Rose & Cuir

This is a peculiar one. It's a rose, but not a rose. It's a leather, but not a leather. It's like you have all of the components of a rose, but they never really come together to make a rose accord, and it's the same for the leather. I'm hesitant to use a buzzword like deconstructed, since hype and trend put some tiresome and unfortunate stereotypes to the 'deconstructed' style of perfumery or culinary arts, etc., but that's basically what it is. Up top there is a blast of blue and black fruits (blackcurrant is stated, and I'll believe it), and pepper. Roses have a sort of fruity aspect to their accords - most roses anyway - and many can certainly be quite peppery. This works. There is a material in here through the heart and base that is meant to be rose, strictly speaking, but it's only part of the rose: very quietly floral, creamy, and just a touch soapy; you don't really notice it until the dry down. But, before that and after the top notes start to die off comes a part that I wasn't expecting: the massive green-ness. Huge doses of geranium are riding on the big wheels of vetiver to deliver sharp, piquant, and very aromatic green notes like cut and concentrated rose stems. Geranium is one of those notes that I am quick to dislike; there's just something about it, ever since I was a kid, that is very off-putting to me. The camphoraceous geranium+vetiver combo here reminds me a lot - in both strength, stridency, and sharpness - of the camphoraceous geranium Tauer loves to use, and used with abandon in Lonestar Memories, but this is done much better and in a more elegant fashion. I cannot stand Lonestar Memories, but I'm finding myself attracted to this accord in R&C, which is sort-of blowing my mind! It must be JCE; his signature style of making notes transparent, weightless, very breathable, and full of air and light is what is making the green accord of R&C attractive and much easier for me to take, I think. Now is the time to talk about the leather - or, rather, what's supposed to be leather - which is the quinoline material surrounded by a good dose of Iso E Super (cedar) and what might be a type of castoreum or animalic musk. These are so weightless, diffusive, airy, and "deconstructed" that you could be forgiven for saying it's not a leather accord. In fact, I'm going to go there. The woody vetiver of the dry-down plus the combination of cedar from the Iso E Super sort-of overrules the simplistic quinoline material and takes R&C in the direction of a green chypre rather than a rose leather. I get more green notes and more woods in summation from R&C than I get true rose or leather accords. And while, in most circumstances, I would deduct some points from the perfume for what seems to be a clear lack of direction or execution, JCE rides the line so well between "geranium chypre" and "rose leather" that I have to conclude it was on purpose, as if the point of this perfume is to take the line between the two genres and blur it to imperceptibility. It's fascinating. Despite the disparate and sharply angular juxtapositions of all of the notes, it's easily wearable and pleasant. I think this a tough perfume for the average consumer though, since most want their green chypres and their rose leather perfumes to be separate perfumes, and to wear a perfume that is having an identity crisis of the two genres will likely off-put the average wearer. I normally struggle with perfumes that are having an identity crisis as well, but that's usually because whilst in the midst of their crisis they display aggressive, confrontational, and histrionic behaviors towards the wearer. Not Rose & Cuir. Despite not knowing what it is, I'm thoroughly enjoying wearing it.

Gertrude Stein opines in "Sacred Emily" that a" rose is a rose is a rose is a rose," but surely this is just poetic license—a rose, any rose, is not monolithic. Roses of all colors, all numbers of petals, numerous shapes and sizes, and—most importantly—all manners of scent, including no scent at all. Cultivars of rose can smell very "un-rosey" as well, including some that smell more like the rose geranium; after all, there is a sizable geraniol content in both, along with a number of other shared constituents. Still other rose varieties can smell almost leathery, or tobacco-like. Then we have the idea of leather in fragrance, a concept that surely isn't hidebound, given the early interpretations of it through the birch tar inflected "Cuir de Russie" or the castoreum-meets-saddle-soap "Spanish Leather." The usage of isobutyl quinoline (IBQ) since the early 19th century by Coty and Caron has, over time, come to represent more an abstract representation of leather only as a facet of a whole accord. It imparts that coarse ferocity and mineral quality to a leather accord that often would include the aforementioned birch tar or castoreum, but what if it is unmarried from that which is so often associated? Does it still represent "leather" to a contemporary olfactory bulb any more than Pelargonium roseum represents "rose"? Ellena's Rose & Cuir deconstructs both accords and this becomes obvious to many who seem deft at identifying their notes in a fragrance. Yet, when I smell it, I still feel the impressions of rose and leather: is my nose wrong? Of course it is not. The aldehydes, the galbanum, blackcurrant bud, the timut pepper, they all aid in illustrating this kabuki theater rose, massaging the geranium with tart fruitiness, stems, leaves, and luminous flesh. The vetiver shades in where the IBQ would otherwise feel somewhat stark and brittle, while there is additional alchemy that anchors it, of which I can only speculate. I smell fragments of Nuit de Noel here and there, without the carnation and oakmoss, which delights me. But what makes me most merry is how Rose & Cuir has both heft and a haunting feel, like Ellena summoned ghosts through its essence: like apparitions of rose and leather from a long forgotten past.

Wow, this smells exactly like the wild rosebush that grew up the side of my childhood home, just outside my parents' bedroom window. It's uncanny. I hadn't even thought of that scent in a good 20 years, but wearing this it's like I'm bounding out the front door after an early spring rain, mist still hanging in the air, as the dogs (a gigantic husky prone to knocking me over and a squat little black lab) run across the driveway to greet/tackle me. When I was very young I'd search around the house for little orange salamanders that would show up whenever it was damp outside, and for some reason this fragrance reminds me of nothing more strongly than that; maybe because one of the spots they liked to gather was right below this rosebush. I swear I can almost see the dew dripping from its leaves. Obviously I'm completely blinded by nostalgia, so calling this review subjective is an understatement. I do understand why some find the nomenclature here misleading, though I'd consider it more playful misdirection than deceptive. It is unmistakably rose and leather, just not the type of rose and leather you're probably expecting, especially in conjunction with one another. The rose is incredibly soft and delicate, even watery, backed with the gentle tang of blackcurrant leaves; there's a rustic quality to the leather, more reminiscent of live animals (livestock, maybe?) than it is of a pair of gloves. Combine the two and you have a fragrance that's truly unisex in the way it deploys traditionally masculine and feminine notes to obliterate the line between the two. On a conceptual level this is one of the most impressive fragrances I've encountered so far, and also one of the most sensually pleasing as well.

This has had some fanfare...I mean Malle fans going crazy about Ellena releasing a new Editions de Parfum. The Ellena retrospective at Pitti this year, Malle himself doing a IG Live Q&A about this release, seems like it's been everywhere recently. So unusual how different people perceive fragrances, I get much less geranium or a geraniol rose than the votes here suggest other people do. It's not quite jammy sweet either, but combined with Ellena's signature fruity vibes gives a strawberry/red berry smell which is light and playful. Now couple that (or Juxtapose it?) with the Isobutyl Quinoline which BTW you can smell right from the opening, giving this a dry, leather like accord. It's actually well handled as you'd expect from Malle with a master perfumer at the helm but what is this obsession with fruity/fresh tops and leather bases? FM Promise is exactly the same concept and maybe it's just me but I'm not feeling it. I mean it's okay, I'm not trashing it and the concept of leather and roses is a good one, but I just had a feeling Ellena wouldn't do a Morillas Gucci Guilty Absoulte PH. By that I mean come with some uncharacteristically 'balls out' heavy rose & Intoxicating leather smasher like a Portrait of a Lady or Carnal Flower, instead opting to produce something much more inkeeping with his style. That's what he's done here, a cheerful rose perfume with a hint of leather that feels modern and evokes red, transparent cellophane in my mind. There could be those that think this is great and I can't argue taste, but I found it a little disappointing considering the hype.

Very interesting fragrance. I really enjoy it as it’s different from what usually wear. It’s green fresh and spicy. It’s herbal and woody , vetevir and cedar to be exact. I do not smell rose but more of a green tomato vine with some leather ,but faint . Maybe just the idea of leather, I am not sure. It’s really quite unique and aromatic. I smell eucalyptus and vetevir , cedar and pine notes. Almost like being in a forest ?! The geranium with its lemony nuances is strong in the beginning it definitely leaves you thinking of a tomato vine... As that feel leaves you it stays a fresh aromatic woody fragrance , pleasant and unique. It reminds me a little of Gucci’s Memoire , and maybe a little bit of Kelly caleche ,although Rose and Cuir is much more woody ,aromatic and less floral. I like the fact that rose and cuir smells rather natural and not like a perfume. However I agree with all the people saying that it does not smell as the name suggests. Apparently it’s not suppose to ?! I do not get the concept and the name. It’s a good fragrance but it’s not a leathery rose. More of geranium vetevir perfume with hints of cedar and eucalyptus! UPDATE the more i wear this the More i love it and now I do smell rose and leather more rose than leather but it’s soooooo good !!