Rose Day #1 (Voleur de Roses, Lyric, Drole de Rose, Rose Noir and L'Ombre dans l'Eau)

As promised, today was devoted entirely to roses: among scents suggested yesterday I picked Voleur de Roses (L'Artisan Parfumeur) for this morning and  Lyric (Amouage) for the afternoon. And since I’m preparing next Thursday’s lesson at Caleri’s (which will be about Rose), I went into the store and sprayed on paper Rose Noir Byredo, Drole de Rose (L'Artisan Parfumeur) and L'Ombre dans l'Eau (Diptyque) as someone of you suggested. So, I was fully equipped.

First, I must say how much I’ve appreciated Drole de Rose, I never imagined I could like it and I was very surprised. A delicate rose wrapped in a soft, bright leather. A very harmonious, shiny sophisticated yet simple rose scent. A rose in a suede micro-bikini: Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in a James Bond film. L’Ombre dans l'Eau, unfortunately, continues to cast me in a way that I can’t tolerate. I'm not saying that is crap or badly executed, I know that many people just adore it. It’s just that I can’t take pleasure in wearing it and, mea-culpa, I’m not even able to talk about it properly.  Rose Noir is ... black. In the sense that it’s a shadowy rose, vibrant, half-covered by a veil of black lace. If I liked rose, this is a perfume that definetly I’d consider.


But back to my two companions for the day. Voleur de Roses (Michel Almairac for L'Artisan Parfumeur, 1993) is essentially a fragrance blending -pleasantly and harmoniously- rose and patchouli, this mix is no longer considered so original or innovative today, but in 1993 it surely was. The interesting thing about this scent is that, contrarily to what one would expect, rose shows its darkest, roughest, temperamental aspect, while the bright aspect is given by patchouli: light, clean, far more woody than earthy or moldy. The name "Stolen Roses" comes from the idea of a man who steals for himself a bunch of roses intended to a girl, and in fact this is a fragrance any man could easily wear. Unfortunately, while there are L’Artisan Parfumeur fragrances of suitable persistence, this borders the limit of decency; I don’t know an essentially a woody scent, can last for such a little time.


May be I already wrote something about Lyric Woman (Daniel Maurel for Amouage, 2008);  here rose explores its most dramatic facet: eyes rimmed with black, heavy crimson velvet dress... a rose to sing the "Carmen", in fact. In addition to a rich composition of notes perfectly assembled, this fragrance benefits from raw materials of exquisite quality, which would deserve a separate post. The pyramid shows other flowers such as geranium, jasmine, ylang ylang, but I was especially struck by beautiful woods (sandalwood, patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss). A sumptuous and baroque composition, however without unnecessary excesses, this scent doesn’t go unnoticed, and lasts hours. Men's skin improves it further (but it takes the right man).

And you? Which rose peruufme are you wearing today?

Pic: here