Rose & Cuir Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle 2019

Rose & Cuir by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle

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7.4 / 10 197 Ratings

A perfume by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle for women, released in 2019. The scent is floral-green. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Estēe Lauder Companies.
Pronunciation

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Main accords

Floral

Green

Leathery

Woody

Fresh

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Bourbon geranium

Blackcurrant

Geranium

Nepalese sichuan pepper

Heart Notes

Vetiver

Cedarwood

Base Notes

Isobutyl quinoline

Perfumer

Jean-Claude Ellena

Videos

Watch video

Ratings

Scent

7.4197 Ratings

Longevity

8.1167 Ratings

Sillage

7.5168 Ratings

Bottle

8.0161 Ratings

Value for money

6.373 Ratings

Submitted by OPomone, last update on 25.04.2024.

Reviews

9 in-depth fragrance descriptions

09/04/2019

9
Pricing 10
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 9
Scent

Rivegauche
4 Reviews

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Rivegauche

Top Review 45

Un Jardin pour Frédéric?

Right at the front, Rose & Cuir is neither really rose-heavy nor really concentrated on leather notes.
The top note opens tingling sour, fruity & fresh with grapefruit & black currant, so that one can immediately recognise Jean-Claude Ellena's style to continue with a rather reserved heart note of rosy germanium, accompanied by stony & herbaceous green facets, where pepper seems to contribute a fine and somewhat reserved spiciness. Elegant! At this point I feel for the first time tempted to call the fragrance "Un Jardin pour Frédéric", because everything from the famous universe of Ellena's by Hermès seems present: naturalism, airiness & reduction with fruity, fresh and woody, spicy & green facets...and not only the black double looped leather bracelet in the video on the Frédéric Malle website immediately gave me the feeling "Hermès reloaded."

The base only slowly reveals the typical leathery facets of Isobutyl Quinoline, the synthetic substitute for once natural birch tar, to achieve the scent of leather in perfumes. I perceive Isobutyl Quinoline here as wonderfully bitter brown and smoky woody. Actually I feel a bit reminded of Aramis, Bandit & Cabochard here...but more like a vague reminder of the past times of Jazz Age, as you can read on the Frédéric Malle website...here apparently still in the base flanked by green earthy woody vetiver and certainly some musk to enhance the durability. Often I have a problem with the for me rough leather notes of Aramis and his cronies, I am more inclined to the softer leather notes à la Cuir de Russie, Cuir Cannage or also the wonderful Mont de Narcisse. The airiness of the fragrance throughout and the overall sparing use of the leather note "like a brushstroke" help to turn this aversion into affirmative approval.

And even now I think it's a "Jardin pour Frédéric"? The fragrance, with its short and precise formula, clearly bears the signature of Ellena, but the execution is clearly Frédéric Malle. Fréderic Malle seems to have created his perfumes like Vetiver Extraordinaire, Bigarade, Geranium pour Monsieur, Monsieur. and last but not least French Lover for himself, because he wears them himself as he said. Rose & Cuir shows a consistently clear and cool freshness with naturalistic green leathery and floral contours, is durable & present (not very Ellena), is grown up and absolutely unisex, quite cool, it combines modernity with timeless classicism (sounds like Bauhaus, if I think about it further) and is far away from any cosy cuddliness, which wouldn't even fit to Monsieur Malle himself...and scents of this character are also fortunately almost in vain in the Mallschen fragrance portfolio.

Since Rose & Cuir neither reveals really dominant rose facets nor has a really strong leather character, it seems to be labelled almost wrong. Even those who expected a delicate rosy fragrance with warm leather notes will be disappointed. But if you're looking for a friendly markance, you might find it here.

08/31/2019

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

Profumo
59 Reviews

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Profumo

Top Review 34

Rosy geranium, yes, but where's the leather?

Actually, the rose is quite well represented in the catalogue of the Edition de Parfums: 'Une Rose', a full, juicy rose solflor; 'Portrait of a Lady', a rose worn by patchouli and frankincense, and - no rose, but the scent of Geranium is closely related to it - 'Geranium pour Monsieur', the rosy-minute freshness for men.

Now 'Rose & Cuir', a fragrance that marks Jean-Claude Ellena's return to the circle of perfumers around Frédéric Malle. Angélique sous la Pluie', 'L'Eau d'Hiver', and the two Bigarade fragrances are due to him, 'Rose & Cuir' fits in seamlessly: a typical Ellena, through and through.
As already with 'Cologne Bigarde', respectively 'Bigarade Concentrée' he manages to let his central note shine in such a way, only slightly accentuated by fresh, green and discreet light-woody accents, that you don't want to stop sniffing at the scented skin area.
The rose here (actually no rose, but rose geranium again, as in 'Geranium pour Monsieur') smells so natural - as if you were holding your head directly in a bouquet of blooming geraniums.
Wow, that's great, I love the smell of geranium!

But, and this must unfortunately also be said: the fragrance does not give off much more. Anyone who thinks that leather, the supposed second protagonist of this fragrance, has a say in the matter is unfortunately mistaken. Leathery nuances are there, yes, they also appear more clearly in the course of the fragrance, but ultimately they hardly play a greater role than the finely chiselled traces of vetiver and cedar.

Frédéric Malle writes about it: "...vetiver and cedar forms an earthy bed of dark, mysterious leather with IsoButyl Quinoline at the center - an intensely bitter molecule, largely forgotten since its use in the daring perfumery of the Jazz Age."

With IsoButyl Quinoline Germaine Cellier has enriched her legendary 'Bandit' and in her fragrance you can still experience it today in all its bitter-leathery facets - but in 'Rose & Cuir'? Well, well, there it is, and right at the end of the fragrance process I actually smell it quite clearly. But the first three to four hours I have always wondered: where please is the 'Cuir'?

I think you shouldn't make the mistake - and I probably did - of assuming that the leather notes à la 'Knize Ten' or their reinterpretation, Marc-Antoine Barrois' 'B683' are overly clear and penetrating. Rose & Cuir' simply doesn't wait up with them, he is too committed to the flowering freshness of the geranium.

Another fragrance I had to think of when I read that Malle was launching a fragrance with such a name was good old 'Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme'. Also here, a strong rose surrounded by rich leather notes - but in what x-fold potency!
Well, I might have known: Jean-Claude Ellena is, and remains, as it seems, the master of sublimation. Under his hands everything is much finer, airier and more transparent without losing presence.
So also here: the rose, respectively the geranium, is far away from the full heaviness of the rose in Fléchiers 'Une Rose', as well as the leather, which only constitutes the breath of intensity of the leathery funds of Bandit/VC&ApH.

Probably you have to resort to an old scent by Jean-Claude Ellena herself to find a comparably constructed and composed scent: 'Rose Poivrée' for The Differnt Company. Also here a wonderfully naturally fresh rose chord, characterized by slightly peppery nuances, but above all by a few hearty drops of civet secretion. Later, the proportion of civet was significantly reduced, roughly to the level that 'Rose & Cuir' uses leather today.

So far, so good. One should just know that 'Rose & Cuir' is a typical Ellena fragrance. My last acquired scent from the Editons de Parfums was 'Music for a while': also a scent that focuses on two protagonists - lavender and pineapple - but so lushly and richly staged that you miss hearing and seeing.

No, Rose & Cuir is not such a caliber, of course. But a wonderfully radiant, rosy Geranium scent, with finely sublimated leathery base, for men as well as women, best suited and blessed with really good durability and pleasant projection power - that's already!

11/25/2019

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

Augusto
164 Reviews

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Augusto

Top Review 24

Rose is not the same as rose is not the same as rose

Actually, AugustA Rose doesn't like very much as a fragrance. But unlike Getrude Stein, a rose is not a rose. With Ellena, I like roses more than I don't. In all their different scents, colours, impressions and appearances.

This Ellena has a new basic tone, not completely transparent, the brush stroke not as usual in the last years watercolor, but full. But still easy. Bright and dark contrast and everything seems more color intensive to me.

Style: Reservedly energetic.
Material: Leathery, but rather bitter. Vegetable and metallic.

This rose is engaging, but very abstract. Warm and almost psychedelic. At the same time it reminds me more of the scent of a rose on a shrub, so many a natural scent.
Rose et Cuir throws a color, an impression, a feeling like with a projector on my skin.

The unknown bitterness of the fragrance has something of bitter yellow grapefruit which is a wood. Smelling it is like chewing on a fresh bitter-sour rind. What you wouldn't do. But this is precisely what makes the fragrance so abruptly tangible and direct, although it abstractates and condenses the elements to the point of strangeness.

Effect: Reduces expressive.

The leather comes directly from the vat, needs time to dry and will retain a slightly pleasantly pungent odour after tanning. It's obviously very soft. Brown, not black leather. Knize is black leather.

In other words: The most beautiful rose(ngeranium), bright dark red, combines with nutty blue-green vetiver in a woody dialogue.
No watercolour, a different application of paint, a decided brushstroke, which leaves enough room for floating.

The vetiver and the leather note remind me a little of Ellenas Bel Ami Vetiver, whom I like to wear. But Bel Ami Vetiver is the modern, slimmed-down Old Man, while Rose et Cuir is the ultra-modern, confident, feminine fragrance. Future, leap from tradition.

Its abstract naturalness is exciting, it results in a new direction, a departure into new nasal territory, and that on a very familiar ground: rose and leather. A fragrance that really fascinates me, hardly anyone who has captivated me so much lately like this one.

01/06/2020

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 8
Scent

Taurus
310 Reviews

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Taurus

Top Review 24

Always this gender question

Huh? Old man Taurus testing and commenting on a women's scent? Well - I wouldn't have thought so, because the first time I took a sniff, I was thinking more of a flawless unisex perfume. But officially it is not, even though almost everything looked like it. Most people here find it olfactory even more masculine and also the users are currently only 33% female.

The only indication of a women's scent is Master Ellena's own statement in the EdPFM video that he wanted to create something feminine with Rose & Cuir and that one will see how men and women react to it.
Accordingly, he is listed here on Parfumo as feminine, although I didn't want to start another fundamental discussion about the gender role in perfume.

I find Rose & Cuir to be a rather interesting, albeit at the same time daring and witty mixture. In my opinion, the rose in combination with the rose geranium plus the discreetly dosed currant sniffs rather bright, fresh, slightly biting - but not necessarily sweet or sweet. Nevertheless I already had rose scents in front of me, which really seemed to be more reserved for men because of its dark heavy and partly gloomy nature.
I like to think of Washington Tremlett's "Black Tie" over and over again.

But if you bet on the fact that the cuir in the name catapults the fragrance into the masculine, you are unfortunately wrong - just like me. Here, the leather forms an extremely appealing alliance with the green-fresh, minimally cool, crunchy vetiver, both of which have a slightly rough, yet soft feel. Maybe you would expect a different leather in combination with Rose, but this one complements the scenery perfectly with its softness. So it also remains long lasting until the end.

This aspect of the absolutely skilful balance between rose, leather and vetiver deserves respect, although I don't know whether Monsieur Ellena is right in his assessment of it as a women's fragrance or whether Rose & Cuir is inadvertently but ingeniously unisex. Mr. Hardcastle from Beauty Affair in Düsseldorf confirmed to me that this EdPFM fragrance is currently in great demand, regardless of gender.

This is guaranteed to expand, because Rose & Cuir makes you think of the sunny spring days when it would cut a good figure.

03/10/2020

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 9
Scent

ParfumNobile
6 Reviews

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ParfumNobile

Top Review 20

The fresh breeze under the leather scents.

What Frederic Malle and J.C. Ellena had in mind when naming this creation, I could not really understand after the first spray. But slowly I think I have understood it.

Rose & Cuir is without doubt a floral fragrance, although not as expected. It works immediately after application on my skin, green, light, bitter, and a touch biting. The black currant gives it a slightly fruity and acidic note, which calms down quite quickly. The Szechuan pepper remains and gives a spicy pungency.

Somehow I have the feeling that the rose geranium has wandered completely into the mixer, with leaf and stem, because Rose & Cuir keeps its green dress as it goes. After half an hour the second performer finally crawls up your nose. There was someone else, oh, yes, Mr. Cuir.

He does not occupy the leading role in this game, and gives the lady priority at all times. He is now slightly present, grounding the scent and rounding it off in a wonderful way. Even with this fine leather note, the fragrance surprisingly retains its transparency, and helps it to last. Because over 8 hours are on my skin without any problems.

The perfect companion for windy spring days and mild summer evenings, when man or woman want to wear something other than citrus scents.
Perfectly unisex because, although flowery not a bit sweet.
It's not really rose, and not really leather either, but it's wonderful
Greetings to all, Patrick ;-)

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