Cuir 28
Le Labo (2012)

It smells dark and of earthy vetiver, raw leather, deep/dusty woody notes, with a touch of sweet, dry vanilla. There are some similarities to Poivre & Vanille 44 but overall it is an entirely different scent. The scent is dusty & slightly animalic, not offensive or challenging, and strikingly attractive. Every time I wear it, I think that I need to wear it more frequently.

beef jerky

barbecue sauce

leather

assorted chemicals

intriguing
and
kinky

will be mine in september

good performer

BLUF: Starts as a fun, and almost memorable, modern transparent smoky birch leather, ends as the world's most boring vetiver.

I enjoy the leather accord in the top notes/early mid. I think it falls somewhere in the middle of Cuiron's modern, transparent, almost watery suede/brown leather combo and Mona di Orio's birch smoke/spice/nigh-animalic Russian style leather. It smells good and comes off as fine-tuned and polished.

A neat party trick, that transformation from leather to vetiver, but rather a let down for this wearer because the part I like disappears and is replaced with something I don't.

If I try to have a sense of humor about the development, I do appreciate that Le Labo built in the namesake accord rather blatantly, as they often do not. But as soon as you start thinking "Cuir is actually a cuir!" it begins to lose the leather accord I like and a dry, electrical fire-y, unrefined woody vetiver comes into the mix. You got me again, Le Labo. Hilarious.

I'm a big fan of vetiver in almost all shapes and sizes, and this is easily among my least favorite portrayals. It simply doesn't smell good to me, it smells industrial and lifeless, and not in a modern, edgy way, it just smells half-assed.

Starts as a thumbs up, spends most of its life on skin as a thumbs down. Nets a neutral, like most from this house.

One of the few Le Labo scents that is true to the name stickered to the bottle: Cuir 28 Dubai is definitely a leather-centric scent that uses vanilla absolute, woody notes, vetiver and musk to dress up the leather.

Overall, this is a very pleasant expensive oiled leather jacket like scent, injected skilfully with dry wood and mossy green elements as well as a yummy vanilla, touched off appropriately with animalic muskiness. It is quite rich and layered, full of personality despite seeming so simply formulated.

I could almost give this a neutral instead of a thumbs up if I were letting myself be influenced by the hopes I have for this house, and the prices they charge. I want their fragrances to be outstanding, comparable to releases from the 1980s.

This one is not so outstanding, but it's ok. For a modern, woody leather, it does what I might expect.

Le Labo, though, which is my favorite house to sample when I'm in Barneys, has fallen behind 4160 Tuesdays and Etat Libre d'Orange in my niche houses of interest. Those houses are better able to create moments to rival the glory of the 1980s and earlier. Le Labo does ok, passably competent, within the post-2010 context.

Cuir 28 is a fine enough fragrance, and it's, without a doubt, a leather-forward scent. But, at the price point Le Labo's playing in, “fine enough” doesn't cut it.

I don't find this one to be all that refined. The birch tar/smoke aspect overwhelms at the opening, and it seems at odds with the rest of the composition throughout. On paper, they make sense together, but, in practice, they seem to maintain a tense relationship with each other, never quite settling into any sense of cohesion.

The effect doesn't ruin the fragrance, by any means, and in some ways it seems quite fitting for a Le Labo scent to behave in this way. It's something that simultaneously amps up a sense of more-than-adequate sillage, and it hearkens back to Le Labo's all-natural bent and individual approach to order fulfillment.

Still, while it may function as something of a calling card for the house of Le Labo, it does so at substantial cost to overall smoothness and sense of refinement. And that's not something I'm willing to spend $290 on.

But, the most shocking thing about Cuir 28, especially after experiencing that almost assaultive opening that seems to suggest this scent will last on you for a week, is it's awful longevity.

I applied a good amount of C28 just about 3 hours ago, and all that remains is a slight/powdery skin scent. So, while this beast might snarl when first approached, it also whimpers away with its tail between its legs far too soon. I feel like a broken record here, but I find that unacceptable at this price point.

If Cuir 28 cost a fraction of it's going rate, I would consider giving it a neutral rating. But, I expect near-perfection at this price point, and Cuir 28 is resoundingly imperfect, earning it a thumbs down.

Le Labo Cuir 28 Dubai is mostly refined, semi-dirty, dark leather fragrance that is among the strongest EDP members in the city exclusive line in terms of quality and power of the juice, alongside Poivre 23 London. Cuir 28 is, unsurprisingly, comprised mostly of leather. I get almost a dirty tar vibe out of it, with something slightly sweet to prevent it from getting dirty and earthy in a patchouli way. Still, I'd argue that this is far more to the dirty side than the sweet side, just not wholly committed to dirty. In that respect, it's a little less refined than Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, which I regard as more inviting. I generally don't opt for leather fragrances, but Cuir 28, (like Tuscan Leather or Coach Leatherware No. 3), is one I could wear, and wear often.

Unfortunately, the cost is prohibitive at $290 per 50ml, as with the rest of the city exclusive line. I'll at least defend Cuir 28 in that it has the projection, longevity, and utility to make it more worthwhile than some of the city exclusive line, but it's still almost inaccessible at that price point, specifically when, at $70 cheaper, Tom Ford Tuscan Leather largely accomplishes the same feat. Granted, no one should quibble over price at that point--they should simply get what they want.

7 out of 10

I've learned that when it comes to Le Labo, I have to keep my expectations very low so that, sporadically, they could still possibly impress me with some of their fragrances. I approached Cuir 28 (their city exclusive for Dubai) without reading any of the notes provided by the brand so I actually didn't know what to expect. Well, it comes out that Cuir 28 is basically a leathery / synth woody, ambroxan prominent balmy thing that's kind of a mash up between Vetiver 46, Dirty English by Juicy Couture and Gucci Pour Homme I (Tom Ford era) with an extra dose of birch tar, some of the smoky vanilla already found in Patchouli 24 and an overall balmy vibe that's not so distant from certain aspects of Poivre 23.

A solid (and extremely common) accord that while smelling pretty nice adds absolutely nothing new to the table. Offensivley overpriced.

Easily one the nicest leather scents on the market at the moment, at least for the “straightforward leathers” part of the family. What I enjoy more in Cuir 28 is the perfect, “round” simplicity of the leather accord, which has basically nothing around “disturbing” it: it is indeed a bit tending towards freshness more than “dark harsh heaviness” like other leather scents, but overall it smells really bright, realistic, “purely leathery”. There's vetiver, cedar, darker woody notes to provide a stout base with also a slight medicinal feel (like oud), then spices (cloves), a subtle veil of warm and dusty vanilla adding the right amount of “softness”, the usual aromachemicals used to build leather accords, a sprinkle of bright citrus, and that's it. These notes are tightly blended to create “the” leather accord par excellence: a sharp, neat, meticulous “figurative” depiction of leather. A really well-balanced scent which is not too harsh, not too dry, not softly suede-ish, not excessively “smoky”, not “openly” synthetic... yet a bit of all of them: just soft, rich, high-quality finished leather. And ironically, Cuir 28 is so austerely simple, that (for the almighty power of “less is more”) it smells more interesting and fascinating than most of other contemporary leathers which almost always try to “add” something to leather (tobacco, fruits, flowers, oud...). It does not resemble to any leather scent; yet it does a bit to all of them, as if it was “a leather of leathers”, a sort of patchwork of all the leather notes taken from all leather scents (I get I am starting to write nonsense, be patient, it's almost over). Plus, note that “simple” here doesn't mean minimalistic or thin: Cuir 28 is rich, complex, fulfilling, almost “materic” in its realistic power: it smells solid and full of nice nuances, all perfectly connected to leather. Literally providing that feel you get by wearing and touching your favourite high-quality leather jacket: that warm, “masculine”, elegant, soft feel. It is obviously a bit dark, but dont' imagine anything gloomy or dry: it's dark in a warmer, laid-back, yet sophisticated meaning. Anyway: really good. Two flaws: much linear, and quite costly. But a must try for all leather fans.

7,5-8/10

The opening proves the name right: Straight into a modern storage room of new leather - synthetic but very nice. A convincing leather note. Then, wood and a bit of vanilla are added and towards the end a bit of a musky vetiver. Like previously noted in a review there is a change to a much less convincing second phase, but in my skin that only occurs a very short time before the end, and hence I am happy to give this one a thumbs up. A straightforward enticing leather scent with not much else of significance, but of high quality in its narrow approach. Very good silage and projection with over eight hours of longevity. A fine LL scent for autumnal times.

Starts out very industrial.
Adhesive chemicals mixed with tar & petrol.
Along the lines of Le Labo Patchouli 24 but no where as warm and enveloping.
More like the whipping gesture of Gomma mixed with Etro, Nostalgia & Xerjoff's Hommage.
But the final touch is a vanilla, bonding it together peacefully.
It is no doubt typically eccentric – like Le Labo is usually.
It remains medicinal for a while.
Soon the musk appears and adds another dimension.

Its not an animalic musk. It's a industrial workshop musk.

Smelling Cuir 28 reminded me of when I got lost in Suzhou many years ago.
I'd gone off the beaten path and found myself next to a huge factory. Where apparently petroleum by products were processed.


The middle bit is where the excitement deceases.
It turns into a glowing vetiver (very synthetic – not that that's a bad thing but its certainly not natural smelling).
The tar, leather, musk and anything that added flair is now gone. Very similar to Jovoy – Private Label.
It's a warm glowing single dimensional vetiver .
Its sad because I am from Dubai and have been waiting 3 years for this to come out.
I'm a big Le Labo fan. I own and enjoy around 10 and will pick up another 5 soon. I had high hopes for Cuir 28.
To summarize, it starts out nice. Not unique mind you, but nice. A superb middle and ending would've made this a winner. That, it lacked.