Opus VII - Reckless Leather Amouage 2013

Some spices are great in cooking, but no matter how you try, they don't cut it in perfumery. So far, I must say that Reckless Leather is my personally least favorite in the current state of the Library Collection. The opening instantly made me think of body odors, and may I be forgiven for using this expression. I was off to an offensive start and a chaos that, regretfully, lasted for almost an hour on my skin. Later on, however, I got a very pleasant fresh (oh, the irony!) slightly spicy green accord and a very subtle tinge of leather. After a couple of hours, that's when I finally reached the "leather" state, and this fragrance had a lot of wonders to show me. The leather was strong, somewhat akin to a well worn leather jacket that has been out in the sun for a while. The oud was prominent and it gave everything a rounded feel, and I overall got what appeared to be a smoky woody sweetness at the base. The rest of the day was a pleasure, however, I started noticing a very strange, almost soapy tint to the leather and musk on the drydown. Of course, this is a powerful scent. It's a beast performer, it lasts a long time, it trails and it projects. Overall, I did get a positive experience wearing this scent, but I feel like I cannot validate having this fragrance in my perfume collection just for that "base note" experience. In many ways, it's a great core that has been butchered and wasted. Perhaps, if the top notes were removed entirely, this could have been a great scent. At its current state, alas, that is a pass from me.