Cuir Mythique

I got a 5 ml decant, so I can’t comment on the atomiser . . . yet. I fully intend to get a bottle, and though it is expensive, it’s worth it. This is probably the most unique scent I’ve ever tried. I’d like to believe I have a good nose, not spectacular, but not blind by any means. I can’t detect most of the notes listed individually, as one note that is not even listed dominates it all: smoke. There is a tinge of freshness from the pine, juniper, and ginger. The base is a leather I’m more inclined to categorise as suede — this is a personal impression I get from every leather note that is wet and not assaulting like the headache inducing scent of new car seats. It could be the powder note of iris rounding the wet leather, but it’s impossible to find the iris on its own within the scent. What this perfume is, though, is a blast of intense smoke. Pardon the simile, but it almost smells like a barbecue sauce . . . in the most magnificent, magical way. It fills your nostrils with the soft, round blockage of smoke that rises from charred good quality wood. It is the smokiness the taste of smoked meat and mussels emanates. This is not to mean Cuir Mythique smells like food, not at all. This is the most exquisite smoke you can ever smell, more deliberate than a fireplace, upscale, refined. Overall I’d say this is a very linear perfume. I normally dislike linear perfumes, as a good perfume is supposed to be multi-layered, multi-dimensioned. This begins as a smoke blast, continues as a smoke blast, and finally fades as a smoke blast. It stays on clothes for over a day, but does eventually disappear. I can’t testify as to how long it really takes for Cuir Mythique to die down on the skin, because I always end up taking a shower before it does. I can, however, confirm it lasts almost 3 days in the hair, even if your hair just touches your neck after you sprayed it on. I’m not someone who thinks perfumes have genders, times, seasons, ages... This is certainly genderless, not unisex. After all, you can’t gender genuine smoke. Wear this whoever you are, whenever, wherever you want to smell like smoke. I personally chose not to vote this as a summer perfume, simply because I personally would not waste this in summer, when I won’t be able to appreciate its smokiness due to the suffocating humidity and heat that I cannot tolerate. I’m genuinely surprised there is only one review of this gorgeousness, but all too selfishly I hope Cuir Mythique remains out of massive demand until I can get my hands on a bottle! Edit: I finally have a bottle. Strangely, there are “new” notes I couldn’t detect in my sample. Namely that there is a blast of cigarettes on top and a soapiness below. The cigarettes were a bit off-putting, while the soapiness - though unwelcome - was not badly executed. I was happy when THE smoke took over within half an hour! The bottle is heavy and sturdy, with a beautiful atomiser that gives a fine spray.

Notes according to the sample: Pine, Juniper, Tangerine Iris, Galbanum, Ginger Leather, Ink, Smoke And that's a more accurate approximation. For quite some time there's an inky feel enveloping you, or more like hot tar smouldering and suffocating your soul... In a good way. Heavy smoke punches you in the nose right from the get-go, kind of like burning incense, but also kind of not. For a second you think that a priest came to reprimand you for your inevitable sins, but it turns out that a random glam metal band frontman hit you with an ashtray that he and his spandex buddies were filling up since last night's gig. You put on your leather jacket and walk out with your head held high, only to stumble outside, fall, and roll over the grassy fields of Ireland. The narcotics finally wear off just in time for work, and you swear it was all a dream.

This is what Memos Irish Leather should have smelt like. Now this does something that doesn't. You've got the leather backbone of the fragrance just like the one found in MIL however in this you get an amazing smoky iris note giving the scent a darker approach with much more depth and density. Was a love at first sniff and my SOTD while I write this review.

This makes me feel like I've just bngd a widow on the day of her husband's funeral. you don't love this smell, this is a continuous fight between guilt and sadistic pleasure.

@bertes yes...As someone from a communist country, middle-aged, this smells like some affluent eastern European... the opening is nasty, but the dry down is sublime