Guest Reviewer Of The Day: Sugandaraja (Pt.2)

Today we go with the second contribution by one of my favourite perfumistos around: Mr Sugandaraja. For further informations on the author you migh want to check his previous article here.

Sugandaraja's new gift to Ner Profumo is

Cuir Ottoman: Iris With A Leather Fetish

I'm of the school of thought that when it comes to irises, there are two kinds: Iris Silver Mist, and everything else. Leaving his rooty majesty aside, the soft powdery accord familiar in a hundred fragrances ( and to a hundred-thousand noses through releases like Dior Homme ) is here tooled into the form of a blooming iris that's suede to the touch.

While, from what I understand, Parfum d'Empire was dragging out some hoary orientalist association with the late Turkish empire ( "Ottoman Leather" ), my English mind can't help but keep the word order intact and read it as a Leather Ottoman in the sense of being a small, upholstered foot-rest ( ottoman's other English meaning ), which it aptly resembles in mellowness. I can easily picture myself in full Romantic pipe-dream repose, feet up on an ottoman, smelling of Cuir Ottoman, and listening to a languorous work like this one.

In esse, that's what Cuir Ottoman is about for me: comfort. Leather is typically either a challenging note, or more commonly, not leather at all. Here a true new-shoe leather is supported by an enormous violet-iris accord ( placed between orris butter and violet candy ), a smooth balsamic facet, and a dark, fleshy jasmine that stays well in the background. No notes ever appear or disappear to my nose, its richness compensating for the static development. Throughout it has a certain chilled vaporous quality somewhere between Sarrasins and Caron's Pois de Senteur.

I'm not usually one to venture into the much vexed-about topic of fragrance and gender, but I will say this: if Cuir Ottoman was human, it would be Emma Peel in the leather cat suit, I'm quite sure. Take that as you will.

Rating: 8.5/10

Review courtesy of Sugandaraja. For other reviews by Sugandaraja click here