Cuir Andalou

Soft sweet yet masculine leather. It's kind of new leather to me, although the saffron is there but it's not sour or sharp. The iris, violet mix is quite amusing, and i am sensing incense as well, roses, and black pepper, but no castoreum. It's kind of a soft smokey leather yet new, so you can sense the harshness whiffs. Edit (22nd Feb 2022) 3+ years... Oh my GOD this is beautiful! i do sense some bitter herbal leather! something like Henna, and resinous with a touch of violets, and traces of iris. It has nasty oud mingled with sweet iris rosy notes to lighten it's wicked effect. Beautifully put. Wow... just wow! Thank GOD that i am going back through my samples, else i wouldn't bother checking it out again although the name really captures my curiosity.

A bunch of notes that shouldn't work together but are blended well around the leather, oud, musk combo, feels like it's from another era of perfumery though I can't pinpoint which. I also can't pick out the oud or castoreum which is what I came for so if you're hoping for something oudy and animalic this one is much more refined but I'm not disappoint, a lot if not all naturals evident in the dry down.

Stunning leather fragrance, complex, full of colour and class. We are seeing a few smell-alike references in these reviews - I actually feel this fragrance references Chanel's mighty Antaeus. In fact, I expect the stunning castoreum note to slowly climb to be one of the top 3 notes. Very easy to wear and a must-have for leather aficionados like myself.

The other day a colleague asked me to drive her to riding school. When we entered the stable, I was in seventh heaven: Horses (love animals) and the amazing scent of leather, manure and hay, combined with the warm, mellow fragrance of horse fur. I could happily sit there and just inhale for hours. Now, all this inspired me to try my sample of Rania J's Cuir Andalou, which has been tucked away in a drawer for some time. First of all, it might be good to know that I bought the sample set directly from Rania J's website. The samples were very nicely presented, with a personal greeting from Rania J, in true Andy Tauer style. Loved it! But what about the scent? Well, Cuir Andalou was somewhat disappointing to me. The notes that consistently stand out on my skin are leather and oud. I was hoping for something that would become slightly skanky, animalic and manure-like (an odd wish, perhaps), but this was so clean. This to me is leather that has not been used, sitting on oud that is almost soapy, if that makes any sense. Could that be a result of the sandalwood? I do not get the floral elements and very little of the saffron. After 5-6 hours, Cuir Andalou is a skin scent, but it is still there after some 8 hours. I agree with the reviewer who experienced this as a fairly linear fragrance; however, I must say that the final skin scent phase is the most pleasing to me since this is where I pick up a hint of the skank I was looking for to begin with.

Serviceable, naturalistic, pretty simple and linear leather. Oddly uninspired compared with other Rania J's I've tried - just seems a bit pale and one-dimensional compared to some of the brand's astonishing, overbearing, deeply delicious zingers (Ambre Loup, Yasmin Khama, Oud Assam). I got hardly any spicing or florals here; the leather somehow halfway between sweet suede and tannic rawhide, neither one extreme not the other. So it's quality stuff, but felt just a bit 'meh' - and its ultimate downfall is in the longevity, on me a pitiful 2-3h before there was just nothing left. Not at all bad, but a miss overall.