Cuir végétal

I appreciate the cumin note in Cuir Vegetal for its refined pungency in the opening, and because it has been directed to behave itself quietly in the background, enhancing the fragrance rather than overpowering it. This is in contrast to the nutty and edible roasted cumin note in Santal from this house, which showcases its tenacity throughout, giving me an overall dirty / savoury gourmande impression. Once this warms up on my skin, the grounding cumin and dry cedar give off the impact of an elegant, gently smoked birch / pine tar and smooth suede-like accord. The piney, resinous frankincense base enhances this as it dries down, replacing some of that soft smokiness with balsamic citrusy incense supported by a whisper of clean musk. I find fragrances like Gucci Pour Homme to be warmer, drier, and far woodier than Cuir Vegetal, which shares some similarities to Nicolai's Baikal Leather. This is definitely a gentle fragrance in terms of sillage (although I have been spraying sensibly from my 2ml sample), but I have found that a spray to the inside of my elbow has lasted a good 6 hours or so. Cuir Vegetal layers beautifully with Olibanum's Iris, Tubereuse and Opoponax so far. If I were into sweeter scents, it is also very nice with Vanille. This also lasts longer and has a more intense signature olibanum base than Sacra, and is probably one of my favourites from their collection set (I wish they hadn't omitted Vetiver from the set, as I'd much rather have sampled that over Yuzu or Mate, for example).

Pretty dry, light brown leather a bit animalic but feels more cedar wood than leather especially after maybe the first half hour I found this one fades very quickly at least on me and I’m left with a frankincense and cedar. Not bad but if you’re looking for a strong leather this isn’t it.

This is a dry leather/woody/soapy scent. I bought a tester because it says it has an animalic accord, plus smokey. I can't find those. It is okay but nothing special as far as I am concerned.

Cumin is intense in the opening which gives a definite BO vibe when combined with the vegetal leather note. That said the leather pairs well with the frankincense base, so it gets nice in the dry down (like 30min to an hour in). I’ll see how it layers with others but on its own it’s just meh. Update: Cumin is still too dominant in pairings. And I'm usually fine with cumin as a note. But this is just too much, to the point that it smells culinary. This is odd when you go in expecting something animalic.