Mènage à Trois: The Gentleman, The Lady, And The Tart
April 3rd, 2007
Today I’m comparing three scents that are not exactly smell-alikes but that have at least three notes in common out of leather, violet, birch, and rose. The three scents are Armani Privé Cuir Amèthyste, Heeley Fine Leather, and Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces. Leather is actually not listed among the notes I found for Cuir Amèthyste but since it’s in the name I assume it’s there, which means it scores four out of four:
Cuir Amèthyste: coriander, bergamot, rose, violet, birch, patchouli, labdanum, vanilla, benzoin
Fine Leather: violet, mimosa, birch, leather, vetiver
Putain des Palaces: rose, violet, leather, mandarin, ginger, amber, animal notes, face powder
I didn’t quite trust my nose when I did the side-by-side tests, so my impressions are based partly upon my old notes from when I tried them one by one, weeks apart. I blame PMS, which I will henceforth take to stand for Perfume Muting Syndrome, since that’s what it does – making all scents weirdly dull and flat and plasticky. At least I hope it’s PMS, I want my pretty smellies back!
Fine Leather is supposed to be a sophisticated leather scent for gentlemen. The leather is refined indeed, so refined I can hardly detect it at all. What dominates is the cool, sweetish, slightly stale scent of birch sap. The first time I tried it I got a lot of cool, unsweetened, slightly soapy/sharp violets, and I didn’t find it particularly masculine. I thought it was a scent for a sentimental, very young, early 20th century poet wandering around in a birch grove on a melancholy spring evening. Retrying it, I get a lot less violet and find it much more masculine. In fact, it verges upon the generic type of supposedly “fresh” men’s scents I loathe. It’s not the coolness of mint, luckily, it’s the coolness of birch sap, which makes it a little more interesting. The birch and leather also make the scent slightly spicy or aromatic, verging upon a fougère rather than some horrid ozone/aquatic. Still a huge letdown after my romantic first impressions.
When I first tried Cuir Amèthyste it reminded me a lot of my first impression of Fine Leather: cool violets and birch on soft, subdued leather. Unlike Fine Leather, it had the added sweetness of rose and a subtly earthy tone, but it was just as melancholy and beautiful, like a cool early summer night in a palace garden. Upon retrying it, I find it powdery sweet with candied violets, more in the vein of Putain des Palaces. It’s still cooler and less sweet than Putain des Palaces, with a more pronounced violet note and the slightest hint of birch. It reminds me mostly of the soft, supple floral leather that is Chanel’s take on Cuir de Russie. They share a quality I associate with white musk: a certain soft, powdery sweetness not uncommon in luxurious scented lotion. Alas, where did my palace garden with a variety of natural odours floating upon the cool evening breeze go?
The violets in Putain des Palaces are definitely candied, and it’s more evocative of a boudoir than of a garden or grove. Still, it has something in common with Cuir Amèthyste. Judging from the last time I tried Cuir Amèthyste, they’re both soft, sweet and powdery with some candied yet cool violets thrown in. Putain des Palaces isn’t all sweet either. It’s almost sweet-and-sour, with emphasis on sweet, but still with a rather mouthwatering green/citrusy sourness which I assume is the ginger. It makes it more chic than white thrash, despite the candy sweetness. Another quality I really enjoy is a feeling of warm skin with smudged makeup and a hint of fresh perspiration. Just a hint. This may be due to the face powder and the powdery warmth of amber, one of my favourite notes.
By Tove Solander
Image source: osmoz.com, luckyscent.com
Entry Filed under: Perfume Reviews, Smell-alikes
16 Comments Add your own
1. Leopoldo | April 4th, 2007 at 4:26 am
Loved Cuir Amethyste - the other two not so much.
2. Solander | April 4th, 2007 at 4:54 am
Hi Lee! I guess what they have in common is mostly a cool violet note sweetened with very different amounts of sugar. And the leather base, of course, but I can’t really pick out the leather in any of them. I always want more leather in my leather scents! Partial anosmia, perhaps?
3. newproducts | April 4th, 2007 at 6:32 am
Fascinating. I want to try Cuir Amethyste now. It sounds the most interesting out of the three.
4. Elle | April 4th, 2007 at 6:37 am
Love your idea of comparing scents w/ multiple notes in common. And it really is fascinating (annoying) how scents can change on one’s skin due to hormonal shifts, etc. I wouldn’t have made the connection between PdP and CA, but, now that you write about it, I can see it. I’m afraid that the similarity I find between CA and Fine Leather is that I get no leather at all from either of them on my skin.
However, I can still appreciate CA, but the Heeley scent left me cold.
5. Solander | April 4th, 2007 at 7:06 am
newproducts - I guess the general agreement is that Cuir Amèthyste is the highest quality scent out of the three. And also the most expensive…
Elle - I have the leather vanishing syndrome too. I guess that’s the point with Fine Leather - it’s supposed to be subtle and gentlemanly, not some animalic brute of a scent. But sometimes I wish the companies would just stop adding orange blossom and citrus and who knows what to their leather scent and just go with the leather…
6. Marina | April 4th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Not among my favorites, these three, but I loved your review. Have you tried other ELDO scents with leather, and is Putain your favorite among them?
7. March | April 4th, 2007 at 7:36 am
That’s very funny — I didn’t realize it was you (welcome!) and was thinking, waitaminnit, I thought Ina LOVED Amethyste??!?!?!
This is actually the perfect time of year for leather. Yep, the Heeley I can live without, and the Putain I’m trying to forget. The Cuir, however, I adore. Violets and leather. Also something highly addictive. Heroin, maybe. Or crack. Something absorbed through my skin.
8. Solander | April 4th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Thank you Marina! I have tried all ELdOs except Vierges et Toreros and Don’t get me wrong baby… and I don’t recall getting leather out of any of them. Well maybe Je suis un homme but I could barely smell that scent at all! I really like Eloge du traitre, but, well, it’s a total Yatagan ripoff and I get more wood and herbs than leather. In Divin’Enfant the leather is lost under an immense pile of orange blossom, and Rien was to me a horribly muddy hippie concoction…
Thanks, March! I did love Amèthyste too - the first time I tried it… Retrying it first besides Fine Leather and then besides Putain des Palaces I was kinda meh about it…
So you wear leathers in springtime? I just found the perfect spring scent in CBs To See A Flower. Springlike scents are normally not my style at all, but that one was just so green and natural and lifelike, instead of the usual fluffy floral boquets.
My girlfriend said PdP smelled like raspberry flavoured candy with caramel sauce… and I guess I can see her point… But I’m actually quite fond of the sweetish scent of a woman in heavy make up and violet perfume after too many hours in a hot crowded hotel bar… It’s that sweet-and-sour thing, and the radiating-body-heat thing, it actually reminds me of the majestic Bandit, which I reviewed last time around.
9. Judith | April 4th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I think my reactions here are not atypical–I really like Amethyste, Heeley leaves me cold (I would say that it’s wimpy, rather than gentlemanly:), and Putain is just overpowering on me. And I really liked your review.
10. Solander | April 4th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Judith - Haha, well I guess the young poet of my first impression of Fine Leather is a rather wimpy type… But wimpy doesn’t have to be bad - think of Victor in Corpse Bride or some other early Johnny Depp characters…
11. chayaruchama | April 4th, 2007 at 9:29 am
I’m with Judith, here…
The Heeley is pretty, but pale, beside Cuir.
[How I LOVE saying ‘cuir’-]
Cuir, cuir, cuir, cuir, cuir !
There.
It’s out of my system…
Thanks, guys.
12. Solander | April 4th, 2007 at 11:28 am
chayaruchama - Ah yes, but isn’t the point of Fine Leather being pale? Pale like a spring dusk with chirping birds and budding leaves… I seem to find myself defending it, even though my initial infatuation has passed….
Cuir is such a nice word, I agree, it sounds naughty yet elegant.
13. tmp00 | April 4th, 2007 at 11:43 am
I kind of liked Putain as well: it was one of the line where it’s inherent (ahem) robustness worked for it rather than against it.
The Heeley was just dort of wan: that early 20th century poet on me was the sort of epicene type that makes even my soft palm itch.
Cuir Amethyst is a thing of beauty- on others. On me it’s not pretty. Not pretty at all.
I also have to compliment you on your English. In no way would anyone be able to tell that you aren’t a native speaker (I remember you writing that you aren’t, right? It’s not early-onset Alzheimers rearing it’s ugly head?)
14. Solander | April 4th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Tom - Thank you for complimenting me on my English! I will need it - I’m moving to York for the first year of my PhD studies (in English Literature, nonetheless) this autumn. I guess I speak Perfume better in English, since almost all blogs and forums are in English - I often have difficulties translating the notes for my Swedish blog…
15. Ina | April 4th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
What an interesting parallel between Cuir Amethyste and Putain des Palaces! It hasn’t occurred to me to compare the two but now I can see how they’re somewhat related. PdP is like a more dense, sweeter version of CA. I haven’t tried Fine Leather yet. Loved your review!
16. Solander | April 4th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Thanks Ina! I immediately thought of CA when I first smelled PdP. When compairing them side by side I guess the differences were more notable than the similarities…
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