Cuir Noir

Leather, Rose, & Violets. This is one of the sweetest & gentle takes on leather. Cuir Noir (CN) is dominated by a very sweet, but not cloying, rosey vanilla scent. Almost like a sweet rose drink: floral, creamy, sweet. That sweet rosey smell is made powdery with soft sandalwood. Then the scent is Arab-icized with woody notes (oud, supposedly). The benzoin enhances the sweet vanilla facet of the scent. There is very light spiciness to liven up the scent. Finally, very late in the dry down you get some incensy leather. Soft, powdery, rosey, vanilla, very sweet, leathery. I like this fragrance but the leather does take its time to come out. Also, the oud is barely there, just to Orientalize the scent than be detectable as a note. You really can not trust Fragrantica votes when it comes to oud. CN is sweet, rosey, & powdery. That powdery accord is very reminiscent of violets' floral powderiness. CN is a still is a good fragrance but the name "Black Leather" is misleading: the leather is a second to the sweet vanilla and rose, & there is nothing black about CN's sweet roses. In fact, gourmand lovers are likely to love this. There is no wonder it is voted to smell like Elie Saab's "Cuir Bourbon". I haven't smelled Saab's but looking at it notes, CN can easily have the exact same 4 notes. Unisex, leans feminine with its sweetness. Suitable for cool weather. "Like"

Starts off straight up leather mixed with slightly medicinal dirty oud. I’m a big oud fan, so I really like this. It’s a little rough around the edges and I mean that is a good way, it’s smoky and dark, the way a true oud should be. It softens downs nicely and becomes slightly sweeter, at least on my skin. This is when the rose and vanilla come to the surface. Not obviously sweet, but sweet in a dry, nutmegy spicy way. Finally the wood notes come out in the dry down giving this a soft, natural and slightly musky finish. This stuff is pricey and I bought blind because I saw a deal on eBay I couldn’t pass up. I paid just enough to take a gamble, thinking if I hate I’ll just sell it to someone...long story short, I really really like this. It’s got a definite expensive high quality air about it, total sophistication and elegance from beginning to end of the dry down. Can be unisex, but veers more to the masculine side for me. Only flaw is the longevity. It’s not as horrible as some reviews say, but it’s got about 3-4 hour life span. Not a good fragrance to spray heavy either because the opening is so strong. Still, it’s a truly beautiful scent.

#1022 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I have so many woody leather scents, but as I was comparing them note-for-note with this I realized the notes this has that all my others lack are benzoin and vanilla, and it's quite a difference. Comparatively scents like Dior Homme, Afnan Rare Carbon, Rasasi Shurah, Shaghaf Oud Aswad, Lattafa Ra'ed Oud, Ford Ombre Leather, and I can name another dozen or more, all come off dry and arid compared to this. Fruitier leather scents don't have that issue, but I actually prefer not to have raspberry for instance as at times I find it nauseating. I think this scent is more likely to encourage intimacy than any other scent I have on the shelf as all the women I go out with are into vanilla. You could wear this to the office if you're involved with or trying to get involved with a co-worker, but I'd save it for date night. Otherwise if you're going to be in tight spaces with a non-partner I'd choose a different scent. This is long lasting, projects beyond arm's length. Pricey like the entire Prive line. For me, since I have them on hand, I'll layer Grand Soir and Ombre Leather and get pretty close to this.

At first when sprayed this had me excited a dank, mouldy Oud woodiness with almost sweet top notes that are perfectly complimentary. I thought this had the quality and balance of MFK Oud but sadly as it develops past the opening couple of minutes or so, it shows it's true colours. It's not bad as such but just very weak and longevity is poor. This is odd because I would've thought they'd use the same quality of Agarwood for all this collection (with the gold stoppers) and Oud royal is good and Myrrhe imperiale (although doesn't have Oud) is a favourite of mine. The leather in this is there but not very pleasant and luckily not very strong when it emerges, nor does it stick around for long. Cuir noir is certainly not smooth or luxurious and does evoke more of a rough tanning vibe which is supposed to be Armani's intention. This fragrance is not bad just lacking in originality and strength at this price point. The dry down is subtle but pleasant if you like Oud...That's all I can say really.

I am extremely sensitive to leather. So a perfume called “Cuir Noir” (Black Leather), you can imagine that I smelled it without much conviction. And big surprise; it is sublime. Here we are not dealing with an animal leather, nor dirty or invasive, but with a very soft, warm, attractive, sensual and comforting leather; we want to snuggle up close. For once, I agree with the appellation; It’s perfectly unisex. Cuir Noir is primarily a scent of leather, sandalwood and benzoin. This sandalwood/benzoin combination with its cocoa scent is delicious. After several days on textile (by the way, very good staying power - at least on fabric), I find it has a smoky smell. A wonder, a real crush. It's a shame that the price is so high because, as someone who doesn't usually like leather, I would have bought it straight away. In reality, I will never buy it...