Modern Muse Le Rouge Gloss

I ordered this from Estée Lauder and it arrived almost empty from leaking during shipment. There was less than 1/4 of the liquid in the bottle and the rest had splashed around inside the packaging along with red dye from the disintegrated red box. The scent wafted out of the soaked packaging in an overwhelming cloud of fragrance. I think it ruined the scent for me a bit to be introduced to it in such an unpleasant manner. I don't think I'll be repurchasing it anytime soon. However, it's a very pretty scent. It's a sweet, boozy vanilla rose with a tart cherry timidly hanging in the back ground. The leather and vinyl give it smooth powdery edges almost like cashmere. It's very warm and despite having pink pepper and saffron, it's not spicy. Mostly it's rose, vanilla, cherry and honey. This combination sounds almost childish, but the spice, leather and patchouli manage to bring a sophisticated warmth preventing it from smelling too much like candy. Edited to add: It's been two weeks and I've gotten past the dramatic introduction to this fragrance and I must say I'm loving it! I only have 1/4 in the still leaking bottle and I might just repurchase this after all. It a beautiful scent! A lipstick rose modernized and edgy. I'm loving the sweet rose and cherry with the contrast of the soft leather and spices. The vinyl gives me this impression of smelling a little like motor oil and for some reason I find it so attractive. I imagine a sexy girl in a well worn, black leather jacket, wiping away a bead of sweat as she works on her motorcycle.

Blind buy win right here. I realize that cherry fragrances are really popular right now but it's an interesting concept to see cherry being paired with vinyl, leather, and honey. At first, I did get the pipe tobacco scent that people were talking about but that doesn’t stick around very long. There’s a slight plastic lingering in the background but it’s not sickening like I was afraid of. Once this dries down, I find that MMLRG is primarily sweet and there’s also a powdered rosiness that’s beautiful. I am not detecting the lipstick waxiness oddly enough but maybe it will be more pronounced in a different season. I’m happy with the scent as is without the lipstick coming through. This is not a juvenile cherry scent. There’s definitely an underlying, complex maturity here. I love that this isn’t a soliflore and I appreciate the intricate layers created within this scent. Layering this with Zara’s Cherry Smoothie really enhances the sweetness but you can absolutely layer this with plenty of other scents to project what you like most in it. Longevity and sillage have been a little better than average so far. Of course this is discontinued, another hidden gem that is gone far too soon before people really get to enjoy it. WHY?!? If you can find this, get it! This has to be one of the best cherry fragrances out there that I have tried. It’s not too sweet or sour, just perfectly balanced 🍒

I find this *not* to be a fruity floral in the traditional sense. I just got my first full bottle of this, after blowing through two samples at an unprecedented rate. Lemme tell you why... The opening of this is rather peculiar in that I don't get much alcohol smell and it seems to settle down almost right away into the heart. What I find so compelling about this is that a) it's got an identifiable vanilla that I don't hate because it's not boozy or overwhelming, and b) it seems to have two layers. I get more of the cherry-vanilla-woods from far away, or from arm/chest length. However, when I sniff it up close, that's when the vinyl and leather come out. The cherry is not sugary, but any sweetness feels quite organic and cuts the sourness of the cherry a little. It's a very pleasant, very interesting experience, and I don't think out of all my sniffing that I've encountered something quite like it. Longevity is in the 4-6 hour range. I find this a perfect winter scent. A month after I wrote the rest of this,time for an update. This has gone from a love to an all-time favorite. It has the best sillage out of almost anything in my collection, being persistent without being overwhelming. The more I wear it, the more familiar I become with it and can pick out its components. I award this many points for working vanilla, one of my top hated notes, into something I like.

I Blind bought this perfume just recently and I love it I think it's gorgeous! It's very unique and smells different than what I imagined. I'm surprised that it's discontinued already. At first spray I get a lot of black cherries and a strong vinyl note. I actually really like the vinyl note , it makes this smell fun , different and sexy. The first 10 minutes is Cherry vinyl and slowly a waxy almost like a Vaseline smell comes through and that's when it starts to smell like lip gloss. I know that doesn't sound appealing but it really does work. 20 minutes later I can smell leather and Rose along with the Cherry. All the vinyl has disappeared by this time. After an hour of wearing this it becomes very creamy, the vanilla mixes with cherry and leather and it reminds me a lot of Givenchy damask Rose. The vanilla note is absolutely gorgeous alongside the Cherry and leather. Sillage starts off strong and then it sits close to the skin after the first 15 minutes but still noticeable when I move or the wind catches it. It's very lovely and I'm glad to have added this to my collection. For all of you who are into layering try layering it with Lolita sweet, it's a perfect combination bringing out the Cherry notes and adding a little more sweetness to it. Longevity seems to be around 4 hours.

It's unfortunate that this is a flanker of a flanker of a white floral/musk fragrance. It has nothing in common with the original Modern Muse, and it's way too good to be hidden away behind that stupid long flanker name. The red color scheme is the only thing about the marketing I find fitting for the fragrance. I wouldn't have expected to like this so much before trying. Anyways. The strongest note I get in Modern Muse Le Rouge Gloss is rose, but there's more to it. It has juicy, syrupy sweet cherry and the feminine kind of leather from the beginning on. As the scent dries down, honey joins in, later there are also vanilla and some resinous notes. The rose, cherry and leather stay for a long time, too. Most dominant notes in the base are leather, honey and patchouli. I don't detect the vinyl note or anything plasticy at all! This is warm, dark, fruity, a bit spicy and balsamic. Intense and long lasting and quite complex. Very feminine and even a bit old school through the strong rose, more mature than I would have thought of something that has Kendall Jenner in the advertisments, but still young and modern, not vintagey (thankfully imo). A must have for me. A great rose perfume for people who aren't into roses that much.