Cuir de Russie (Ernest Beaux for Chanel, 1924)

...and then there are those works of human intellect that cause excitement and a sense of reverence for their greatness. They'll leave you amazed, shocked, speechless, unable to fully explain the experience.
Of Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks we can tell the subject, the shady atmosphere, dark soft colors, but this is nothing compared to the experience of being there, right in front of the picture and looking at it, letting it enter through the eyes into your nervous system and from there into your blood, carrying you for a while in a higher sphere of being.
This is such a perfume.
If ther's some ibq is softened and the biting aspect of birch tar has been removed; there may be also jasmin and rose, iris, musks, sandalwood, coumarin, castoreum, ambergris and maybe a drop of liqueur.
It opens with a candied bergamot gliding gently into a soft leather soaked in brandy; the mix with flowers is rounded with notes of ripe apricot, and shares the sandalwood/benzoin/castoreum base of Bois des Iles, and the same atmosphere and warm twilight.
Serene, majestic, confident, authoritative without being authoritarian. Pure outworldly sophistication.
The parfum is definitely the best version (Edp doesn't exist), while Edt lacks a little persistence and it's better to spray it on clothing (inside of sleeves or a scarf), but the speech and voice are just the same.
It's a perfume absolutely worth knowing and if you haven't already done it, please go and give it a try. I got the Edt in Zurich a few years ago, and had long dreamed of the parfum but in the meantime Chanel had withdrawn all the parfums from the exclusive line and only the Edts (200ml) were available in Chanel's Boutiques.
I looked everywhere to find one but without success, then one year ago AnnaMaria found one on eBay and we managed to win the auction, to my great joy. Really, I'll never thank her enough.
Here, this is the history, with pyramid, notes, review and everything. But it's absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing compared to actually wearing the fragrance.