Irish Leather
Memo (2013)

I smell green grass, well used leather. like a pair of gloves on an old wooden fence on the countryside with some wind blowing. bitter, green, and I smell matte. Really nice. Thumbs up. Pro tip, look into Rasasi Ambergris Showers.

Starts off with a biting leather and pepper opening. Later the drydown feels soapy and green, a very earthy green. The clean, soapy feel continues through as does the pepper, which is what provides the uniqueness from other soapy/leather scents throughout.

I really like Irish Leather but I can't decide what its best use would be, casual or formal, warm or cool weather. Maybe it's one of those versatile scents good for most occasions. Probably better for cooler weather due to its big projection, EdP strength.

It's clean and masculine with great performance. Lasts all workday and can really project.

I hate to say it - this smells very similar to Irish Oud. This one has more birch. Leather is a bit more noticeable. Maybe a bit sweeter, with Tonka. Still, I like it a lot.

This is the first Memo perfume that I've actually quite liked, and I think it's probably the best hay perfume I've come across.

At its core, it's a fougere, lavender over coumarin, but manages to smell completely different from the usual. I've often heard coumarin described as the smell of "new-mown hay", but Irish Leather is the first perfume where I've really found it to fit that description.

I think it's the complexities surrounding it that really bring out the coumarin's beauty. There's something leathery, and something grassy and green, while the lavender is obscured by mint and a chemical brightness that hints at bleach. I'm not sure how, but this all melts together to smell like an extremely clean barn - saddles and hay and old wood and just a hint of freshly-washed horse. There are quite a few perfumes that have tried to pull off this horse/barn theme, but this is the first I've seen actually succeed. Thumbs up!

A unique take on leather. Iso E Super sharpness, tonka sweetness, and a green Juniper/birch combine for a very pleasant fragrance. I don't get much leather, but I do get a pink pepper sharpness that is very strong. It would be too sharp with the I E Super and Pepper, but the tonka reins it in nicely. A very good fragrance.

This one opens up with a juniper blast that almost reminds me of gin combined with some leather that is very reminiscent of leather upholstery in a brand new car. At this stage there is also this damp earthiness present that has a very 'green' feel to it that starts to dissipate as the fragrance dries down. In the middle stage you still get the earthiness, but it changes a bit to something with a bit more bite. I want to say cypriol/nagarmotha or even some norlimbanol possibly, but there is definitely a certain dryness that comes out. The dry down on this one is literally just that new car upholstery leather with juniper. The “bite” is gone. Don't really get the vanilla or amber much. Maybe lingering slightly underneath the leather. Not a bad scent per se, but not something I could see myself buying either. Much better leathers out there.

A cold if somewhat harsh bitter-green birch leather barely held in check by a dollop of buttery iris and ambery tonka.

I too took a sniff of the hefty price tag but it revealed nothing. They say - fear has a smell? Well, so does bullshit.

Anyway, I can see how Irish Leather's modern construction might come across as 'industrial' or 'synthetic' to certain noses particularly up close but if you're after a green leather, this could well be your leprechaun. And if you're as lucky as I was, it wears amazingly well like a sharply masculine Chanel No.19.

A fearless thumbs up from this reviewer.

A smokey berry leather that is pretty good. Longevity is a beast. Perfect for the late fall through winter. Might invest in a bottle of this one.

Tested from a sample today. 2 applications 6 hours apart.
Well it's unmistakably leather.
Leather isn't too much in my field of experience yet, and it's not a note on the top of my likes list. That said, this is what I smelled:
Piney/junipery start. Then a sort of peppery leather smell, but really leather. It's like smelling inside a leather bag that had spices in it at some point. Quite smokey too.
Lasted 4-6 hours. Moderate sillage.
November 2015

An "antisocial" take on leather theme, which is in this case prevalently citric/rooty/herbal/mastic-infused (but finally smoother and more civilized). If you are on the rooty-herbal bitter leather-theme this juice could be indeed your "daring" choice. I read some utterly negative points of view around about this juice and I (just) partially agree. Yes I don't catch a quite natural aroma on skin (and yes, Iso E Super is evident here) but where actually is the weird novelty, are all these modern perfumed "stuffs" around nowadays so different from this one in quality? Anyway, at the beginning I was expecting a sort of sweet "Irish Coffee-like" vanillic-liquorous-coffee infused semi caramellous opening while I'm on the contrary welcomed by a boisterous (bonfire) dry-bitter accord conjuring me ideally a sort of Hilde Soliani Bell'Antonio plus herbaceous patterns and something harsly woody in addition. Profumum Arso, Villoresi Piper Nigrum, Zibermann Oriental Adler, Testa Maura Carticasi, Everlast Original 1910 and Les Nombres d'Or Cuir by Mona di Orio are further juices jumping on mind on this stage for several of their characteristics. Anyway probably Parfum d'Empire Corsica Furiosa is (among several) the composition jumping more markedly on mind with its furious accord of earthy notes, dry hay, rooty saltiness, fir resins/mastic and harsh leather. Memo Irish Leather opens indeed quite gorgeously with a rampageous accord of forest resins (birch tar), hyper dry pencil shavings woods, harsh (ashtray-like) tobacco, toasted coffee (or something eliciting a similar vibe), dry rooty/herbal notes (absinth, juniper berry, mate, lime/lavender, may be artemisia), may be carnation, hay, earthy notes, tonka bean and huge huge pepper. Leather seems to emerge by soon from the abysses of the earth, its growth is never decisive in a way this element seems almost accessorial. There is a piquant/leathery/cedary vaguely campfire (and salty-rubbery) atmosphere throughout the evolution and leather is never the pretty dominant element being it probably pepper as combined with bitter-aromatic herbs, "paste" and something secretly floral arousing a carnation-like unmistakable vibe. The aroma is really hard to cope with, a wild hyper virile "take no prisoners" mixture eliciting an "inhospitable wilderness" atmosphere of high forests under storms (conceptually a la House of Matriach Blackbird). Unfortunately the "wild aromas" should be basically natural and fragrant, namely qualities not quite uncompromising in here with this substantial presence of synthetic woodsy patterns. I recommend to try the juice accurately on skin before to give it a chance. Not my cup of tea for sure.
P.S: dry down is an improvement, the aroma is increasingly salty, spicy, warm and virile, I'm almost sure vetiver is included in the mix.

WOW!!!

I have been sniffing for decades...and this you MUST smell. I am new to this house and what I have sampled so far is AMAZING.

I caution you though, this is NOT for everyone. I could barely continue to smell this it is SO strong.

This is not your traditional leather...this is thick cut hyde. I don't know what Irish leather smells like but OMG.

The BDSM crowd rejoice!!!

Irish Leather opens with a bitter, minty green-citrus accord of lime, juniper berries, something peppery and something fruity on the base (bitter-fruity, like berries), and as for Italian Leather, a depressing, microscopic "leather" accord built on a mediocre smell of synthetic burnt rubber. Here (luckily, perhaps) this "leather" note is however oppressed by the head pepper-juniper-citral accord, which lasts for hours. If you're into leather scents, compare this to any - even the worst - vintage leather scent and laugh hard ("laugh for not cry"). Outrageous price tag.

4/10