Leather Fragrance Sample Pack, 6 x 1ml

Includes (1ml each):

1. Tauer Lonestar Memories EDT
2. Etat Libre d’Orange Rien EDP
3. Francesca Bianchi Under My Skin Parfum
4. Orto Parisi Cuoium Parfum
5. Geo. F. Trumper Spanish Leather EDC
6. Etat Libre d’Orange Clean Suede EDP

Freshly hand-filled to order, these 1ml glass vials are large enough for several proper wearings.

Under My Skin by Francesca Bianchi restates the connection between the leathery and the animalic, redolent and faithful to the image of an old and intense aromatic essence where animal hide is treated with herbs, spices, unguents, and florals. The work is powerful, and equally human as it is animal - forming a fantasy of a skin that emanates its own smell - many layers of iris butter that converge with resins, the soft glow of cinnamon and tonka bean warming this aromatic skin. Under My Skin captures the enduring legacy of leather in perfumery, and represents the intimate connection between smell, pleasure, and transformation.

Orto Parisi’s Cuoium, from cuoio, leather in Italian, is a modern perfume that pays tribute to this ancient practice as well as the handiwork of the leather craft. The intense olfactory contrast of untreated skin is met with the warmth of incense and the sweetness of violet flower, its power ringing with smoky and spicy cade wood. Cuoium makes use of a historically important leather synthetic known as isobutyl quinoline, traditionally used in classic chypres. It is powerful, animalic, sharp, and connects with earthy notes of patchouli, vetiver, tobacco, and oakmoss. Its tenacious radiance reinforces the strength and impact associated with the leather family.

Andy Tauer leans into an image of the American West in Lonestar Memories: “the scent of a lonesome rider, wearing old jeans and a leather jacket, after a long day on the horse in the dry woods, preparing his coffee on the open, smoky fire”. It is a fantasy and an invocation all at once: an arid landscape is worked by the salubrious touch of clary sage and the remarkable textures of carrot seed and geranium. This ode to birch tar forms a rich smoky accord, blending with the clean astringent line of myrrh resin and decadent tonka, sandalwood, and vetiver; it is an homage to the classic phenolic image of leather. Similarly, Rien (Etat Libre d’Orange) works with a whopping extreme of 80 or so notes. Its opening is bracingly bitter in the vein of the legendary Bandit (Robert Piguet, 1944), as animalics and leather notes are charged through and through with astringent green notes, especially oakmoss. Rien is bold and clings to the body and perseveres in the mind – it is an addiction of spiced and smoked leather – it is decadent, sinful, and reveals itself on the flesh. Notably, amongst notes of searingly hot black pepper, incense, labdanum, and patchouli, Rien employs safraleine, a vibrant and warm leather molecule, faceted with the metallic shimmer of saffron and the spicy-fruity nuance of rose. Delicacy is found in the very depths of Rien.

Clean Suede from Etat Libre d’Orange inverts Rien’s raw and animalic leathery strength, realising the promise of suede with a fetishistic rubber accent. Safraleine remains the core leathery facet, which is washed with lemon, soapy aldehydes, and musks redolent of classic pine-and-fern scented shaving creams. It is then softened with iris, tonka, and vanilla notes, sizzling with salty amber in the base. The scent is lavishly decorated; leather becomes a firm and marble body to be adorned and venerated. Clean Suede is classically-coded so that it reads as a traditional masculine fragrance, but it is equally embellished with a fine sense of exaggeration and provocation – it is simply itself – all of itself.

The traditional yet timeless Spanish Leather (Geo F. Trumper) draws out and extends the clean freshness that can often be found in the heart of the best leathery accords. Aromatic herbs, the tingle of clove, and musk-dredged woods offer an impression of leatheriness that preserves its power while emphasising freshness - presenting a unique elegance within the leather genre. Much of this is the work of patchouli, which constitutes the soapy, fougere-tinged heart of this fragrance in combination with lavender and geranium.