Private Collection Cuir d'Iris Parfumerie Generale for women and men

I tend to love the bolder leathers that others might call harsh. And perpetually forgetting the logic of Knize Ten, one of my favorite fragrances, I imagine the ‘floral leathers’ won’t appeal to me, since the flower will diminish the boldness. Cuir d’Iris is another reminder of this blind spot. It is a spectacular floral leather. The leather and the iris each retain their own identities, but the common ground is more a tone or quality than an accord. The iris lends a dryness that, in a side step from the expected, is dusty rather than specifically powdery. The leather note here smells more like actual leather than the rubbery, smoky or tar-like characteristics that we usually talk about in leather perfumes. Together the potent tannic quality of the leather and the forceful, make-up feel of the iris give the scent a savage civility that simultaneously draws me in and keeps me at arms-length.

The evil twin of Cuir de Lancome.

The first minute is rather disappointing: a harsh strong leather smell within a dusty room that lacks fresh air. Suddenly after 10 minutes you get the iris and some conforting incense. The longer you wait the more conforting the smell pulls you to sniff your inner elbow where I get now a warm leather scent with some cacao and an increasing presence of amber. The dark room turns into a cozy room full with sun light. I would use this one for a rainy day in fall or winter. It is definitely a unisex frangance and might even be too sweet for a men, although the sweetness appears only after one hour or so.

This has a bucketload of iris on drydown and stays that way on me for at least 2 hours. Only then does the leathery smell come through. After about 4 hours the the iris comes back, slowly, but the leather remains. Difficult to detect anything but those 2 notes, on me, at least. Medium sillage and longevity.

This is certainly a very raw, meaty cuir, like standing in a butcher's shop. After a few minutes you get a hint of the other notes straining to get through, but it is difficult for them. I wanted to like this and would have liked a half & half iris/cuir concoction, but it makes me think thoughts I don't want to about meat. Too confronting.

This one is on the dark side of the leathers. Cuir d`Iris opens with a dark, animalic, raw cuir aroma, and as the fragrances develop on skin you get the other nuances that are mixed with this one. The iris note is not flowery, neither powdery, and it`s not so easy to pick it from the notes. It`s a an earthy, iris aroma, which seems more like iris root than its flowers. There`s a nice, fruity spicy touch at the opening, which i think it`s duo to the grape and cardamom, and then you get the iris note. The chocolate aroma comes next, and it`s a chocolate similar to Borneo 1834, a dry, bitter chocolate, with subtle cocoa accents. The base is smoky, ambery, slightly woodsy, and it`s the weakest moment of the fragrance in terms of originality of the composition. But it`s worth the first moments of cuir, fruity spicy accents and chocolate-cocoa gourmand aroma. Again, Pierre Guillaume do what he does the best with cuir, making it gourmand, dark and sensual.

Creamy tanned suede. I get no iris notes at all, but if you want to smell a true suede leather scent, this is your baby.