of herself, confident, and at ease. She didn’t need a man to be content, though there were plenty who sought her. She didn’t follow the dictates of fashion, though she wore elegant clothes. She simply did what made her feel happy, seeking comfort, simplicity, and softness in her life.

Photographer: Carl Bengtsson. Source: fashionproduction.blogspot.com

That is the woman I imagine when I wear Ultimate Seduction, the latest fragrance from Laurent Mazzone and LM Parfums. It is a pure parfum extrait that was just released and whose essence is that of a very approachable, simple, sweet fruity-floral. For me, it radiates youthful femininity, and it has done so since I first tested the fragrance 8 months ago in Paris. Back then, Ultimate Seduction was called Lost Paradise, and Laurent Mazzone told me the inspiration and thought behind it. Contrary to my impressions of youthful innocence, the backstory is one that is all about a steamy love affair, and a sophisticated woman intent on seduction. The recent photo campaign that was released to accompany Ultimate Seduction’s launch underscores that point:

Source: Laurent Mazzone & LM Parfums.

Source: LM Parfums.

As you can see, there is a definite theme behind the text and images. Laurent Mazzone told me the story he saw in his head for both Ultimate Seduction and the woman who wore it. My memory is a little hazy as to all the specific details, so I apologise in advance to Monsieur Mazzone if I get some parts of it wrong, but the story is important in explaining certain aspects of the perfume that he created.

Marion Cotillard photographed by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott for French Vogue, September 2010. Source: Glamscheck.com

Marion Cotillard by Mert & Marcus for French Vogue, September 2010. Source: Glamscheck.com

The woman in Monsieur Mazzone’s imagination wore Ultimate Seduction as a tantalizing suggestion, discretely wafting out from under a little black dress, on her way to meet her lover. (The clothing may be my own extrapolation, or it may have come from Monsieur Mazzone who is heavily involved in the fashion world and who had come to attend Paris Fashion Week.) Regardless of the clothing details, the gist of the story is that the woman was elegant, fashionable, worldly, strongly confident, and on her way to a steamy rendezvous with her lover.

Ultimate Seduction was meant not only to express her own sweet femininity and to drive her lover wild, but to also symbolise the juicy passion of their hot affair. And juicy sweetness is a strong part of the fragrance’s essence, thanks to the following perfume pyramid:

TOP NOTES: Pink pepper, black currant, orange
HEART NOTES: Violet, iris, rose
BASE NOTES: patchouli, amber, blond wood, cedar, praline.

Blackcurrant or cassis. Source: The Perfume Shrine.

Ultimate Seduction opens on my skin in a blast of tangy tartness, infused with juicy, fruited sweetness. There is a lovely heaping dose of black currants which I’m used to calling cassis, so I’ll stick with that term. The fruit can sometimes smell sharp, indolic, and, on some unfortunate people, reminiscent of cat pee or urine, but that is not the case here. Instead, it is merely a sour tartness that feels very green and incredibly bright.

The cassis is accompanied by a host of other notes as well. There are: blood-red roses dripping with heavy, syrupy, purple patchouli molasses; fruity pink peppercorn berries that occasionally have a peppery blackness to them; and ripe, juicy oranges. The whole kaleidoscope of bright, tart, sour, juicy fruitiness rests upon a very thin foundation of dry cedar. In the background, there are hints of a silky vanilla note that dart about, though the note quickly retreats into the shadows to await later developments.

Fruit molasses or jam. Source: Shutterstock.com

The floral elements are completely overshadowed on my skin in the opening moments by the fruits and patchouli. The cassis, in particular, grows stronger after a few minutes, adding a truly necessary tartness to counterbalance the other, sweeter elements. I’m a bit dubious about the pink peppercorns which used to be a big trend about 5 years ago in perfumery, but it is a subtle touch. Unfortunately for me, the purple, syrupy fruit-chouli — one of the notes that I like the least in perfumery — is quite profound. Regular readers know that this sort of patchouli is one of my bête noires, especially when combined with roses, and it is the main reason why I had such an immediate, instantly negative response to the fragrance when I first tried it 8 months ago.

Yet, I want to say clearly that Ultimate Seduction is much better than the “Lost Paradise” that I encountered that day long ago in the Hotel Costes. It is much tarter, tangier, brighter, and, for the first hour or so, much greener and crisper as well. Ultimate Seduction feels better balanced, more well-rounded, with better body and more elegance. The company says that the perfume has not been changed in terms of its notes since the time it was called Lost Paradise.

However, it does acknowledge that it smells slightly different in terms of its nuances, and explains that maceration is the reason. Ultimate Seduction has had 8 months to steep, strengthen, and grow deeper. Perhaps, but I am convinced that Ultimate Seduction is significantly tangier and tarter than it was, and I have to wonder if the sweetness, patchouli, and rose levels have been modulated down a notch. Don’t get me wrong, the perfume is still very sweet in its opening phase — too sweet for my personal tastes, even now — but it’s no longer the cloying tidal wave (with overly gooey fruitchouli roses) that it was back then. In all honesty, even with my patchouli issues, there are times when I thoroughly enjoy Ultimate Seduction’s opening. It’s all thanks to the cassis, which is a simply beautiful touch here in its almost mouth-watering tartness.

“Flower spiral” by Sarah Cheriton Jones via fineartamerica.com

As noted earlier, the floral elements are quite overshadowed at first. I don’t smell any iris on my skin, now or at any point. Yet, occasionally, there are wafts of a dewy, rather metallic violet note in the background. It’s akin to a small firefly being buffeted about by multi-coloured Mistral winds of sour-tart black currants, oranges, red peppercorn berries, and purple fruitchouli roses. The violet simply can’t withstand the strength of the other notes, though it makes more of an effort to do so later in the perfume’s development.

Another very subtle note that appears after 30 minutes is something that seems almost like a lemony-bergamot tonality. There is no bergamot listed in the notes, but I detect something that differs from the tart, crisp acidity of a blackcurrant. It really smells more like a citrus note, though it is subtle. Whatever the source, it helps to add further brightness to the fruited bouquet.

Remember Monsieur Mazzone’s story about the woman discreetly wafting her seductive scent for her lover? Well, the word “discreetly” is important because Ultimate Seduction opens as a soft scent, before turning quite intimate. The sillage is not enormous: 2 sprays from an actual bottle gave me 2 inches in projection; 3 sprays gave me 3 inches. I don’t think a greater application would yield much more than that, because Ultimate Seduction is intentionally meant to be something akin to lingerie.

Photographers Mert & Marcus, photo campaign for Brian Atwood. Source: hommemodel.blogspot.com

Photographers: Mert & Marcus, for the Brian Atwood campaign. Source: hommemodel.blogspot.com

Granted, Monsieur Mazzone wants it to be very sexy lingerie that you would wear to meet your lover, but lingerie nevertheless. To that end, Ultimate Seduction feels very gauzy and airy, even in the opening moments. The force of the sweet, tart, juicy fruits is strong, but the perfume itself is surprisingly lightweight, right from the start. Frankly, I found the degree of sheerness to a little surprising for an Extrait de Parfum or Pure Parfum, but Ultimate Seduction has stellar longevity to compensate.

I’m afraid I don’t see any of the torrid heatedness, insanity, obsession, madness or toxicity that Ultimate Seduction is meant to represent. To be fair, there are few fragrances that conjure up even half of those things for me. My beloved vintage Opium is one of them. In my opinion, if there were any fragrances in the LM Parfums line that would qualify for those terms, it would absolutely and unquestionably be the gorgeous, intoxicating, heady, but also strangely comforting Sensual Orchid, not Ultimate Seduction. In fact, my review for the former was expressly all about a woman dressing (or, rather, undressing) to seduce her lover, as represented by this image:

Gisele Bundchen by Mert & Marcus, for Vogue Turkey March 2011.

Try as I might, nothing I smell in Ultimate Seduction conveys to me the sort of imagery that the several Mert & Marcus photos up above represents. (And, yes, I really love Mert & Marcus.) Instead, I see this woman:

Photographer: Carl Bengtsson. Source: fashionproduction.blogspot.com

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the latter, and she’s a beautiful woman with great softness and elegant femininity, but she symbolises a very different sort of perfume than the one Ultimate Seduction is meant to be. My point is that the marketing for Ultimate Seduction may lead you to think that it is a very different scent than what actually appeared on my skin.

Part of my difficulty is that fruity-florals with jammy patchouli always seem like very young, youthful scents for me. They are safe, approachable, and can be well-done on occasion as Ultimate Seduction is, but the entire genre simply does not scream seduction, sophistication, lustiness, or even edginess to me. Ultimate Seduction is a highly feminine, soft, sweet fragrance with a very traditional mainstream profile, but it has been done in a very refined, smooth, seamless way. It’s the quality that speaks out, not the scent itself.

As a side note, while I think that most fragrances can be unisex on the right person or with the right attitude, I think Ultimate Seduction skews quite feminine. I really can’t see a lot of men wearing it — unless they truly adore sweet fruity-florals — but perhaps I simply have strange associations in my head for the genre.

Ultimate Seduction has 3 distinct stages, and it is the very long, final drydown phase which is the loveliest in my opinion. The opening stage dominated by the tart cassis and other elements slowly segues into a secondary bridge phase, where the vanilla rises up from the base to merge with the fruity-floral elements and thereby create a transition to the final phase centered all around a creamy, slightly dry, very smooth, tonka vanilla.

Stage Two begins precisely at the end of the first hour, as the vanilla blankets everything, softening them, diluting the tartness of the cassis and the heaviness of the fruited patchouli. Oddly, the one exception seems to the violet note which makes a brief reappearance and feels a little more metallic. It is short-lived, however, and fades away after another 20 minutes. The orange sinks into the base, while the black currant’s green tartness begins to weakens. 90 minutes into the perfume’s development, it feels more like a suggestion than anything else.

Photo: my own.

All the notes start to blur into one, overlapping, losing their distinct edge and clarity. Ultimate Seduction feels like one of those images where everything has filtered through a soft lens, and all the shapes have been blurred out. Even the patchouli rose feels more muted, almost as if it had been tamed by the vanilla. The loss of the tart, sour tanginess is a real shame, but the weakening of that syrupy sweetness almost makes up for it. What’s left is an increasingly abstract fruity-floral with a lusciously silky, airy, vanilla mousse, and only occasional whispers of green tartness.

Photo: my own.

By the end of the 2nd hour, Ultimate Seduction is completely blurry, and evokes soft clouds made of the almost translucent, pink, ethereal petals. Words keep running through my head for the next few hours like a litany: “Soft. Petals. Feminine. Soft, soft, soft!” I keep imagining a sea of petals, all pink, white, peach and cream, with a touch of lingering fruity redness. The perfume itself now smells like a misty cloud of pink, abstract fruity-rosiness with vanilla. The whole thing has a seamless smoothness that is impressive, even if hazy perfumes are not my actual cup of tea.

In fact, I’m honestly a little surprised to like Ultimate Seduction as much as I do, particularly given my reaction to “Lost Paradise” all those months ago. One reason is that the perfume definitely gets much better after the opening hour, even if the tartness has largely dissipated. A bigger reason is that there is something very easygoing, approachable, and uncomplicated about the scent. Some days, I just want to put on a smooth, expensive-smelling fragrance, feel good, and not have to analyze the bloody thing. The main reason though is the smooth softness that I keep talking about, and that wonderful, silky, but slightly dry vanilla. The two things together somehow manage to make the perfume feel almost like the lingerie that it’s meant to partially represent. And, like lingerie, by the middle of the 3rd hour, Ultimate Seduction is an very intimate scent that lies just fractionally above the skin.

In the second stage, the petal-soft combination of fruity rose and vanilla is subtly counterbalanced by an undercurrent of dry woodiness. It is a very muted, quiet note that runs through the base, but it was noticeable in 2 of my 3 tests of Ultimate Seduction. It occasionally smells of cedar, but, most of the time, it’s merely an abstract dryness and woodiness. I wish it were a little stronger, to give Ultimate Seduction a bit more of an edge, but it sometimes it feels like a ghost, disappearing for a while before reappearing again in the background. Then again, I don’t think this is a perfume that is meant to have any “edges” at all.

Photo: my own.

The final, very long drydown phase begins roughly 3.5 hours into Ultimate Seduction’s development, and is all about the vanilla. The perfume is now primarily a vanilla scent, infused with fruitiness. The rose is now merely an abstract, amorphous floralacy, and it lurks at the edges alongside the equally abstract dry woodiness. Once in a blue moon, the black currant’s tartness is noticeable, but it’s generally too well-blended into the general “fruitiness.” The best part is really the vanilla note. I think it’s lovely because it’s not one of those traditional, very gooey, cloying, sweet vanillas. It really feels more like tonka, actually, which brings me to another point.

You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned “pralines” once in this review, even though that is what is actually listed in Ultimate Seduction’s notes. For me, “pralines” have a very different aroma (and taste) than what I detect here. I associate the term with a more buttery, more caramel-like nuance. It’s nuttier and substantially sweeter than the note in Ultimate Seduction which smells instead like a really silky crème anglaise sauce mixed with abstract fruitiness. Ultimate Seduction is not a gourmand fragrance on my skin, thank God, and the notes are too carefully calibrated to be as sweet as the praline fragrances that I have tried in the past. Its primary characteristic at this point is petal-soft creaminess, more than anything either overt or sweet.

Source: popularscreensavers.com

Over time, the vanilla begins to change. At the start of the 5th hour, it turns drier, and there are the first hints of graininess. It’s not powdery, but more like grainy tonka texture, if that makes any sense. For the most part, though, it’s still extremely creamy, soft, and smooth at this point.

For the many, many hours which follow, Ultimate Seduction is all about the tonka, lightly flecked by fluctuating, increasingly insignificant amounts of abstract fruitiness. Sometimes, the cassis returns to peek out, while at other times it is the orange (which takes on a rather neroli-like aspect). Once in a blue moon, the woody cedar shows up. Generally, though, Ultimate Seduction is merely a soft tonka scent with a slightly grainy, occasionally powdered texture that has only the smallest strands of abstract fruits.

Ultimate Seduction lasted just under 14 hours in most of my tests of the fragrance. In its final moments, it was only a smear of soft sweetness. For the majority of its life, Ultimate Seduction was primarily an intimate, discrete scent on my skin, but it was still easy to detect up close until the start of the 9th hour. After that point, however, I had to make some concerted effort to find it, by putting my nose actually on my skin and sniffing hard. Yet, I was surprised to see that the most minute traces of the scent lingered on tenaciously each time I wore the fragrance. On one of the occasions when I used 3 sprays — and I was using an actual bottle, not an atomizer — I was rather shocked to smell Ultimate Seduction 16th hours later. It took effort and concentration, but there is no doubt the perfume was still there. And my skin eats perfume much faster than the average person.

Source: LM Parfums.

The longevity stems from the fact that Ultimate Seduction is one of the LM Parfums’ handful of pure parfums, and thus comes with a high concentration of fragrance oils. Ultimate Seduction shares the same pricing structure as some of its other siblings from the Extrait line, like Sensual Orchid or Chemise Blanche. It costs €195 or $225 for 100 ml of concentrated perfume. The perfume was released in Europe a few weeks ago, so it’s already available for purchase there. For American buyers, Osswald should be getting it in a few weeks.

Ultimate Seduction is not my personal style or genre, so it’s not a fragrance that I would ever have gotten for myself, but I enjoyed the times I wore it. It’s very approachable and easy-going, and there is something incredibly appealing about its uncomplicated smoothness. Its superior quality is what I think makes it stand out amongst others in the same genre.

I think Ultimate Seduction will work for people who really enjoy very soft, discreet, fruity-florals. It’s not an edgy, complex, complicated, or revolutionary scent, but it is a very refined, smooth take on the genre. I think it’s infinitely better, more elegant, and more luxurious than, for example, Guerlain‘s badly named Chypre Fatal which is actually the furthest thing possible from a real chypre, and is instead another fruity, patchouli-rose scent with vanilla. There are big differences between the two fragrances — beyond just the fact that Chypre Fatal is dreadfully insipid, flaccid, boring, simplistic, and obnoxiously over-priced — but I’m talking about overall genres or general profiles.

In short, if sweet fruity-florals with a tangy opening and a soft, creamy finish are your thing, give Ultimate Seduction a sniff. At the same time, I have to add, if you’re really looking to seduce with an over-the-top, divaesque, truly sensual fragrance with even greater creamy smoothness and enormous lushness, then I urge you to give Sensual Orchid a chance as well. It was my very first exposure to the LM Parfums line, and I loved it from the start. I think it’s really stunning.

Disclosure: Ultimate Seduction was sent to me courtesy of LM Parfums. That did not impact this review. I do not do paid reviews, and my opinions are my own.

DETAILS:

Cost & Availability: As noted above, Ultimate Seduction is an extrait that comes in a 100 ml bottle for €195 or $225. In the U.S.: Osswald NY should get the perfume in a few weeks. You can check their LM Parfums page at that point to see if Ultimate Seduction has arrived in store. Outside the U.S.: Ultimate Seduction is currently available from several European vendors, with more to follow shortly. At this time, you can buy Ultimate Seduction directly from LM Parfums and Laurent Mazzone’s separate perfume retailer, Premiere Avenue, which currently has a 10% off code for the fragrance until May 20th, 2014. The same 10% discount also applies to the 5 ml decant sample of Ultimate Seduction which is normally priced at €19. In terms of other retailers, Ultimate Seduction is currently available at First in Fragrance (which is also selling a sample, though perhaps smaller in size), Paris’ Jovoy, and the Netherlands’ ParfuMaria. In the U.K., Harvey Nichols is the exclusive distributor of LM Parfums, but I don’t see Ultimate Seduction listed on their page at this time. The LM Parfums line is also available at Essenza Nobile, the Netherland’s Silks Cosmetics, and Italy’s Alla Violetta. In the Middle East, I found most of the LM Parfums line at the UAE’s Souq perfume site. It should also be sold at any Harvey Nichols in the area, as that is one of the LM Parfums’ distributors. For all other countries, you can find a vendor near you from Switzerland to Belgium, Spain, Lithuania, Russia, Romania, Croatia, Azerbaijan, and more, by using the LM Parfums Partner listing. Laurent Mazzone or LM Parfums fragrances are widely available throughout Europe. Samples: In the U.S., you can obtain a sample from Osswald, once the perfume arrives in their store. Their Sample Program is based on the price of the fragrance with a 3-order minimum and free domestic shipping. A sample of a fragrance in Ultimate Seduction’s price range ($200-$299) is $6 for a 2 ml spray vial. Outside the U.S., some of the sites listed above, like First in Fragrance, sell samples as well. ParfuMaria has quite an extensive sample program that you may want to look into.

Reviews En Bref: Cuir Garamante & Cuir Venenum

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Kafkaesque

I thought I’d take a brief look at MDCI Parfums‘ Cuir Garamante and Parfumerie Generale‘s Cuir Venenum in today’s mini reviews. As always, my Reviews En Bref are for fragrances that — for whatever reason — didn’t seem to warrant one of my more detailed assessments. In the case of both of these perfumes, neither one was actually a “leather” fragrance on my skin, and both were extremely simple scents at their core.

MDCI PARFUMS CUIR GARAMANTE:

Source: Luckyscent.

Cuir Garamante is an eau de parfum that was released in 2013. According to Fragrantica, its notes includes:

pink pepper, nutmeg, saffron; rose, cyperus esculentus [cypriol], leather, vanilla, labdanum, incense and sandalwood.

Cuir Garamante is virtually identical to LM Parfums‘ Black Oud on my skin. To be precise, it mimics the first 6 hours of Black Oud in an unswerving line, with only minuscule differences in the amount of saffron and Norlimbanol that show up. In fact, Laurent Mazzone’s fragrance — released a year before — was the first thing that came to my mind when I tested Cuir Garamante, followed by Puredistance‘s 2013 BLACK which is also very similar to the opening phase of Black Oud. All three fragrances begin with an extremely spicy, dark, woody bouquet dominated by saffron, pink peppercorns, rose, syrupy purple fruit-chouli, woody notes, and smokiness. None of them are genuine leather fragrances on my skin, but center instead on an oud-like note, whether from cypriol, Norlimbanol, or some other woody-ambered aromachemical

Photo: My own.

The primary differences between the three fragrances involve the changing role of the rose note, the Norlimbanol, and the drydown. On my skin, Cuir Garamante is a largely linear scent that spends hours wafting a blend of spices, purple patchouli, fruitchouli-rose, oud, and dry, woody-amber, flecked with darkness and the subtle suggestion of some vaguely “leathery” undertone. At times, the latter feels drizzled with honey in a way that’s very appealing, and strongly reminiscent of both Black Oud and LM Parfums’ Hard Leather.

In its middle phase, starting roughly in the middle of the third hour, the Norlimbanol grows stronger, slowly overtaking the very jammy rose. At the same time, the other notes turn more abstract, particularly the saffron and spices. With every passing hour, the scent turns drier and the notes melt into each other. Cuir Garamante slowly turns into a simple woody-amber scent and, in its final moments, is nothing more thana blur of slightly sweet woodiness.

Source: hqwallbase.com

I did side-by-side tests of Cuir Garamante, Black Oud, and Puredistance’s Black, and all three fragrances are incredibly close in their opening stage. Cuir Garamante simply keeps that stage for several hours more than the other two fragrances. I think it has more Norlimbanol or cypriol than Black Oud, but significantly less rose and patchouli than Puredistance’s Black. The latter diverges the most in terms of the drydown, has the longest focus on the fruitchouli-rose note, and is the most aromachemical of the three on my skin. It is also the weakest in terms of projection and longevity. Of the three, Black Oud is the least synthetic, the smoothest, the most “black” in visual nature, and the most refined.

Photo: my own.

Yet, if you ignore the small differences in terms of the secondary notes or tiny fluctuations in the nuances, Cuir Garamante is essentially, by and large, identical to LM Parfums’ Black Oud on my skin. They have the same great longevity (well over 14 hours) and similar sillage, but they differ in terms of price. Black Oud costs $225 or €195 for a 100 ml bottle of what is essentially a pure parfum extrait. Cuir Garamante costs $250 for 75 ml of eau de parfum. (Puredistance Black costs almost $600 for a 100 ml extrait, and is definitely not worth the price, in my opinion.) As noted, I think Black Oud is a smoother, less synthetic, higher quality fragrance. I also think it is much less linear, if you consider the nuances. While all that comes down to a question of personal taste, the bottom line, though, is that there is such a substantial overlap between the fragrances that you only need one of them.

PARFUMERIE GENERALE CUIR VENENUM:

Source: Fragrantica

Cuir Venenum (or “PG03 Cuir Venenum“) is an eau de parfum that was released in 2004. Despite the “leather” part of its title, this is a fragrance that is largely centered around orange blossoms. In fact, Fragrantica categorizes Cuir Venenum as a “floral, woody musk,” which is quite accurate, in my opinion. The site says Cuir Venenum’s notes include:

lemon, orange blossom, coconut, leather, myrrh and musk.

Parfumerie Generale, however, lists only:

Orange Blossom, Leather , Cedar, Musk and Honey

Orange Blossom Syrup.

Cuir Venenum opens on my skin with extremely syrupy, extremely sweet orange blossoms, infused with a plastic vanilla note and such an intensely fruited element that it strongly resembles like fruit-chouli. Clean white musk and a tinge of coconut complete the picture. The whole thing is cloyingly sweet, but also smells like something that you’d find at Bath & Body Works, thanks to the perfume’s soapy, clean streak. None of that is a compliment. At niche prices, one expects a little more than a generic, sweet fruity-floral concoction with screeching orange blossoms, plastic-y undertones, soapy cleanness, and cheap white musk.

On my skin, there is not an iota of actual leather at any point in Cuir Venenum’s lifespan. Not one shred of it. Parfumerie Generale’s website says this about the leather note in the perfume:

Sombre, heady and opulent leather is generally an inevitable component of men’s perfumery. Reinterpreted, modernised – even feminised – it shows a new oriental and erotic facet that gives it depth and mystery.

Concord Grape Jam. Source: Tasty Yummies blog. (Link to website embedded within photo.)

Not on my skin. There is no leather — neither opulent, heady, modernised, feminised, refined, nor any other kind for that matter. Instead, there is what feels like a hell of a lot of purple, grape-y, fruit-chouli molasses that further amplifies the syrupy nature of the orange blossoms. The cause probably stems from the grape aspect of the orange blossoms’ naturally occurring methyl anthranilate, but I wish it had been toned down by several decibels.

Source: fantom-xp.com

The best thing that can be said for Cuir Venenum is that it eventually gets better — though it’s rather a relative matter, if you ask me. At the start of the 4th hour, a soft, golden warmth diffuses its way through the flowers, and softens the orange blossoms. It helps to muffle and tone down the reign of sickly fruitiness, even if it’s just by a hair. It also alleviates some of that revoltingly cheap white musk. I suspect it stems from the myrrh, though I don’t detect either its usual anise-like facets nor its incense, dusty ones. There is a muffled whisper of some vague nuttiness in the background, but it is very muted. What is more noticeable is a growing touch of waxy coconut that slowly starts to rise from the base.

Photo: my own.

In its drydown, Cuir Venenum finally turns creamy, soft, and less sweet. Roughly 6.5 hours into its development, a milky quality appears, thanks to the coconut. There is also a softness that almost feels like some vaguely clean, new suede — but not quite. It lacks the untouched, pristine cleanness or powderiness of some suede scents, many of which are recreated through iris. Here, the note is more akin to a soft, smooth suppleness with a certain creaminess underlying it. The fruited orange blossoms still lie over everything, but they are heavily muffled now and no longer drip with a cloying, almost gourmand sweetness. In its final hours, Cuir Venenum emits a vaguely clean milky softness that is almost suede-like and sprinkled with the mere suggestion of orange blossom.

All in all, Cuir Venenum lasted just a hair over 8.25 hours. The sillage was generally soft, projecting initially about 2 inches above the skin. It felt very gauzy, wispy, and lightweight, despite the gooeyiness of its dripping syrup. Cuir Venenum turned into a skin scent on me by the end of the 3rd hour, which I found to be rather a relief. I didn’t find any of it to be a sophisticated scent of luxurious quality, nor a hugely complex, morphing, twisting one, either.

Source: post-gazette.com

Cuir Venenum has received mixed reviews on Fragrantica, though the majority are negative. Usually, I don’t get into comparative assessments in my Reviews on Bref, but the horror and snark on Cuir Venenum are simply too good to pass up:

Smells bizarrely of rotting garbage, specifically of when people collect soda cans in garbage bags for recycling and you can smell the sugary soda fermenting and rotting. Do smell leather, too. Tried it again. My final verdict: a weathered drunkard sits down on a badly tanned leather sofa that’s been discarded on the sidewalk. He opens his quart of Mad Dog 20/20 and starts guzzling, spilling quite a bit down his front. He then passes out and pisses himself. This stuff smells like his crotch. Truly awful.

Stale malt liquor with addition of one marinated cigarette butt.

Grape snowball syrup squirted into a bowl with huge feet soaking in stanky wine and vinegar, and then placed into leather boots with no socks. Basically, it smells like a clown working in a leather tannery.

All I could smell was… cigarette smoke! No, it wasn’t tobacco; it was pure nicotine! Wearing Cuir Venenum feels like entering cold, empty smoking-room. It feels like standing next to someone who’s been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for twenty years now and tries to kill their smoky smell with some kind of cheap perfume.

All in all, to me it is a smell of a dark, freshly draught beer with a slight cigarette undertone.

I actually thought that I was testing a mislabeled sample, so different was my perception from the official notes. Top notes of vinyl and acrid grape cough syrup, followed by a whiff of cow dung (possibly the “leather”?), all leading into a persistent candy-sweet-powder drydown of maligned orange blossom. Very synthetic in character. I dislike this on me and would find it abhorrent on a man.

Parmegiano Reggiano cheese. Source: maltatoday.com.mt

For Dr. Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids perfumery, there was no rotting garbage, cow dung, beer, a man’s crotch, or stale cigarettes, but, instead, “parmesan cheese” mixed with grape candy, leading her to end her review with a question: “what were they thinking?”

One of the most bizarre openings I’ve smelled in a long time. The predominant – no, overpowering – note is artificial grape candy, accompanied by what I will tactfully refer to as parmesan cheese. There’s also a little civet skulking in the background. It’s an odd combination if ever there was one. Since orange blossom is listed in the notes, it’s possible that the accord was hugely overdosed with methyl anthranilate or some similar “grape” aromachemical.

I kept waiting for the grape and “parmesan” notes to make a graceful exit, but they refused. Instead, they just turned the intensity down a notch, or I slowly adapted to them. I could have scrubbed, but my morbid curiosity had kicked in, so I waited to see what else, if anything, this perfume had to deliver. Apparently there was nothing. After a few hours, all that was left was a light, sugary grape scent on my skin along with something vaguely musky.

“Venenum” is a Latin word meaning venom or poison. […] Cuir Venenum goes into the curio cabinet to serve as an example of a perfume that raises the unanswerable question, “What were they thinking?”

As you can see, a lot of people experienced a fragrance that was much worse than the banal, screeching, cheap Bath & Body Works fruity-floral that I encountered. In all fairness, however, there are people on Fragrantica who actually like Cuir Venenum and its orange blossom blast. They are not many, but they do exist. And some people even experience a leather scent, though few of the ones who do actually seem to like it. So, if you’re a huge fan of orange blossoms (and a glutton for punishment), I suppose you should check out Cuir Venenum. Who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky….

DETAILS:

CUIR GARAMANTE Cost & Availability: Cuir Garamante is an eau de parfum that comes in a 75 ml bottle called a “tasselled” bottle which costs $250 or €215, and a fancier bottle with a bust statue on it in the same 75 ml size for $375. There is also a Discovery Set. You can buy Cuir Garamante from the Parfums MDCI website, which also has an exclusive deal involving their discovery sets. Apparently, if you order either of 2 discovery set (set of 5 or set of 8), that amount is credited towards the purchase of a full bottle. In the U.S.: Cuir Garamante is available at Luckyscent, along with a Discovery Set of 8 different MDCI fragrances in a 12 ml size for $210. Regular sized samples are also available. Osswald also has both versions, but sells the basic bottle for $263, not $250. Outside the U.S.: you can purchase Cuir Garamante from Parfums MDCI, First in Fragrance and other retailers.

CUIR VENENUM Cost & Availability: Cuir Venenum is an eau de parfum that comes in a variety of sizes. Luckyscent sells the 50 ml bottle for $125. You can find the smaller 30 ml size for €62 on PG’s European website, as well as at Osswald NY in the U.S., and many other vendors. Samples of both fragrances are available from a wide variety of sources, including Surrender to Chance.