On The Oudification of Perfumanity: Czech & Speake Dark Rose

By Marina I believe it would be fair to call Dark Rose (2003) a cult favorite. At least I remember it being very much loved around 2004-2005-ish, when I first discovered Makeupalley. And at the danger of making swiping generalizations, I am also going to call it, along with Donna Karan Chaos (1996) and YSL M7 (2002), one of the first "oud" scents we wore, before we really knew about ouds. The exact date is hard to pinpoint, but just a little later, Montale suddenly appeared on the scene, and then seemingly all we wore and talked about and lemmed were ouds. Then every brand jumped on the oudwagon. And then we also got to try Real Stuff, non-adapted for "western" liking, and then Montales etc. weren't good enough (oudy enough) anymore...So, anyway, this is my version of how the oudification of perfumanity went down. Dark Rose and its comrades* made us receptive to ouds, prepared the soil of our collective taste, so to say, like, um, Decabrists prepared the soil for Lenin. ...Coming back to Dark Rose... The fragrance has not lost its appeal for me, possibly because it's not really about oud. It is a rose blend in which oud (as well as patchouli, sandalwood and amber) was used to achieve a dry-smoky effect...to paint an image of smoldering and scorched petals...When I first apply the perfume, the rose is fresh, ripe, nectarous...but almost right away it catches on fire lit by saffron and agarwood and starts burning on my skin...the aroma that is released by that flame is incomparable to any other rose perfume I know...it is as if the petals were first caramelized and then torched. That vaguely gourmand quality of the rose is unexpected and appealing in such a dry, nocturnal, brooding composition. Never has a scent been so rightly named; Czech & Speake's creation rules the pantheon of Dark Roses. As an aside, since I am already on the subject of Cz&S and roses, the brand's other rendition of the flower, called simply, Rose (1988), while perhaps not as striking, is also a very elegant blend, which might delight those who don't like their roses sweet. Spiked by the verdant spiciness of geranium in the top notes, Rose softens in the heart, where its angles are smoothed by creamy ylang ylang. The dry, green leitmotif is, however, present throughout the development and even the rich, slightly earthy base retains a hint of geranium. *Some other fragrances that have been sneaking oud in our olfactory wardrobes long before it was all ouds, all the time are: Balenciaga Pour Homme (1990!), Nina Ricci (!) Deci-Dela (1994), Gap Om (1996), Yves Rocher Nature Millenaire (2000) and Rykiel Woman (2003). Have you worn an oud way back then and haven't realised it? Do tell! Dark Rose and Rose can be found at shoplondons.com, $130.00 and $125.00 for 100ml respectively.

Winter Roses. Fatale West: Xerjoff Damarose, DSH dirty ROSE

By Marina "O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm. That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy." The Sick Rose by William Blake Sometimes one wants to be comforted, sometimes one wants to feel danger(ous). For such a mood, nothing is more suitable than Dark Roses. Xerjoff's new rose chypre, Damarose, is one of them. The composition lures you in with the playful flirtatiousness of a fruity accord, a tangy, non-sweet blend than made me think of red currants and cranberries...don't let it fool you with its coy smiles though...the innocent flirt of fruits, pink roses and freesia will turn into heavy-lidded seduction, and smiles will become come hither pouts as soon as patchouli enters the scene. Damarose is très recherché and even patchouli, ever the wild child, is elegant here, its earthiness stylized, shown just a little, better to intrigue you...its slight chocolate-like undertone ever so discreet, just noticeable enough to tempt. The ambery, musky base is the texture of silk...dark, dark maroon silk. By the time the drydown comes, you realize that roses, which in the beginning seemed to be pink, fresh, innocent and always in a good mood, are in fact anything but. However, at that point it's too late, you have fallen hard for the fatal charms of this chic creation. While Damarose is a vamp in a figurative sense, dirty ROSE might possibly be the actual creature of the night. In contrast to the dressed-up, Parisian elegance of Xerjoff's offering, DSH's has something wild about it. Damarose's earthy feel was something of an affectation, here the rose is truly dirty. I'd switch the capitalization, and call it DIRTY rose. "The rose is blasted, withered, blighted, its root has felt a worm..." It won't bother luring you with faux sweetness, it will bite you right away with spices. Geranium and pimento give the blend a wonderfully sharp feel in the top notes; the heart is a sacrilegious mix of sacred and base, incense and patchouli; the drydown is the wicked woods from which you'll never want to find a way back home. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz recommends this rose for men, and I can see how it can easily be worn by them, with rose hiding all the while behind spices, resins, vetiver and tobacco...now you see it and now you don't...a hint of something red, moving behind the trees...Where was I?...Oh, right, it can easily be worn by men. Having said that, like any dry, leathery, "goth" fragrance of this kind, dirty ROSE is obviously unisex and dare I say would smell even deadlier on a woman. Damarose is available at Xerjoff's e-boutique, € 500.00 for 100ml, and I assume will be sold soon at Luckyscent...dirty ROSE can be found at dshperfumes.com, $40.00-$100.00. PS. I recently revisited Black Rosette by Strange Invisible Perfumes, in its new Eau de Parfum concentration, and fell hard for it all over again. This is a Dark Rose extraordinaire, the very epitome of Dark Rose-iness. If my memory serves me well, the new blend has less of a "leathery like lapsang-souchoung" and more of an "actually leathery" quality. I don't know if I particularly care for the loss of the tea note. But I am thrilled that I can now finally spray this nocturnal masterpiece. (Available at siperfumes.com and Barneys, $220.00 for 50ml.)

Andy Tauer Une Rose Chypre: Perfume Review and a Prize Draw

For the rose, for this rose, for the only one, for this graceful, open, adult rose, for her depths of velvet, for the cry of her red bosom. (Pablo Neruda, Ode to the Rose) Like Neruda, I used to believe that I renounced roses, that I "preferred the rough bouquets of the thicket, wild lilies"...Roses are too ubiquitous, too obviously feminine. I am jaded, I crave the exotic, the unusual, the innovative. But I also require classicism, elegance and grace. How do you create a perfume that is classically structured and chic but also a little strange, a little outlandish? And in particular, how do you create a perfume like that when it is centered on such a traditional, overused note? I don't know how, ask Daniel Maurel, the author of the spectacular Amouage Lyric and ask Andy Tauer. The secret of Une Rose Chyprée's attraction for me is three-fold: 1. It is a Dark Rose, not necessarily come-hither vampy, but certainly suggestively brooding, and Dark Roses are the only kind I can love at all; no easy, breathy, pastel tea-roses for me, please! 2. It is not overly true-to-life. I don't smell it and think, this is a rose. I smell it and think, this is a Perfume about a rose, a stylized, imaginative interpretation. 3. It is built on a contrast. The contrast is between the untamed wildness, greenness and woodiness of windswept roses from an untended garden, on the on hand, and, on the other hand, the exquisite, mannered, Ladurée-evoking gourmandness. The thorny verdancy of geranium, the rootiness of vetiver, the dirtiness of patchouli, the rich sharpness of oak moss are tamed and softened by the mouthwatering vanilla and citruses coated in cinnamon sugar...the rose is caught in-between the two streams, benefiting from both, wild and delicate, green and honeyed, spicy and silky-smooth all at once. A poet can't close his eyes to rose's "cup of fire", or seal off his heart from its fragrance, and neither can a perfume lover pass by the indolent, fiery elegance of Une Rose Chyprée, my new favorite rose and my new favorite Tauer scent. It is launching worldwide on July 1. Together with Luckyscent, we are holding today a prize draw for two bottles of Une Rose Chyprée. For a chance to win one, please leave us a comment. And while you are doing so, tell us what is YOUR favorite rose fragrance and your favorite Tauer perfume, and why. The two winners will be chosen randomly and announced early next week. The prize draw is now closed.