African Leather MEMO Paris: New Wind

by: Sergey Borisov

I was introduced to the new African Leather MEMO Paris some time ago but though I tried to sit and start a review, I didn't have any luck. African Leather seemed different from the rest of the MEMO fragrances; there was no spark in it for me to start and this seemed to me even stranger since I am an avid lover of leather fragrances.

I just couldn't write about the African safari leather without my own experience of the same nature. It would be weird, as if I tired to describe my African adventures after reading the Livingston diaries. Clara Molloy's memories which inspired her African Leather MEMO Paris were simply listed in a quite boring way: like a schoolboy opus about his summer vacation spent far from his beloved soccer field.

«Elephant trunk, cardamom, giraffe neck, bergamot, wild cat, sand, leopard spots, saffron, rhinoceros horn, cumin, lion mane, patchouli, gazelle hoof, geranium, nocturnal bushbabies, celestial sphere, bat-eared fox, grapefruit, snake skin, oud accord, eagle eye, vetiver, buffalo neck, musk, green monitor lizards, moss, blue wildebeest, winter sun, zebra stripes, leather accord, cheetah paws, cedar, antelopes racing, savannah, meerkat smiles, spices, crocodile tooth, heat». (Press release of Memo Paris)

But list is just a list, it could be anything. Very easy: Put on the paper all possible animals which could be associated with safari. The only thing to care about is to avoid mixing them with for example Australian or South American species... No sparkle in it. It was not very original and bright. I was trying to locate the entrance to its understanding. It was just like any other leather or woody-aromatic perfumes. I started comparing.

Sharp and translucent spices on a grapefruit glass - yes! I smell them. Then it is a copy of Terre d`Hermes? No.

Soft shifting to a warm polished woody-amber harmony of base notes? Yes, I can confirm it. So it might be inspired by Mouchoir de Monsieur Guerlain or some vintage ambery stuff. No.

Rough tart chocolate of patchouli under the icy lavender rain, fresh as camphor. Yes, I can feel chocolate after a gin-tonic in it. So it is something masculine from Mugler, like Ice*Men, Pure Shot A*Men or Summer Flash A*Men. No, it is not.

It was too familiar, and yet I couldn't find anything to trace its brother in spirit. What does this African Leather remind me of?

The thought flashed six months later. Once one of my friends reminded me of a beautiful and forgotten perfume, L'air du Desert Marocain Tauer Perfumes. My puzzle with African Leather was finally complete!

This strange dry and sweet wind came from a Max Frei book. Remember?

"Naughty and shaggy character, warm resinous and sweet-ambery by evenings and a sharp fitful by mornings. The magical wind, crackling from the heat and knows how to communicate without words, bumping swirl in protest and died down in the agreement. The wind possesses coquettish feminine heart. I do not remember the name of the wind, but remember at time when I was into Frei fantasies, and even called it to visit my home – and the wind came into my open window like a usual draught. And life was filled with magic and joy then..."

No, of course, I cannot say that L'air du Desert Marocain and African Leather are two twins. “The wind” was only the second fragrance of autodidact Andy Tauer, and “African Leather” was certainly in the next hundred of Alienor Massenet-won briefs; and a classical educated perfumer will be preferred to self-taught in 99 cases out of a hundred, etc... What I am telling you is that these two perfumes are similar by the sensation of flight.

Anticipation of flight.

They make you to be a witness of a miracle of flight itself. The same feeling should experience the people who saw the first flight. Before the planes, helicopters and missiles became the normal. There are heavy components like vetiver, moss, patchouli, cumin, birch tar and resinous cedar. They are usually added not for the flight, but for the smooth landing. And here, in African Leather and L`Air du Desert Marocain, they fill the air with a light resinous and sweet smell, they create a feeling of an air dome over one's head! They do fly and convey this feeling!

African Leather MEMO Paris:

Notes: Bergamot, Cardamom, Cumin, Patchouli, Leather, Vetiver, Moss, Cedar, Geranium absolute, Saffron, Oud, and Musk.

L'air du Desert Marocain Tauer Perfumes:

Notes: Petitgrain, Lavender, Coriander, Cumin, Cistus, Jasmine, Geranium, Birch tar, Ambergris, Vetiver, Patchouli, Oak moss and Cedarwood.