If there is one thing that frustrates me about the avalanche of releases coupled with the exclusivity of some brands is that they make it far too easy to miss something amazing. Prada reminds me of this every time there is a new addition to the Prada Exclusives line. I am pretty sure a lot of you are thinking, “What there is a Prada Exclusives line!” Why yes there is and it is actually the place where some of the more recent Prada fragrances had their beginnings. They come in very simple bottles in an undecorated white box. Starting in 2003 with No. 1 Iris; Daniela Andrier the all but officially named in-house perfumer at Prada has constructed one of the great collections of fragrances out there. As an example No. 1 Iris is the root stock of all of the Infusion based Iris scents she has done for Prada.

The reason for the relative anonymity of these fragrances is particularly in the US they are hidden and not out on display for browsers to come across. They are sold exclusively at Prada boutiques and as has often been the case I had to be very persistent with multiple sales associates before one would return from the back room holding the box I was asking for. Every time this happened I would shake my head at the ability of Prada to hide this line of perfumed jewels in a back room. The Friday before the Sniffapalooza Spring Fling I was doing my usual circuit of the stores we wouldn’t be visiting on the weekend. High on my list was to obtain a bottle of the new Exclusive No. 11 Cuir Styrax. It had been released, in Europe, at the end of 2011 and I thought six months was a reasonable time for it to finally be available here. Expecting my usual routine of long repetitive conversations with many sales associates I stepped into the Prada Broadway Epicenter store and after being shown to the fragrance section I was greeted with a case which contained all ten of the Prada Exclusives in their own little velvet boxes in a case. Beautiful! Finally! These perfumes were getting the treatment they deserved as I all of a sudden realized there were ten in the case but the one I wanted was eleven…uh oh. With a probably very pathetic look on my face I asked the young sales associate, “Do you have No. 11 Cuir Styrax?” and she said there are only ten fragrances in the line. I asked her if she could go check her stock in the back and see if perhaps there was an eleventh. I received a bright smile but the eyes looked at me with disdain. A few minutes later she returns with a box and says, “I didn’t realize there was an eleventh Exclusive.” Now it was my turn for a bright smile with eyes that told a different story.  Was it all worth it? The answer is the same one I have after every time I have done this, a resounding yes.

In many ways No. 11 Cuir Styrax feels like a continuation of No. 9 Benjoin as the beginning of No. 11 Cuir Styrax is benzoin with an out of this world neroli. The opening few moments of this immediately grab me at the core of my perfume loving heart, thankfully Mme Andrier knows how to keep me interested past the introduction. From out of this comes a soft beautiful leather accord that feels as soft as suede but yet retains a couple of rough edges to remind you of its animalic origins. The benzoin persists to cohabitate with the leather and this again is another phase of pitch perfect harmony. The base adds vanilla and white musk and when I saw this in the original note list I was very afraid No. 11 Cuir Styrax would fly off the rails for me at the end. I needn’t have worried, Mme Andrier uses both of these in such restrained amounts that they are there to provide a bit of depth underneath the leather and benzoin and as the two titular notes fade away so too do the vanilla and white musk.

No. 11 Cuir Styrax has average longevity and below average sillage. All of the Prada Exclusives are at Perfume concentrations.

There are few things that require me to hunt them down these days but as long as Mme Andrier continues to make the Prada Exclusives I will continue to brave steely eyed sales associates looks because the chase is always worth it.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle of No. 11 Cuir Styrax I purchased from Prada.

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor