Cuir Impertinent

Absolutely star anise-ly stunning. Wonderfully medicinal, apothecary but in an extremely sophisticated and elegant way. THIS Is what abstract perfumery about: creating new and unchartered territory. I must say this anise note is wonderfully green at first, bursting with a green-bitters kind of zest that I have not experienced in a while. The sweet, gentle tobacco and suede note round this off so nicely, it almost becomes hypnotic. Personally, I would like it to lean more towards the leather notes to warrant the title, but I am being "impertinent". Fantastic release that I would love to add to my ever growing collection. 8/10. Fresh, green, spicy leather was never done so well!

Okay, so I'm still a perfume novice, but when I first sprayed this, it immediately smelled overwhelmingly like a campfire up in Mt Charleston, where we used to go camping when I was a kid. I guess that's the star anise and tobacco, but on me it's a smoky, char-type of scent. After awhile I can pick out the leather and hints of the amber, but when it's all blended together, it smells exactly like a campfire surrounded by pine trees. I can't get enough. But as others have said, the projection and longevity just aren't there. Not for the price. Which is so sad, because I just can't stop spraying this, and my tiny little sample will be gone in a flash.

I would LOVE this on my man. Sexy as hell. There are very few fragrances I would deem as gendered but this leans quite masculine. Not to say that anyone couldn’t rock it. Cuir Impertient is a simply stunning tobacco dominant scent with anisic and suede-like supporting notes. I also detect hay. An intriguing contrast of feeling soft and comforting yet rugged and very self-assured. Smells expensive and complex. Update: I bought it for myself. If my guy is lucky I might allow him to use it from time to time. I just kept coming back to the sample and found it too good not to own and rock myself.

Absolutely in love with this scent! It’s like a mix of fresh aromatic herbs (lots of anise) and sweetened woods. Reminds me a bit licorice candies. I don’t feel much of a leather here but probably it’s just giving this fragrance a nice depth. Let me know if someone has it for swap or sell in the UK pls

This is a very smooth leather/suede tobacco excursion. The anise lends some spicy fullness then the leather emerges so soft and beautiful. The amber brings the sexy warmth. Definitely unisex in the best way. If your a leather fan, check this one out.

Amazing!! Think, an infinitely more wearable and slightly minty version of Memo African Leather. I’m shocked that the community isn’t raving night and day about this one! Could easily be a year-round signature scent for a mature male, any age

Elegant and sophisticated. Yet bad enough to push a Harley through the canyon on Mulholland Drive in leather pants and a black sleeveless tee. This one has my whole heart.

Such a beautiful spicy leathery tobacco scent. The bottle is amazing and packaging is great.

I quite like this unisex fragrance - I agree with walking44 that this is a fall/autumn scent. I am reviewing a spray tester I received with an order from the TM site.I tried to blind guess the notes and while tobacco, anise, and leather are easily recognizable, I was quite surprised that musk and incense aren't listed. I get a sweet smokey note on the top that dissipates after a few minutes, and the sillage smells like musk to me. Cuir Impertinente serves the same scent purpose as CK Obsession for me, though they don't smell alike, but the occasions I'd wear either would be the same - a cozy fall day, hanging out inside with hot tea or coffee. I much prefer the Mugler. Though, for some odd reason I keep thinking of CK One with this even though I don't think the two smell alike - I think the musky anise smell might be tricking me, but I'd be curious to know if others are smelling some similarity between the two. With one spray from a tester, I don't think projection is all that great, especially for a Mugler scent. If this were louder, and perhaps a bit less expensive, I'd grab a bottle for sure.

A camphoraceous minty anise note meets smoky tanning leather. An aromatic tobacco that is only vaguely sweet and very realistic jumps into the foray defining itself from the more youthful sticky cherried tobaccos that are commonly used these days. A sweet vanillic amber proudly displays dominance with something herbal lurking underneath. There is a bit of cardamom in here too. I am not sure if the amber is spiced or they added actual cardamom. I guess they would have had to add cardamom to the amber accord in order to make it appear that way regardless. This is a beautiful and unique fragrance I am not sure why no one is talking about this one, but I guess it is quite niche and not for everyone. Read full reviews on my blog: musingsofafraghead.blogspot.com/

As others have mentioned, this is a very lovely scent. Dry, sweet, a touch masculine. The star anise really adds a bit of a unique, almost fresh, touch to the overall scent. It also gives a bit of a barbershop vibe in some way. But other than that, it's quite an ordinary, albeit beautiful, scent. It's the sort of scent I would find very easy to wear in the cooler months. I feel it is the scent of a handsome sporty gentleman in his prime, carrying his slightly graying hair with the utmost of sophistication. It's a signature scent for one who doesn't care to venture outside his established preferences. For me, I have to put it next to much cheaper scents performance and overall scent wise. It's simply not worth the price Mugler asks.

Wow, this is not what I expected, and it is a pleasant surprise. I thought this was going to be heavily sweet anise leather. This is not heavy in the least, and really not sweet. The anise is more a dry almost green anise. Someone else described it as having a camphor like aroma, and I can understand that description. The leather is definitely there, but it is a subtle soft buttery leather with the tinest bit of amber to keep this from being too dry. This is a leather fragrance for those who do not like the heavy leathers. This is very noticeable, but it's not in your face. If anise, tobacco, and leather could be understated, this is the perfume. Nice and unique.

Me and my OH were laughing for ages about wearing a scent called ‘Impertinent Queer’ (we are both guys before anyone says that’s homophobic y’all!). I have so far been underwhelmed by this Mugler line - performance generally lacking and not special enough to justify the high prices. This is one of my favourites! Strong anise and slightly minty, as stated by other reviewers. I don’t detect much leather here, overall a sweet and spicy scent. Long lasting with moderate sillage... if it had just a little more perhaps I’d invest!

Excellent stuff. Opening is a bit too much on the anise but after a bit of drydown time it settles in really nice with the amber, and then tobacco really starts to come to the fore. At this point it reminded me a lot of Dusita Issara, another excellent tobacco scent. I get a bit of a dry leather feel but it doesn’t really strike me as a predominately leathery fragrance though despite the name, this is an amber tobacco and a very good one.

Not quite sure what to add that @ptilda didn't already cover. Worked quite well with the cold weather my area has been having lately. It lasted about 5-6 hours on me, which for my skin is pretty impressive. I liked my little decanted ~1 mL freebie, but I certainly wouldn't pay $200+ for it, and I'd be upset if someone paid $200+ to gift this to me.

At first I really enjoyed this fragrance. After a while of wearing it I began to smelling very powerdy on my skin, which ruined the amazing opening for me. After a year or 2 passed Alien for men came out and these 2 are roughly 80% alike. Ci is far superior and better blended but both dry down to a very similar powder/baby powder scent.

Mugler Cuir Impertinent (2015) - Anise Amber - #jeanchristopheherault creates an interesting and unique accord. Star Anise meets Amber resins and Tobacco. You get a slight Leather accord, but definitely not the prominent player. A fresher take to spicy leathers and well-crafted. Very niche.

unreal projection and a very straightforward tobacco. thanks to the anise it also screams festive to me, like a commenter below said, but even in the spring i cannot stop sniffing my arm. it’s not complex by any means, but captivating all the same. a sweetie at the core.

This is the only one of the "Les exceptions" line that really interested me. Very original. But average/low performance, and at that price, it's a no for me.

Very very very dry anise and leather with a hint of tobacco leaf, not the sweet pipe tobacco. This reads woody and like a dry, mild oud on my skin.

A holiday-spiced tobacco that is slightly sweet and pleasurable to wear. Feels too festive to justify a full bottle purchase

Cuir Impertinent is the stand out star of the entire Les Exceptions line. Absolutely stunning.

The tobacco is hay-like and prominent, with a round, warm sweetness like blonde caramel. However, it lacks any of the melted stickiness of a caramel note. Instead, the amber is so strongly powdery that it gives a dry, dusty vibe to the whole composition. The leather is dry, too; suede-like and velvet-soft. The anise adds a twist of licorice-y sweetness that I find interesting and dimensional, but isn't strong enough for my liking. I prefer it to the standard lavender note that most often fulfills the same role in fragrances of this genre; I just wish it were stronger. To me, this smells like a saloon in the middle of a long dry spell. For some reason you ask for ouzo instead of your usual whisky neat. There's only a disappointing dribble left in the bottle, but the bartender pours it out for you anyway, on the house. The worn floor is dusty, which is normal, but the dust smells like talcum powder, which is not normal. Is this a dream? If it is, you'd like to dream yourself up another bottle of ouzo, and maybe a winning poker hand or two.

The leather on this is so good that I do dare say this is verging on the savory side. Literally I almost smelled the leather verge into beef jerky status. lol. I never thought I would smell that in a fragrance but the leather in this is amazingly good almost on the verge of cuisine. This is not the first time Mugler has been known to do cuisine fragrances as they did back with their Taste of Fragrance line. I literally got a little hungry from the leather. I honestly was just trying to soak all that leather in here because it's really good but then it went on the verge of like a seasoned steak. I swear that has never happened to me before. Highly different for me in a fragrance. If you love leather you are going to love the leather in this. And if you really just soak in the leather your going to see a bit of the resemblance I'm talking about here. lol. Don't get me wrong this is not like your eating a big steak fragrance. But there is definitely leather in this as the title suggests. What is also interesting is in the dry down of this fragrance is almost turns fruity a bit like you would smell on an apple and there is this similarity to Fougere Furieuse this candy like sweetness with the juicy apple smell. Very different fragrance as well. As I stated before Oriental Express is my favorite, with Fougere Furieuse second and Cuir third. The others I feel like I need to test them out more on skin but I would consider the rest of them more on the masculine side and feel like many of these fragrances lean more masculine which is shocking because it's usually the other way around and this maybe the first Exclusive line that leans more all masculine than feminine..although anyone can wear what they want you know? Yeah there is some spiciness with Cuir that mixes with the leather to give you a tasty leather feel. So different but I like it. Anything unique and different I will take notice and this is a good smelling fragrance I think men especially would really love this.

Cuir Impertinent primarily revolves around the presence of amber and tobacco. It is a sweet masculine aromatic. The amber is very dominant, and the spicy aromatics radiate strongly from underneath the sweetness of resin. The tobacco is very well blended behind the presence of the amber, and provides this bulky masculine aromatic body that the amber straddles across. I must say that Cuir Impertinent is very true to its name, as the presence of leather doesn't ever distinctly reveal itself in the fragrance to me. It doesn't fit in? A slightly spicy accord is definitely noticeable though, once you become accustom to the amber and tobacco. This spicy accent puts a kind-of cinnamon-sugary brush on the fragrance. It's quite stylish, and adds some sexy flare the aphrodisia of amber and tobacco. Given these romantic qualities, Cuir Impertinent comes off to me as a "Give daddy some sugar" fragrance. I could easily see this being a lady pleaser by all consideration, but must be applied with a gentle touch, the same that is used to best please a women in general. The qualities should go natural from there. Cuir Impertinent is sweet and aromatic—yet masculine and dominant. It's the kind of aromatic that strokes the sweet spot of a woman's senses, brushing it back and forth until her stimulation quickly reaches its climax. Just note that the wrong touch will spoil the mood—like it would in any other situation.

In my ongoing quest to find the best tobacco fragrance, a friend highly recommended Cuir Impertinent, noting its possible impending pullout — quite typical of other famous Mugler blends. When perfumer Jean-Christophe Hérault — the man behind Aventus — was given the Les Exceptions brief of mixing up genres to bring a new sensorial experience, he took his fondness for smoky, leathery notes and married it with star anise — a rather unlikely pairing that ended up being a match made in olfactory heaven. This masculine-leaning blend opens with sophisticated star anise that slowly fades around the second hour to let the slightly leathery, somewhat velvety piped tobacco scent shine for a good 3-4 more hours on skin in the cooler Philippine months. Where this will sit on my tobacco list is perhaps below where Sweet Tobacco Blends will eventually land. Cuir Impertinent scores higher for being less sweet, but lower for not being tobacco enough. As a dumb reach though, this is undeniably crowd-pleasing and wears best in temperature-controlled colder environments.

Very, very nice. Mugler sent me a sample of this and a few others. I haven't tried them, but I decided to give this one a shot today and I'm quite impressed. This is kind of a woodsy leather, which i know seems surprising looking at the notes. It smells more complex than it really is. I got a whiff of it, and it reminded me just of these woods that I used to go running in! Very realistic and not synthetic, which surprised me from TM. The tobacco note blends nicely with the amber and the leather to create a sweet, earthy accord. The anise is there, but it's not sharp or very poignant like in Lolita Lempicka, for example. It does smell a little floral too. Of course a guy would pull this off nicely, but...it's a little more on the feminine side to my nose. Nothing heavy or "masculine" about it. The leather isn't even very pronounced, but I really do find this an interesting, well rounded fragrance with decent sillage and longevity. I'd wear this one again.

On both paper and skin, the dominant note I get in the opening is dill - ever so slightly vlasic/pickley dill, but mostly fresh dill! I get crushed stemmy green vibes for the first several minutes after spraying, then it settles down into a surprisingly fresh, high quality suedey brightness that is extremely enjoyable. I dont detect the dry pungency I associate with whole dried star anise . Or at least its not the most detectable note - its more of a green anise seed rather than star anise. Similar to @originaldeftom, I also wish there was just a tad more emphasis on the leather as the scent develops. It gets quite linear after the opening, but it's interesting enough that it doesn't get boring. Not as monsterous as a few of the other mugler mainstream offerings in terms of projection/sillage, but people can definitely smell it and longevity is excellent. Really enjoying this one.

Opens with a sweetness that says, “this is Mugler, all right!” I also get a tiny streak of green, presumably from the star anise, which I don’t otherwise notice as a spice note until well into the middle of the progression. This fragrance is much more tobacco than leather to me, and also surprisingly smoky. The Mugler Marketing Department would have you believe that it is, “the smokiness of tanned leather,” but to me it’s much more like pipe or cigar smoke. Please note, though, that I also tried it on paper and it was much more “green”/less smoky, so your millage may vary. Amber becomes preeminent on the back end, as befits a base note. As a big fan of A*Men Les Parfums de Cuir (aka Pure Leather) I was really looking forward to this one. It didn’t disappoint me—I think it’s a very good fragrance—but I do think it’s miscast. I’m sure Tabac Impertinent would have sold just as well.

This is a unisex fragrance and it definitely leans more masculine as well but I love it. It’s savory because it’s top of the grill smoky. The leather is so dense and as it dries down it turns sweet. It’s a unique blend of sweet and savory. Something I’m not use to seeing. To me this is definitely full bottle worthy and up there with Feve Delicieuse and in the same family of fragrances with having leather, spices and a cherried sweetness. I think most men are going to love this. Do give this one a try. Remember you must love sweet gourmands, leather and spices, but oh it’s so good it could be a top fragrance just like Feve Delicieuse. Mugler did an outstanding job on this one. When I can I will be buying this in the future. It’s just so delicious. I really want this fragrance like now. The price is $225 US dollars but this one is worth it.

Wearing this for the second time today. I like most of the offerings in this collection so far. But like most other fragrances in this collection, Cuir Impertinent reminds me of something else that I already own and enjoy.... There definitly is a vague resemblance to Spicebomb, not as complex, not as strong, but certainly there in the first hour. Then, tobacco comes out. I really like this collection (Chyprissime and Supra Floral being my favorite) but the projection of these is minimal. EDIT: Now that Mugler has been sold and that these will be reformulated, I made sure to get most from this collection. (many are available from discount website) I'm glad that I finally bought it. While projection is not great, the scent does stay for a good 6 hours on my skin

A touch of peppermint gum! I get that whiffs between a peppermint gum and dusty sandy tobacco that goes back & forth. Also it has an insatiable mouth watering juicy moist star anise added to it but also in a bubblegum kind of anise. Do you remember (know) that "Big Red" bubblegum! "Cuir Impertinent" has a tingly touch of that gum as i think i kind of started to detect cool ice mint. I can't classify this blend as leather but since they mentioned that it is Impertinent, then it IS Impertinent indeed :) Edit (3rd July 2025) Tobacco peppermint gum indeed! it's a harsh dry tobacco with harsh bubble gum note that whiffs star anise from a very far away. This is beautiful as i don't think it's leathery! unless i forcefully believe it is leather. Beautiful.

My new favorite! This doesn’t smell like any other fragrance out there, that I am aware of. I received a sample of Cuir Impertinent a few years ago and didn't try it until a few weeks ago. It was, without a doubt, love at first scent for me. I love anise, but as a fragrance, pure anise would be too strong. The cool leather notes and osmanthus flower tame and complement it; all three frangrances work beautifully together. It’s somewhat expensive but I immediately bought some and have no regrets. I can’t get enough! What a pleasant and profound surprise this was. 💙

A rather safe leather scent. The leather is clean and polite, with a tiny tiny bit saltiness that suggests a very very mild animalic touch, it gives the fragrance a little interesting edge. This would be a rather good entry level leather if the amber is not too syntheticly sweet and overpowers other notes. Has this been reformulated? My carded sample from the 1st batch smells nothing like Alien Man. Cuir Impertinent is a sweet leathery amber and Alien Man is an old school - drugstore deodorant spray - fresh spicy/fougère.

Tried this just an hour ago at Fenwicks and I fell for it instantly!!! Such a different, effortless and likeable scent. I got whiffs of it until I just got home and was thinking of buying it... Now I am having to dig in to smell it and it's somewhat disappeared. Maybe this is why people aren't raving about it. £145 for 80ml just doesn't cut it for me even if I was offered 6 samples to take away. But I did like the smell a lot and if I can find it cheaper, I would be happy to own it.

Opens with a heavy dose of star anise, it's really strong almost camphoric/minty in a way, but it's really just the anise coming through. Light sweet aromatic tobacco notes start to come through in the dry down, but the anise stays strong and mixes with the tobacco, there is a base of amber and leather but the leather is the hardest note for me to pick up in here. All in all, it's a very interesting fragrance but not something I would wear. Pass

I KNEW IT SMELLED LIKE SOMETHING FAMILIAR, JUST COULDN'T PINPOINT WHAT IT WAS. IT TOOK ME LONG ENOUGH, DRUM ROLLS PLZ... VERT D'ENCENS BY TOM FORD (unfortunately discontinued). smoky borderline green leather scent. it has a slight fruity undertone, a bit acidic even though it's not listed. definitely worth a blind buy and much cheaper alternative to vert d'encens, redundant to own both imo.

I don't quite understand why it is not available in England, it is available in USA, and France, and most other places by mugler online but the UK site nothing I have emailed them, however given that Mirror Mirror was never available here and having written several letters to Mugler and Clarins, the UK distributors, it failed to even get a response, so I am not holding out for much hope.

Cuir impertinent is giving me Naxos vibes. Same realm of soft, tobacco sweetness. Of course not entirely the same fragrances, but there are those similarities. Cuir has prominent anis/licorice sweetness while Naxos has a prominent honey/lavender notes. Not getting a lot of leather with Cuir, but really enjoyable if you enjoy Naxos.

Minty star anise. Amber, tobacco, star anise, vanilla, mint, and tonka beans. I believe this one is the most that i like of them all. It begun tobaccoish with sour notes then settles to sweet amber, with tobacco, and major star anise. Interesting one. Cute 2.

An apparent "paradigm shift" from the House of Thierry Mugler since the launch of "Les Exceptions Collection" in 2104. This is a new sibling to the family after releasing themed fragrances. I look forward to seeing Oud-based cologne added too! ;)

So leathery, so chic and...expensive. Mugler should sell smaller bottle for his Les Exceptions's collection like he does for the regular line. 30ml format is enough when a perfumista have hundred of perfume bottle...

Love this fragrance for the simple fact that this is the same style tobacco that's used in amouage journey man. I'm not particularly crazy about the anise note, but yeah this has that legit tobacco drydown!

Could someone please get the new re-releases of Les Exceptions, decant them, and sell them? I can't justify $300 for a whole bottle of this unless I have tested it first 🥲❤️🩹

Has this been discontinued? This is my holy grail Anise scent and I’m looking for a bottle for purchase or trade, feel free to IM.

Beautiful fragrance but Alien Man is basically a reiteration of this at a substantially cheaper cost.

Spiced and aromatic herbaceous, deep sweet/bitter honey. So it smell to me. Gorgeous.

Anise Impertinent! So gentle, natural, comforting and full of creativity.