The most difficult perfume I've come across so far, is Cuir. It took me almost two years to finally fall in love, and at least 2 dozen tries. But once you get it, it is one of the most beautifully brutal leathers. Cuir has a few notes and a lot of twists and turns. It's, in a nutshell, the most animalic smoky leather around in contemporary form*. If you've ever smelled Gauloises this is the opening; disgusting to many, the smell of cigarette smoke dominates the first half hour. It's a smoke curtain that doesn't allow you to see through, you have to walk past it in order to get through the development of the heart notes. There, you get punched by castoreum and leather done in the old fashioned way. This ain't your average soft leather bag, or smooth suede. This is worn leather, left in the sun to cure, steeped in spices and animal fat. Isobutyl quinolene to the max. This is what Germaine Cellier would have liked, had she been around today in this sanitized environment with IFRA restricting everything. This is what Marlene would be wearing, maybe layered with a heady floral. As unpleasant it may sound, or not depending on your mileage, Cuir is a true interpretation of a badass leather. It could have been called Bandit and it wouldn't feel wrong. If and when you get past the opening smoke screen, the rest of the path is full of animalics, leather, and some opoponax to cut through the brutalism. There's an underlying sweetness after the first couple of hours that softens the scent and makes it much more inviting. It lasts linearly in this stage until the drydown after a good 10 hours, still projecting quite well. Mona had a lot of talent, unfortunately many were late to the party. A real stunner! *Having tested old and new 75 ml bottles, Cuir has been toned down quite a bit. While the perfume smells identical, all of them actually not just Cuir, the boldness of the original release is missing. Still amazing, but just like Mona, there's something missing. Review based on original formulation/bottle.
Okay so I remember wearing this one years ago and being very impressed, much like the rest of this brand/perfumers output, Cuir is a triumph of bold perfumery and truly a pioneering blueprint for modern 'niche' whatever that means anymore. Wearing it again today and it's still good (perhaps even great) and I definitely don't want to sound like one of those vintage, size queens, saying 'The new formulations are a shadow of their former self!!!' or any of that guff! (which is obviously sometimes true) I actually think it's much more likely that my perception of it has changed, even in the short period of time I've had this modern sample. It's a brisk opener which definitely smells of a uniquely artisan combination of absinthe and mild fennel tops, but then an inky black almost tar like, smoky, body of leather. It's a real hearkening back to Russian/birch tar leather accords, animalic and woodsy, but with the rounding medicinal effect of resin. Says opoponax here and (only in hindsight after looking) I'm like oh yeah, it's definitely opoponax! I knew that! (such is the humble nose I am) no actually I thought it might be a touch of Myrrh, giving this tacky, concentrate effect. The top notes transitioning into the leathery base reminds me a bit of these Eastern european, Christmas cookies, that are kinda ginger bread ish, but soft, tacky to bite and often have more spices like cloves and such in them. I think there's quite a few artisan brands doing stuff like this now but minus the depth and polish of Mona, this is truly layered and has subtlety, as much as it was a big shake up for the industry in 2010. I'm not, NOT enjoying wearing it, but I always thought this was my favourite from the brand and it might actually not be? I'm still not sure? Just because I'm not quite as taken with it as I once was, It's still great, worth checking out, worth loving. Don't listen to me.