Countdown day 2

I began today playing auditions for Rigoletto, and as I sat in a coffee shop beforehand, I listened to various great singers working their magic. Amongst these was one very special and poignant singer, the wonderful Dmitri Hvorostovsky. He had such strength and virility, yet could also whisper sweetly and serenade the coldest of hearts. Today I make a small dedication to him with this fragrance, it is a work of staggering beauty and majesty and is, like all great art, timeless. Cuir de Russie ( 1924) is of course a leather fragrance, and yet it is so much more. It is a portal back in time, to an opulence and beauty which is hard to fathom in modern perfumery. It begins with a huge floral trio of Jasmine, Ylang Ylang and Rose. This is such a staggering opening, it doesn't so much invite you in, rather it envelopes you and makes you a foot taller, and possibly wider. The effect of this opening is so bold and brilliant, that were it to end here I would still be grinning from ear to ear. The real magic begins with the huge iris note which follows straight behind our opening salvo. It is the kind of iris that makes you want to lock yourself in a room with Goethe, but fear not, the bright orange blossom, earthy and damp vetiver and cedar in the middle bring you back down to earth, where you can sit back and luxuriate in leather created from birch tar, it is smoky and smooth all at once. It is a leather of exquisite beauty, that I cannot do justice to. This is backed with an amber that actually seems to glow and radiate, and a bitter sweet almost Guerlain inspired vanilla. The combination of these elements takes me back almost 100 years, where I settle back in a leather chair and become intoxicated by ravishing beauty, and inspired by boldness and heroism. The picture below is Coco Chanel meeting the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich, a future lover, the meeting which inspired the iconic No 5.