Cuir de Russie Le Jardin Retrouvé 2016

I am a woman and I have always loved being one. I've never struggled with being one. But I do struggle with the role models, clichés and injustices that come with it, but that's a whole other story. In any case, I like my scents to be floral, sweet, romantic, powdery, soapy, creamy and even make-upy. The whole bathroom range of fragrances plus a flower garden and greenhouse of Christmas spices - bring it on! And yet: there's also a nerdy little guy in me who insists on his right to olfactory appreciation. Who wants his Tabac deodorant every morning, yes.
So it's really wonderful when a wonderful unisex fragrance like this suddenly comes trundling into your home. Smelling it for the first time was an aha moment. A fresh, androgynous fragrance that I immediately enjoyed all round.
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The violet immediately dominates my nose. But what a one! A cool, sunglasses-wearing one, wrapped in cool dark blue. Nothing with powder or pastilles here. The little flower comes wafting along arm in arm with its buddy juniper, a combination that smells wonderfully spicy and flowery, with the violet and juniper's prickly branches, berries and all the trimmings. But before the whole thing gradually drifts into a dream fragrance for unshaven rough legs, a soft, conciliatory sweetness makes itself heard, no doubt due to the ylang-ylang. However, its sunny creaminess only softly underlines the cool, spicy beauty of the violet-juniper melange, eliciting a small, reserved smile, so to speak, and otherwise remaining completely in the background. Just like the cinnamon, which almost imperceptibly adds a very small hint of spicy, woody, tingling warmth. I can detect slightly smoky nuances, but I can't smell patchouli at all. Leather ?
No, no leather.
And hasn't "Russian leather" as a fragrance always been designed to scent leather gloves anyway?
Well, in the absence of leather gloves, I also like to scent myself with this wonderful cologne, this herbaceous, spicy violet nose treat.
There is one fly in the ointment. The sillage and longevity could be a little better or more intense. Nevertheless, the fragrance is beautifully made and smells high quality.
The price-performance ratio is excellent.
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I am now hopefully pushing the pretty bottle a little more into the middle of the bathroom shelf. Just in case my husband wants to return the favor for all the liters of stolen deodorant I've stolen from him over the years
( I probably used up his Terre d'Hermès Eau de Toilette all by myself...
Cuir de Russie (2016) suits everyone.
Women, men and, of course, nerdy guys.