Rose Noire

I discovered this through a lady with similar taste on a perfume forum, she was telling me Giorgio Valenti Rose Noire is similar to Brosseau's Ombre Rose, and it's fantastic, and it's dirt cheap... I do notice a lot of similarities between the two. Chiefly that lipstick type of rose note, sandalwood, and the buoyant cloud of iris powder. Off the bat, I will say Ombre Rose has substantially more of those soapy, musky, baby powder touches to it. It has a smoother and more refined texture; Francoise Caron's ingenious velvety, plush, silky nuances... It's a much lighter and "prettier" perfume. To my nose it's firmly in the soft floral aldehydic category. My initial impression of RN: it's almost as though the perfumer thought to add a few drops of Agent Provocateur to Ombre Rose. I notice the geranium in the top, as well as the strange rubbery, vinyl smell others have commented on. Rose Noire is deeper and huskier, it has a more woody, rooty, leathery, earthy, dusty, ashy character. Orris, rosewood, vanilla, and vetiver. As I wear it, I smell more of a chypre structure in the base. Subtle amber as well as the synthetic oakmoss counterparts. The bottle is nothing to look at, but it cost me $10. Judged solely by their respective scent profiles, I somewhat prefer Rose Noire to Ombre Rose. Both of them are exceptionally beautiful and inexpensive perfumes. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person wondering who on earth Giorgio Valenti is. Here are some treasured snippets from the brand's Fragrantica page: "Fragrances for men and women are offered under the Giorgio Valenti brand, whose motto is, "Be different."" "Parfums Parour is the parent company of... Giorgio Valenti... and holds the licenses for fragrances created for... Pinky Girls, a line dedicated to Japan's "elegant gothic Lolita" fashion-lovers." Goodness. It's still a mystery as to who Giorgio Valenti is, but now we can infer that Rose Noire is among the choice perfumes of Japan's Lolita subculture. Thank you for providing this fascinating tidbit, Fragrantica.

I really like Rose Noire PDT. Is it chemical smelling ? Is it more cold, metallic as opposed to warm and creamy ? Overpoweringly synthetic ? Intensely powdery ? VERY vintage style ? YES, especially with the first spray. I can easily understand those who don't like this perfume because it seems to overpower with an intense, dark rose dusty metallic powder. Every time it's sprayed, it is somewhat overwhelming...even chokingly dusty for some people. No doubt about it, this sprays on very strong, and takes about an hour or more to fade and settle into a soft skin scent. I also agree with the review by sheridanellis.....adding Coty Vanilla Fields to this fragrance does calm it, making it more creamy, soft, and more wearable for some people. Still, I find Rose Noire intruiguing all by itself. It definitely has a modern metallic gothic vibe. Not meant to replace true vintage perfumes, Rose Noir is a modern synthetic version of a classic vintage STYLE. I sprayed this perfume on at dawn one morning. For me, Rose Noire lasts more than 12 hours, with strong silage beginning to fade after about 2 hours. Still, it remains soft, detectable close to skin, in hair, and on fabric well into the next day. It's a wonderful bargain price, too ! Yes, there is a note of cinnamon....soft cinnamon, no doubt synthetic "cinnamyl ", that is noticable all the way through the drydown. Overall, I find Rose Noire super powdery, a soft sweet dark rose, softly spicy. Though Rose Noire is made with modern synthetic ingredients, I find it most comforting and pleasing to wear when I'm in a vintage mood.

At first I did not know what to think of Rose Noire. It seems to be always full of surprizes. I sprayed it first on paper and smelled nothing. I thought oh no!this has no scent, so I wondered if the warmth of my skin might help. I sprayed on my hand and again, no smell, what a disappointment, then about ten minutes later I caught a whiff of something totally unexpected. Leather, coming from my hand. It smelled soft, buttery and expensive. It smelled like an expensive leather handbag from Coach or Etienne Aigner. New leather. After about a half an hour later the florals came in and smelled wonderful. Rose? perhaps, but spicier, more exotic, darker,sultry, more mysterious. The dry down was really unexpected,powdery,soapy,and intensely feminine. It still had the soft leather with a touch of spice in the back ground, but just a touch, and after a couple of hours I can detect a little vanilla. It seems to last a good while, after having worn it for two or three hours last night my husband ask me what soap I had been using. Now Rose Noire is not a loud perfume,it is very soft,and wears close to the skin. It is not a perfume that shouts, it whispers, but it whispers beautifully. Like many chypre floral perfumes it seems to change totally though out it's being worn,from sophisticated,to charming,to clean and even a little powdery. I bought it blind from overstock.com,for very little money and I got a great bargain. I am going to enjoy this new fragrance,which is very unique and different.

Dry powder all the way! I love iris and rose and oakmoss and sandalwood. LOVE. But although they are here and add a touch of loveliness, it is really about very arid, old fashioned powder. More powerful and less sweet than Ombre Rose (which is also not very rosy), but quite similar. If you enjoy Vintage style boudoir powder scents, Rose Noire is an excellent value which will make you happy. Ombre Rose is quite light by comparison. Neither of these is a rose lover's blind buy, however. Did we mention I love powder? Generally I like my powder a tad less dry than this, but arid powder is perfect for hot weather. Think Grandmother's scented talcum powder, for feminine use before powder was proclaimed unhealthy for women's hygiene! Personally, I will be wearing this scent as body spray during the dog days of summer. It's the perfect use, taking me back into another era - safely. ;) Update: I'll also enjoy by layering with Pink Sugar! A tiny bit of Pink Sugar will add the sweetness and pink-ness Rose Noire utterly lacks. <3

A Velvety Black Rose... I've been trying to figure out what makes this rose "Noire", and I can see why it's been compared to an ombre rose: in the opening, the powderiness evokes an ivory rose or translucent talcum powder, but as it's drying down I get some slightly leather-y tannic notes that are distant reminders of scents from the Shalimar or Habit Rouge ranges by Guerlain, although this isn't an amber scent and resins are dialed a way back. As it's drying down, it acquires a vanillic sweetness, but this isn't overly sweet compared with modern scents. Geranium is there which supports the floral tones of the rose and keeps it from drifting into baby powder & bandaids. The soft buttery leather-tannic notes do remain for the bulk of the wearing experience (perhaps from the iris?), but are muffled by the powderiness of the iris in a soft & delicate way. The effect when I stand back is in fact a velvety black rose. Amazing. It's a love for me. Enjoy!