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merny – :
revisiting this… years ago i liked it, now…not too sure about it.
it is a DRY, slightly AROMATIC take on SUEDE.. while I’m a big fan of leather, this somehow does not cut it.
it may be the orange blossom, white flowers turn funny on my skin all the time, so maybe the GREENISH, SOAPY tinge that I get on the side is due to that.
чуприк – :
A very urban interpretation of leather with a poetical name with who the author feels connected.
The Orange blossom,vanilla and geranium in the opening are like the syrup in which Baklava is soaked,rich,sweet and green,warm and cold. The transition brings the musk and malt notes over,the malt notes gives an axilla ,sweet,animalitic feeling. Chocolate is present and it feels like a leather gourmand,sweet,green and musky.
vipmel – :
Cuir venenum is so unique and addictive. I was looking for a leather perfume but I don’t detect any leather on my skin.The dominante note is really orange flower which is a good thing because I love orange flower. In Cuir venenum the orange flower is sweet but also bitter.This is what I like.I also enjoy the kind of ”hydromel” note. I read that some people also detect a beer/malty note. I was afraid of that note because I hate the taste and smell of beer. But in Cuir venenum that note is interesting. It’s different and I never smell a perfume like that before.
qme771JeomiWogkig – :
This fragrance immediately reminded me of an extremely specific time and place. The scenario was…Drinking wine at my firends house. When I asked my partner to try this perfume and then I described what I thought, and she said…”Yeah it’s totally that….It’s incense and cheap candles.” The bitchy comment about these particular friends aside, she’s kinda right. The opening is a syrupy resin and orange blossom a sweet, messy construction but with a hippy joss stick backbone I’m assuming from myrrh. It’s quite linear and not really what I would describe as leathery in the dry down but I recognise this ‘leather’ accord from other fragrances so I know it’s considered acceptable to describe it in those terms. The wine element is interesting, not that it smells of wine but evoked memories of drinking the stuff, thought provoking I guess. I don’t like this and I don’t want to smell of it, although the drydown is a little bit nicer. I’d give it a miss.
andr.kiselev2010 – :
very mild leather with a good splash of smoke , sillage is bad but the perfume is good enough
not on my to buy list but again if someone gives it to me i would probably wear it every once in a blue moon , bottega veneta did it really good, so that is my choice for a good leather and kelly caleche to a lesser degree
this one leans more masculine
shamil111 – :
So when I sprayed this on today, I immediately concluded this had to be the sweetest leather I had come across. Didn’t like it or care for it whatsoever. It wasn’t all bad and had some nice nuances, for instance a nice smoky side, cigarette-like, but it is doused in thick, honeyed orange blossom and it is kinda seductive that way. However, the first two hours I felt like this was too much of a sugary femme fatale – or a wannabe version of that. Later on, the syrup vibe wore off and it started to warm up a bit, catching my interest. I was surprised to enter that stage. I wouldn’t have expected that at all. Now, this is not very special, but it does go against ‘niche rules’, challenging the wearer with its sticky syrupness and rewarding him or her for their patience once that tones down a little, combining buttery coconut with leather & myrrh. Still on the fence whether I like this, or maybe could love this. Let’s see what happens. In any way, the sweetness in this juice is almost provocative and definetely NSFW. Hot date or lover’s night material only – in a confident mood.
bre952Diobtetty – :
I think Arabian Knight summed this up nicely. This smells more like an indie than a niche fragrance. Something strange that an up and coming perfumer would put out like Euphorium Brooklyn or maybe even Slumberhouse?? That may be a stretch but I do not get this one at all. The orange blossom overwhelms the other notes on my skin but I do get a faint hint of smokiness. As mentioned it’s linear so don’t wait for the development as there’s pretty much none. Very feminine IMO as well.
afferrine – :
“Cuir Venenum” opens with a sticky embrace of sweet, honeyed orange blossom, warm citrus and cedar, with a faint leather providing a cosy, intimate sensuality. That said, I wouldn’t call this a ‘leather’ fragrance at all, so the ‘Cuir’ in the name is a bit misleading. It reminds me slightly of “Al Kaht” by Xerjoff, if you took out the dirty barnyard oud note and just left the sweet florals and sticky vanilla.
As with most PG scents it’s quite linear and has moderate lasting power, but you could do much worse. It’s a pleasant sweetness, not cloying or immature, and definitely more feminine leaning to my nose.
aviator – :
This is certainly a unique take on leather! Come to think of it, I am reminded of the big orange blossom perfume from ELDO. Or maybe a mix of two ELDO perfumes?
The opening is almost shocking, more like a sweet fruity celebrity scent–others are calling it grape jelly, and I do not disagree. But then the leather appears suddenly, followed by the sweet orange blossom. A sort of grape jelly-tinged orange blossom.
After that the leather and sweet orange blossom ebb and flow in turns. Definitely interesting. A bit loud, too. I could not sleep in this scent.
sarunas1975 – :
Ha ha! Genius. On first spray I thought yikes, I smell like a man. Then I wondered – why? Is it sweat? Then I realised – it’s malt. Like some kind of real ale. So now I smell like leathery, slightly sweaty real ale. This is more male than unisex, but I like it, and I’d definitely like to smell it on a man. Although it doesn’t smell like perfume or cologne – it smells like a real ale drinker, maybe after a hard day’s work in his leather shop. Get your check shirt on guys, a splash of this on your beard and you’re away 🙂
Update: did I mention the smoke? Yes, in amongst the leather and beer is smokiness. My chap used to smell like this when he came home from the pub!…
Giovanni999 – :
My first thought was “Oh no.” The opening was sickly sweet, medicinal, not appealing to my senses. I kept the application very light because of this. A little while later it had bloomed into something much more palatable–sweet, a little smoky, balsamic. Light, pleasant, and a huge relief after the opening, but no detectable leather to my nose and nothing to particularly write home about. This is a first impression, however. I’m not bowled over, but it’s worth coming back to for a few more tries, maybe there’s a hidden depth that will win me over upon further application. Next time I’m going to apply more heavily to see if there’s anything I missed this time around.
diiimonnn – :
Having Cuir Venenum on my wrist and can’t wait to scrub it off..If that is considered modern perfumery then I prefer to be ancient ! First of all there is no ‘cuir’ in this fragrance , I smell no leather at all. The opening is bold and sweet , smells like menthol combined with sugary sickening orange blossom . Myrrh is there but is buried under the unbearable sweetness of this fragrance . Plastic , fruity, sickly sweet , that’s all I get out of this creation . It doesn’t change a lot , starts and remains sickly sweet with orange blossom/sugar cubes until the drydown . It has enormous lasting power which is really bad for this fragrance .
vdo935speagoessenda – :
This is really strange. On first spritz I thought it was an instant love, but the more I wore it the more I started to hate it. Something makes it so difficult and uncomfortable to wear which I guess is the very sweet, almost sugary, orange blossom. My liking rejects such sweet neroli scents. I get hardly any leather.
Highly recommended for sweet orange blossom fans though.
If you like Mademoiselle Piguet you will probably love this one as well.
lexa007_88 – :
this one is just amazing although i kind of smell it as if someone was sweating and had a perfume on without having a bath, but then it goes quite good. actually the lady gave me the half bottle tester for free cause there wasn’t no more stock in her shop. i just loved it big time.
honestly, i don’t smell no leather in it! I’ve smelled something worm or hot maybe pepper, something sharp but not lemon & maybe fried coconut, it smells sometimes like an indian hair oil that old females uses to make their hair thick and silky called Tata’s Oil (زيت تاتا), and definitely it is a strong perfume.
after few weeks, i went back to the shop and unfortunately i couldn’t figure out which was this perfume from Parfumerie Générale’s collection because of the Reformulation! even the color of the perfume has changed into light blue! the perfume’s top note has been changed to something tasteless!!! i can only smell the similarity when it dries… a complete disappointment!!!
lasvegas – :
Huge orange blossom opening! ….and orange blossom for the rest. I need to test this again, Im getting nothing else. It is indeed a very nice orange blossom though.
montus.sanya – :
Why so many dislikes for this? It’s a fairly accessible scent. I don’t love it and wouldn’t buy a full bottle, but I don’t dislike it either. It’s a very interesting take on leather.
Alexandruha – :
Stale malt liquor with addition of one marinated cigarette butt.
Fachinhinge – :
I WAS IN THE STORE AND READ THE CORRECT COMPOSITION OF THIS UNIQUE AND VERY BEAUTIFUL AND CRAZY PERFUME IN THE ECLECTIC STYLE: high notes- absolu of orange blossom
Heart- cedre and leather
Base notes-musk and honey!!!! its a real fantastic!!!!
Раниф – :
There’s nothing masculine about this, it’s another scent that smells like a handbag. Am I the only one who smells warm milk? Probably not unpleasant on a woman but it feels inappropriate on a man and came and went in no time at all with limited sillage..
antoxa1911 – :
great scent, you have the description above, good sillage/duration, made for men actually!
AnneveOvedE – :
Grape snowball syrup squirted into a bowl with huge feet soaking in stanky wine and vinegar, and then placed into leather boots with no socks. Basically, it smells like a clown working in a leather tannery.
visenst – :
I get the same sweet fruity note that’s in the opening of Brulere de Rose. To me it smells like lychee/litchi but that’s not listed in either of these scents. Still a very pretty opening. On skin it develops more quickly than on clothes and becomes a sweet soft leather. Nothing in the realm of Cuir de Russie and if you’re venturing into the world of leather, this would be a safe first try as it’s very wearable. Longevity is excellent, it’s still going strong after 12 hours wear and sillage is medium. I was contemplating getting Brulere de Rose but it’s rather linear although delicious and since Cuir Venenum has the same first notes I would rather get this and as a bonus have the lovely leather note in the drydown. The musk is very soft in this one if at all present. No animalic musk in here. Overall a satisfying scent, it doesn’t leave me in raptures but it does leave me with sweet dreams.
Inferno 424 – :
I was eager to try this perfume from the very first moment I heard its name. Cuir Venenum, Cuir Venenum – it sounds like kind of a magic spell or mantra. And so I got to test it at last By the way, it was one of my first niche scent tested. So, it impressed me a lot. There was this kind of leather that I have never smelled before – sweet leather! Freshly processed leather immersed into thick grape juice, very intensive and syrupy – a real sugar poison.
There are no major deviations from the main scent line in time of development. Sometimes leather is stronger, sometimes weaker. Sweet notes are very vivid all the time. I understand people who find this perfume weird. I sometimes feel this too, but that means this one is really not an ordinary frag. It stirs you, it balances at the border of one’s comfort zone. For now, my relationship with this perfume is somewhere between “love” and “like”. I wouldn’t mind getting it as a gift, but this definitely wouldn’t be my everyday scent.
This one stayed for 6 hours on my skin and for much much longer on my clothes. Do not overdose! 🙂
m0lotok – :
Smells bizarrely of rotting garbage, specifically of when people collect soda cans in garbage bags for recycling and you can smell the sugary soda fermenting and rotting. Do smell leather, too. Tried it again. My final verdict: a weathered drunkard sits down on a badly tanned leather sofa that’s been discarded on the sidewalk. He opens his quart of Mad Dog 20/20 and starts guzzling, spilling quite a bit down his front. He then passes out and pisses himself. This stuff smells like his crotch. Truly awful.
oleg97 – :
There is only few fragrances I will never forget and Cuir venenum belongs to this family. It is really very special perfume, completely different than everything I know and also the perfume changing my private point of view to masculine and leather based fragrances. I have to say this was the second niche perfume in my collection and the first one I bought for myself during the very beginning of my discovery of this amazing fragrance world. First of all the CV according to my taste is the richest perfume ever created. It is not sharp but is like a viscous perfume oil, I would say like a glue in its richness that when settles on your skin you feel as something penetrating your skin very deeply. At the beginning you smell extremely rich sweetness of orange flower nectar, yellow and orange as the honey taken directly from the beehive. It completely cover leather note that is present all the time but as the second player. CV didn’t loose its power with time but it evolves and change the spectrum – still strong orange flower but now they cower the leather with something that I know from chemistry lab when people work with sulfur. It is not terrible smell of sulfide as in rotten eggs it is dry an a little scrubbing, chemical or mineral smell creating amazing aura that is sexy and very sensual. For sure in the CV is much more going on because fragrance changing its face being more sweet and incense containing or more dry from time to time probably because of animal musk. Summarizing it is very unusual creation done with unbelievable passion and perfection. My all time favorite.
adau – :
This is strange- strange being a compliment for originality.
Overripe fruits, their pulp and juice + leather. All in all, to me it is a smell of a dark, freshly draught beer with a slight cigarette undertone. Beer (dark) lovers, try it!
Leather note here manages to stay sharp and smoky, just softened by fruit pulp.
I would not wear it, but testing it was a great experience!
nzjcepzkbxs – :
ETA: It’s taken me a long time to pin this down, but finally realised today that the scent reminds me very strongly of caramel.
Oooo, this is unsettling…
It took me a long time to decide whether or not I like this and could wear it. Unfortunately I have reached the conclusion that it’s just too disturbing! It’s almost a fruity leather, with a juicy quality that makes my mouth water every time I smell it. I want more, I sniff again… and then I feel corrupted, on edge. There’s something animalic about it, possibly bordering on fecal. That might sound gross, but this isn’t an unpleasant perfume, it’s just that I find it unnerving!
Despite deciding that I can’t wear this fragrance I would definitely recommend sampling it. It’s an experience! The sales assistant I spoke to said that this unsettling quality is entirely deliberate and is just what Parfumerie Generale intended.
My boyfriend LOVES this perfume and was pretty disappointed when I gave him my final verdict and told him it wouldn’t find a place on my dressing table.
ETA: A year later and I still can’t make up my mind about this fragrance. Whenever I smell it I fail to categorise it, I have absolutely no frame of reference for describing the scent. Still can’t decide whether I like it or loathe it…
Deroxjuztc – :
I love leather in perfumes so I was extremely excited about this frag, looking forward to getting my sample vial and ready to love Cuir Venenum with love at first sniff.
As they say, the greater expectations, the bigger dissapointment. I was sooo shocked upon smelling my wrist after application! I would never ever expect CV to be that odd. All I could smell was… cigarette smoke! No, it wasn’t tobacco; it was pure nicotine! Wearing Cuir Venenum feels like entering cold, empty smoking-room. It feels like standing next to someone who’s been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for twenty years now and tries to kill their smoky smell with some kind of cheap perfume.
Cuir Venenum was a disaster for me. Lucky you, who can smell leather or flowers in it.
superkazakov – :
Wow this is strong for the first ten minutes! It settles into a floral fruity, boozy and smokey concoction with just the barest hint of leather. I also get a “cosmetic” smell. It’s a haughty fragrance, reminiscent of expensive handbags, cigarettes, lipstick, powder and rouge…and beer mixed with purple passion flavored schnappes. I find it a little obnoxious, but utterly irresistable.
westkoop – :
An original interpretation of leather. Cuir Venenum opens with a bizarre accord of leather and something else I can’t exactly detect for an overall effect that brings to my mind of unripe Concord Grape. Bitter, somehow sour and aromatic. The leather note is emphasized in its acidic aspect and it is laid on a consistent myrrh base. I also get a slight dusty vibe throughout (as often in Guillame’s creations).
Despite they don’t share many similiariteis Cuir Venenum often brings to my mind of another great scent of the same family: Helmut Lang Cuiron. They move in the same direction, where leather is clean, treated and brand new. Recommended.
Rating: 7.5/10
-Zheka- – :
Reading the reviews, this is a scent that has huge variation depending on skin chemistry. There seems to be very disparate views on this fragrance, ranging from nauseating to soft and feminine. Sadly for me, this did not work. I am a fan of leathers and was intrigued to see what a combination of leather and coconut would achieve. What I got though, was a strong accord of burnt plastic. Over time, the leather did creep though, but the burnt accord remained, somewhat softened by a glimpse of organge. I presented my wrist to my husband (as I do regularly) for an appraisal without prompting or guidance by me. His assessment: This was the smell of the oranges I left on the pan to boil dry the last time I (attempted) to make and organge cake.
Thanks to my friend Scorpiosheep for this sample. Unfortunately, I think we have have reached a similar conclusion.
slanapa – :
One of the most bizarre openings I’ve smelled in a long time. The predominant – no, overpowering – note is artificial grape candy, accompanied by what I will tactfully refer to as parmesan cheese. There’s also a little civet skulking in the background. It’s an odd combination if ever there was one. Since orange blossom is listed in the notes, it’s possible that the accord was hugely overdosed with methyl anthranilate or some similar “grape” aromachemical.
I kept waiting for the grape and “parmesan” notes to make a graceful exit, but they refused. Instead, they just turned the intensity down a notch, or I slowly adapted to them. I could have scrubbed, but my morbid curiosity had kicked in, so I waited to see what else, if anything, this perfume had to deliver. Apparently there was nothing. After a few hours, all that was left was a light, sugary grape scent on my skin along with something vaguely musky.
“Venenum” is a Latin word meaning venom or poison. One has to marvel at the odd combination of a Latin noun with a French one, but maybe it was an attempt to be witty, referring to the strong artificial grape note in both Cuir Venenum and Dior Poison. Or maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist, seeing connections where none were intended. In any case, Cuir Venenum goes into the curio cabinet to serve as an example of a perfume that raises the unanswerable question, “What were they thinking?”
lesenok_bb – :
I actually thought that I was testing a mislabeled sample, so different was my perception from the official notes. Top notes of vinyl and acrid grape cough syrup, followed by a whiff of cow dung (possibly the “leather”?), all leading into a persistent candy-sweet-powder drydown of maligned orange blossom. Very synthetic in character. I dislike this on me and would find it abhorrent on a man.
bn: “review” based on one blind test and one with notes in hand
oleg1982 – :
The Cuir Venenum was a big surprise for me – I found the smell of wild strawberry jam I was looking for for a long long time! Actually it’s a leathery strawberry jam, but oh so yummy. Luckily, I didn’t get any coconut in it, for I’m not a great fun, and I wish I got orange blossoms, but…I got something unique – my dream jam! It lasted about 1,5 hours on my wrist, but nowdays I find that the issue of longevity has been overrated by me – in reality 2 hours is more than enough to enjoy the scent, follow all the stages and not to get tired of it. So in this new light the Cuir Venemum is going to join all many other scents in my wish-list.
tix778speagoessenda – :
I think what Jeca is smelling as wine is in fact hops, used in beer production. The top notes are loaded with fresh yeasty hops. After about 5 minutes this is joined by a somewhat common leather encounter, kind of like whipping out your wallet in the pub to pay for your beer. Don’t get me wrong, I like the smell & taste of beer but I don’t want to walk around smelling like one. It is uncouth!
Luckily, my female skin rapidly makes use of the coconut and orange blossom to sweeten & hide the hops. My fiance’s skin made it very smokey so he smelt like sweet orange juice, soft incense & a hint of leather. On him it settled so nicely that it became a delightful skin scent.
And then something untoward happened…
This is a unique leather in that it is actually a vinyl accord – plasticky catsuit kind of faux leather. Smelling the fragrance up close on either of us was like smelling burning plastic and made me suitably unwell. Unfortuantely since it sits so close to the skin, the only way to enjoy it is with your nose just as close.
If it were not for this final (long lasting) phase my man would soon have been in possession of his very own bottle.
1401 – :
This is leather! But in very special way, as everything by PG, how he succeed to be so unique in the endless ocean of fragrances!
The leather is feminine, very floral and strongly reminds me on the smell of wine. ;o) That harmony of floral notes, leather and coconut give that impression. Very interesting, fatale… ;o)
infocert – :
This was a Huge suprise to me. I was waiting for something Leather and I don’t detect a single note of it. This smells like Skittles Candy on my skin. Yummy. Sweet Candy like, not strong enough. I’m going to guess that this will disappear withing an hour. But this is so sugary on me.. I like it alot…
zzz777 – :
I got no leather at all from this, just 100% orange blossoms. It’s a great scent if you like orange blossom.