Rose Musk

This Rose Musk was a nice surprise for me, especially as I don't generally get along very well with the brand. I'm a long time detractor of their classical Musk, but I respect its success. If people like it they deserve to wear it. My worry about Rose Musk was finding the same animalic aldehidic old hairspray vibe, but it's not so. I tried all three new musks and Rose Musk came out as the most pleasant to my nose. I smell a fresh cut rose in the opening, luckly very little pepper, a too mild saffron, then after a short while the musk sets in and it's a mild one. No screaming aldehyde, no high-pitched laundry detergent, no skank. There is a vague animalic vibe, but it's more of a warmth that combines well with the freshness of the rose. It stays this way on the skin along its brief life, no great evolution, really. It's ok, not necessarily a bad thing. I expected a perfume with labdanum would be much stronger and it's not. To my nose AA Rose Musk smells like a dupe for Montale Roses Musk, because it has the same semplistic outcome, but the Montale is much more long lasting and a bit more refined. I don't know if it's a matter of ingredients or dilution. In the AA's the rose lasts less then the musk and in 30 minutes it becomes a gently warm musky skinscent, probably more pleasant in autumn. The AA's affordability allows a more generous amount. Unfortunately the lasting power on my skin is very low. It almost disappears within a hour. It lasts much longer on fabric giving a very nice, clean, fresh rose-musk combo. I'm quite happy with this purchase.

This starts off like sweet "paan" (an Indian beetle leaf mouth freshener filled with anise, beetle nut pieces, dessicated coconut and rose jam) it literally smells like that to my "desi nose". I blind bought coz it's voted here as similar to Dior Rose N Roses. Lol, let me tell you, it's NOT! It's not a horrible thing, the dry down actually is very similar to Yardley English Rose soap. It's good for layering. And the dry down is much better than the opening. It's a skin scent from the start to finish. I don't hate it, but I definitely don't love it.

The cedar in this makes it a very dry but natural rose scent. It’s nice but I was hoping for a sweeter rose tbh. I can REALLY smell the pepper but it’s kind of nice in this mix. I find this slightly old fashioned but it’s not particularly powdery. I think I will try layering this with Alyssa Ashley white musk because that’s so sweet to my nose. Will come back if it works well! Edit... it didn’t work for me re layering, but just to say that this one blooms more in warmer weather - the sweetness from the musk is coming out today because my skin is definitely warmer than when I first tried it. I think it’s still too peppery and not quite sweet enough for me and is therefore slightly too unisex for what I like to actually wear, but it is actually more interesting than I had originally thought it was. I would definitely recommend this to women who like crisp and woody rose scents, or men who like rose scents!