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· March 22, 2008 10:14 PM by
Colleen Shirazi
· March 23, 2008 12:17 PM by
Dain
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Posted by Dain, Saturday, March 22, 2008 2:27 AM (Eastern)
I really figured this series on leathers would help make my decision for me, but I find them all so intriguing in different ways that I hardly know which way the earth spins. They're outside the realm of popular demand, so one must jump through hoops of fire even to obtain a bottle, but I still want them anyway, and I still haven't tried them all (Marina at Perfume-Smellin' Things has an extensive list). I love Diorling's trick of hiding her claws behind ladylike gloves, the demanding, hauntingly bittersweet Bandit, the witty, powerful Tabac Blond, the affectation of cheer in Jolie Madame, even funky, funky Montale Oud Cuir d'Arabie. I eventually settled on Cuir de Russie, which can be matched in sheer magic by precious few, and unlike many a self-proclaimed "leather", actually smells like leather...
Katharine Hepburn being awesome (if a little... Disney?).
Enter Cuir Ottoman. It has a green, balsamic opening, a bracing herbaceous accord like a bouquet garni under plastic wrap, with a little patchouli bite. But before you can make up your mind to dislike Cuir Ottoman's airs of masculinity, it shifts from a fractious tenor to a sumptuous contralto hum—suede like dark velvet, silky smooth iris, and the resinous warmth of amber. Call me crazy, but this has "personal day" written all over it: a sweater stolen from your boy, aftershave still lingering, a fat leather-bound volume of poetry to dream away the day, burning incense in the other room, maybe Hendrix is crooning softly in the background. While it is not quite up to Parfum d'Empire's pretensions of an Turkish hammam, "Le harem, le magie érotique et mystère d'Orient", it is deeply pleasant, if somewhat linear, but remarkably easy to wear.
Aesthetically, I do prefer Cuir de Russie, but practically, $175 for 200 mL is too much. Oddly enough, by this point I've gotten so used to leather, it's downright... comforting, in a way that's akin to musk. Ha, maybe I'll delay my decision till when Theorema (current comfort scent) runs out. And that's a new bottle.
Labels: beauty notes, parfum d'empire, perfume reviews
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March 22, 2008 10:14 PM,
lol I suppose it does seem rather squeaky clean now. At the time it must have been fabulously radical.
March 23, 2008 12:17 PM,
1967, I believe? I suppose that's the trouble with mass-producing morals, it tends not to take in the complexity of the issue.
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