Peau d'Espagne

On one hand, there was the Santa Maria Novella's interpretation of a Spanish Leather accord, and then there is the Oriza L. Legrand take on the theme with a perfume that dates back to 1872 but recently was reorchestrated to fit in today's market and comply with ongoing regulations. While the SMN was a monolithic and rough interpretation, the Oriza feels like a proper Peau D'Espagne perfume, more intricate in its evolution and scent profile. The only thing they share is the opening and the way both portray the leather accord (birchwood heavy). Oriza's take on Peau D'Espagne feels like a front-seat show to the entire process of leather curing and perfuming, all the way to the final product. It tells a beautiful story of how it was done decades ago. The opening is rough and very similar to the SMN, with the smoky birchwood hitting hard, accompanied by citrus and aromatic herbs. However, unlike the SMN, it is less aggressive, with the aromatic and zesty qualities holding on for longer. The leather accord at this stage feels much like raw hide, freshly peeled off and bloody, waiting in the tannery for the curing process. Many people will find the opening overwhelming due to the smokiness combined with that raw hide accord, the herbs, medicinal quality, as well as a prominent urinous facet that I have a hard time placing. The first part of the perfume I'd describe as being "inside the tannery." The second part reveals a great number of floral notes while the smokiness retreats and the leather becomes more supple. The curing takes care of that, while the perfuming process begins with imbuing the garment with various essential oils. I detect jasmine, carnation, and lavender. The latter smells quite powdery and might also play a role in what I'd describe as a "soap" accord that creeps in. Still smoky but more brown in color and floral in smell, with a nice powdery and soapy touch. The final part is beholding the finished product. At this point, the smokiness is subtle while I detect a leather accord that feels dusty-powdery, slightly resinous, and sweet. I picture a nice pair of leather gloves or bookbindings. At this part of the evolution, the resins (styrax, benzoin) play a significant role in creating that soft, smoky-sweet, and dusty sensation, with the styrax most likely continuing to push out the leather-like impression. It is soft, supple, and powdery at this point, a beautiful final product that was worth the wait. This is a proper take on Peau D'Espagne in my books and a well-thought-out composition from start to finish that feels coherent and true to the inspiration. The opening is rough, even rougher than the SMN due to the "bloody" raw hide accord, but if one is patient will be rewarded with an amazing journey. Another thing that I need to mention is the pissy quality of the perfume that, to an extent, reminds me of civettone, albeit not listed. It gives a nice touch to an already vintage composition, but I figure it might not sit well with some people, therefore, I felt like mentioning it. IG:@memory.of.scents

This fragrance puts me in the mind of Aubrey Beardsley drawings, or EJ Bellocq’s Red Light District portraits, or the 1984 film Amadeus. Decadent, mysterious, intimate, sensual, secret, feral, out-of-time, other-worldly. It is difficult for me to pick out individual notes other than a bit of smoky birch tar and carnation, but there are certainly other things going on which contribute to a lux and somewhat acerbic, astringent, salty, and ultimately powdery leather. Some mention a sweetness, but this doesn’t come out so much on me. I understand how some might find the opening challenging. I adore this opening, which more than anything else reminds me of going down on my wife. While smelling nothing like them, Peau d'Espagne calls to mind other sensual ‘body’ fragrances such as Lutens’ Muscs Koublai Khan, Malle’s Une Fleur de Cassie, and Kurkdjian’s Absolue Pour le Soir due to its ability to situate intimate scent associations within personal fragrance. And like the aforementioned, Peau d'Espagne sidesteps meaningful designations of masculine, feminine, unisex. Anyway, when I first sampled Peau d'Espagne I really liked it and lamented I was not the type of person who would buy a full bottle of it. I got over myself and bought a bottle. I have no idea if anyone else would enjoy it on me, and I mostly wear it alone. I never want to be without it. Fwiw, this is fairly dissimilar to Santa Maria Novella’s fragrance of the same name (which is lovely in its own right but completely sidesteps the erotic charge of Legrand's).

What excites me so about Peau d'Espagne from Oriza L. Legrand is just how removed from modernity it truly is. It's old-world sensibility, from a time when conventions of beauty were entirely different from what they are today. The birchwood and styrax that leads is propulsive and phenolic in that almost medicinal sense, not unlike what is experienced in Santa Maria Novella's own Peau d'Espagne, but from here the two diverge. With Oriza's Peau, smoked herbs and woods follow a trail leading to tarry, furry, urinous hides; distant whiffs of the village tannery and all its curing and treating. Indeed, this is a more romanticized notion of a tannery, as blood, pus, dung soup, and so forth would be a more authentic illustration. We spared from these more macabre elements and are presented with something decidedly more sensual to my nose. Things bloom as Peau d'Espange shifts in its heart—lavender, rose, and carnation, a lather against the pelt, a melding of the profane and sacred, carnal and pure. The smoke settles, the unctuous and tarry yield to powder and resin. The hide is rendered more pliable, and the process is complete: we are left with the final product, the smell of flesh transformed. My nose really wants to believe that castoreum is here as well; it definitely smells like there is. As I wear this, a man materializes in my imagination, square jawed, strong brow, beard, hirsute, olive complexion, broad shoulders, all brawn and virtue, and he smells of Peau d'Espagne.

This is outstanding! I just ordered a 100ml bottle and a free 50ml bottle. I had a sample when this first came out and found the initial blast too much but the drydown was fantastic but now after not being impressed with anything new from anyone for a while I retried this and fell in love. It’s different on my daughter’s skin, on her it’s better but I love it so much I’ll wear it anyway. It opens with a strong sweet birch aroma mingled with eucalyptus and then quickly morphs into a pungent bergamot, verbena floral notes. All the front running aromas shimmer and blend to resemble a leather floral old fashioned Chypre. I mean proper old school pre 1970’s perfume. Its initial blast is strong but the drydown is absolutely beautiful, different on everyone depending on your skin. What an ephemeral masterpiece this is. Thank you Oriza, again for making this stuff!!

When I tried it for the first time, I thought "Hmm, this isn't for me." The tar/smoke smell was too strong and put me off. But I just couldn't help but be curious about this perfume. As the temperature dropped, the more I tried it, the more it started to feel like a completely different perfume. The tar/smoke smell that bothered me at first was pleasant, and I could actually smell another scent hidden in it. By the time I was almost done with the sample, I found myself completely in love with this perfume. I immediately ordered a full bottle. I'm looking forward to this wonderful leather note scent contributing to my memories this fall/winter.

I really didn’t like this and the opening is harsh, sour and pretty awful! I washed it off immediately......most from this house are lovely and maybe this would appeal to someone who likes a very masculine perfume. Edit. I retried this after reading a review on fb by Kafkaesque and I applied more sprays......it’s actually strangely compelling. One of those “I couldn’t stop sniffing my wrist” perfumes and I rather like it. The dry down which I didn’t get to try before is lovely, a cross between a medicinal balm and a high end exotic French perfume of the 1960’s. I’m going to explore it further!

The rose is jammy, almost mistakable for red berries. Cool, woody verbena follows close behind. But the long tail is where this scent really shows itself. It expands to fill the room with sweet tar and styrax, unctuous and buoyant like oil. It's not leather per se, but the bootblack himself. Complex, delicious, masculine.

The most polarizing scent I've ever worn. Some people like it a lot and keep sniffing it, others can't stand it and have to open the windows / get away from me because they only get fresh feces covered with some basic perfume.

Warm leather and resinous wood, aromatic spices and a touch of citrus. Absolutely cozy, comforting, high-quality, fall-coded scent. Ugh, I need to upgrade this before winter.

This is not for the modern nose...... and oh, how I welcome it! A familiar scent from a past life. The Funeral March for Queen Mary.

Peau d’Espagne is warm, calming and almost spiritual. It transports me to the silence and peace of an ancient temple. The scent has a smoky feel, it's like the smell of some incense after it has burned down. At the same time it smells like burnt skin in the desert after sunset when the hot sand is still warming it. The scent is resinous and spicy, Carnation and Cloves are the star of the show together with a subtle leathery aroma. Peau d'Espagne is unisex, but it's definitely more suitable for men. Other people probably don't find the scent attractive on my skin, but the scent helps me focus and calms me down when I'm stressed. There's something precious about the scent - maybe it comes from the association with grand old historical buildings and monuments. Lavender doesn't stand out clearly as a scent, but it definitely adds a sense of calm to the overall experience. If I think of a color that comes to mind for this scent, it's definitely brown. This feels very natural, it doesn't have any synthetic vibes. The aroma is very strong at first, you shouldn't smell it right away close to your skin or you might not be able to smell the scent properly afterwards. It lingers quite close to your skin and I think it suits the character of this scent. Overall, the scent is by no means crowd pleasing and especially if you've only worn designer fragrances, this may feel strange and even off-putting. As a niche scent, it's not difficult, but I think it's like a meditation scent. Thank you for reading, I hope my review was helpful. I would appreciate a lot if you want to follow me on IG and/or YouTube (English subtitles): @ninamariahperfumes It gives me a lot of motivation to write more.

I find this Spanish leather fragrance by Oriza L. Legrand quite delightful, wearing close to the skin though with limited silage while giving off sensual whiffs of birch tar & muted florals nowhere do I detect any animalics, longevity is short lived yet remains as a personal skin scent for several hours, in summary not overly complex upon application although develops into a warmer floral/vegetal/herbal combo with a clean citrusy & luxurious skin on skin effect enjoyed apre bain or for the safe later seclusion of the boudoir, delicious dreams for hours & hours in a soft embrace of imagined cuir from the Russian Steppes, definitely not for mass appeal, although the dry down is divine... think angelica, musk mallow & verbena, as stated quite delightful indeed!!!

This perfume doesn’t simply remind the wearer of leather, it picks them up and places them squarely in a tannery. Dry, balsamic, and medicinal; PdE pays no mind to the modern trend of sweet leather perfumes. Hugo Lambert, the perfumer, should be commended for this. This will not be everyone’s favorite, but the stunning blend of neroli (the type that smells of salve), carnation, and birch tar has been compelling me to smell it again and again.

The first time I tried this I thought it made me smell like beef jerky. But after trying it a few more times I really quite like it. The verbena and spicy carnation kind of give it a minty smell which works wonders for the light birch tar smell. It has great sillage and longevity as well. Oriza is quickly earning their spot as one of my favourite houses of all time.

This is the rare Oriza L. Legrand fragrance I do not care much for. The smoky birch tar note is just overwhelmingly harsh for the first few minutes, and drowns everything else out. After some time, the floral notes and the woods come more into play, and the whole thing becomes prettier; but the birch tar and the styrax are initially just too strong. I greatly prefer floral-leather scents where the floral notes are more dominant and the leather/birch is more recessive (as with Chanel's Cuir de Russie, or Geo. F. Trumper's Spanish Leather).

Oriza's Cuir de l'Aigle Russe smells divine and powdery on my skin, ATH Animalix smells sophisticated on my skin...Not feminine at all, but still very elegant and even powerful. I find both to be perfect for situations where one needs to make a statement or take a leadership position...So I was expecting Peau d'Espagne to have that same nature about it. Unfortunately, on my skin, Peau d'Espagne is just like taking a painfully slow walk through the most miserable neighbourhoods of a big city on a extremely hot day...there's this putrid sweetness mixed with old urine smell that feels almost sticky... Terrible with my skin chemistry. Probably on someone else's skin it's nice and spicy, but it's definitely a masculine fragrance.

As someone familiar with SMN's Peau d'Espagne, I find this fragrance shares the same harsh, medicinal opening and an overload of leather and tar. The difference between them lies in the dry down. With SMN there is a delightful unfolding of floral notes which tempers the sour initial impression, but with Oriza's version, the leather note is much more prominent; indeed it is rather overwhelming. It's animalic, - as in freshly-tanned cow hide,- rather than tamed, as in a book binding or a cosy leather armchair. I find myself feeling slightly nauseous at its relentlessness, like being locked inside a newly-upholstered car in a heatwave. Let Me Out!

I love certain types of leather: amber, floral, suede-like, etc. Then there is the mentholated, birch tar, isobutyl quinoline style leather that makes me want to run for the hills. Peau d' Espagne is the latter. It has an herbal aromatic opening characteristic of the house, which plays up the mentholated leather base I find so disturbing. Complex and well executed, just the worst combo for me.

Did not like this at all when I first sprayed this. Super heavy dark leather...and not pleasant. But I committed to fragrance so didnt wash it off. It mellowed after about 3 or 4 hours to a leather/floral and finally eased into a pleasant citrus. It lasted a good long time. It is definitely more male than female but not a male fragrance that would attract me to learn more about "him".

smells of cooked meat and very astringent leather - definitely not for me. actually, this reminds me of a dried cheese we eat in my country, however, even that still smells better than this...