Russian Leather
Memo (2016)

As someone who is quite found of classic aromatic fougeres that lean in the so-called "barbershop" direction, this smells quite nice, but a rehashed concept over a layer of translucent leather that in no way resembles the birch tar heavy Cuir de Russie style of yore.

There are myriad fragrances that fit this style that cost less and have more interest: Fou d'Absinthe, 1828, Patrick, even Geoffrey Beene Bowling Green. Save your money.

I get a blend of basil, mint, rosemary, and clary sage that creates a soapy scent. The leather provides a foundation for the fragrance to last an entire day. However, even though it performs well, this scent hasn't changed my perception of Memo, and I still find it underwhelming.

I found this rather feminine to my nose, maybe it's my skin chemistry?

This feels like a powdery floral wall of tapestry, with a base of Dior Eau Sauvage Parfum (2012) weaving in and out.

Very nice blending and quality of materials, it's a very nice fragrance.

But this leans too feminine for my tastes. Very glad to have tried this, so thank you anonymous BN'er who graciously let me sample this!

Will definitely try the other leathers from this house, as this is a fine specimen of perfumery.

This stuff is next level. Period.

Highly aesthethic, very mysterious, masculine, with great performance.

Lovely this fragrence house.
I can smell all the ingredients here, especially the Cedar and Pine. Very high quality straight out of the bottle.
Very herbaceous and green, I love Leather but here it is in hiding, but it is still very nice and addictive smelling.
Green and fern like and very easy to wear for any male over 20s.


Scent 9- 10
Performance 7.5- 10
Silage 7- 10
Fantastic green fern smell, clean and fresh.

Memo Paris calls this the scent of a "frozen fern", as it's supposed to smell like a winter forest in Russia. And I think it accomplishes that to great effect. I smelled the entire Memo Paris line once and this one captivated me particularly due to its rosemary and pine notes (two aromas which I realize I really love in perfumery). Russian Leather uses high quality ingredients like basil oil, cedar leaf oil, Siberian pine needle oil, lavender, mint, rosemary oil, patchouli oil, and cypress absolute. It definitely feels like a high-quality fragrance, and performance is great as well with moderate projection and good longevity (6 hours at least). The scent to me smells really 'cold' (especially with its mint note) and basically smells like a coniferous forest, with individual notes of pine, mint, rosemary, cypress, and basil really coming out (it's not much of a 'leather' scent truth be told). Regardless, I really enjoy this one, especially in the wintertime, and it's one of my favourite fragrances ever.

4.5/5