Leather

Smoky, animalic, a little dangerous. The smell of a well-worn jacket and the inside of an expensive car.

Not a tapped raw material but a recreated impression — leather in perfumery is built from birch tar, isobutyl quinoline, styrax and saffron, depending on the house style. It ranges from the dry, tarry darkness of cuir de Russie to soft suede warmth, and gives a composition spine, swagger and a faint whiff of skin.