Dark Rose Cologne

There exists (in India and Pakistan) a heavenly attar called "Majmua", from the Urdu word for "a collection". It is comprised of a floral (honeyed hyacinths, etc...) attar, a baked mud *from the River Ganges* attar, vetiver attar and another "umbrella tree" flower-based one. THAT is my favorite scent, perfume, fragrance (what have you) in the whole entire world!! THIS is the closest ANY perfume (mass market, vintage or niche) has ever come to that heavenly scent...hands down. This opens with a fierce woodiness and wonderful "incense" accord. Truly dark, almost black, roses combined with the scent of spicy warm saffron, all golden and pollen-rich, exuding a dark floral accord that makes me just sigh with pleasure at the very first whiff! One of my dearest fragrance friends (who I speak to just about every single day) said once that the "rose, saffron and oudh accord" had been "done to death"! That being said (and also quite true), Czech & Speake breathed new life into that composition and gave it just the right amount of smoky resinous "oomph" to really stand out as something not only dark, oriental and intensely exotic; but something amazingly woody and floral at the same time! As it continues, the thick rich and utterly unique scent of agarwood (oud, jinko, kyara, etc...) is braided not only with a thick heavy "oily" patchouli, but also a very dry sweet sandalwood resulting in something not unlike an olfactive orgasm for me! As it dries completely, a sweet dry golden amber and a rather animalic musk dominate, but the heavenly aromas of the other notes remain, blended in something very close to (dare I say it?) the "perfect perfume" for me. Majmua attar is darker, MUCH heavier and extremely "earthy" and slightly more musky with obvious thick and natural components. Dark Rose is like majmua (in its basic composition), but here it has been made not quite so dank, and instead of a fruity hyacinth and a thick waxy honey note; rose steals the show. This is more woody, where majmua is more grassy; otherwise though they are kindred soul-scents. This is NOT your typical "rose scent" (not by a longshot!). I expected something "dirty" (like GV's Rose Noire) after seeing the name and reading the PR on the sample card, and this was NOTHING like that. This is a dark scent that shows you beautiful things are not only sweet and bright and sunny; they can be shadowy, somber and mysterious creatures of the Night, that are nonetheless beautiful! Smoky and incense rich, exotic and heavily woody; all the while remaining darkly floral; Dark Rose checks all (and I mean ALL) the boxes on my checklist of what makes a TRULY great and awesome perfume. It makes me feel I am in a crowded bazaar in Karachi or Calcutta, where incense powders, spices, dried flowers, expensive woods and fancy bottles of magical perfumes and annointing oils are sold. My heart is racing, my face is flushed and something somewhere deep in my heart, on a SOUL level, this is whispering: "You remember!". What it is I remember...I do not know; but I am more than happy to continue sniffing and hopefully (one day) actually consciously recollect. Sillage: great Longevity: very good Overall: 5/5 One of my favorite movies of all time is "Nightbreed" by Clive Barker. It is about "monsters" and how they were persecuted through history, for being different or having "special" (often scary) magical abilities. Rachel, one of the main characters, who could turn herself into smoke and pass through any door or obstacle would, no doubt, smell like this. She could KILL with a kiss, and was strong enough to rip a man's heart out of his chest (though she did not look it), and she was soft-spoken AND extremely beautiful. If she wore perfume: this would be it; and even if she didn't-THIS is how I os-magine she would smell naturally! Dark, smoky, sexy and arcane...full of magic and having centuries of knowledge within her memories.

Czech & Speake specialises in luxury fragrances and luxury bathroom fittings. Their fragrances aren't easily available in India though. Luckily I got some samples, and Dark Rose was the first one I tried. This is a perfect evening, party wear scent that opens with a voluptuous Taif as well as Damask rose accentuated by high quality saffron and a bit of musk and citrus. The Cambodian oud provides a thin, perfect woodsy base that binds everything together. C&S's obsession with quality ingredients can be seen in Dark Rose. This is a jammy, spicy Rose. This fragrance has many interesting phases. Rose the main star of the show shines brightly with saffron for the first two hours and recedes a bit (but still remains noticeable) to let saffron, oud, musk form nice, beautiful bakhoor like wafts that one encounters in Arabian souks. It remains noticeable for about 6 or 7 hours after which it slowly turns into musky, citrus skin scent. This definitely is a luxurious evening scent and people accustomed to good things in life will nod their heads with appreciation when they meet someone wearing this scent. This is unisex and turns heads. Try it. .

So this opens as expected a deep rose smell which runs the full spectrum of plummy jammy, then slightly darker and floral to musky then powdered in the matter of a few minutes as it settles down. That opening is not the most pleasant and does seem a little off to me. The rose is spiced pretty heavily too with saffron and resin but really starts to come into it's own as the drydown progresses with the patchouli coming into play. I have to say the progression of this fragrance is excellent, like many Montale's I simply don't like the rosy synthetic first hour or two then some sublime woody notes of oud/sandalwood and in this case patchouli come out to play and make this fragrance appeal to me. I loved the drydown of this and liked the progressive differences I got from it and the longevity was superb. Rose lovers, check it out you might just fall for it.

Dark rose isn't as dark as you would think. It opens with pink roses, lots of them and lily. The roses become slightly jammy but tart jam. This fragrance to me smells like roses damask roses from my grandma rose bush and lilies. The sandalwood, oud, patchouli and saffron are done to perfection here. They enhance the bouquet of roses and lilies instead of dominate them. I find this leans feminine as there is a sweetness that comes through. Dark rose is sultry and languid. It is the scent of living roses and lily carried through the humid night air. Deep, hypnotic, complex and completely bewitching. This is one of the best rose perfumes I have smelled in a very long while. I would wear this one a lot. Going on my want shelf. Stunning a rich beauty that cannot be denied.

Gorgeous, spicy oriental rose and aoud based. If I were given this as in a blind test I would say this is a Montale! The aoud is prominent in this frag, it is important and so it is definitely NOT a fresh, powdery, delicate rose. This Dark Rose screams for attention, it is sultry, sensual, deep and sexy and evoking burgundy drapes and velvet... definitely a fall-winter frag...the drydown is the best part of the frag (amber sandalwood ad patch), where also the rose reveals itself (not so much in the opening, where you have the aoud with its almost medicinal trail that I like so much!) Excellent sillage and staying power. Not something you'd want to wear in an office, but will smell gorgeous in the evening. A must try for any oriental frag lover!