The rose quest continues!
Flittersniffer of Bonkers About Perfume pointed me to Guerlain Rose Barbare. After wearing it for a day I am, once again, Unsure. I suspect that all of these roses will require multiple wearings.
The first couple of hours are my favorite part. There are roses, of course, and something edible and... well, I want to say fruity, but I don't want to say fruity, because it doesn't have that sugary juicy summery feel about it. If you imagine crossing peach with a thick-skinned orange, this is what the peel might smell like - dense, slightly bitter, not too wet, and some sort of fruit that is neither peach or citrus.
After that, this fragrance settles into a dusty, slightly bitter chypre-like rose - bone dry, with a barely perceptible hint of unidentifiable spice. It's not one of Those Roses, but it's also not girly-fluttery. This combination of characteristics is a good omen for future wearings.
Review Roundup: Fragrantica and Bois de Jasmin and Perfume Shrine and Basenotes and Now Smell This and Aromascope and MakeupAlley and Nathan Branch and Perfume-Smellin' Things.
Image: By Korall. Wikimedia Commons.
Interesting - I get honey and a sort of green stemminess, which could be the bitter note you detect?
ReplyDeleteSo happy you are having another crack at this, one of my favourite roses, precisely because it is hard to pigeonhole, I think.
This one is still on my to-try list. I think I'd like it, but then I tend to like most rose chypres.
ReplyDeleteToday I found your interesting blog (via Rambling Chicken via The Idiot Gardener) - and I like it! Bought "Ninfeo mio" by Annick Goutal today (Fig/Lemon/Wood) - so sensuous! I just have to decide which of your blogs I will follow. Britta
ReplyDeleteHey, flittersniffer! Your stemminess could be my bitterness, yes. I don't actually get honey, but I do get that initial thick fruitiness, which I'd guess is the same note. It's a _very_ interesting fragrance. I'm looking forward to the next try.
ReplyDeleteHowdy, Mals! I tend to dislike them, but this one is working for me. Which is nice, because I dislike disliking the whole category.
Greetings, Britta! Welcome to the blog! Ooh, Ninfeo mio sounds really nice; I've never tried it.