Parfums D'Empire is a line in which almost every time I receive a sample, I try it once then throw it away....then regret it the next week when I'm still thinking about the scent. Cuir Ottoman is a sample I have received a number of times, this last time I wore it for more than one day and ended up buying a bottle.
Leather is an odd note for some......most leather on me is an oily, pungent, overwhelming scent. I used to avoid it like the plague but somewhere along the way I realized that leather can be of a soft and elegant sort. The first perfume with a leather note to work on me was Daim Blonde, followed by Traversee de Bosphore.
The opening of Cuir Ottoman on me is new car leather. It's not overly refined or down and dirty, it's just a familiar leather scent. Give it a minute, though, and the iris and jasmine peek around the corner. The jasmine is not an indolic jasmine, but one that just softens the edges of the leather and blurs it just so that it becomes a sibling to the iris. This interplay between soft floral and earthy leather creates the impression of a soft suede jacket, perhaps in a shade of purple....it's plush and lovely, elegant without being stuffy.
After about 15 minutes I recognize benzoin and perhaps Peru Balsam smoothing and lightly supporting the scent with a whisper of sweetness. This is heightened by the incense notes, which remain in the shadows, but still you aware of their presence.
Cuir Ottoman makes leather approachable without being so subdued as to be missed. If you like the scent of leather but most have turned your skin into a biker jacket, try Cuir Ottoman.
jasmine, leather, iris, benzoin, balsams, resins, incense
