I didn't have it on my radar like that. I wanted to smell it, yes, but I didn't try to get a bottle. However, a very dear perfumer put it in the envelope of a souk. As a little surprise, so to speak, which then turned into a big surprise. As I always do, I sprayed it on my arm and thought: nice and fresh. But I wore a different fragrance on my neck. Another one on the other arm. Then I smelled my arm and thought it was a bit acrid, a bit harsh. Probably because of the leather.
Maybe two weeks later, half out of boredom and half because I had recently had the "neck vs. hand = big difference" experience with another fragrance, I sprayed it on my neck so that the sillage could stand on its own without me being able to approach the sprayed area with my nose and.....oh my dear friends (here you have to imagine the feverishly mysterious background music of "Uhrwerk Orange" please), what must I smell: The most glorious sillage unfurled in the air, your devoted narrator was blown away. The fragrance immediately slipped into my top 10! I am stunned by how beautiful it is.
An attempt to describe the fragrance:
It reminds me of my absolute favorite fragrance:
Platinum Égoïste Eau de Toilette . I don't want to say that they smell similar. It's just that
Russian Leather Eau de Parfum is also very airy, transparent, clean on the one hand, but has character on the other. I detect a very slight sweetness, probably due to the tonka bean. The fragrance is green, fresh, woody, slightly sweet - a leather fragrance. Apart from the leather, I can't smell or pinpoint a single fragrance note. It's the mixture in the air. Rosemary, lavender, nutmeg, mint, basil - they all come and go and are never quite tangible. The individual fragrances do not linger here. That's what makes the fragrance so special and so airy in my opinion.
The bottle is great, the familiar Memo quality. If the cap were magnetic, you would be perfectly happy. But the cap is also high quality, it feels good when you take it off. So there's no reason to complain.
Two lessons I can learn for myself from this fragrance:
1. There are probably fragrances that you can't fully appreciate unless you wear them on your neck as full wear. When I test fragrances at retail, I don't take the paper strip until I really like the scent, my wrist. I never spray anything on my neck in a retail store because I find it quite embarrassing when people spray themselves in perfume stores as if they want to wear perfume for free once they're there. I'm there to test, not to take the fragrance home with a dripping 6 ml on my wet sprayed neck. But this fragrance shows me: some fragrances need to be worn properly to be fully appreciated.
(Although I first had this experience with
Luna Rossa Ocean Le Parfum. )
2. I'll probably have to try the other Memo fragrances in the range again. When Galerie Lafayette was still open, I was able to sniff some of them, but they didn't blow me away. Some were nice, yes, but not candidates for a whole bottle. That may be different with a bottling. This will now be tested. (Other ranges/brands could also be affected. MFK didn't say anything to me, although at the beginning I thought that
masculin Pluriel fragrances would be something like mine. I might have to try it again. (Galerie Lafayette- Why are you closed!?)
So thanks to the wonderful, grinning Parfumo for introducing me to this fragrance.
It will be a fragrance I will never want to be without again.
And if I had to limit myself to 15 bottles today,
Russian Leather Eau de Parfum would have a permanent place!
Since I also love fresh, cool, transparent fragrances in fall/winter, I'm very happy.
Top Notes 
Cypriol
Lily of the valley
White thyme
Heart Notes 
Provençal lavender
Clary sage
Fougère notes
Rosemary
Base Notes 
Vanilla
Vetiver
Leather
Patchouli
Coolrunner
Tombbb
Wusubi
TheDunkPapa
ScottMcArron
MrSerious96
Ragas
AdrianPapaki
KingofTides
