Cuirtis

This fragrance opens up with a huge blast of what my wife humorously described as 'woman's hair spray and Worcestershire Sauce'. Indeed, there is a sharp note, possibly from the juniper, mixed with bright florals over something dark, meaty and powerful, if not brooding. There is also a chalky powdery note from the orris that reinforces the hair spray vibe. The sharpness mellows after an hour and the fragrance becomes more powdery and dark, with hints of soil and smoke peaking through. The evolution is slow but content and eventually it becomes something smooth and beautiful, like a walk through an autumn forest where you can smell every detail of the wet decaying wood, moss, delicate flowers and also an intensifying meat and leather note. It is very warming and addictive at this stage and every time I sniff it I get something different. There is also a sense of roasted chestnuts, wet leaves, mushrooms, and a faint green sensation, but more mossy than herbal, possibly from the violet. I wouldn't call this a leather fragrance, per se, because it is too dark and complex for that. In terms of niche leathers I have Fragrance du Bois Milano (which is fruit saffron and leather and quite 'happy') and Kilian Royal Leather, which is black tea and heliotrope over leather and oud, and the leather note in these two comes across as something synthetic in as much as it is 'intending to smell like leather', as opposed to smelling like real aged leather, which is far less clean and more nuanced. These are nice fragrances but not really in the same league as Cuirtis. I also have War and Peace and Antiquity, both of which have a strong leather presence, but are worlds apart in their respective styles. I would say that this stands on its own in recreating of a feeling of dirty leather in a dark, wet, forest in the autumn after all the leaves have fallen and few flowers remain. The opening is a bit sharp and chalky but it settles down nicely into something beautiful, warm, and mesmerising.

My first impression review for the full set. I may add the full post impressions later, after a week. This is the strongest scent of them all. This is the only one where I can say, that I really smell all the notes separately. Right from the top, you definitely smell low-concentrated castoreum substance (maybe tincture, maybe other kind), like about 3%. It is enough to give it a clear castoreum top note. Need to mention, this castoreum smells natural, although synthetic castoreum is very close to the natural substitute. Right away you can smell a good dose of osmanthus. So if you are a osmanthus lover, you will absolutely LOVE it, but if you are a osmanthus hater like I am, you may find it unpleasant. Then the Birch Tar, it is probably the third strongest player. Granted, all three notes as Castoreum, Osmanthus, Birch tar, are as strong, that they can easily be percieved in the top note going all the way until the end of the composition. Oud and Oakmoss are giving this structure a woody backbone, together with leather to give it smoothiness. Sometimes you feel how flowers are crawling outside - orris, rise. Maybe even a little bit of Geranium with Juniper Berry, which are neglegible here. What makes me sad, is that I absolutely love violet leaf, but I can't detect it here to be able to say - yes, this is it! P.S. Post review ranking of animalicness for the collection from most animalic to least animalic, for you, my animalic-lover perverts: 1. Royal Barn (1 and 2 are interchangeable) 2. Forbidden Flower 3. Cuirtis 4. Creme De La Creme 5. Paradise Soil P.S.2. I hope that Ramsey will get his hands on all these perfumes to do a review.

There were bottles of this being sold on the grey market for two and three times retail. I just couldn’t justify. Lucky for me a great person decided he didn’t want it and sold it to me slight below retail price. I couldn’t resist and not am I glad. This, to me, seems like the star of this collection. It’s an amazing leather scent. It lasts and last but never over projects. For me, something that projects an arms length is perfect. This starts off with your hit of animalics and birch but nothing overly barnyardy. It settles nicely into a great leather and I do get the cuir de russie accord which I love. As it progresses you get a nice subtle sweetness that I really like. It’s just an excellent fragrance that does harken back to old times slightly. It’s definitely Modern interpretation of a vintage scent. It’s great. Can’t wait to wear it more and more.

Cuirtis is a very intense, dark leather fragrance that reminds me of vintage antaeus but quite a lot stronger and less polished. The castoreum in here smells animalic but very smooth at the same time, i dont get any barnyard smell but just very very dark smoky leather. But at the same time it smells luxurious and smooth, and in the very far distance there is a bit of sweetness going (probably the vanilla) that pairs well with the castoreum and balances out the intensity of the fragrance. I smell a bit oud and something floral aswell, but in the end this is a castoreum centered fragrance from which i only have 1ml sadly.. it would’ve been full bottle worthy if it wasn’t €600 on ebay. 9/10

Thick and dark, elegant leather scent. I perceive it as more masculine. Here we have birch tar which, combined with castoreum, does the job here, creating a scent of thick tanned leather, a bit animalistic and primitive. This scent projects quite strongly and is surrounded by oak moss and delicately perceptible violet leaves. These are the notes I sense and for me it is one of my favorite scents of this ALD edition released under the slogan "Musk Collection". Very good durability and projection. PS. In perception it reminds me the most of Chetyre Prissana (by one of my favourite creator Prin Lomros).