Three years have passed since my last post on rose perfumes. Since then I've had the opportunity to try a ton more fragrances, so I thought it was time for another round of reviewing rose-centric scents. Rose has been a favorite note in perfumery for thousands of years. It can either be the frontman or the backup singer, depending on the mood a perfumer wishes to create. The following five stood out to me as noteworthy.
Bulgari Rose Essentielle
A great unique rose! Very modern and femme. I first smelled this in a Sephora and went about my business. But for months I kept thinking "Wish I could afford Rose Essentielle, that was sensual stuff". One sniff and months later I could still remember it. Then on my lucky day I happened upon a bottle at a secondhand perfume sale. There was only a bit left in the bottle but it was cheap as chips so I grabbed it. BLACKBERRY. That is what is making this so great. Juicy summer blackberries keep this rose garden youthful and sexy. There is a bit of violet and mimosa in there too making it smell expensive and all woman. LOVE. The bottle is a nice statement piece on any dresser. Bulgari is quickly becoming one of my most favorite houses.
Perfumer's Workshop Tea Rose
This is the strongest and longest lasting rose perfume I have ever encountered! The bottle is ugly and the juice is a yellow-chartreuse, toxic waste color. The sillage on this is enormous. I used one small squirt at 7 a.m. and when I saw my boss at 5 p.m. she commented "Something smells like pretty roses." So, yeah...that's some strong perfume. This would also be a good linen spray or make stationary smell nice. You could spray this on anything and it would be rose scented for all eternity.
Eau d'Italie Paestum Rose
A beautiful incense rose, with pepper and myrrh creating a smooth spiciness underlining the rose. It's a wild rose growing through the cracks in the stone wall of an ancient temple on the Mediterranean coast. It smells sophisticated and I always receive compliments on it. Makes me want to try more from Eau d'Italie, if everything in the line is so well-blended and evocative.
Amouage Lyric
Another incense rose, but this time the incense tucks itself behind a curtain of sandalwood, cardamom, cinnamon and ylang ylang. This reminds me very much of my beloved Samsara, but rose has replaced the jasmine of Samsara. It has the same mellow spicy, lullabye feel. It's dramatic at the same time as it's sensual. I hesitate to recommend it to anyone because it's becoming another one of those "shhhhh! mine. all mine." type of perfumes.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Lumiere Noire
This is divine, the kind of perfume that ends up spoiling you to the point where cheaper fragrances begin to smell, well...cheap. It's definitely a rose, but it's playing alongside a bed of daffodils amped up with patchouli. Underneath it all some heat is provided by caraway seed and chili pepper. Sniffing from the vial I thought it was going to be a sillage bomb that cleared the room but on my skin it behaved admirably, giving me wafts throughout the day but not surrounding me in a vapor cloud.
I will never tire of rose scents, they are classic. But which flower will I study in depth next? Because I just received a shipment of samples today and there is a lovely gardenia, a refreshing lilac and a bright jasmine. So many choices for which primrose path I should take.
