11 of the best leather fragrances for men to buy right now
Leather is one of perfumery’s most adaptable note – cool and smooth, rough and rugged, it’s the perfect fragrance pick for winter
By 
OUD IS OUT. Well, not out. But it’s definitely time for it to take a back seat in perfumery, its popularity having become a literal chokehold of overdosage. Instead, this winter’s biggest fragrance trend is one of perfumery’s more supple heroes: hero.
If you’ve ever had the luxury of sitting in the cabin of a new Rolls-Royce, Jaguar or your average inner-city sportscar owned purely for leisure, you may be familiar with the aroma in the cabin. Immediately fills your mind with a sense of luxury.
Leather accords have been used in fragrance for similar effect. They smell rich. They smell opulent. They smell a little bit of sex. As a note, it also contains multitudes. It can have hints of iris, or violet. It can smell soft and powdery like suede, as warm as a shearling jacket or as cold as a patent boot.
Its diversity makes it one of the most easily personable notes to find a signature fragrance with.
Henceforth, below are nine of our favourite leather fragrances to try this winter.
Cuir de Russie by Chanel
Chanel first created Cuir de Russie in 1927. Legend has it, the inspiration for it came from Coco Chanel’s meeting with the exiled Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, who had escaped Russia for Paris. Today, it remains the leather fragrance par excellence. Notes of tobacco, ylang ylang and jasmine soften the harsh edges of birch tar before it settles into a warm, smoky sweetness that perfectly mimics the smell of real-life leather.
Patchouli 24 by Le Labo
One of the most interesting things about Le Labo is the brand’s love of misdirection. This has patchouli, as the name might suggest, but it is not the dominant note. What you have is a lovely, resinous birch tar accord that has an amazing burnt leather profile. Or if you could get leather in incense form. There’s also enough vanilla in the body to satisfy the gourmand lovers.
Carmen by Trudon
Trudon’s most famous candle, Ernesto, has finally been translated into fragrance form. It isn’t an exact replica, rather a skin-focused take on the leather and tobacco accord that made the candle so popular. Named after the famous opera, the fragrance adds richness to the original notes, with spicy cloves, labdanum, oak wood and rum. Designed to be worn close to the skin.
Corpus Equus by Naomi Goodsir
Australian milliner Naomi Goodsir remains one of our more interesting perfumers. Corpus Equus was inspired by Goodsir’s own horse (and, I assume, the accompanying saddlery). The opening is rather airtight with birchtar, leather, smoke and woody notes but there’s an ever-so-subtle hint of rose at the heart that prevents it from becoming too heavy or suffocating. Would smell great while wearing a suede jacket.
Cuir d’Ange by Hermès
Who better to construct a leather fragrance than a house that specialises in making the world’s most premium leather goods? Over the top of the key leather note, Cuir d’Ange adds layers of florals: oily violet, hawthorn and the tobacco-like greenery of narcissus. It smells like the inside of a leather bag, yes, but one you’ve had for years and wears all your signatures.
Reptile by Celine
Inspired by rock stars (and in perhaps a nod to one of the more premium kinds of leather) Reptile sits at the juncture of powdery and animalic, with iris, pepper and mossy notes circling the leather heart. On the surface, safe and steady but feral by the dry down.
Bitter Splash by Dries Van Noten
Trust one of fashion’s most original designers to be behind a leather fragrance that is completely unlike any other on the market. Bitter Splash starts off with a bracingly bitter/sweet note of grapefruit that sits atop a waxy orris butter note before settling down into a smooth-as-butter leather base. Ingenious creation.
Cuir Saddle by Dior
A new one from Dior’s La Collection Privée line. Not actually inspired by literal saddles but rather, the iconic Saddle Bag, Cuir Saddle is a sophisticated floral leather that is meant to smell like close proximity to the skin. Intimate, in other words, and meant to make the other person lean in closer to get a better smell. So let them.
Aramis by Aramis
If you want the nostalgia of good times, the OG Aramis from 1966 is decadence and disco in a bottle. Absolute powerhouse of leather blended with aromatic notes of thyme, artemisia, sage and oakmoss with surprising sweetness of coconut, jasmine and cardamom. It’s a statement fragrance, the best kind of retro. This would have been Julian Kaye’s signature scent.
Tuscan Leather by Tom Ford
Created in 2007, Tuscan Leather cast a long shadow over the endless attempts to recapture what made this one so fantastic. Rather than masking the sweetness of leather, Ford emphasised it with the sharpness of raspberries, olibanum and saffron. It completely shifted the familiar leather profile into something alien. A true original and never beaten.
Extreme Leather by Montblanc
While the name might suggest a fragrance that has all the power of a tannery, the opposite is true. A huge amount of iris and some musk in the base makes this as subtle and soft as your favourite leather bag. Montblanc’s considered design ethos, which revolves around their writing instruments, is as apparent here as it is their accessories. Incredibly classy.
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