Leather

Just received this today and, from my initial test, I'm very happy. It's a little harder to locate here in the USA, but well worth any searching you may have to do. This a fantastic fruity leather fragrance - that's as far as I'll go until I wear this a few times. I will update this soon, but my initial impressions are extremely favorable. EDIT TO ADD: Ok, I've had a test run, and a full wearing at the office. I am really impressed with this fragrance. I'm not going to compare this to anything; those connections have already been made, and I think this is wonderful as a standalone fragrance. To my nose, this fragrance wasn't totally linear, but there wasn't a ton of development between wet and dry. At first spray, you get alcohol, wet leather, and fruit. The alcohol fades in 60 seconds, and the leather becomes more prominent. After 15-20 minutes, I'd say, the leather gets a little deeper and richer, and the fruit becomes a little sweeter, but not sharp. At this time, the leather that was up front, moves just behind that sweet fruit. So from 20 minutes until the end, you have a wonderful, sweet but mellow fruit, right on top of a deep, rich but bright, resinous leather, with a little bit of woods, and a little bit of spices. The absolute main players in this are the fruit and the leather, and both of those notes are fantastic - they make the fragrance. I've had it on for about 8 hours and I can still detect a hint, but it would be close contact at this point. Up until about 5 hours in I was still getting frequent whiffs of that lovely fruity-leather, so projection is not too bad. All in all, I think I've found another one to add to the favorites. Despite the fact that its a little tricky to find here, and the prices in the USA are considerably higher than they are in Europe, this is still a monstrous value in my opinion. It cost me less than $70 shipped (which goes to show what a great value it is in the EU); I have paid substantially more money for fragrances that I've liked half as much. At that price I think this fragrance was a steal. This experience has made me want to try more from the Monotheme Black Label line, and I certainly will.

When I first smelt this, I thought the smoke note was a little bit challenging, it opens strong and bold and the smokiness tested me, but I loved the leather and fruit. It definitely grew on me though and over a couple of wears, I started really coming around to it and eventually found the smokiness that I originally struggled with to be pleasing. I'd say it drys down a little on the feminine side as the florals and fruit come out a little more, but it does maintain a quite rough masculinity at the same time. I really like it and think it's a great scent, a little difficult to wear at times and I wouldn't call it a crowd pleaser but it's unique and interesting and has a lovely, gentle, warmth and darkness to it. I appreciate that it's quite a heavy scent but never gets cloying or oppressive and at £20 for 100ml, it smells significantly more expensive than it is. I have no idea about TL, so can't say anything about that. I bought this because I wanted to try out a leather and see how it suited me but it has made me curious to try TL next.

Quite simply this is as sweet as sweet gets in that approximated leather vibe which many many perfumes go for in the vein of Tom Fords Tuscan leather etc... Recently In response to a forum thread, I discussed at length the merits of these leather fragrances and the subtle differences between them. Although starting out quite leathery this one tends to go the way of AdP leather and sweetened up fairly quick. Don't get me wrong this is excellent perfume and at a jawdroppingly cheap price, a great alternative to TL and the likes. It's not quite got the richness or density of long lasting niche leathers and settles to a skin scent much more readily, only projecting gently. I can live with this though because the performance is still very good and it clings to clothes relentlessly. Monotheme have produced some great scents at prices which cannot be denied are bargain.

I agree with the others that this really makes an argument for just how overpriced TL is. I've always liked the Tom Ford but this is as good if not better when price is considered. The differences are limited but noticeable. I find that instead of the clear raspberry in TL, Monotheme employs an indistinct, yet tangy and bright fruit-cocktail esque note, somewhat juicier. The leather here is damned near identical. There is a conservative breath of powdery florals that also is a bit more prominent than I remember in TL but if you are thinking of picking up a bottle of the expensive Tom Ford shit, just get this. Seriously, nobody will be able to tell and with the 200 bucks you save you can invest in the stock market or buy 800 gumballs from your local gas station. 7.5/10

I got this fragrance thinking is gonna be a more casual Tuscan Leather, easier to wear and to appreciate by non fragrance people. (A tester was not available) Well no, this is just as rich and heavy as Tuscan Leather on my skin. Smelling this fragrance form its projection I think even Tom Ford himself will think you wear his fragrance. :)) Smelling side by side I find some differences indeed, Tuscan Leather smells better, I have to admit that, but not by much! I also owned La Yuqawam Homme and Charriol Royal Leather and Monotheme Leather smells just as good as those two to me and 100% identical to the Charriol. And I paid for my bottle just 12€ at the closest perfume shop to my home!