Orchid Leather

I was fascinated with Black Phantom a couple of months ago, and I saw this in the 'remind me' section and thought of testing it and I'm glad I did... Orchid Leather is a reminder and it's close, especially in the dry-down, it's brighter with a fresher opening, which makes it more masculine and more versatile in my opinion... It has in the background the same chocolaty, coffee-ish vibe that exist in Black Phantom but not as dark, creamy and silky like BP... I wonder what mix of notes gives that scent, considering it's a fruity fragrance with no coffee or chocolate listed in its notes! I think Orchid Leather and black phantom share the same unique beauty in a big share of the fragrance body, 50%+ I would say... also orchid Leather has a very good longevity 8+ hours. I'm also familiar with Wafaa by Ard Al Zafaraan, which is VERY close to Black Phantom if you skip the first weird 5 minutes... Wafaa is very strange in the opening but after the 5 minutes mark of spraying it's very similar and surprisingly smooth, not smelling cheap whatsoever, although it's way cheaper than both BO and Black Phantom! Orchid Leather $100 70ml scent 9/10 - price 8/10 Black Phantom $300 50ml 9.5/10 - price 3/10 Wafaa $15 100ml scent 7.5/10 - price 10/10 It's nice how a rich man, middle-class man, or broke man, all can enjoy this beautiful scent type... somehow /partially 👍

This is by far the best birthday gift fragrance I've ever received. It was purchased by a dear kind friend who joined me on a bit of retail therapy. We were guided to the fragrance by a sales person who raved about it, and from first sniff, we were both hooked (I wasn't intending to purchase, but my friend insisted she buy it as a gift, because it smelt that good on me). How does it smell - Insensey, plumby, sweetness, that is both smokey and juicy. And it's powerful - it jumps off the skin and throws like an Olympic shot-putter. So this is definitely not an office sent. But wear it to the opera. Wear the $#*# out of it to the opera. Overspray and make em smell it in the nosebleed seats. I smell this as a statement fragrance. Being a statement fragrance, and both luscious, sweet and smoky - it is a seductive fragrance, though its sophistication and brand cache will probably attract 'older' fans. There is a market - much younger than Van Cleef's likely primary market - 20-30 yo men in particular) who would be wise to take this one clubbing. No-one, and I mean no-one, in the club is going to smell as intriguingly attractive as you. It's expensive - but if someone is special to you and they love fragrances -then this is an incredible gift. Thanks Sheps my birthday buddy.

Orchid Leather is one that has always stayed on my mind after testing, but I never went back to it again, until earlier today, and now I think of how nice it must be to own this bottle. Such an authentic fragrance consisting of plum that doesn’t smell overly synthetically fruity or over the top sweet, but rather balanced in the two aspects. Like a plum off of a branch just a day or two shy of it being perfectly ripe, it has that sweetness pulled back from it. Ever so slightly smokey labdanum that I find so addictive and to top it off, vanilla that feels like a mother’s hug. An embracing scent that I want to hold tightly and not let go of. It reminds me of a ratherly cold autumns evening, with the sun setting, making the sky turn from a glowing orange and cheerful yellow tone, into a soothing velvety dark blueish colour, that paints the sun’s last moments and uprise of the moon. In that moment of change, I find that this scent perfectly encapsulates the image of the fruity sweetness from the sun’s warmth and bright colours, clashing with the smokiness and seriousness, allowing the darkened, developing dusk loom overhead, and I imagine THIS is what it would smell like.

This blend of spices and leather makes it a perfect and masculine fragrance that fits well in the VC&A collection of fragrances. the best way to describe this is if the spice from Spicebomb Extreme by viktor&rolf was mixed with the leather from Ombré Leather by Tom Ford which may sound like an oversaturation but this is truly a perfect fragrance for work/school. and with the dry down of sweet and more specifically a plum note, it can separate itself from other formal fragrances. overall it's a shame that this fragrance is not talked about as much. The longevity is around 12 hours which again fits a work/school setting too and the consistency of this fragrance was surprising when I first used it. As for projection, it is roughly average in comparison to other formal fragrances so don't expect it to project across the room in the air. Scent: 10/10 Performance: 9/10 Longevity: 8/10 Sillage: 6/10 Price: 8/10 Blind Buy Ability: 6/10 Overall: 9/10

I don’t get the Black Orchid comparisons frankly, i have both and even considered returning black orchid as i got it as a gift and was afraid they’d be too similar, and while the names are similar they don’t strike me as very similar at all, Orchid Leather is even heavier than Black Orchid, and is boozy, heavy vanilla ambery goodness with strong plum notes that pierce you at times, it’s imo more vibrant yet even louder than black orchid and even less versatile, only suited for winter, maybe only winter nights at a stretch. Black Orchid on the other hand is darker, more medicinal and earthy and less nauseating overall, and while both are strong i find black orchid to be less loud due to the earthiness in the notes and a lack of strong vanilla like is present in Orchid leather, neither scents present much leather despite the name in this one, and black orchid is slightly more versatile and can maybe be worn in all nights throughout the year.