Le Rideau Cramoisi

[Foodie]

Honeyed leather and tonka with clove, champaca musk, and opium tar.

Let me start off by saying that Le Rideau Cramoisi is not my style of scent and I knew that going in. I thought I would try something different and it DID NOT work out well for me.

 

When first applied the clove and what I'm guessing is the opium tar (very smokey) are the most dominant. As it dries there is a noticable leather and there is a strong perfumey musk bringing it all together. It's all well blended but it's a very "bad girl" scent and I'm a good girl lol. Literally smells like I spent the night at a bar with a bunch of bikers smoking clove cigarettes in our leather jackets.

 

I had to wash it off. It was just too much for me!

[LizziesLuck]

I'm obsessed with clove right now, and that's what I was hoping for here.

 

Wet: Mostly champaca and opium with leather. It's rather head-shoppy at the moment. The opium is dominant enough to overpower the leather. So far this is quite discordant on my skin, and not the sexy clove and leather scent I had hoped for.

 

Oh my gosh, then the tonka shines through, and the clove peeks out, and this might be saved! It's not what I imagined, be there's sure something about it....

 

Dry: The leather lingers, but everything else has sort of faded away. I have a feeling this needs some aging before all the notes truly sing together. I have learned my lesson about giving up on things too quickly, so I will be returning to this in a couple months to see how it's doing.

[Casablanca]

I went for this decant only at the last minute. I’m down with the other notes, but not usually an opium girl. Maybe it will work here.

 

On the wand: Opium-champaca musk. Double-down on the head shop!

 

Wet on my skin: Powdery opium-champaca musk with a swatch of leather and a hint of clove. With the opium in here, this reads as even more head-shoppy to me than the champaca-heavy Keichu.

 

Dry on my skin: Mainly powdery opium, champaca, and leather. Then I have a thought that the leather is pleasantly sweet, and realize it’s paired with honey.

 

I love champaca and this honeyed leather, but the opium here just brings a little too much whoa for me.

Edited March 19, 2017 by Casablanca

[patina]

Neither leather nor honey is overpowering. Certainly not to the extent that the leather in Pleasures of the Imagination: I was. The opium and champaca are the strongest notes on me. It's a very good champaca, but with the opium it smells a bit like hairspray. Not terrible though. I may keep the decant.

[ramblingrambler]

I don't know if I've ever had more of an instant word connection in my head than while smelling this. The first thing that popped into my brain was "FRENCH." I mean, obviously the title's french, but whoa, the scent reminds me of something I would smell in France. It's extremely... well, French. I don't even know how to describe it otherwise. It smells like high-quality perfume.

[zankoku_zen]

Clove, champaca musk, opium tar and honey. I didn't expect to like this so much. It sort of reminds me to a more brown-leather version of Voodoo Queen. So all of you ladies that have ever wanted to try Voodoo Queen, Le Redieau Cramoisi is like a kissing cousin. Not as complex as Voodoo Queen, but it has some of that sexy clove musk.

[ForeverLastcXs]

This is one of my favorites from this year's Lupers. To my nose, it's soft, smooth, honeyed nag champa with a subtle, barely there kiss of leather, which is how leather should be, at least IMHO. It's just a lovely scent all around. A little head-shoppy, yeah--okay, maybe more than a little--but that's how I like it.

[VetchVesper]

This doesn't really smell headshoppy to me. Yeah, I definitely get champaca, but with it I get a lot of leather, musk, and clove. Clove often smells metallic to me, and sweat often smells metallic to me, hense I get sort of a musky, leathery, clean but sweaty sort of smell. It's animalic and interesting, but I'm not sure if I like it. I think I get how ramblingrambler got French from this. Sort of dirty but sophisticated and something old world about it. I could see how it could be very sexy, (possibly on a man) but my verdict is still out. I shall have to see if this grows on me with wear.

[Lucchesa]

Oh wow, Le Rideau Cramoisi really doesn't work on me. At first it was all champaca, which is a tricky note with my skin chemistry to the point where at times it leaves me feeling slightly ill. Other times (Body Remember, Thousands of Lights) it's just lovely. Sadly, this is more in the former category. Then suddenly it was all honey and opium. The final stage, after about 45 minutes, is honey, opium and champaca, and it's like I'm getting the worst elements of all three. VetchVesper is right: there's a metallic feel to this one, like a new aluminum water bottle. I can't really smell the clove in here at all, and the leather is very faint. Not for me.

[torischroeder9]

Received a decant as a swap frimp from someone who clearly has an excellent understanding of what notes I love. 

 

In the decant: Lightly spiced champaca. I would guess that the spice is clove based on the description, but my nose can't directly identify it here. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's very, very champaca, which I certainly don't mind. As it dries, the leather creeps out a bit, cutting the champaca's citrusy floral sweetness. 

 

Ultimately, this stays mostly sweet champaca with a subtle grounding of leather. It's nice, but it's nice in the same way... Matthew (Something:Something, the one with honey and chapaca) is but without the more structured grounding of that blend's sandalwood. I wish I got the clove more with this, but as it is, I'm not sure it's sufficiently distinct on me to merit keeping. 

[DiZZysTARdust]

eta i mistakenly posted here, coming back later to review irl

Edited February 20, 2022 by DiZZysTARdust