Cuir de Russie () is a fragrance from Parisian couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. (The term may also refer to other Russia leather perfumes, most notably ''Creed Cuir de Russie''.)

History

Coco Chanel had worked with Ernest Beaux on her original perfume, Chanel No. 5, which debuted in 1921. In 1927, they released Cuir de Russie, which means "Russian leather" in French.CUIR DE RUSSIE
, museudelperfum.net. Accessed 4 May 2011 In the 1920s, one of Chanel's lovers was Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, the cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, and, according to Chanel's biographer Justine Picardie, Cuir de Russie was the "bottled ... essence of her romance with the Grand Duke."Picardie, 2010, p. 137

Notes

According to the Chanel website, the fragrance of Cuir de Russie is of "wild cavalcades, wafts of blond tobacco and the smell of boots tanned by birch bark, which the Russian soldiers would wear".Cuir de Russie
chanel.com. Accessed 4 May 2011 The scent contains

frankincense Frankincense, also known as olibanum (), is an Aroma compound, aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus ''Boswellia'' in the family (biology), family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality in ...

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

wood,

mandarin orange A mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), often simply called mandarin, is a small, rounded citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. The mandarin is small and oblate, unlike the ...

, bergamot,

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

and ylang-ylang. The perfume is said to be ''gender-free'', meant for all, with smoky, sandalwood, amber and a mix of leather.

References

{{Chanel Perfumes Chanel perfumes History of cosmetics Products introduced in 1927