The bottle for the month of April came from the beautiful Belgian haven/heaven of perfume called Place Vendome.
Guerlain Cuir Beluga is such an elegant and comforting as well as comfortable scent, I just had to have it.
Since Cuir Beluga is famous for not actually containing leather, and exploring the leather note seemed the right thing to do for the sake of the blog and my further olfactory education, a very small, insignificant almost, and decidedly cheap little bottle was added that month – Cuir de Lancome. I think we can all agree that this is totally Tara’s fault and I am not to be blamed for this minuscule breach of my own rules. (That is what they are for, isn’t it?)
All complaints (including The Husband’s) are to be addressed to Tara.
So do you want to try those two very different leathers?
Leave a comment on this post stating a little indiscretion of your own, a little rule-breaking you are guilty of and you are in the draw for 2,5ml samples of Cuir Beluga and Cuir de Lancome.
The giveaway is open until May 2, the winner will be announced on May 3.
Good luck and I’m looking forward to your answers!
Olfactoria's Travels 
Ooh, I’ve always wanted to try Cuir Beluga! Let’s see… a little indiscretion of my own? There are many. Oh, I know! I seem to be listed twice on Kilian Hennessy’s wonderful sampling list, and I haven’t ‘fessed up.
Oh, that is a nice mistake they have made, I won’t tell. 😉
Oh, this one is easy and actually partially related to you.
I’ve promised myself that I can only buy a new fragrance if I finish two I already have. My collection is too big and not focused enough. I want to have a smaller stash with a better rotation. Anyway, I went and smelled Frederic Malle’s Dans tes Bras and bought it on the spot. A few weeks later I fork out what I needed to get my hands on that bottle of Armani Privé Bois d’Encens you sold – unsniffed.
Oh, forgot the detail about not finishing any old bottles before those purchases.
That is understandable. If I were to finish a bottle, I would have to replace it immediately, if I finish it, I must love it after all? 😉
But that is what makes perfume buying real fun, isn’t it? We deserve those little thrills now and again… 🙂 (Although I hear you on wanting a smaller and streamlined collection, which is why I sold Bois in the first place.)
Your indiscretion is totally justified for me. Cuir de Lancome is amazing and one can find it very cheap. The opening is quite leathery but on my skin turns into a soft musk. Cuir Beluga is also very nice but to my nose it smells as a more polite Cuir Ottoman and I already own a bottle of this. No need to include me in the draw Birgit as I have sampled both. I just wanted to give you a vote of support for breaking your rules with a god reason 🙂
Thank you, that is lovely of you, Christos! I need all the support I can get!
And Cuir de Lancome is my absolute favorite now, it is wonderful!
I forgot to say that my indiscretion of the month was a bottle of Kerosene’s Creature. You never walk alone…
Good for you! I long for Copper Skies and I really want to try the others!
One doesn’t want to become to much of a stickler with rules, life would be no fun. I do not include garage sale purchases in my perfume budget if it’s under $10 and something I want. I consider it a gift from the perfume gods and one doesn’t want to be ungrateful.
Very good thinking, cheesegan!
I wish I would ever find anything at a garagesale (or even see one, they are not common over here.)
Both these fragrances, I have never seen,let alone smelt,so would be great to have that opportunity.My indescetions,well doing a shopping centre perfume sample haul and seeing how many I can collect in one visit from the various shops in that centre,is my idea of a goody bag and somehow justifies the cost of the ripp off prices of mall parking in South Africa.
Ha, a great idea to get your own goodie bag! 🙂
Good luck in the draw, René!
Good on you Birgit! I wholeheartedly approve of your rule breaking. I have an unopened bottle of Cuir de Lancome here awaiting an opening ceremony, so please don’t include me in your draw today. Good luck everyone.
Portia xx
Thanks for your approval, I appreciate the moral support! 🙂
Enjoy your Cuir de Lancome, it is gorgeous!
I am completely to blame for your Cuir de Lancome purchase and take full responsiblity for the indiscretion. I am even proud of it. Ha! I’m rather enjoying being a bad influence for once in my life… 🙂
Enjoy both your glorious leathers and good luck to everyone entering your wonderful giveaway.
Tara, the bad seed! Lol. I hope my mum doesn’t order me to stay away from you… 😉
My biggest indiscretion involves my favorite accomplice, my husband. He travels overseas and I always send him with a wish list. For the longest time, he thought it could be fulfilled at duty-free. I have numerous bottles from sales personnel that told him ‘it’s smells just like “x”. It makes for a good story and laugh. Thank you for the draw.
Haha, that is sweet!
Good luck in the draw! 🙂
Cuir Beluga is such an unusual scent and one of my favorites from the L’Art et la Matiere line
I was a very good boy in March and April and did not buy any bottles or samples (so no indiscretions to confess)… however, I will be going to Paris in a week and won’t hold back there. Chanel Les Exclusifs and Mon Numero here I come!
Oh, great! Have fun in Paris and indulge, indulge, indulge… You have the offcial Perfumista indulging permission from all of us!
Today I went to Milan to pick up my made-to-order shoes and belt and while I was at it, I indulged at La Rinascente’s perfume floor. After smelling a lot of new releases and after browsing the men’s designer section, I bought a 75ml bottle of La Pausa. The sales staff at the Chanel counter was so nice, I just had to buy something from them and they in turn gave me lots of gifts with purchase. I could not be happier.
Oh, that sounds like a lovely day indeed! I adore La Pausa, but I just can’t make up my mind to buy it, since it is soooo very fleeting on me. 😦 I’d love to have a bottle though, and if money were no object I’d splurge on a 200ml one and drench myself regularly.
Hm, why have I thought you have a FB of CB already ? Enjoy, both of them.
Well, I outsmarted my own rules by not getting full bottles, but partial ones on eBay. So even though I bought some lovely, almost full The Different Company scents and SL’s Vetiver Oriental in their original packaging I managed to “save” some money (*smiling sheepishly*…)
I had a decant and used it up, so… 🙂
Partial bottles are the best – cheaper but you have the bottle too!
Some wonderful purchases for the month of April! Please don’t include me in the draw. Enjoy your new perfumes!
Thank you, Sandra! 🙂
I cant say that I have broken any rules lately, but I guess you would have to observe them to break them 😉 I am actually trying to relax on those self imposed rules. They keep me boxed in, and I am needing expansion.
I am absolutely all for you buying whatever you see fit, to fulfill your olfactory needs. You owe it to your readers and to yourself to explore and experience what ever will take you deeper into the realm of beautiful scent. Yaaaaaay to Tara, for being a “bad influence”!!!!
I want to try them!!! I do I do!!! My fingers are crossed!!!!
That is a perfect excuse – I owe it to my readers! 😉 Thank you, Arline!
Good luck!
No need to enter me in the draw as one of my recent indiscretions was buying a bottle of Cuir de Lancome unsniffed (thanks to Tara!) I also just received a number of Guerlain samples which brings me to my other rule-breaking, ordering samples of discontinued perfumes (Attrape Coer and Plus que Jamais). But I’m not going to start searching Ebay for bottles and thats final! 🙂
Another one down! (See that, Tara?) 😉
Those two are incredible beauties, so sad they are discontinued…
Just starting to explore leathers. Bought Lauder’s Azuree, which my husband immediately claimed. So I comforted myself with Jolie Madame, which I love. What next? As for an indiscretion: I would say that buying two vintage bottles of extrait on eBay at the same time, L’Interdit and Arpege, could be considered as such. Not very good for the budget, and totally risky!
Wow, great finds on ebay! Congratulations, Nina!
I’ve recently become interested in leather scents, so I would love to try either of these! As for an indiscretion, I purchased a bottle of #19 from a Chanel store, and begged shamelessly for the minis they have for the Les Exclusif line. After the SA generously and patiently put a couple in the bag for me, I went home and put them on Ebay, and they essentially paid me back for my entire purchase.
Actually, I’ve been feeling pretty guilty about it, and if the SA is reading this, I promise I will never do it again. I Promise. Really.
You are quite business savvy! 🙂 But don’t feel guilty, the ebay buyers are happy and so are you – all good.
I adore Cuir Beluga as I tried it from a friend who worked for Guerlain. I believe it is the best of the exclusive line. I have never however sniffed Cuir de Lancome. I wonder why I have never heard much about it? Anyway……I’d certainly love to. Thanks!
Hi Gloria,
Cuir de Lancome is awesome, definitely worth a try. Good luck to you!
Your perfume peccadillos are most forgivable – especially when you are so giving. 🙂
Like Cheesegan, I never count thrift scores against my so-called perfume budget. Fragrances one serendipitously stumbles upon are different from those one pursues deliberately….. aren’t they? (Please say yes, or I’m in trouble.)
Yes! 🙂
I should do more serendipitous stumbling, it sounds lovely!
I hardly ever buy full bottles, alas, no room in my budget for that. Only at the end of the year, when I get my Christmas bonus, I indulge myself with one or two bottles after sampling a whole year from different sources. I allow myself samples and decants however (a girl has got to live a little, don’t you think so?)
There is one “escape” I have; the money I get by selling things online I no longer have a need for , goes right into the perfumebudget. So once in a while, it’s Christmas in may or august!
I’d love to be included in the draw, I’m very curious about these two. fingers crossed!
I hope it is Christmas again for you very soon! And good luck in the draw of course!
My latest indiscretion was with Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes. They do not sell spray samples, only non-spray, so I asked if they might be adding spray samples in the future. She liked the suggested and decided to add sprays, so–oops!–I just had to order a whole sample pack instead of just one or two samples : ) I’d love to be in the draw. Thank you!
You are in of course!
Let us know how you get on with the OO samples!
I will! They sound lovely and the owner is so nice! I just learned she is part of the Devilscent project, which sounds very interesting as well. I am still rocking the By Killian Amber Oud you sent–LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Thank you again! (The Pure Oud, on the other hand, smells to me like horridly strong burning black licorice LOL, and I have to keep it segregated from my other samples! I know it is highly appreciated by others more sophisticated than I, so I shall be passing on the love when I get the chance instead of letting it languish by itself in my closet. Interesting how the note I love in the Amber is so intolerable to me by itself; It was very worthwhile from the educational aspect! As I said earlier, I am very new to perfume, so this is all fascinating to me!)
I’m with you on the Pure Oud, it is not for me either. 🙂
Hee! We shall have to see how many it gets passed along to before it runs out!
Once upon a time I had a scientist husband who traveled the world to go to conferences and make speeches. Since we could not afford for me to go with him, he went shopping and brought me perfume as a way to include me in his travels. He has passed away, and no one makes choices for me any longer, so I would love to have a chance to experience scents someone else has chosen. Both of these sound wonderful.
What a beautiful story, Anita! I’m sorry for your loss.
I’d love to send you those two perfumes.
I’d say the Lancôme buy was a scientific necessity, you always need a reliable reference!
Exactly! It would have been negligent of me not to buy it… 😉
I told my husband that I bought my bottle of “Lyric” while sleep shopping when taking Ambien. He believed me. He hid my Ambien. 🙂 I’d LOVE to try these!
Hello Julie,
hahaha, that us a truly creative explanation.
Who needs Ambien, when Lyric sweetly sings you to sleep. 😉
Hi, B!
Would love to have a chance to smell Cuir Beluga and Cuir de Lancome! I like making rules but to be honest I like even more when I’m breaking them! I like your rule of one bottle a month,I adopted it and so far I’ve been pretty good! I’m not counting samples, mind you! But I’m afraid the month of May will see two purchases(because I have a voucher for Etat Libre d’Orange, but I also desperately want a travel set from Hermessence), and June will see the same(because I’m on my holiday and I won’t be able to resist temptation).God help me and my bank account!
Hi Ana,
it’s not easy sticking to the one bottle a month scheme, but it’s good to have goals… 😉
Well I replinshed 1 almost empty bottle and one broken bottle of Serge Lutens last week as well as a bottlte of Santa Maria Novella’s Cuba. I also ended up with a multitude of bought and free samples from which I bought a bottle of Il Profumo’s Choclat and Payard’s Lychee fruit.
Broken bottles need to be replaced of course. 🙂 Nice haul!
I’ve already sampled both, so I don’t need to be included in the draw, but recently I broke my “don’t buy unsniffed” rule for the first time (and….umm… a second time, oh wait! holy cow, I’ve done it three times now ;))
I picked up a decant of Tea for Two – hey, it’s discontinued – and Safran Troublant, because it sounds very much my style, and now I’m in the split at FFF for Iris 39. (I’m just being neighborly, helping close the split….yeah, that’s it.)
That is very selfless of you, Dionne! Buying unsniffed can be very rewarding, if risky.
I haven’t tried either of these scents but they are calling to me as a resut of your review! Haven’t committed any indiscretions lately. I’ve been a good girl…honestly, I have…well…except for that decant order of A Lab on Fire’s What we Do in Secret. Had to try it, Officer! (Resistance is futile.)
What samples we order from Paris is secret. 😉 So you still are a good girl… Good luck!
Rule breaking?? haha. I have been quite unable to keep to any perfume rules I have yet set. Most definitely the “don’t buy unsniffed” rule, although I seem to be getting better at keeping that one. I have also done a horrible job with prioritizing things and moving down my priority purchase list… I may be making slight progress on that one, too…
It’s hard, isn’t it? But rules are made to be broken, or so they say. 🙂
I recently ordered Cuir de Lancome un-sniffed (thanks to Tara), and I absolutely adore it. In fact, I’ve been wearing it more than anything else I have, and if I had to choose one scent to wear as my signature, that would be it. As I’ve watched the level of the liquid lower in the bottle over the last month, I’ve started to get paranoid about not being able to get more or it becoming harder to find and more expensive in the future. So I went ahead and ordered two backup bottles. I didn’t exactly break a rule, but I feel a little guilty for stockpiling, especially when I’m relatively inexperienced and still eager to explore new scents. But I don’t feel too bad, since it is so inexpensive, and I love it so much. Needless to say, I don’t need a sample of Cuir de Lancome, but I would love to try the Cuir Beluga!
Cj, your comment made me run over to ebay in a frenzy, I can’t face being without CdL either. Like you, I think it is the closest to a signature scent I have. Let’s blame Tara… 😉
I just realized an indiscretion that I hadn’t even noticed I was doing. Any partial bottle I buy doesn’t count toward “buying bottles” even though often they are over half full…much over half.
I would love to try Cuir Beluga.
Very neat trick, sujaan! 🙂
I’d Love to smell Cuir de Lancome! I am very spoiled by my fiance-he has helped me break my limited number of fumes many times! In fact, he just purchased me all four bottles from the anthropology set of A lab on fire (unsniffed!). My personal rule is that I must finish a bottle before I am allowed to purchase another…samples on the other hand are a whole other story!! I must have boxes and boxes of different kinds of samples!
Hi Natalie,
what a lovely fiancė you have, he has the right spirit! 🙂
Samples have a way of multiplying seemingly on their own, don’t they?
I’m pretty well-behaved these days but a recent indiscretion – or rule breaking – was the purchase of your Flora Nymphea, which I’m enjoying more and more all the time. And it looks so adorable on my dressing table. That is my other indiscretion, I guess. I know I should get it out of the light but I just can’t bring myself to. Cute little bee on the cap an’ all!
I’ve never smelled either of these Cuirs, but Cuir de lancome has been on my TOC wishlist for I don’t know how long …
The bee on the AA bottles is adorable! I’m so glad you enjoy the perfume!
You must try CdL, I’m sure it is totally your thing!
Good luck in the draw!
After I made a public statement that I was done bidding on semi-full bottles on ebay, I’ve been trolling around the SL and FM listings! Ugh, I’m out of control! I’m also introducing my 3yr old to perfumes – I feel awful enabling a helpless child hahaha
I’ve also started slowly getting into the Cuirs – I started with a sample of Chanel’s Cuir de Russie and now I must sniff more!
Haha, your three year old is starting early… she’ll have a great nose eventually and has you to thank for, so don’t worry, it’s like playing her Mozart or showing her Rembrandt’s paintings. 🙂
Congratulations! Cuir Beluga is on my to buy list as well.
I have a small sample that I’m enjoying immensely.
In the meantime, I’m reveling in Tonka Imperiale and Bois d’Armenie.
The L’Art et Matieres are almost all very good.
Best of luck in the draw, Gogol!
I would love to try thse perfumes.
My indiscretion is always buying unsniffed, because I just cannot wait before I buy, and here I can’t smell most things in person. Mostly I am lucky with my buys though.
Great blog, Olfactoria! thank you!
Hanna
Hi Hanna,
great that you have been lucky with your purchases so far.
Buying unsniffed is a secret and very guilty pleasure of mine (although I haven’t indulged for a good while now). 🙂
Thank you for reading and for your kind words!
Oh, i just had an indiscretion yesterday. Bought 2 full bottles because they were limited editions and there was a gift with purchase: Jo Malone Plum Blossom & Assam & Grapefruit. Would love to be entered in the drawing!
You are entered! LE’s are excepted of all rules of course! 😉
Who needs “a little rule-breaking” when you can do a large-scale one? 😉 I recently bought La Femme Bleue unsniffed.
No need entering me into the draw: I tried both perfumes and I will need to buy a decant of Cuir Beluga (as soon as I find another split) and I plan to buy a bottle of Cuir de Lancome (as soon as I’m done with the remaining sample and accept that I won’t be able to see my NY resolution through).
Wohooo! What an absolutely great purchase! I’m sure you are not regretting it! (Are you?) It is a wonderful perfume and its scarcity justifies extreme measures.
Thank you for your lovely compliment for my collection on Tara’s post. ❤
The only thing I’m regretting is not buying it a day or two earlier – because it missed my perfume mule by that much and I had to sattisfy my curiosity by using up completely a sample I bought together with the bottle to be able to test the perfume without opening the package – in case I do not like it. I loved it! So thank you for the final nudge with your beautiful review.
I’m glad you bought it and that I had a hand in it. 🙂
I love your blog but realize how inexperienced I am in the vast world of perfume after reading your posts. Unfortunately, I live in a “backwater” city that rarely carries any of the fragrances you mention but I am learning how to receive samples via mail order and enjoy researching their background via the internet. This Sunday, however, I was in the mood to experience a new scent for the approaching warmer weather and was totally smitten with Bond No. 9’s Coney Island. Instead of wearing a sample for a few hours and then buying a smaller size bottle, I walked out of the store with the 3.3 fluid ounce bottle after only a few, albeit deep, sniffs. Thankfully, I am loving it (no buyers remorse here) and perhaps my psyche knew what it needed..
The sould know waht it wants, no doubt! 🙂 Good for you! If Coney Island makes you happy, it is the right thing.
Well, I just started on perfume a few months ago, so my stated rule of an “average” $100/month limit leaves a lot of latitude to project less will be spent in a
imaginary future months…please enter me in your draw.
You are entered Amy G.!
I hope you can stick to your budgetary plans. 🙂
Buying unsniffed is like bungee jumping for this niddle-aged lass. I take my thrills where they come. Thanks for the draw.
Hi Immas, I totally understand. And buying unsniffed is so much safer than bungee jumping! 😉
ah, rules! I try to relax and think more in terms of “guidelines”. And everytime the perfectionist in me raises its nagging head, I counter with a war cry from May ’68: “Il est interdit d’interdire!”
Thanks for the draw!
Haha, very good motto for the purpose. Good luck in the draw!
I currently have in place a permanent ban on fragrance buying, and I’m constantly breaking it when I find a good deal. I just tell my wallet, “It’ll be okay, this is like liquid currency!”
Hi Hobbes,
liquid currency – I like that term. I’m quite rich, when I look at my perfume cabinet that way. 😉
Best of luck in the draw!