BLACK LEATHER IN A BOTTLE

Wanting to smell good and being budget conscious doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.

In that frame of mind, I have been a fan of INSPIRATION fragrance houses.  In simple terms, these are fragrance makers who specialize in crafting colognes that are very close if not exactly the same as a big house banger.

ALT. Fragrance is such a house that I have been wanting to try for some time.  What caught my interest is their weekly feature / sale where you can get one of their bottles at a further discount.  I recently decided to make the jump on “SHADOW LEATHER” which is their inspiration of TOM FORD Ombré Leather.

It goes without saying that I can’t afford a bottle of anything from TOM FORD, but I was still very interested in his leather scent.

ALT. has a good on-line store and the purchase was easy and the shipping affordable and fast.

Here is my discount code link.

So how is it?

Being a fan of leather, this really speaks to me.  Imagine yourself putting on a new leather coat and being embraced by that unique leather scent.  SHADOW LEATHER embodies that.  It’s deep, visceral and slightly dirty. It’s not exactly leather as that might just be a tad too much, but the allusion is perfect.

As per ALT.: black leather, patchouli, vetiver, jasmine sambac, amber, moss, and balsam coalesce.

To my nose, leather is the leading participant.  Since the leather scent here is not as poignant as actual leather, it is clear that the other notes are doing their balancing act, but I couldn’t really tell you who they are and how they are working together.  That said, I might detect small traces of amber and moss.  As for the patchouli, I think that this is what brings that “dirty” element to the party.

In so many words; Shadow Leather speaks to my soul!

As a whole it works quite well and honestly, even if the TOM FORD bottle turned out to be a tad better (for those ultra educated noses who could tell them apart), it wouldn’t be worth the $400 delta to me.