Cuir Obscur

what a pleasure to be the first person to review this perfume. It is a lush deep mysterious Arabic style fragrance. although it is categorized under leather, this so misses the complexity of this scent. It might also be mis-categorized in the fashionable rose oud vibe but is far more sophisticated. On initial spray it it reminded me of Ardent by Boadicea the Victorious. Ardent to me is the sweeter(vanilla) sister to this androgynous definitely unisex frag. It is far more masculine than the notes above indicate so men would be comfortable wearing it. It is beautifully blended, initially the amaretto opens then the spice and floral notes (including a stunning black velvety rose) come quickly forward forward and remain throughout the 8 hours longevity. The balance of the background smoky oud leather and patchouli which holds it throughout and give a wonderful mysteriousness to the whole experience. it is a sensual perfume although i have not yet spayed it on a man i suspect it would be incredible. Purchased it as a blind buy based on the notes and i am delighted. It is one of those scents you keep wanting to return to explore its depths. It has good longevity 8/10 and medium silage 6/10

#988 in my "Your de Fragrance" The "reminds me of section" is very thin because this is a very unique scent. The only scent that I think is similar is Guerlain's L'Homme Ideal Parfum, also hard to find and around $160 on eBay and not nearly as interesting as this. It shares the Amaretto, leather, musk and patchouli notes, but this adds rose, ylang ylang and nutmeg and that slight bit of added complexity makes a world of difference. This really smells yummy, one of the best I've smelled, and as I write this on Thanksgiving Day I realize this is a great holiday scent that actually has a chance of cutting through all the smells of cooking food, decorations, Uncle Buck. I think it's office appropriate, good date wear, solid quality, leans masculine but a woman could rock this. Sadly it looks like the only source for it is Harrod's at $250 + $30 shipping. So it's on my list, but not high on my list.

This fragrance is an absolute hit for me! I love my leathers and this is yet another take on something I thought "I saw it all already". It's boozy bot not alcoholic, you get the beautiful amaretto note which is delicious roasted almonds and vanilla and some brown sugar on the background. Leather part is like sniffing a new Hermes bag straight from the box :) It's subtle fragrance but is constructed so well I had to go and purchase it. Ylang-ylang and patchouli are balancing out the roughness of the leather and smell divine. I see why they made it a Harrod's exclusive. It's posh, elegant and charming. Sillage is moderate, projection is quite good, longevity is excellent for it being Byredo. It's very easy to wear and sometimes you forget you have it on untill you get a compliment

A really lovely interpretation of leather. This perfume is a very deceptive beauty. It opens innocently with an almost innocent vibe of sweet amaretto liquer surrounded by hints of rose, ylang and slight nutmeg. However, then it starts transitioning to a leathery musk with a lovely patchouli center. Unisex with moderate sillage and good longevity. Very nicely blended. A marvelous shape shifter. Enjoy!

Byredo....You did it. What a fine fine scent. I just cannot stop sniffing my arm. Unbelievable work with leather accord. Wow. Starts off really annoyingly fruity spicy with a huge dose of nutmeg. Give it 10 mins and it turns into smoky leather musk and mentholic Patchouly. Absolutely stunning. Performance to be tested. If it's good I reserve a bottle. Brilliant leather.

Thank you julieekerr for your gorgeous review. I love it too, and I can't put it better than you have. It's beautiful.

First wearing of Byredo Cuir Obscur, a Harrods-exclusive release from 2016 that still remains difficult to find in the US (I’d not even heard about it until recently), fittingly a leather-centric fragrance that has a semi-animalic, semi-dry quality to it while involving rose, amaretto, and patchouli. It has herbal, floral, boozy, and smoky qualities to it. It’s pretty well balanced but lands fairly sharp and heady for a couple hours to start despite having a mellifluous notes, even the sweet amaretto and musk. Overall, it’s a nice leather offering with the variety of contributing notes and does calm down quite a bit after several hours of wearing despite being very strong—too strong in the leather/patchouli/nutmeg, perhaps—in the opening. It feels more like a “like” than a “love” after reapplying a bit to experience the opening again, but it’s definitely a unisex (perhaps slightly masculine) winter choice that I think many will like, so I’d recommend trying it if you come by it. It’s priced at a modest-for-the-brand $198 for 100ml (considering that for US customers, it needs to be shipped from the UK, presumably) and that pricing seems reasonable for the product, a very useful cold weather fragrance. 7 out of 10

woulda coulda shoulda feeling...well ...would have liked it had it lasted beyond an hour. should have been something else than a skinscent. not great value for money. will stick to my other leather scents. byredo never fails to underwhelm me.

I was really looking forward to this fragrance. I blind bought a full bottle. On my first test, the notes of a strong and smoky leather fragrance dominated. After about half an hour, it dried down to a floral-soapy leather fragrance. Two of my girlfriends were there during the test and I could smell the amaretto on their skin, the incense did not touch the skin. It developed into a restrained but nice soapy scent on them as well. It was noticeable on my skin for a long time, but I feel that its projection was rather restrained. It can be felt on clothes for a very long time. I can only smell boozy notes in the atomizer or when blown into the air. I'll put it in storage now and try again in a month.

I quite like the opening couple hours of this. Really nice subtle sweetness from the amaretto, and nice balance between the patchouli rose and leather in my opinion. A bit later it gets slightly soapy to me, I think from the nutmeg (PSLs taste like laundry detergent to me). I think it starts leaning more male as it continues to dry down but I also feel that the musky rose combo leans a bit senior citizen. Not crazily, but enough that I probably won’t reach for my sample of this very often.

I am hit or miss on leather, and this is hit. Rather than rat poison or cocaine the leather is a gorgeous deep oud like gravity with gorgeous juicy boozey rose going even more succulent with the ylang while leaning into the patchouli for extended strength and continued delectability.... very nice. Very happy with this blind buy!!

Wow, one the best pronounced notes I have ever smelt in perfumery of Amaretto. Had to get this and so glad it's in my collection. Is this leathery? Not too much but don't care, that Amaretto note being supported by the other notes is fine by me. The house has good releases with good performance but this is the best from Byredo in my opinion.

I like how unique this is, I had a similar feeling with their Tobacco Mandarine, I've smelled nothing quite like these two. A lovely, slightly dirty leather, sweetened and warped by the amaretto, with a hint of rose and patch, really nice!

Beautiful scent truly..but very low projection and doesn't last longer than 4 hours on average (tested it many times for this very reason). I wouldn't spend such a premium price for a perfume that doesn't last

this is what a sexy man smells like woody, boozy, at the same time fresh, just a hint of leather, masculine rose, not much almond, soft aftershave vibe in my opinion totally a masculine perfume