Memo Paris
Memo Paris
6.8k votes
Best for
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Saffron and cardamom hit with medicinal precision, their golden warmth undercut by bergamot's tart bite. Within minutes, the leather emerges—not soft or broken-in, but dense and slightly rank, with cumin already beginning its provocative work in the background.
The cumin fully blooms, adding a sweaty, body-heat dimension that either thrills or repels. Geranium weaves through the leather like silk thread through burlap, its greenness offering contrast rather than comfort, whilst smoke begins curling upward from the base.
Vetiver and patchouli form a dark, earthy foundation that grounds the remaining leather into something almost wearable. The oud persists as a quiet, resinous hum beneath skin-warmed musk, whilst traces of spice cling like memory—softened, animalic, and utterly tenacious.
African Leather doesn't apologise for its intensity. Alienor Massenet has crafted something that sits halfway between a Tuareg saddle left in the Saharan sun and the interior of a spice merchant's tent—raw, unapologetically animalic, and threaded with smoke. The opening salvo of cardamom and saffron crashes against bergamot's citric brightness, creating an almost medicinal sharpness that gives way to the star: a leather accord so feral it borders on unwashed. This isn't the supple calfskin of Hermès; it's dense, oily hide with the tang of cumin amplifying its sweatier edges. Geranium attempts civility, its rosy-minty facets offering fleeting respite, but the cumulative effect remains stubbornly confrontational.
The base is where African Leather reveals its sophistication. Vetiver's rootiness tangles with patchouli's dark earthiness, whilst oud lends a resinous, almost medicinal quality that keeps the composition from tipping into pure raunch. Musk softens the edges just enough to make this wearable rather than purely conceptual. The result feels ancient and modern simultaneously—like discovering a leather-bound journal in a Marrakech souk, its pages saturated with decades of incense and spice.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.6/5 (369)