Cuir de Russie Le Jardin Retrouvé 2016

Sometimes we look at things
As they are
And ask ourselves: Why?

A soft loop. Vanessa Paradis' voice on the car radio. Just slightly, the tape's band has worn out. The green world of juniper bushes dipped in sepia. A few ylang-ylang creamy flowers on the embankment. Just a wingspan away, we defy the wind. You place your hand on mine on the steering wheel. Violet patterns on my silk scarf, as pale violet as my suede gloves. Deep below us, waves crash in fast motion against the shores. There are secrets there. The silence beneath the sea. Under the sunglasses, you can't see the redness of my eyes. A smile. There are edges and cracks, the distance. Rest your head on the cushion and listen to the murmuring. A sigh, the adventure. If one would take the time.

Sometimes we look at things
As they could be
And ask ourselves: Why not?

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm7z_NCCZWk)

***

Cuir de Russie by Le Jardin Retrouvé is a particularly delicate, finely crafted representative of its kind. The scent starts quite classically with a shower of aldehydes, slightly bitter violet leaf, and galbanum, which may only exist in my head, and then gently transitions to the floral notes of violet and ylang-ylang. The flowers always remain on the bitter side, kissed by spring dew and accompanied by a borretsch-like note. Leather, light woods, and juniper stay discreetly in the background and even recede a bit further in the floral heart note when a few shimmering soap bubbles join the petals. All of this seems to float over warm, rain-soaked earth before the supple leather unfolds a bit more distinctly in the base and merges with a soft yet pronounced chypre accord.
This enchantingly nostalgic scent reminds me a bit of Heeley's Cuir Pleine Fleur, but is even more delicate, transparent, and less ambery. Both fragrances move within a triangle of Chanel's Cuir de Russie, Balmain's Jolie Madame, and Knize Ten, with Le Jardin Retrouvé achieving a comparable effect with violet as Chanel does with iris, without one ever feeling for a second that Chanel is being imitated here.
Cuir de Russie's delicacy, of course, comes at a price. The scent is fleeting and lasts only a few hours on the skin, but it develops wonderfully in the hair and lasts a bit longer that way. It is a gentle murmuring, a tender whisper, a bit like Vanessa Paradis' voice, in which there is always a quiet melancholy that resonates like a wistful smile.

Thank you, dear Floyd! That was a bullseye. Clearly.