Mon Cuir Ramón Monegal 2011
2
Helpful Review
Flowers for Gentlemen?
Blossom scents are not every man’s cup of tea. Mon Cuir, on first sight, is a rather masculine oriental perfume, but it will play a dirty trick on you!
Inspite of its name I can hardly regard Mon Cuir as a leather fragrance. The backbone seems to be an oriental combination: I sense some tonka bean, something vanillic, very few patchouli and that dirty fuel-like note that I would recognize as benzoin. There is no straightforward, modern leather note, instead I would agree to a vague echo of birch tar which is actually behind the traditional Russian leather accord.
Mon Cuir is a fine fragrance, well done and not too far off the beaten track. It is a neighbor to such perfumes as Jaïpur Homme, Jicky or Givenchy Pi. The leathery, or better: birch tar appeal is only for refinement.
The florals are a borderline case. They are not just orange blossom - and definitely not natural orange blossom oil. They have too much longevity to be natural. Besides the orange blossom, there is also a twist towards tuberose and gardenia, and it is slightly candy-like. At least, this note prevents Mon Cuir from being a bore. Although there is only a small amount of florals, this specific accord is distinct enough to be well discernible, and the way that it shows up makes Mon Cuir an altogether problematic fragrance.
The floral note is much more present in the sillage of Mon Cuir than directly on skin – and it does have sillage! But directly on skin, everything is dominated by tonka and the supposed benzoin. This makes it really difficult to evaluate the fragrance, and I very much doubt that the majority of customers will be aware of that behavior when testing it at a shop. It makes me grin: some male customers may consider themselves quite macho wearing Mon Cuir while they send out ladylike wafts to their environment!
Mon Cuir is great for women who like that tonka and benzoin style, but as a gent’s fragrance, you should use it with consideration. Try to be aware of the flowers, and keep in mind – they are pretty much synthetic, so they will not wither! After two hours, the whole fragrance breaks down into a powdery muskiness, but the flowery sillage will still be there. I think, Mon Cuir might appeal to fans of Prada’s Amber pour Homme – the strength of Mon Cuir’s florals does not quite reach that of Prada’s violets.
For a test of Mon Cuir I should give the advice to withstand the lure of sniffing directly at the skin area where it was applied to. Be patient and wait until a natural draft gives Mon Cuir back to you the way everybody else around you will get it. Or maybe put a paper strip of it somewhere and come back later – the secret will become clear.
Inspite of its name I can hardly regard Mon Cuir as a leather fragrance. The backbone seems to be an oriental combination: I sense some tonka bean, something vanillic, very few patchouli and that dirty fuel-like note that I would recognize as benzoin. There is no straightforward, modern leather note, instead I would agree to a vague echo of birch tar which is actually behind the traditional Russian leather accord.
Mon Cuir is a fine fragrance, well done and not too far off the beaten track. It is a neighbor to such perfumes as Jaïpur Homme, Jicky or Givenchy Pi. The leathery, or better: birch tar appeal is only for refinement.
The florals are a borderline case. They are not just orange blossom - and definitely not natural orange blossom oil. They have too much longevity to be natural. Besides the orange blossom, there is also a twist towards tuberose and gardenia, and it is slightly candy-like. At least, this note prevents Mon Cuir from being a bore. Although there is only a small amount of florals, this specific accord is distinct enough to be well discernible, and the way that it shows up makes Mon Cuir an altogether problematic fragrance.
The floral note is much more present in the sillage of Mon Cuir than directly on skin – and it does have sillage! But directly on skin, everything is dominated by tonka and the supposed benzoin. This makes it really difficult to evaluate the fragrance, and I very much doubt that the majority of customers will be aware of that behavior when testing it at a shop. It makes me grin: some male customers may consider themselves quite macho wearing Mon Cuir while they send out ladylike wafts to their environment!
Mon Cuir is great for women who like that tonka and benzoin style, but as a gent’s fragrance, you should use it with consideration. Try to be aware of the flowers, and keep in mind – they are pretty much synthetic, so they will not wither! After two hours, the whole fragrance breaks down into a powdery muskiness, but the flowery sillage will still be there. I think, Mon Cuir might appeal to fans of Prada’s Amber pour Homme – the strength of Mon Cuir’s florals does not quite reach that of Prada’s violets.
For a test of Mon Cuir I should give the advice to withstand the lure of sniffing directly at the skin area where it was applied to. Be patient and wait until a natural draft gives Mon Cuir back to you the way everybody else around you will get it. Or maybe put a paper strip of it somewhere and come back later – the secret will become clear.