Cuir de Russie II Areej Le Doré 2025 Extrait de Parfum

Every now and then you wear eyes like oxen. The retinas so supple and thin, you can almost see through them. Black streaks of tar then smear your vision, tears of greasy oil in dark brown, tired and leathery in the morning. The first flowers open their silken skin beneath glistening veils, scattering their spores of white clay and the dust of blossoms into the light in the leaves. Soon the paperwax captures them, wrapped in saddle soap, losing their lanolin through floral colors deep into the noon. Through a dry glass of glowing ambers you gaze at the mist of pheromones, the warm haze over breathing animals, the sweet dewdrops in their soft furs with the tiny earthy remnants.
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Russian leather is generally understood to be the finest and softest form of 'Jucht'-Leather, which has been tanned with wood bark and rubbed with birch tar oil. The Russian word ‘Jucht’ comes from the Persian term for a ‘team of oxen’, as the cattle hides were tanned in pairs.
Russian Adams has created a new, more refined version of Cuir de Russie II. As opposed to the first garment perfume version, not listed here, which contained raw birch tar, he toned down the leather and birch tar in favor of floral notes in the heart and more prominent deer musk in the base in this version. Therefore it seems to come closer to the original meaning of Russian leather, namely its particularly soft form. Although there is the typical dark, subtly animalic leatheriness of castoreum at the beginning, with a subtle hint of birch tar smoke, all kinds of floral aromas soon emerge underneath: silky jasmine, fresh green violet leaf, sweet violet blossoms, which eventually become creamier and then waxy in blue lotus, taking on a distinctly soapy character with deer musk, which develops from fine soap towards lanolin and earthy-sweet musk pheromone, slightly underscored by delicately smoky amber and balsamic Choya Loban.
Despite the strong initial projection, the bottom line is that this is much more wearable and less challenging than the first version, has a more refined finish, and, for me, has the character of a timeless classic from the high school of perfumery.

(With thanks to Seejungfrau)

Cuir de Russie Part II, perfume Extrait.

I’m a bit cautious comparing this version of Cuir de Russie to the former simply because that one was meant as a garment perfume while this is a perfume that makes brilliant use of beaver tail oil (the most prominent note), and as is the case with natural musks, it is a material that will shine when applied on the skin. As far as the overall scent profile, I’d say this version is more floral, better balanced, more refined, and better assembled. I also feel that the leather accord is significantly improved, which might be, as mentioned, only a result of proper skin application. The DNA is the same, but the execution is better.

As for the composition, I am divided on this one. While I adore the leather accord and the way he used birch tar and musk to support it, I am less enthusiastic about the other component of the fragrance, the sweet, creamy, lush floral bouquet. Make no mistake, I love florals, and I have no issue with sweetness in perfumes, but when you combine floral notes and sweetness, and tie them to a leather perfume, I’m not much of a fan. I’d take all florals paired with leather, but I don’t think I own or ever fancied a “sweet leather” fragrance. I love my leathers in all forms and shapes, except sweet. That being said, the sweetness in here isn’t overbearing, and certainly not enough for me to dismiss this perfume. It’s not a “commercial” type of sweetness but rather a result of the materials used. The beaver tail oil, the rose, the jasmine, the violet, and the amber accord all boast an inherent sweetness. Moreover, the beaver tail oil can sometimes smell very sweet and even fruity on its own. The main notes for me are the beaver and the lush floral bouquet, and they go hand in hand. At no point in time had there been a winner. Maybe with age, the animalics will come more to the front, but as it stands, even after 24 hours when there is only a faint veil of the scent hovering above the skin, the florals and the sweetness are still there battling the leather and the musks.

Cuir de Russie II opens with a blast of powder on my skin. Just powder, beautifully diffusive and vintage in feel. Shortly after, you start to pick up the smokiness from the birch tar, but rest assured, it is handled with utmost care (and I am someone who struggles with birch tar). Through the gentle smoke, the first of our protagonists comes forth, the leather. This smells to me like newly polished leather boots. It’s not rugged, dusty, earthy, nor the modern interpretations. Rather, a solid and well-used pair of leather boots that just received a proper polish. Inside the boot, you take a sniff (now why would you do that?) only to find a deep rabbit hole that leads to a magical garden full of flowers. This is the second protagonist, and as I mentioned, it follows shortly after the leather enters the stage and never leaves. Adam used an impressive array of precious florals, although I mostly detect the violet accord, the rose, and the jasmine. It’s larger than life, creamy, and sweet. The way it opposes the leather accord and how they interact in perfect harmony till the very end is what I find fascinating about this fragrance. Yes, some musk creeps in toward the end, but the flowers hold their ground. If it weren’t for the extra sweetness, I would have loved this perfume far more than I do. The sweetness is what ultimately makes me rate it lower than I’d like. As a perfume composition, I feel it sits among the likes of Cuir Cannage, Cuir de Russie, Great Britain, etc, but sweeter than all the aforementioned. What sets it apart for me is the use of beaver tail oil. I have smelled a beautiful use of flowers before, but only in a few other perfumes have I tasted such a great use of natural beaver. I quite enjoy it as a leather fiend that I am, as well as a lover of vintage perfumery, and I hope that with time, the animalics will come just slightly more to the forefront.

I’d consider this a slightly improved version of the original, mainly due to its skin-friendly nature and the possibility of having these precious natural materials breathe on the skin, but also for the overall improved quality of the blend.

IG:@memory.of.scents

In my opinion, it's an improvement over the first installment. Where the OG had an overpowering vanillin sweetness, here the sweetness seems to come more from the flowers (iris, jasmine, etc.)—though this isn't necessarily the natural source of that sweetness. Interestingly, the famous beaver tail oil is very prominent in this version—which I'm very pleased about. Castoreum also plays an important role and is also prominent here. The lotus gives the leather accord a certain shimmer, which, together with the birch tar, creates an image of black, leather, polished shining shoes. Powdery notes are also a prominent element, likely the orris molecules i think. Overall, the scent is elegant (for my nose) and would pair well with a black suit, for example, though it would also work wonderfully with a leather jacket (not necessarily black). But its can be very versatile fragrance and suitable for many occasions. What's more, I think it will perform differently on different skin types. Anyone familiar with fragrances gener will knows exactly what to expect here – nothing new here, but worth checking out. I like it and I'm very happy to have at least one such fragrance in my collection.

Well, Cuir de Russie OG is my favourite Areej le Doré fragrance of all time. So I am bound to like this one as well. And I do! It is pretty similar to the original too. The core idea is definitely there. Blindfolded I could guess that it is in fact Cuir de Russie OG-inspired fragrance. Blindfolded I could never guess Antiquity II is inspired by Antiquity OG. So yeah, this one is like 8.5/10 similarity wise. Main differences are probably due to impossible-to-get ingredients. OG has more texture, more animalics, more lift, more power, more sweetness to balance the animalics—more of everything. But that makes the new one easier to wear (and not only because now it is actually a skin-friendly fragrance . If I had to guess, I would say this will be the best received of this collection. Ofc again, this being my favourite Areej DNA, I may not be the most objective guy to talk about it. But if someone asked me which ones of these are safest to blind buy, I would say Cuir de Russie. Decent lift, decent projection. Dark floral-forward leather fragrance.

The quality is over the top, amazing as usual and worth the price (even tho I could never get myself more than a decant, it's really worth the price).
The ingredients are all natural, not synthetical at all and it shows; one of the best leather scents I've ever tried, animalic, dense, delicious. The flowers are definitely there as well, but it's like they're laying on beaver oil absolute, a great contrast. Super strong sillage and longevity. I don't love it as much as Civet de Nuit but it comes close.