Naomi Goodsir
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Rum-drenched tobacco hits first—boozy, slightly fermented, with a tannic darkness that immediately signals this won't be polite. The leather accord arrives almost simultaneously, but it's already softened by honey, as if the hide has been steeped in something deliberately sweet and sticky.
Labdanum asserts its amber-resinous weight, turning the composition thicker and more balsamic as immortelle's curious maple-like facets weave through the leather. The frankincense begins to smoke properly now, less about sharp incense and more about glowing embers, whilst the honey caramelises against all that darkness.
What remains is leather rendered almost abstract—burnished, sweet-smoky, with amber and labdanum creating a skin-like warmth that's been permanently altered by resins. The tobacco's darkness lingers as a shadow rather than a statement, whilst frankincense provides the final wisps of devotional smoke.
Cuir Velours is a study in textural contradictions—supple, burnished leather wrapped in resinous smoke and sticky-sweet indulgence. Rasquinet has crafted something that lives in the space between a Cuban cigar lounge and a medieval apothecary, where rum-soaked tobacco leaves meet labdanum's amber-brown stickiness and honey drips over frankincense coals. This isn't the raw, animalic leather of a motorcycle jacket; it's been tanned and softened, polished with sweet resins until it gleams. The immortelle brings its strange, maple-syrup metallic quality that hovers around the honey, creating an almost caramelised leather effect that shouldn't work but absolutely does. There's real density here—the smoky accord threads through everything, suggesting incense burners and pipe smoke rather than bonfire ash. The sweetness never tips into gourmand territory; instead, it reads as leather treated with balsamic resins, the way ancient leather workers might have cured hides with precious materials. This is for those who want their leather scents plush rather than punk, decadent rather than defiant. It suits velvet jackets in mahogany-panelled rooms, late-night jazz clubs where the air is thick with smoke, anyone who understands that luxury can be dark and enveloping. Cuir Velours makes no concessions to freshness or lightness—it commits fully to its baroque, resinous vision of leather as an object of worship rather than utility.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
4.0/5 (145)