Rose Vert

I love DSH Rose Vert and am surprised more people haven't noticed it. It's one of DSH's earlier scents. I think I bought my first bottle around 2002. I don't know how much earlier Dawn was making perfumes, but it's reassuring she still sells this one. Don't be put off by that line of red roses in Fragrantica's visual Yes, it's rosy, but it's not overwhelming or sweet at all. It's a green, mossy rose. It's a lot like Jardanel, a now long discontinued Jean Desprez fragrance I suppose few people ever experienced so not a great comparison; sorry. The citrus note description is confusing. Don't think citrus like an eau de cologne. It's just a description of an effervescent quality Rose Vert has, and not just as the top note but throughout. The whole effect is warm and sophisticated, sensual but not overwhelmingly sexy. Not a scent to attract someone you don't know. I don't see that it's unisex though, but maybe that's because I bought my first bottle before nearly everything that wasn't sweet and gooey and in a pink bottle was called unisex. I can't imagine men wearing this, but hey, go for it; DSH sells her fragrances in a wide range of sizes and prices, so you can't make an expensive mistake.

Vintage-style rose chypre. The impression I get is like To a Wild Rose by Avon (which I adore), though the Avon is mossier/woodier. This is well-blended. I get citrus, oakmoss and sandalwood up front and the roses come out later. Not green (at least not on me), so the name is a bit of a misnomer. Sillage improves with time, though it's rather short-lived. I'd recommend it for autumn, though personally I'll stick with the vintage Avon because I prefer it and it's more affordable.

On me the citruses faded fast leaving a clear, light rosiness which lasted only 2-3 hours before fading to a faint trace of sweetish sandalwood on my skin. The sillage was also weak. (But to be fair, my skin breaks down many florals very quickly - 4 sprays of Hermes' Hiris lasted a mere 20 mins on me.) A lovely frag but, alas, too faint and short-lived on my skin despite my having spilled half the contents of the tester on my arm.

This is very disgusting to me. I didn't smell any citrus. I smelled artichokes dipped in batter and fried. This went on for hours and hours. It ended with a sad smelling attempt at sandalwood, which I guess was the oakmoss. I smelled this blind, so YMMV. When I smelled it the regular way (not blind) I didn't really pick up much rose. It's very faint. This is very green, but I don't like the ways in which it is green. Smells like vegetables, through and through.

Received a sample of DSH Rose Vert recently and have given it two tries. Some brief background: One of my earliest scent memories is of roses, since my grandma tended to a garden of them in my childhood. Rose is not a favorite scent, but I do like it, and I am always intrigued by how it is used when mixed with other notes. Synthetic rose will almost always make me sick (headache/nausea), natural mostly does not (but can if too potent). Tom Ford's Cafe Rose for instance is an extremely photo-realistic rose, but makes me sick almost instantly. (And for the record, there is no "cafe" in that fragrance at all, or if there is, they apparently closed down that cafe a long time ago). DSH's Rose Vert is not an intense, blatant rose; it is instead a "greeny" rose, and in that respect is a welcomed interpretation of the note of rose. I'm not sure what the previous review below me is referencing; I too blind-tried this, without looking at the note makeup at all (I do this for all my tests) and the result was a spot-on and unmistakable green/earthy rose, just as the description reads. I'm wondering if her sample was somehow tainted, as I get none of the negatives she describes at all. Gramma also used to wear perfumes, a couple of which were loud roses, which I mostly did not like. If she didn't smell like roses, she smelled something like a cross between cookies and retirement home bathrooms (love you gramma), the latter of which had even less appeal than the aforementioned loud rose. So DSH's take on roses here is welcomed and quite nice. As a natural botanical, not a lot of projection or longevity here but that should be understood and expected when choosing naturals. Rose Vert is absolutely a must-try for anyone who enjoys exploring variations on rose notes. Definitely unisex and perhaps a worthwhile layering option as well.