And now, because absolutely nobody asked for it, a third installment of rose-centric perfume reviews. I like to take time once a year to explore a handful of rose scents within a couple of weeks, comparing and contrasting until I'm all rosed out and ready for a sticky vanilla or bright tangerine instead. The following six fragrances made up my 2017 rotation:
CE SOIR OU JAMAIS by Annick Goutal
A big blowsy rose on a hot summer day. This reminded me a lot of Perfumer's Workshop Tea Rose, but without the nuclear effects of Tea Rose. I don't pick up any of the hibiscus that is supposedly in this. It's all rose and while it's true to the plant, something made it very boring for me.
ROSE SPLENDIDE by Annick Goutal
This is so similar to Ce Soir ou Jamais that it's hardly worth it's own review. I consider this to be Annick Goutal's "lite" version on CSOJ. I did not find any of the magnolia or pear in this. Not much sillage and it hardly lasted 3 hours on my skin. The Annick Goutal line is not great on longevity, which is shameful for such a pricey brand. Any online reviews that refer to Rose Splendide as "watery" have got it right. I've tried about 8 AGs now, hoping for an exquisite fairytale and being disappointed for the most part. I did love Le Chevrefeuille but that was the sole outlier.
COCOA ROSE by Smell Bent
I tried hard to smell the cocoa in this. On Valentine's Day I wore Mancera Roses & Chocolate and failed to find any roses hidden in the melted milk chocolate syrup. With Cocoa Rose by Smell Bent, it was the exact opposite. I could not detect even a hint of chocolate. On me it was very much a patchouli rose in the style of Gres Cabaret (but not as lovely or nuanced). I'm really quite over everyone's take on patchouli rose. YAWN. Fashion, you are boring me.
ROSEBERRY by Les Parfums de Rosine
I never understood before what people meant when they said a perfume was "scratchy", but now I do. There is so much green in this, so many soapy aldehydes that it forms a scratchy rose and absolutely makes me think of dryer sheets. While not so awful that it could be a "scrubber", (as the truly unfortunates are called in perfumista culture) I felt disappointed to be stuck wearing this loser of a sample all day at work. It was my first foray into this particular brand and it annoyed me enough to not seek out another from Les Parfums de Rosine. They are asking $115 a bottle for this affront to my sensibilities.
L'INSPIRATRICE by Divine
I guess I never really knew what tonka bean smelled like before I tried this. So much tonka! This is masculine smelling to me. Lots of yang going on. In my precious opinion, this is a rose scent for a man. A very confident man who marches to the beat of his own drum.
VOLEUR DE ROSES by L'Artisan Parfumeur
I read a few reviews that said this smelled just like marijuana. Well, I have smelled marijuana a few times and this smells nothing like it. Whoever wrote those reviews must have been high. This is a soft summer rose buried under a bed of patchouli leaves. So it does have that dirt in the garden scent. It's L'Artisan, so it's nicely blended and wearable. But at the same time I feel like rose patchouli has been done better elsewhere so it's not full bottle worthy for me. I do like the image of a rose bush being violently whipped about by a sudden rainstorm.
In the past I've found Rose delightful but this year she was a complete disappointment. Or maybe it's me. Perhaps I've sampled too many things and have become jaded, always wanting something more eccentric or breathtaking. I will never find "the perfect rose" just as I will never find the perfect gardenia or jasmine or neroli. I set the bar higher and higher, waiting for magic and continually feeling a touch let down. Am I too picky? What is this elusive quality that I am searching for?
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