Ernest Beaux composed Cuir de Russie for Gabrielle Chanel, who launched it in 1927. Born of her affair with Grand Duke Dimitri and of the Paris of the Ballets Russes, it is sold today as an eau de parfum in Les Exclusifs de Chanel: an ambery, leathery floral made of birch wood, cistus labdanum, jasmine, and ylang-ylang.
Critics regard Cuir de Russie as a great leather classic: Victoria Frolova, Luca Turin, and Denyse Beaulieu praise its elegance, and Neringa Svobutaite counts it among the most beautiful perfumes she knows; Angela finds it tamer than in its early days, carried by iris.
Olfastory’s review
The first reviews, 2005-2008
In November 2005, Victoria Frolova, of Bois de Jasmin, saw in Cuir de Russie a perfume that tells a story, from shimmering aldehydes to warm leather: a black leather handbag, a lipstick, a silver cigarette case. She preferred the extrait, almost buttery, and ranked Cuir de Russie among the great leather classics.
In December 2007, Elena Vosnaki, of Perfume Shrine, found in it an elegant decadence: a masculine perfume formula offered to women, adorned with aldehydes and the flowers of N°5, made animalic by birch tar. She cites Luca Turin, who praised a sumptuous, light, and balsamic leather, a hologram of vanished luxury.
In September 2008, Denyse Beaulieu, of Grain de Musc, wrote that if she could keep only one perfume, it might be this one. She loves its oily, tarry base of styrax, birch, and castoreum, pierced by the aldehydes and the iris, and finds it as modern as a leather jacket over a little black dress.
Les Exclusifs seen from 2009 to 2021
In November 2009, Angela, of Now Smell This, smelled a smooth, buttery blend of aldehydes, iris, ylang-ylang, and glove leather. More cerebral than N°5, carried by a vegetal iris, Cuir de Russie has in her view lost the swagger of its early days, but remains beautiful, distinguished by elegance rather than daring.
In April 2021, Neringa Svobutaite, of ÇaFleurBon, found Ernest Beaux’s signature in Les Exclusifs: aldehydes over a bouquet of ylang-ylang, rose, and jasmine, a base of leather as supple as worn gloves, blond tobacco, and birch heightened by styrax. She counts it among the most beautiful perfumes she has smelled.