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).

Cuirtis initially feels like a piece of leather that had been in the surgical theatre and then rubbed onto your skin. Animalic, yet there’s something chilly/clean about the scent. This sustains well into 5-7H, before revealing a more suede-like interior with floral touches. most animalic composition for me. surgical, almost metallic leather with a carnal purr. exciting stuff Surprisingly, a very enjoyable leather that has not been done before.

Smells a lot of birch to my nose. Very smoky, fireplace-y. It is a bit out of my prefered style as leather scents are not in general my cup of tea. I definietly appreciate the art behind this tho, I wish I like it more. Very smoky birch and leather. Not enough to balance it out. This scent transports you to a Tarkovsky movie is what I am conceptualizing when wearing it, Stalker to be exact.

This opens up with lots of juniper berry & leathery castoreum. The further into the dry-down you get the animalics soften and become far less offensive. A very soft, lovely vanilla then begins revealing itself among some beautiful florals which complement the animalics perfectly. This perfumes dry-down is honestly amazing, it has been blended so well. Give this a try if you can!

I have a 60% full bottle, full presentation, for sale. I also have a 70% full bottle Ottoman Empire 4. Also for sale. First come first sale. US ship only . Message me for prices. I can also sell u decants or samples. I have other Areej fragrances to sell samples of. I’m on Mercari and two Areej Le Dore FB groups. If I sell them there first, I’ll delete this .

I've reviewed over 20 Areej fragrances. This and War and Peace are the most powerful and radical fragrances of them. It's probably not for novices. It's for when you feel like wearing one of the heavy hitters in cold weather.

I have samples of Cuirtis for sale .2 or 5ml. Im on Mercari or FB. Not eBay, they actually banned me for catching me selling decants . SMH . Their loss . Message me if u want to buy . US only

1. ROYAL BARN 2. CUIRTIS 3. FORBIDDEN FLOWER 4. CREME DE LA CREME 5. PARADISE SOIL

Hot take, inbound. Based on wearing my first three sprays, I will lead with the lede: this reminds me of Chanel Le Lion very compellingly for the heart of the duration. But in a kind of "reverse engineered" way, which needs further explication. I am by no means a deeply knowledgeable frag head, so apologies in advance. But I have noted a few fragrance houses where a flanker is issued for an evolving fragrance, where said flanker takes a phase of the OG frag and elevates it to the centerpiece of the release. Examples: Au Coeur du Désert by Andy Tauer is basically mid-to-late drydown of L'air du Desert Marocain, or Cartier Declaration D'un Soir is a phase of Declaration. Not all flankers I have experienced do this; some of them go off on tangents and what not. So it is with Cuirtis, but in reverse: Le Lion came out first, and certainly evolves in its own right, but I have this strong feeling mid way through Cuirtis that it goes through several hours of Le Lion vibes. Now granted: this is a massive oversimplification of what is going on here, and the openings of the two compositions cannot be more different: there is absolutely zero citrus in Cuirtis', and there is zero oud in Le Lion's. The two converge somewhere in the mid point of the wear, and then diverge. As with other Russian Adam compositions, there is a strong retro vibe to Cuirtis and the exceptional quality of the components is obvious. I don't think it is too similar to Cuir de Russie as there is no detectable baby powder note, which seems to dominate CdR. The cumin note is pretty faint, and maybe the violet will emerge later but so far there is more vanilla than any florals. I reserve the right to revise my opinion after a few more wears.

Very nice leather fragrance with slight smokiness and sweetness.Cumin is upfront for sure but it settles down eventually to beautiful spicy,leathery and light Smokey drydown.Some similarities to cuir de russie.Leather is very smooth with other animalic ingredients.This was my favorite from Musk collection.Masculine leaning for sure.

This would be my favourite leather of all time if it didn't have cumin in it (which is not incredibly prominent, but there, lurking in the background, reminding the insanely beautiful blend of birch tar and castoreum of its presence every now and again). Regardless, a stunning composition!

A dark and dirty leather and castoreum fragrance. The DNA is very similar to some of the unique works of Prin Lomros. Fans of leather will love this but I feel it is somewhat redundant. Projection and longevity are insane so spray lightly.

This smells like beaver balls and assholes. I am not exagerating. I am not bashing people that might enjoy the smell of beaver balls and assholes but it is literally what it smells like. How do I know what beaver balls and assholes smell like, you might ask. Well, I do not, but I can only imagine they smell like this fragrance. Or I may simply be too basic in my taste. I will update this comment when finally, my scent palette is refined enough to enjoy the smell of beaver balls and assholes.

Cuirtis Areej Le Dore Wow, what a scent. I picked up a sample of this with Russian Oud II as the first scents I have tried from the house of Areej Le Dore, both completely blew me away, I am familiar with some artisanal perfumery, but these are something else. Opening section: it’s a unique scent, unlike anything I have smelt before. I can pin point the beaver tail oil, but also can’t describe the smell of it, it’s there for sure though. The Castoreum heavily shines through, it’s animalic for sure, but not really dirty, not like some of Prins creations. Osmanthus and juniper berry are two notes I wouldn’t expect in such a fragrance, they’re nice, adding a nice, well needed contrast to such a scent. The cumin is pretty prominent, it’s not as bad as the cumin in some of Roja Doves Middle East fragrances (I think it was one of them but can’t remember which off the top of my head). I’m also getting that amazing birch tar push through from the heart, to describe this note, imagine this - it’s a pit fire, late at night, much time has passed since said fire was lit, slowly the fire dies down, engulfing the dark air with smoke, black, dark, wood, which is crushable from a single touch, maybe just a gust of wind. The scent itself is masterfully blended, it’s masculine to me. Now this is how I imagine this opening to be: deep in the woods, animal smells you cannot exactly pin point, roaming around, eyes appearing every now and again, juniper berry fall from their birthplace, onto the grown. You see in the distance, a birch tree, engulfed in flames, slowly but surely shrinking down to ashes. you walk over and succumb to the ashes. Heart section (briefer): Once the scent settles, you move closer to the ashes of what used to be a birch tree, further and further engulfed. You see a pair of flowers, one slightly jammy and rose-like, one unique, almost purple. The animals come closer, almost cornering you, like there is no escape. The scent is deep, dark, rich with character. Even after all this, you can see something... the like at the end of the tunnel. It’s a slight vanilla, lovely lovely vanilla, an orris which has not retained its original form, rooty, vegetal, but changed from the sheer overwhelming strength from the ashes. It’s beautiful. Orris is my 1/2 favourite note ever, I just find it so interesting, I love the white, root effect from it. As the opening had, this heart has a perfect contrast, done perfectly. Drydown section: The Castoreum and oakmoss blend is like no other, I’m not too familiar with the notes of tar oil, and manipur oud, that Cuir de russie accord is just magnificent, leathery, masculine, smoky. Travel back to the forest in previous paragraphs, Oakmoss surrounding you, not too harsh nor strong, just the perfect amount, unfamiliar scents fill the air, you don’t really know what it is, but it’s so damn addictive. Now the violet leaf, purple, sophisticated, once again (I know I keep on jabbing on about this) the contrast between vintage styled leather and animalic, and purple violet is amazing. I will be picking up a bottle of this in the future. The only reason I didn’t do it a few weeks ago was I didn’t want to pay so much tax at the time, but now I realise that this scent is truly worth paying so much tax and shipping. One of my grails for sure.

#sotd Cuirtis by Areej Le Dore From Russian Adam Cuirtis might be more mass appealing than Royal Barn for sure, it does not have that dirty Oud facets and punch of Indolic at the top. But it still packs the punch. Oh cumin, my dear cumin. Slumberhouse Sixes and Sevens made me fall in love with cumin note although I try to avoid it in my diet 😆 but Cuirtis starts with spicy and woody cumin note which is nicely blended with sensual osmanthus which gives hint of Jasmine however, the beauty is in the vanilic undertone from beaver which starts from the get go and would stay till the end. It's crafted in a way that you would sense that unfamiliar aroma throughout its life. There is leather, smoke, castoreum and other lot of things in here but beaver aroma is constantly present. I was sent beaver oil gland ones in its purest form, and this is somewhat similar yet more pleasing and kind to nose. After an hour or so, it's the castoreum time. Castoreum, very smoky and leathery castoreum and brings the musk like accord, animalic and bold. That's where it gets pretty good. Rose and iris tries to overpower smoke and musk but, after some time settles with second position but that doesn't take away the beauty from these florals, they are present in the party and pretty much visible but people can't take their eyes off animalics. And after wearing Cuirtis today and RB yesterday, I now know why Russian Adam named it as Musk collection as the emphasis is on animalics but that's just not it. It's more than those individual accords but even without them, they would still stand on their own. Around 3/4 hours down and you would notice Oud, not skanky but clean yet balsamic, bit ambery. It could have gone way wrong here had it been skanky because of beaver, castoreum and skanky Oud might not be accepted by sophisticated people around western hemisphere. I believe hence the clean Oud was chosen, just to enhance the drydown to its full potential without killing the confidence of the wearer. I did get some green seaweed smell which am sure is from either oakmoss or violet leaf but it's not very strong as beaver is still at it, gulping everything on its way. 9th hour going on and it's still present, very much I should say. Now it's more of leather smoke bubble around me. I am assuming that's how this fragrance got the name of 'Cuirtis' I would say, it's a safe purchase if you love leather but done with leather as the main character. Cuirtis, is a leather based fragrance but it's way more than leather and smoke and florals. Cuirtis is for winners.

This is quite honestly the castoreum to end all castoreums. The final boss. If you must mention the CHANEL as a relative, then Cuir de Russie is a dainty, finessed Frenchman with etiquette and poise and this is a big, sweaty, hairy chested killer from the East. The opaque nature of the juice gives you hints of what is to come. A super fatty, grease ridden, oily castoreum with some very handily placed sweetness lurking away somewhere. Dark, butch, full fat, no nonsense, scary even. I do not get much florals from this even though osmanthus is listed, so no rotten apricots and indolic fuzzy fruit skin but there is something back there. Sorry but not unisex and not subtle. Not clean and not fresh. This carries some heft.