Domenico Caraceni 1913 Eau de Parfum

Domenico Caraceni has reissued their beautiful men's rose 1913 EdT (which used to be available as an EdT--now discontinued?) as an equally gorgeous, more potent, more contemporary, and more expensive Eau de Parfum. This is still as lovely as can be, and has (like the original) perhaps the most elegant men's rose I've ever smelled, edged delicately and sumptuously by guaiac, petitgrain, and the tiniest amount of incense. You'll smell like a movie star (I keep imagining this is how Cary Grant might have smelled), if the price is worth it to you.

Rose is very prominent upon first spraying. This note is supported by a classic fougere backbone. Someone mentioned it smells like a rose-scented luxury soap. I can’t disagree. This fragrance has a bit of a retro feel. Therefore, it won’t appeal to everyone. But, if you want a fragrance that’s versatile, dapper, and mature, give 1913 a try. Domenico Caraceni makes suits, and I think this fragrance wears well with a suit. I’m glad this is the fragrance I chose from my 200th review.😃

I've smelled nothing like this one before. Yes, there is rose in there, and a very pronounced one, but, just as Royal Mayfair did, Domenico Caraceni 1913 EDP manages to be a masculine scent. Soapy, clean, refined, elegant and, overall, a sophisticated scent.

Smelling this, I'm picturing a handsome Italian man dressed in linen sitting in a cafe drinking an Aperol spritz.

This is a unique fragrance. But it does smell exactly like something ... the guest bathroom in my grandmother's house, circa 1985. Where she kept "the fancy soap" for guests to use, shaped like beautiful, delicate rose buds. I applaud the perfumer's ability to masculinize the extremely dainty, feminine, posh rose soap from my grandmother's bathroom, and make me want to wear it 40 years later. This smells luxurious, elegant and expensive. This is what I picture I smelled like on the day of my First Communion. This smells more like expensive rose soap than expensive rose soap smells like expensive rose soap. I would really have to be in a unique mood to want to smell like this for more than an afternoon. Maybe if I had done something really, really naughty and I wanted to smell extremely innocent. If I had a bottle, I would use it, but not very often. A 10 ml decant should last me another 40 years. 8.75/10 7/19/25 .... an update. Guess what? Two months later and I was still thinking about this fragrance and I ended up getting a bottle lol. The juice in the bottle is slightly more masculine and spicy than the sample I originally had. It is really classy and elegant. The bottle is really good looking to me. It looks like it should have a heavy, metal magnetic cap. The cap does not fit the elegant smell of the fragrance and the beautiful bottle. The cap is cheap and really lightweight, it clicks into place but it does not fit securely on the bottle. But I am happy that I got it. Even though I have a massive collection, I can't think of anything I have that is similar to this. One of this fragrance’s most appealing qualities is its uniqueness. A Fragrantica score of 4.35 from me.

First tried this by dabbing on the back of my hand and LOVED it and would have immediately bought a full bottle if it weren't over $200. But I stuck to my "no full bottle until you've finished a series of progressively larger decants" policy and instead stepped it up to a full wearing. And it's not a love anymore - the aldehydic soapiness (aldehydes aren't listed in the notes, but this really reads as super aldehydic) is so much that it's actually making my throat sore - apparently this is not to be worn on the chest and neck. I've got enough left in my sample to try spraying somewhere else, so I'll experiment, but I think this one is actually too soapy for me. Edit: This is like the soapy rose of ELDO Exit the King crossed with the extra soapy soap of CdG Marseille. Woke up from a nap several hours after I applied it and fell more in love. I don't care that spraying it on my chest makes my throat a little scratchy - it's worth it, like having a cat even though you're allergic. Another edit: Just when I think this one is too aldehydic and too abrasive, it reels me back in. This time it was smelling it on myself in the shower - oh my goddddddd, it's SO GOOD warmed up like that - the soapiness is now creamy instead of sharp. Anyway I think the key with Domenico is correct application - you can't spray this one right under your face, or I can't at least, and yeah it's a bit scratchy at first, but that dry down...

I agree with @Spender -- sniffing the sample from Luckyscent it's very soapy, but it smells quite nice on skin

It smells like a certain Lux soap—very nostalgic and old-school. It has that vintage bar soap scent. DIA also smells like old soap, but DIA is more of a feminine soap, while this one is a masculine soap.

Disclaimer : I tried a sample from Luck Scent that was without spray so I can't really appreciate the perf here. When I smelled it from the decant, I was disappointed because all I could get was this dominant soapy rose notes. So I was like okay this is rose soap in a bottle, not for me. Kinda reminds me of the soap that my grandma used to have. But I tried on my skin and that's were the magic happened! The scent then evolved to a sophisticated suave fougere. I felt like I was in a luxurious barber shop, the kind that use quality ingredients and secret family recipes to get this unique quality scents. Very class, very smooth, very masculine and fresh. Like I said, I can't objective the perfs because I didn't sprayed it, I applied small amount of liquid straight from the decant to my skin. But from that application I got gentle reminder of the perfume and it keeps this suave touch for 4 hours straight.

Another one I was glad to have sampled first. I don’t hate it, but I won’t buy a full bottle. A symphony of rose, cypress, and soap (reminds me of a cypress incense sticks my New Age aunt used in the late 90s), with a hair dye-like tang to it. It’d be great if it was more incense-like, and less hair dye-like.

This reminds me of Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme, with the rose note clarified and amplified, and the sour Dial Gold soapiness minimized into a vaguely animalic musk. Beautifully made, direct, masculine, and a worthy wetshaver frag that will go from six a.m. to midnight.