Yum, Bandit, the queen of leather chypres. IMO, the EDT is more crackling, there's more smoke and leather to it, whereas the jasmine comes on much more strong in the parfum, and the EDP is rather grassy. I actually like the EDT best, it's more in tune with the aggressive image, but it's getting hard to find. If you want something softer, Gres by Cabochard is Bandit's little sister, and then there's also Diorling and En Avion, ranging to Vol de Nuit.
What leathers have you tried thus far? I haven't gotten around to some of them, so I'm curious.
Black hair, light golden-undertoned skin, dark brown eyes. Asian.
I have not received my samples from TPC, alas, so I haven't tried many. I have coming to me:
Knize Ten
Dzing!
Chanel Cuir de Russie
Cuir Mauresque
TPC bundles those four as a "leather sampler", but they all sounded rather interesting.
Daim Blonde
Tabac Blond (I think it's the reformulation, oh well)
Bandit EDT (the vintage)
Habanita (don't remember whether this is leather specifically, but it's in the same general family)
I have haunted the Holt's perfume "boutique" but most of what they put within easy reach seems to be sweet and floral/fruity/soapy. (The local one has a whole shelf full of Clean, which, yes, Canadian brand, but so not exciting to me). I tried Vol de Nuit (which I thought was beautiful about two hours in, but the initial blast of Guerlinade did not work for me) and Bulgari Black (which, aaugh, I can understand why it's so well loved, and I'd probably like a LITTLE of it on a man, but wearing it gave me such a headache).
I'm trying to train my nose, as much as anything, but I also really like leather notes and am trying to find something a little darker, a little less feminine, something that smells good but not pretty, maybe a little jolie laide, if that makes sense. I am still loving Mitsouko but it feels very ladylike on me -- which is not a complaint, just an observation.
I keep meaning to but never get around to sampling it. I thought about what I'd like to try--FM Dans Tes Bras (too new, they don't have it), Serge Lutens Serge Lutens ($6! yipes, I can wait a pale month and just go sniff it in person), Hermes Osmanthe Yunnan, Montale Jasmin Full--but it's not enough to merit an order. Bad timing, I am waiting for a big one to arrive. It's mostly rare Guerlains, so I'm excited.
I do know what you mean about the jolie-laide. I'm actually quite new to this too (only started, oh, back in December?), and it was because I didn't want anything that was just pretty anymore. It's a weird and possibly foolish impulse, but there is a lot of fun in it--nose sport.
I find Mitsouko more or less gender-neutral, but I can see it turning feminine on one. It's not the same on everyone, I've noticed. It smells entirely different on my sister, and by that, I don't mean that we perceive it differently, but that it seems to be change according to who wears it. She dislikes it more than most of my other perfumes (she doesn't like my taste in perfumes, for the most part), but she agrees it's extremely remarkable on my skin. Sometimes that happens. I suspect that's what happens to Colleen with Chanel No. 5, which is merely pleasant and extremely well constructed to my nose.
Hm. Maybe I should stop musing about shoes and tops and get me some parfum of Mitsouko instead. I think I'd be happier.
Black hair, light golden-undertoned skin, dark brown eyes. Asian.
Ooo, are you trying Liu? I am so curious about Liu, mostly because I love Turandot, but the fragrance notes sound interesting too.
Now I'm curious about Balmain Jolie Madame, too, especially after reading your and Tania Sanchez's remarks on it ("capable of both great acidity and great softness"? Ach, yes!) but I shall see if I can go somewhere to test that in person instead of ordering more decants (my decant collection is getting a bit silly; also, it seems absurd to pay $9 for a 1ml decant + shipping of a fragrance when a full-sized bottle of that fragrance will run you only $20 or so).
Reddish brown hair, pale warm-toned skin with freckles, green eyes.
After waiting a ridiculously long time, but it's the only one in there. Ach, I know what you mean about TCP. It was expensive to begin with, and now the prices are higher, and I've noticed now that they take forever--the last few orders have taken several weeks to complete. I'm getting to the point where buying unsniffed seems like a better deal to me too. One measly sample after two weeks? That's a little annoying. Anyway, from a preliminary sniff, Liu seems similar but much drier, but my nose is clogged.
The only problem with Jolie Madame is that I hear the vintage is very different from the reorchestration, but I haven't compared them. People say that they can't even smell the leather in the new one, but I didn't smell that much in the old to be honest, whereas I smelled quite a bit (in the transparent, minimalist JCE style) in Hermes Kelly Caleche. Perfumes are so odd.
Black hair, light golden-undertoned skin, dark brown eyes. Asian.
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