Russian Leather

I was NOT expecting to like this one as much as I do. "Frozen Fougere" is a perfect general description, and would have been a better name than Russian Leather. This fragrance conjures up the image of a cold, crisp, sunny winter's day outside: It's about 9am on a Saturday in mid-November; the temperature is about 37°, but the sun is out and bright. It's the perfect setting to go for a nice walk before the college football games kick off and consume your afternoon. Russian Leather would be the ideal fragrance to accompany this scenario. The pine tree, cypress and leather combination is just beautiful. It does have a bit of an 80's vibe, with the lavender note providing brief toe-dips into barbershop territory. I see many likening Russian Leather to Bottega Veneta Pour Homme Extreme, which is in the same general ballpark and must be due to them both sharing the prominent note of pine, but I find Russian Leather to be the superior fragrance. Russian Leather is brighter and more uplifting than Bottega Veneta Pour Homme Extreme...which I find sharper and darker in tone.

Starts off with a smooth, spicy hay-woody like smell, then transitions to a mellow spicy, woody scent, more like a mellow fougère, if you will. The leather is there, but it's abstract with the other notes I mentioned combined with it. It's a pretty solid clean fragrance, though as mentioned, the leather isn't distinguishable (or really lack thereof), as the other notes are really what come on top. I can't remember anything else that smells like this so this gets points for that aspect, but personally I would only wear this on a mood or on a date night out, which is perfectly fine. This could even work as an office fragrance since it's not that offensive. The artwork captures the gist of the fragrance in an elegant way, but it's not in anyway carnal-like, or overly aromatic like Tyrannosaurus Rex. Not in a rush to buy a bottle, but it's pretty pleasant and unique IMO.

Purchased it due to it being described as a more potent niche version of Bottega Veneta Pour Homme Extreme which is discontinued. The description is pretty accurate. I also smell a slight resemblance to Margiela At the Barbers too. This one and Beach Hut Man are probably my favorite quasi-barbershop type niche fragrances at the moment. They are like Neo 80s powerhouse fragrances in my opinion. This one is definitely the darker of the two though. Gorgeous pine forest and high quality leather type smell that reminds me of the Van Cleef and Arpels Tsar that my dad used to wear back in the 90s. l Honestly too gorgeous for words. Definitely my favorite of the Memo leathers too. $125 on Jomashop was an absolute steal for this. I would have been willing to pay Amouage level prices for this beauty.

The opening is very spicy, very heavy, like Arabian essences, but that scent quickly disappears, replaced by much greener and woodier scents. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I spray it this perfume smells like the scents my dad used when I was little.. Even though I wasn't particularly in love with the scent, when I wore it, it reminded me of a very warm and peaceful winter or autumn day in the late 2000s. It's a surprisingly calming scent when I spray it, but it's not something I'd use all the time unless I'm going on nature walks in Northern European countries. Even if I wouldn't bother buying the bottle, it's definitely a scent that evokes beautiful things and is wonderful to use during special moments in nature or winter days.

From the title, I was hoping to get: Rocky running through the forest, being chased by Russian guards, ending with climbing to the mountain top screaming with fury "DRAGO!!!" Sadly, there was no Rocky, no danger, nothing remotely leathery. Just making a snow angel in a snowy Russian forest. This needs a flanker that is full of steroids like Ivan Drago. Ramp up the leather. Where is the musk? Memo, you can do this. If I can change... (Russian translation) And you can change... (Russian translation followed by slow claps) Then Russian Leather can change!!! (Russian translation & elation, and standing ovation) Cue "Hearts on Fire" by John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band and get ready for the dramatic still shot, before fading to black.