Rania J. - Cuir Andalou

Picture: Ziryab, one of the most famous musicians in Cordoba
 playing the oud, a musical instrument similar to a lute.
Poster illustrating  Cuir Andalou from Rania J. (c)

Rania Jouaneh is an independent perfumer with her own house Rania J. which has built a collection of wellcrafted fragrances with a high content of natural ingredients and with an oriental vibe. Rania dosen't rush releasing fragrances but now her new creation, Cuir Andalou dedicated to leather and supported by oud is here.

Cuir Andalou starts with a very dry leathernote and a light, slight fizzy, uplifting, clean dry spicy, slight peppery note I suspect it's the saffron. There's also an oudnote, clean and not smokey as often when combined with leather. The composition is like leather and pepper mixed with crisp, cold and clear high mountain air. Neroli is also present and brings the scent a vision of a garden with orangetrees in the palace of Alhambra. The orange, neroli and other flowery elements changes the apperance from slight chilly to golden and glowing, probably the saffron also contributes  to this impression. When Cuir Andalou dries further down, the well balanced clean oud spicy dry leather dominates but now in the warmer texture. In the basenotes there is also a touch of a animalic note, barely noticeable on my skin and a fine, dry, non smokey sort of embedded in golden nuances, vetiver which is prominent on me. The impression of the basenotes is as the fragrance is grounded in the dry, dusty, glowing Andalusian earth.

Picture: Cuir Andalou
Photo: Rania J. (c)

Cuir Andalou is a real wristsniffer, I catch myself constantly sniffing my wrists constantly during a day of wearing. An addictive experience (I'm craving Cuir Andalou in these grey autumn days). The fragrance is in the same genre as some other spicy/peppery-leathery-oud fragrances but Cuir Andalou is made with a feminine touch. It's not the rough, peppery, smokey variety Cuir Andalou is sort of fine cut with noble traits compared to the archetype of the genre. The sillage is medium+ and longevity great, it's still unfragmented after 12h and unfragmented traces are left after 24h. Suitable for year around, unisex but compared to most representatives of the genre, it's leaning more to the feminine side.

Cuir Andalou reminds me at bit of the dry, spicy texture of Robert Piguet Casbah without the smoke and the incense. As mentioned above it has something in common with leathery ouds in general but it's drier and doesen't contain the smokey note. So even if some similarities, Cuir Andalou is a frag of its own.

Rating: 5

Notes: Leather, rose, iris, neroli, patchouli, saffron, violet, castoreum, vetiver, sandalwood, oud