Sometimes my perception of a fragrance is so strongly preceded by my impressions of the brand or the bottle’s visual aesthetic, that I’m not sure it would be the same if I smelled it without the burden of knowledge. J’Aurai Ta Peau (2024) by Isaac Sellam Experience is such a case.

Only in the last year or so have I gotten to know and admire the brand, which specializes in innovative treatments of leather and incorporates details such as surgical stitching and metal hardware on garments. Of course, most of the studying of such details I did online, including the design of the bottle for J’Aurai Ta Peau. Per the brand’s website:

Entirely designed by Isaac Sellam, covered in leather from the production of his clothes, precious skins for a case cut and dyed piece by piece by hand, assembled with the brand’s staples, overhung, as a cap, with a real metal bolt, in a luxury recycling and high-end DIY vein. All these operations are carried out in the creator’s Parisian workshop, for a sculpture bottle, a particular but evident object in the universe of Isaac Sellam.

The “leather” on the bottle is in fact crocodile, which has never appealed to me. The signature metal spine, on the other hand, is right up my alley, along with the heavy bolt cap.

It was a real treat to visit the Isaac Sellam Experience popup at L’Eclaireur Sévigné in Paris in July this year, and I was so in awe of the clothing and displays that I had forgotten about the perfume until they pointed my attention to it.

Loaded with positive bias up front, I wanted to like the fragrance. My nose, however, picked up the metallic aspects most strongly and wasn’t so sure. A soft leather seemed to lurk underneath, but mostly I smelled the more pungent notes. Mind you, Paris was just coming off a heat wave at the time. Luckily, we were kindly given samples, and I’ve finally gotten around to trying it again.

Description from the brand:

Created as an alchemy of woody and smoky essences of oud, elemi and guaiac with spicy bursts of ginger and musk on haunting notes of leather, J’AURAI TA PEAU is a complex and exhilarating fragrance, an olfactory dive into the world of Isaac Sellam, a very masculine perfume with rich and intriguing scents that certain women will love to wear.

Perhaps J’Aurai Ta Peau by perfumer Fabrice Olivieri is more suited to cooler weather, like a leather jacket. My impression this time was very different—I liked it immediately, finding the opening bright, spicy, herbal, and even floral, the way leather can have floral aspects. The cool spice comes from ginger, but something feels green as well, with a minty overtone. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some rosemary in there.

The woody structure is apparent, and I perceive guaiac first and most strongly, although my other half noticed the oud prominently throughout the wear. Guaiac wood can have floral, tea-like facets. The oud feels mild to me, and I wonder if my brain latches on to novelty, relegating familiar notes to the background while spinning its wheels trying to parse notes I have trouble naming. In the heart, this woody combination develops a meaty character, complementing the soft leather.

The more pungent metallic note enters the scene later, although it never becomes too astringent. Elemi helps maintain a sheen over an otherwise mostly dark composition, as does the ginger, which is far from gourmand. J’Aurai Ta Peau evokes a sparse environment that looks monochrome because of the contrast between rays of sunlight and consequent dark shadows. When I inhale the aroma, I see no red, orange, or pink shades… nor blue at the other end of the color spectrum. I get a tinge of green and a hint of yellow that’s mostly white. Inevitably, the overall color I associate with this fragrance is mostly black, in various textures.

Though I find J’Aurai Ta Peau to be a cerebral exercise in restraint and precision, the envelope of musk keeps it approachable. In the drydown, the resins turn slightly sour as they seem wont to do. I find it a bit too much for bedtime, in the same way I wouldn’t snuggle into a structured leather jacket with metal parts. Instead, it could easily fit into a repertoire of “armor” fragrances, providing an olfactory backbone to start the day.