Smoke. Leather. 
2 notes that I nor love nor hate. I just don't care for them a lot. I associate smoke and leather with the typical "male coded" fragrance and I usually prefer more "female coded" fragrances - florals, musk, sweets & spices! (but remember, perfume does not have a gender, that is only humbug - if you like a scent, then wear it).  
 
Smoked Plum & Leather by Jo Loves was launched in 2016 and is a brand by fragrance designer Jo Malone. Whether it is an Edp or an Edt doesn't say, on the bottle it says simply "A FRAGRANCE". And sure. It is. And it is a fragrance that I enjoy more than I thought I would! 
  
When late in the fall of 2016, I asked for a fragrance that would fit my inner picture of "a fairytale that takes place in a dark dense forest full of tall fir trees, where there is a small tree cabin where an hermit lives, and there is an ice princess in an ice castle somewhere nearby" (*cliché*), I received a small decant of Jo Loves Smoked Plum & Leather by a fellow frag-friend. The composition didn't exactly match the inner picture I had of the fairytale, but it was good enough for being a fall/winter scent on the darker spectrum. 
Tonight I tried it on again, to give it a second chance. When it's spring in Sweden, it is almost like winter anyway (there is snow outside my window now, in April.)
 
When spritzing Jo Loves Smoked Plum & Leather on my skin, fumes of smoke are immediately entering my nosestrils. I also detect another note that I really enjoy in perfume - cinnamon! The cinnamon in this fragrance is truly the real deal and reminds me of a typical Swedish drink that we swedes in general tend to consume a lot during winter time - Glögg (mulled wine with spices, raisins and almonds). Mmm, the smell of cinnamon on my skin make me feel so comforted and cozy. 
After about 30 minutes or so, the scent of sweet liqueur and juicy plums kicks in. The plum and liqueur blends very well together and makes me want to stand near a tiny fire in a winter storm, and take up a fickplunta (pocket flask) filled with that sweet and strong stuff to warm myself up with (and no, not really, I do not long for cold winters at the moment and I do not like strong spirits, but I like the idea of it somehow:).
Now the fragrance is starting to remind me of too favorites of mine - Tom Ford Plum Japonais and Serge Lutens Feminité du Bois, although not as dark and heavy as the first, and not as sweet as the latter. 
However, when the spicy cinnamon and the sweet liqueur and fruity plum notes are fading, the scent becomes more linear and just a bit smoky and woody. I guess the leather note must be there but my nose is not yet very used to picking it out (I guess I need to try more leather scents!). I find the perfume pleasant, warm and wearable but at the same time I don't feel like I need it or have the urge for it - I have Plum Japonais and Feminité du Bois to wear instead, both of them filled with plum and cinnamon. 
 
Over and all, Smoked Plum & Leather is a perfect scent for stormy autumn nights or cold winter nights spent by a campfire with that fickplunta of yours (haha). Or when going to a bar and you want to pick up a handsome person who will just adore you smelling like a dark, smoky piece of plum. Or at home, while slacking on your couch and wanting to smell the smoke withouth getting the actual thing into your lungs. Perfect huh?
 
The actual notes of Jo Loves Smoked Plum & Leather (aren't combined like the typical note pyramid) are: 
plum, liquor, smoke, cedar, cinnamon and leather.
 
Happy scenting!
 
 
 
 

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