CUIR OTTOMAN

(Eau de Parfum)

Leather is a rare ingredient in perfumery, as its dominant character makes it a scent for connoisseurs; it is one of Marc-Antoine Corticchiato’s favorite notes. His personal interpretation is based on the smoky scents of burnt styrax and birch. The legacy of the Ottoman Empire was suggested to him by the thousand-year history of leather in Anatolia—until the 19th century, Turkish leathers were the most sought-after. And when he learned that the scent of these leathers was very often softened by the powdery scent of iris, he enhanced his composition with this precious material, which already possesses leathery facets. The balms and resins from One Thousand and One Nights are essential for softening the fragrance accord. Tears of incense and benzoin resin with vanilla accents call for vanilla, which, together with rockrose, forms the heart of oriental perfumes. The tonka bean lends them their gourmand accents; its tobacco note blends with the leather and evokes the languid smoke of hookahs. To complete the intoxicating effect of this oriental leather, Egyptian jasmine—with its white, voluptuous flesh, like that of the odalisques so revered by painters such as Delacroix and Matisse—unfolds its hypnotic scent. Isn’t the Orient always a dream?