Cuir de Chine
Les Indémodables (2016)

This is an interesting one. At first spray, an explosion of apricot-scented shampoo bubbles and Galaxolide musks comes spilling out over me like I’m in one of those Herbal Essence ads, so I shuffle the index cards in my head until I find the slot where I’d file the sort of clean, fruity-soapy osmanthus tea thing that Jean-Claude Ellena would classify as ‘un parfum d’après midi’ and wish he’d thought of it while he was at Hermès (except, he did, and it’s called Osmanthe Yunnan).

But not so fast, lady! A surprisingly gamey leather accord quickly elbows its way past the pretty apricot, and lest we make any mistake about it, this is the pungent odor of raw leather rather than the smoothly-shaved and powdered pudenda of Tom Ford lore. For a while there – an hour tops – Cuir de Chine lurches between peach shampoo and grimy chaps until I feel like I’m Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (‘She’s my sister’ *Slap* ‘She’s my daughter’ *Slap* ‘She’s my sister…’ *Slap*). The scent eventually gentles itself, the pungency of the leather burning off into a soft suede accent that might be mistaken as a naturally occurring feature of osmanthus oil, whittling down into a tandem of equal parts suede and osmanthus (‘She’s my sister and my daughter’). I like Cuir de Chine a lot; it adds something new to the genre. I do wish it lasted longer, though (this is the case for most of the Les Indémodables line, by the way, apart from Vanille Havane and Chypre Azural).

Stale apricot jam that was slopped onto a new, suede leather garment. Wafts of floral tea, brewing in the kitchen. No jasmine, do I smell outwardly. Hours later, faint tobacco aroma. Lasts for many hours. Different from a lot of fragrances in my possession. Enjoyable...

Mmm...I'm really enjoying the opening of Cuir de Chine by Le Inemodables. The osmanthus as mentioned is an apricot like suede that is the main player from the opening. There is a green tobacco leaf as well as a slight floral from the jasmine, but it's extremely well balanced and I could definitely wear this year round. An excellent fragrance overall, just brilliant.

Cuir de Chine

Oh how odd! This is exactly the smell of hugging my smoker aunts when they came in from the cold! More ash tray than leather, I think. But as Etat Libre d'Orange thoughtfully pointed out with their Jasmin et Cigarette fragrance, there's something about the acrid smell of stale cigarette when combined with florals.

I do get more leather as it dries down. Leather of the minty type found in Kelly Caleche. It appears that the leather note is from a hefty dose of Osmanthus.

Despite my odd comparisons, I do enjoy this and appreciate the materials and execution.