Leather

Post by **Sam** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:15 am

Mr. Bargepole has quite a knowledge of scents, both those that are from an earlier era, and the most modern and niche that there is. One suggestion was Maison Kirkdijian Absolu Pour le Soir, a honeyed and musky scent that on my skin, is a bit powdery. I have also tried Frapin Caravelle Epicee and 1270, and some Histories de Parfums. Lubin's Idole is still soapy on me, but they are coming out with an eau de parfum.

Leather on me is a scent that I have typically not abided. Now some pyramids for scents claim they have a leather component, but on few scents can I pick it out. Some leathers are like campfires (Tauer Lonestar Memories) and some like burnt rubber (Bulgari Black) and some is like bubblegum from the old baseball card packs or like hand lotion (Creed Royal English Leather). Some are straight up leather, which for me the epitome is Creed Cuir de Russie.

I have read with interest some descriptions of say Frapin Cuir Ottoman (said to be like suede), Lutens Cuir Mauresque and others. I did get a sample of a Dior Privee, or their exclusive line, sold only in boutiques. Whereas Chanel has a similar line, Chanel used old scents that were discontinued and had their 'noses' update them somewhat and bring them back. An example is Coromandel, which I have and love.

Dior has one called Leather Oud, and I got a sample. I am bad about being able to describe things. Chris Moss and Bargepole, even Gordon, have better noses and the ability to describe things much better than I. My wife says she smells cinnamon and spices on me when I wear it. Most scents, she says are old manish, or soapy or she hates. I tried the Kirkdijian and she made me wash it off (and by the way, this stuff is a sillage and longevity MONSTER). I got an equal balance of a leather-like note and a woody note, each time I sniffed it, it seemed like it was a horse race, seeing which of the two notes could edge the other. While not a loud fragrance, it is not a skin scent either. And it lasted very well over 7 hours - I am sure it lasted more, but applying it say 6:30 in the morning, around 2:30, I can still smell it pretty well.

Pricing is not bad, $150 for a 4.25 ounce bottle, so I am tempted to get it, or see if anyone wants to spend $225 for the 8.5 ounce bottle and split it.

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:05 am

Farina - Cuir de Russie.

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:56 pm

The Dior is fabulous stuff -- nearest to a "true" leather I can think of. By which I mean it smells of curing leather, rather than the various, usually lavandine/lavender/isoquinolone/phenol/birch tar, accords traditionally used to *disguise* the smell of cured leather. If you hold a sprig of mint under your schnoz while smelling it, it's just like being in the Tanneries du Fèz -- and, believe me, that's a compliment. It's one of the most haunting, mysterious animalic scents there is. I only got a tester but I shall certainly be getting a BIG bottle on my next trip to Paris... Splendid choice; wear it in good health.

Post by **Sam** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:06 pm

Michael, I would never know the differences you describe. I can only tell you how to approximate what it smells like to me. I am splitting a 8 ounce bottle with a guy, so my costs are more like $120 for over 4 ounces.

I was thinking Cuir Ottomon, and I am getting a small decant of Ford's Tuscan Leather. Some of the scents I wrote you about just smell different on me. This Leather Oud by Dior lasts like some of the Montales and while it projects, it is not loud by any means, but then again, it is not a skin scent. I just get incredible smoothness from it. I know that Bulgari Black is said to be heavy on the birch tar, but then again, if I recall, Tauer's L'Air du Desert Morocain has birch tar as well. I have tried leathers that are gasoline, or burnt rubber, or a biker's jacket, or whatever Royal English Leather is suppossed to smell like. I kinda got the leather vibe from Creeds Cuir de Russie, but it was like putting your nose to a leather briefcase that you just got new in the mail, never used.

Anyway, wow, if this scent is that good, Im doing well then

So Michael, let me ask, where do you rank it between Aventus, L'Air du Desert Morocain and Chergui. That is if you had to choose three of the four, how do you rank them as personal favorites to you.

Shave4Fun · Post by **Shave4Fun** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 2:38 am

Or you could spend about a half a day on a horse...(with a saddle, of course)

harper · Post by **harper** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 1:04 pm

Trying to describe a scent is akin to trying to determine whether dogs see in colour or not. There is no satisfactory explanation. The smell of bananas, for example, to one person is not necessarily the same to another; both may like it but neither can be sure the smell they smell is the same to others. We all know that there are certain scents most of us like and it is safe for a company to go with a scent made up of scents that most people like but it is not necessarily assured that the scent will succeed.

To go back to Heisenberg, some things are unknown and unknowable so they can only be agreed on.

Whisky and women are like that.

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 4:40 am

harper wrote:Trying to describe a scent is akin to trying to determine whether dogs see in colour or not. There is no satisfactory explanation. The smell of bananas, for example, to one person is not necessarily the same to another; both may like it but neither can be sure the smell they smell is the same to others.

Personally I'm not sure about that one. Seems more likely to me that the neurological processes, hard-wired, are almost identical for all of us; it's just that taste (whether we like something) and communication (how we describe it) vary. I have no doubt that when I smell, say, coumarin, I'm smelling exactly the same as a perfumer friend of mine. But he says it smells of rabbit-droppings on wet straw; I say it smells of a damp sandstone dug-out in the garden when I was a boy.

Interesting that it should be like that, though...

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:43 am

There's no accounting for tastes, the man said as he kissed the cow.

harper · Post by **harper** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:58 am

Mr.Bargepole:

You are probably right and we are all wired more or less the same. What I was trying to say -- but I guess I did not do it very well -- is that nobody knows if something smells exactly the same to someone else. As of now it is impossible to say we smell things identically. What has been learned is that there are scents that seem to be universally liked and these are used by perfumers, toiletry makers, etc. As long as we all seem to like them is good for creating new products.

One of the key problems is that we do not have agreement on language sufficient to describe accurately what certain smells are to everybody. And, of course, smells are fashionable. For a long time the smell of lemons was equated with cleanliness and used in all sorts of products from shampoos to toiletries, and who knows what else between.

I am reminded of the people (I am one of them) who say I don't know much about art but I know what I like.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:31 am

harper I'm still musing about the rabbit droppings, my nose never having gotten close enough to be familiar with the scent.

harper · Post by **harper** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:54 am

Squire, with the most gentle of admonitions I have to note that you should not be concerned with rabbit droppings. Here is one good reason why: my wife had a rabbit when she was a little girl and one night it got loose and her father stepped on it in the dark and that was the end of the rabbit ... and without a rabbit there are no rabbit droppings and no more concern.

I have great admiration of your exceptional ability to use, grade and photograph DE blades (if you have seen one you have NOT seen them all) but as all of us in business have learned it is not always possible to transfer your expertise in one area to another ... which is why so many takeovers fail in the marketplace.

Bargepole's perfume friend clearly has a leg up on rabbit dropping so you do blades and let him do his thing.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 1:04 pm

You're right harper, I'm clearly in over my head when it comes to rabbit droppings.

harper · Post by **harper** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 5:23 pm

Squire: I hope not!

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:00 pm

@harper: I entirely agree. It's what got Wittgenstein worked up. Not cologne, but the question that when we're describing internal states -- a smell, a headache, a colour -- how do I know that you mean the same as I do? You say "I've a headache" and I say "I had a bad one last week" but... is your experience anything like mine?

The answer is, to sum up Wittgenstein, "Er..."

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:29 pm

I bet I could sell something with a rabbit droppings note if I could talk Jessica Simpson into an endorsement.