Last year I bought a new bag made of American buffalo hide to replace my ancient black calfskin bag that has traveled around the globe with me for ages (and is now retired and 'resting' in a cabinet). The moment I held the new bag I felt guilty, for buffaloes are one of my favorite animals. I get excited, and am emotionally moved, to be in the presence of these “beasts” that have always symbolized, for me, the part of the U.S. I love most, the West. Since getting my new bag, I've been in two car accidents (only my car was injured) and lost two jobs. Am I cursed? Are the buffalo spirits I've always admired pissed off, feeling betrayed — egged on by cows ("He never worries much about US!") Anyway, I've not used the new bag at all; it sits pristine in my closet, encased in a soft wool sweater.
I like leather fragrances as I like amber and tobacco perfumes: I need only ONE specimen of each in my perfume collection.1 Likewise, I need only one leather bag (I like simplicity); testing these two leather perfumes has led me back to my bison bag, whose aroma is still present.
Tom Ford Private Blend Tuscan Leather
saffron, thyme, raspberry, frankincense, night-blooming jasmine, suede, leather, amberwood; perfumers Jacques Cavallier and Harry Frémont
Tom Ford Private Blend Tuscan Leather starts off with a leather aroma augmented with red fruit (a jammy, not “fresh” raspberry scent). The leather note is smooth, not tarry or “textured.” A hint of smokiness emerges in Tuscan Leather's mid-development, but the frankincense is not overpowering. On a sweetness scale of 1 to 5, Tuscan Leather, to my nose, is a 3 (right in the middle, even with the fruit). Tuscan Leather's leather eats up any florals that are supposedly present in the formula; night-blooming jasmine is one strong note, but I don’t smell it here (too bad!) The perfume becomes slightly talc-y in the base, with lovely wood and leather notes mingling with fruit. Tuscan Leather has good sillage and lasting power.
Tom Ford Private Blend Tuscan Leather Eau de Parfum: 250 ml, $525; 100 ml, $295; 50 ml, $215.
Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather
lime, orange, rose, petitgrain, leather, guaic wood, leather, cedar
As it opens, Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather is brighter, and “happier” in character than Tuscan Leather; it has refreshing fruity-floral aromas — as if you're smelling citrus blossoms and juice simultaneously. In this phase, Colonia Leather reminds me a bit of its namesake: original Acqua di Parma Colonia. As the citrus dries, a leather note begins to peep through. It’s a realistic mid-power leather scent (somewhere between pungent Mexican or Moroccan leathers and boutique leathers); it has a “grain” and semi-musky bite. As the perfume develops, this leather mixes with the base wood accord (a tad smoky)…and I swear there’s a red-fruit aspect to the dry down, too, which comes close to producing an “edible”/cooking-aroma accord if the notes weren't so silky. Colonia Leather has excellent sillage and astonishing lasting power (two showers didn't remove it completely from my skin!); just a few spilled drops of it on my desk scented my study and my wrists for a week.
The basic aroma (the longest lasting aspect) of each of these perfumes is so similar, I might have trouble distinguishing them if someone tested me. Both fragrances wear down to their fruity leather notes; I don’t detect a major difference in quality of ingredients or “style” and “finish.” If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather due to its opening; and overall, it's more buoyant and complex than Tuscan Leather. I’d love either perfume in soap form (with a “tooled leather” design on the cakes?)
As for my unused bag…I will respectfully ask it to let me use it...as a totem of sorts...to hold the idea of buffalo close, for I’ll never be able to pick it up without visualizing a bison. May the bad luck end!
Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather Eau de Cologne Concentreé, 100 ml, $210; 180 ml, $265.
1. Right now, it's Cuir de Russie in the Chanel Les Exclusifs line.
Note: top image is my American buffalo hide bag. First buffalo image and second buffalo image [both altered] via Wikimedia Commons.
.jpg){kind=link}
Tuscan Leather is one of my night scents. It’s very cozy, in a grandfatherly way, if way to masculine to wear during the day.
Annie: I can see “cozy”… if applied lightly! It’s so strong at first it would probably keep me awake.
Glad you liked Tuscan Leather, but I find it quite obnoxious over time. One note blaring for 12 hours, a sort of raspberry-leather tinnitus.
You’re dead right about Cuir de Russie though – both King AND Queen of leather perfumes.
Jamie, AdP Leather is even stronger (but with more differences in “tone”)
I can’t *bear* Cuir de Russie, not at all – it’s too Virtual Cattle Working Pen for my tastes (and I LIKE Chanel). Could be I’ve just got too much real-life reference for CdR to ever get what most people get from it.
I really enjoy my tiny decant of Tuscan Leather, though I suppose that might not be the case if I got more raspberry from it.
Cuir de Russie is so “western” – I can even smell that cow pie drying off in the distance. I think if I was being seduced by a nice and manly cowboy under a million stars with nice clean blankets and a bonfire, then I’d say, this is what CdR smells like to me. But otherwise I have rather powerful anti-leather emotions towards it. Flashback of my older sister covering my face with her excessively saddle-soaped softball mitt….
Ann: next time i go to Montana or Wyoming I’ll take my Cuir de Russie…
mals: ha! To say the least, I don’t get “cattle” AT ALL in Cuir de Russie! In fact, it can be genteel…in a good way. (I’m using the current formulation)
Well, to be fair, you’ve probably not spent hours sending cattle through the chute and giving them shots. I get the whole shebang out of Cuir de Russie: dust, dry manure, iodine, cattle hide, and fear.
I know everybody else thinks it’s baby angel skin.
As usual, I love all the images in your post and how you’ve arranged them to complement the review. I love leathers, and you’ve convinced me I must try both of these.
While I love Cuir de Russie, I could never stick to just one from this diverse group of scents. There are fruit-leathers, like Parfums MDCI Belle Helene, SL Daim Blonde, L’AP Traversee du Bosphore, and DSH Mata Hari. There are orange blossom leathers, like PG Cuir Venenum and Heeley Cuir Pleine Fleur. Iris leathers like Chanel Cuir de Russie and Ann Gerard Cuir de Nacre. Pd’E Cuir Ottoman is an ambery sandalwood leather. There are wonderful vintage leathers, bitter, smoky, and complex like Lanvin Pretexte and Scandal, Balenciaga Le Dix, Balmain Jolie Madame and Gres Cabochard. “Ladies’ handbag” leathers like Cuir de Lancome. Skin scents like L’AP Dzing! Straight up leathers like Etro Gomma and dandified leathers like Knize Ten. And there are many innovative indie leathers, such as Aftelier Cuir de Gardenia. And I’m always ready for more!
Noz: first — thanks! And now that I’m reading your list I realize I’ve owned SIX of those you mention! HA! But just a few at one time I believe.
I recently did a side-by-side of recent formulation Cabochard and Etro’s Gomma. I was quite shocked at how similar they actually are! Gomma has a deeper sweeter dry down with a little amber, while Cabochard stays thin and green. Both nice for different moods but if I knew they were THAT close I may not have ended up with both!
merlin: that sometimes happens…we’re attracted to what we love and LOSE TRACK of what we have! I’d like to sniff Gomma again…it’s been years….
I love leather too! And Bison! I hiked past a herd of them one February a couple of years ago in Yellowstone and let me tell you- up close and personal, they are even more majestic, powerful, and intimidating! When you’re eyeball to eyeball, it gives us wee little bi-pedals a whole new perspective!
Will have to sample these soon
Deva: Yellowstone is so close I should go! Hope you enjoy these..or at least one.
I like those bison graphics, Kevin. I am also sorry to hear about your streak of bad luck. Maybe it’s something else besides your bag? You shouldn’t feel that guilty b/c your first bag is leather too. The great buffalo symbolizes utility and resourcefulness – everything is used to enhance life. If you use your bag to it’s potential, as you did with your first one, then you shouldn’t feel bad. Ask the Great Buffalo Spirit why you have bad luck, and maybe you’ll figure out what it is.
Ann: true…could be a true, old-fashioned HUMAN curse! A friend from Mexico suggested “una limpia”…a ritual cleansing. Come to find out, some of the best practitioners are in eastern Washington (but never advertise…so I’ll probably never find one)
You could probably find one on a blog? Definitely need some energy re-organizing. If you go to eastern WA, then you can take some CdR for cowboys?
Ann, will do!
Out of curiosity, Kevin, which perfume note do you have multiple versions of?
There are quite a few leather scents that I love and this troubles me, given that I am fond of animals! Why would I like a smell that is similar to their exploited skins?
I also found The Colonia version to be happier – but not as happy as I find Cuir Cannage
Strangely, I find suede perfumes to be the ‘saddest’. Can’t explain why, but Cuir de Ottoman is melancholic to my nose – even though I like it – and so is Bottega Veneta.
About the streak of bad luck – perhaps it has to do with not using the bag? I think leather items that are used for years and well loved are so much more justifiable than the kind of cheap leather goods that people buy and soon dispose of and then just replace…
Use it – and may it always remind you of the brute magnificence of the beast!
I think the sense of smell is the most primordial of all our sensory organs. Maybe you like the smell of their “exploited skins” because way back in in your genetic memory, this smell meant food and survival.
I don’t think we are too different from dogs- they just are more direct and stick their noses right in the crotch. We humans, who always try to distance ourselves from our “animality,” like to fancy it up by spritzing ourselves on the neck, chest, and wrists.
Oops! Wrong spot! Lol sorry!
Interesting idea and altogether possible! I tend to think it may just be because I like animals and so any associated scent is comforting – but apparently ‘leather’ does not smell that much like live animals anyway but rather the substances used for tanning, etc. So perhaps your theory is better
Also thought I would add that while I love several leather scents there are many that I don’t like and I really really don’t like the smell of leather seats in a car! I also find the smell of leather handbag shops very disturbing and the smell of raw meat at a supermarket actually makes me queasy. So, its quite a mixed response…
Sorry about all the autobiographical trivia!
Merlin: I will use it for sure…. You know I have tons of citrus perfumes, chypres, incenses and woods of all sorts. It often seems tobaccos and leathers are just too similar once the heart notes arrive.
I have to say that my other ‘leathers’ are very different – Nostalgia with its diesel and barbecue notes is much oilier than both Cabochard and Gomma. And of course Bal a Versailles and Dzing are quite distinctive. (Perhaps because the leather note is just not so dominant in them). And while I am preaching about using stuff – my confession is that I have not yet dared to open my Cuir Cannage… (the happiest leather imaginable!)
Merlin: OK OK…I have to try this Cuir Cannage! And I think you are right…I’m talking about perfumes with a DOMINANT tobacco note. Lots of perfumes with tobacco as an ingredient appeal…when all others notes are not subservient to tobacco.
Okay, I’m a long-time reader of this site and finally created an account because of this post! Tuscan Leather is one of my favorite scents, mainly used to feel hot when going out at night. I’ve tried so many other leathers to try to find a daytime appropriate version and haven’t had much luck since I’ve been avoiding some of the apricotiness in things like Bottega Veneta and Daim Blonde. Any thoughts??
Natlvana: first: WELCOME! Second, up earlier in the comments there are lots of great suggestions for tobaccos. One I like that is not mentioned is Costamor Tabacca…there’s a review here at NST you can read to see if you think it would appeal…certainly a day-time tobacco.
Natlvana…forgive me…one too many tequilas! Tobacco…leather…no biggie! Ha!
Have you tried BV Eau Legère? And Parfums Retro Grand Cuir isn’t apricotty at all, although I don’t know if it’s necessarily more daytime than the TF.
Bvlgari Black, Shalimar (eau de parfum)..
I was crazy about TL at first but now I think it’s too sharp… ADP CL is less sharp probably and still has that cocaine smell (melted plastic bag and gas) to it with a softer less sweet drydown to raspberry than TL. I’d have to try it again.
Suggestions for leather:
Puredistance M
Hermes Kelly Caleche (I like the EDP, the leather is subtle)
Cuir de Lancôme
Atelier Cologne Sous le toit de Paris (faint leather)
Papillon Parfum Anubis