Cuirtis by Areej Le Doré

You can really feel the natural depth and that vintage touch from the ingredients. I’m particularly impressed by the animalic castoreum and floral notes, with a strong presence of birch tar, and to a lesser extent, vanilla and oakmoss. It’s not especially challenging; on the contrary, it’s very well constructed.

Castoreum. At Curtis, we have a perfume centred on leather, and by adding various castoreum absolutes (from Canada, through the USA, to Russia), it accentuates the authentic animal tone of the leather without being so dark or difficult. Castoreum smells like leather, so if you have a leather base, that’s perfect. It leaves a smoky, slightly herbaceous and dry impression. It’s a perfume with little development, not so dense or challenging (animalic) as the name and colour suggest, which can stain white clothes and skin, though don’t expect something pleasant. If you have experience with the brand and a taste for animalic notes, you’ll like it, although it won’t be the hardest thing you’ve ever smelled. It’s very wearable. Blindly, you’ll know it’s niche/indie. It could remind you, from a distance, of Cuir de Russie and, in a way, War & Peace. Good performance, unisex-masculine. Limited versatility. The quality is there. It has tar oils over 100 years old and genuine animalic notes, but the result isn’t as dark or challenging as we expected. The ‘Musk’ collection is very wearable and has floral loads, designed to be accessible. I’ve heard and used the whole collection. Royal Barn and Curtis are the most challenging, and over time, the best (perhaps in third place Paradise Soil). It’s not the best leather perfume I’ve heard; I’ll leave that to Roi Sans Equipage and Great Britain. Is Curtis worth $300? Yes. It’s a well-made perfume that delivers. I firmly believe Russian Adam is a great reviver. What they did last year with RO, OE, CO, SM and Walimah left us speechless; for me, it was the best collection of 2023, but those were relaunches. Here they are new perfumes and they don’t reach that level. Everything changes; the brand has changed over the years. This was the last time I bought an Areej; if I’m tempted by another, it will be a relaunch because I know it will be fantastic. I prefer to keep my money on new perfumes as such. A good perfume, solid, worth knowing. Nothing more.