There’s something about the French, isn’t there? That enviable way of looking completely effortless—disheveled just so, chic without trying too hard, always with a knowing sparkle in the eye. I recently discovered a fragrance that captures that exact feeling in a bottle: French Leather by Memo Paris R3,120 for a 30ml EDP available at SKINS (BUY)
Now, I’ll admit it—this scent had me at “rose and suede.” But it’s not the prim, delicate rose you might expect. No, this is a rose with secrets. A Parisian rose. One that carries a lime-tinted laugh and smells just a little bit like the inside of an expensive leather handbag—soft, mysterious, a little wild.
The fragrance opens with a flirtation: bright lime essence, sparkling bergamot, and the sharpness of juniper and pink pepper. It’s fresh, but not too polite. Soon after, things deepen. Rose essence takes centre stage, paired with clary sage and hay absolute (yes, hay—somehow it works), adding a whisper of summer countryside warmth. But just when you think you’ve figured it out, in comes the suede: soft, smooth, slightly animalic. It wraps itself around you like your favourite leather jacket—or a stolen kiss in the back of a taxi. At the base, cedarwood and musk ground everything beautifully. It lingers, like a memory you’re not quite ready to let go of.
Wearing French Leather feels like strolling into a Left Bank café, ordering something obscure, and pretending you know exactly what you’re doing. Its confidence in a bottle—but not the loud kind. It’s about contradiction: sweet and sharp, soft and bold, romantic but totally self-assured.
I don’t wear it for anyone else—it’s my private luxury, my nod to that very French idea of taking trivial things seriously. And maybe that’s the secret: when you smell this good, you don’t need to try too hard.
