Perfume Lounge, a renowned niche perfume boutique in Amsterdam is celebrating its 10 years anniversary with a bespoke Extrait du Parfum Cuir Soyeux created by Francesca Bianchi.
The official launch&celebration party took place yesterday (26th October), so now I’m allowed to tell you more about it.
I had the pleasure of meeting one of the owners, Tanja Deurloo in Florence this September – just imagine two perfume nerds in Museo Villoresi, sticking their noses in almost everything exhibited, commenting and asking tons of questions: fun, learning, fun, and you can find my previously written Francesca Bianchi Perfumes reviews here.
Tanja and Phine Van Ejik of Perfume Lounge, decided to commission a bespoke fragrance – Cuir Soyeux – for their tenth anniversary, based on their personal favorite notes: iris and leather, capturing the “tactile luxurious pleasure of silk and leather on bare skin”.
So, who’re you gonna call to create a perfume with this brief? Francesca Bianchi, of course!
The result? While I’m still swooning over her two latest independent releases (Lost in Heaven and The Black Knight), Cuir Soyeux (Silky Leather) turns out to be something completely different again: smooth, mouthwatering and classy sensual, delicious and elegant at the same time while still carrying that recognizable Bianchi DNA.
Cuir Soyeux opens with a surface of aldehyde-infused citruses, followed by deeper tones of narcissus and heliotropin with powdery vanilla dust in the background, while labdanum hovers as a fluffy cloud above.
Magnolia is present as well, soft, opulent and slowly moving as movements of deeper layers bring forward a beautiful Orris structure, so characteristic for Francesca, rich, warm, and smooth as heavy silk at the same time.
Francesca’s leather accord in Cuir Soyeux feels like the inner side of leather touching your naked skin in a very sensual and musky, warm, velvety skin-on-skin way with a refined and creamy sandalwood layer, so if you’ve found some of her other “leathers” too strong for your taste, this fragrance might be just the one you’re looking for.
Projection is strong to moderate, and longevity exceptional.
Notes (as described by Perfume Lounge):
A decadent high dosage of iris. A dash of powdery sparkle created by heliotropin and musk, a voluptuous flirtiness by precious magnolia and narcissus rounded up by an overdose of labdanum, vanilla and sandalwood resulting in a creamy, warm, and slightly dirty base.
Cuir Soyeux is an Extrait du Parfum, 30 ml / 118 EUR – a limited edition of 150 bottles, available only at Perfume Lounge in their Amsterdam boutique and/or webshop, here.
The Plum Girl
Elena Cvjetkovic
Photos: Perfume Lounge, The Plum Girl
The sample was graciously sent to me by Perfume Lounge, opinions always of my own.
Note: Perfume Lounge revealed yesterday 2 limited edition perfumes – Cuir Soyeux by Francesca Bianchi Perfumes (150 bottles), and X – IL DIECI (The Tenth) by Bogue Profumo/Antonio Gardoni (50 bottles available).
5 Comments
This sounds very lovely. Lucky you to have a chance to smell this limited fragrance.
Very lucky to have many wonderful perfume people in my heart, indeed.
Sounds like my kind of leather, Elena.
Well, this one is not about wild horses, raw leather or untamed beasts…
All the better, Elena.