Aqua Allegoria Rosa Magnifica

Hurray!!! The search is over. I've found my perfect rose. This is it!!! A true garden rose among a bed of violets. Soft, but very present, with a very light powder. It's old fashioned, for sure, but that's what I love about it. It reminds me of a more well-mannered Tea Rose. Much softer, yet very present with lovely silage and great longevity. Missk said that it reminds her of potpourri. In a way I get that. A mix of fresh and dried roses, like what would be on a non-maintained living plant, where the dried roses on the bush have a very concentrated, slightly spicy scent that mixes with the scent of fresh roses. But what saves it from smelling like something you put in a small ornate bowl in the bathroom is the iris and the violet notes. The violets are subtle, airy, a little green and dry, and a perfect complement to the roses, keeping the scent from smelling like room freshener. The iris adds a delicate, powdery touch. This is not a dry scent, but it's not sweet either. It really is perfectly balanced. While linear, I don't mind that. It is the same beautiful scent that lasts all day. Even now, more than 10 hours later, I can still smell it clearly. That's an anomaly for scents in this line. Usually, they have soft to poor silage, and longevity on the line of a refreshing cologne splash. This is a real compliment getter too. I wore it to work, and everyone fell in love. They all wanted to know what I was wearing and where they could buy it. I can't believe after so many years of searching, and purchasing, and testing dozens of rose scents, I finally found the ONE. I was beginning to think this scent was only in my imagination. But no, here it is, and it is everything I hoped for and more. I'm head over heels in LOVE with this beautiful rose scent. To me it is total perfection. I love it!

When I first sprayed Rosa Magnifica it actually reminded me of Ungaro's Diva. Very green, almost biting chypre but that tone goes away after about 5 minutes. This becomes a very beautiful rose on a bed of violets. It melts on skin to make your skin smell like it has married roses and violets. It's funny after wearing this perfume for about 1/2 an hour I kept thinking of that poem we all know; Roses are red, and Violets are blue. It smells like that poem. I received this sample and most everything I will be testing in the next few days from a lovely friend I met here. I am sure this perfume is vintage. It doesn't smell like what they make today. Such a pity. I just tested 2 from the Aqua Allegoria line and I really liked them but if they are making those over this then Guerlain is making a big mistake. Rosa Magnifica is hands down better than the newer perfumes I tried in this line which were the Rosa Rossa and the Rosa Rossa Forte. Rosa Magnifica last longer, projects much better and just smells better. And while I like fruity notes in perfumes (my husband adores them) I am getting rather tired of having them put in EVERYTHING! Seriously we need to move away from the cute girly trend, although nice and fun, and easy going/casual and come back to making truly feminine and womanly floral perfumes like Rosa Magnifica. Perfect red roses combined w/ perfect blue violets. I was considering buying Rosa Rossa Forte (my husband loved it) but I would rather have Rosa Magnifica hands down.

Oh, this smells like clover! Not roses, as I was expecting. I owned a scrumptious, brandless soliflore "White Clover" perfume a few years ago and this is its twin! It opens with a clovery blast of Springtime, so if anyone has springtime allergies, beware, it is sneeze-worthy. As it dries down, I smell lots of spicy-musky hyacinth and iris with the clover, maybe a hushed whisper of the rose and violet. If I psyched myself into thinking this was a "rose" (which I won't), I would say it was a VERY green and VERY powdery rose. Compared to Perfumer's Workshop Tea Rose, it is far less sour and sharp, but more leafy green and talcum-y, and to me obviously less rosey. They last about the same amount of time (6+ hours depending on the day) and after their initial blasts have rather close silage. All blooms have been cut off this rosebush, the stems and leaves pulverized gush, add hot water and chill, for a fine teatime thrill, douse with gin for a ladylike flush. 2019 note: Five years later and this perfume is starting to sprout little ivory-pink rosebuds. Okay, Rosa, I see you!

UPDATE: I PULLED IT OFF I went to Macy's (never again) to get my sis a b-day gift. The saleslady tried to convince me to buy a men's fragrance. I told her that I had all of the fragrances I want for now. I asked to smell Versace Versence and she gave me a wierd look. I knew right then and there she had no true knowledge of fragrances. But she was head-over-heels about what I had on and wanted to know what I was wearing. I smiled and told her that they don't carry it in her store. Still dying to know what had me smelling so fresh, she insisted on knowing. And she was shocked to find out that it was a fragrance marketed to women - Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Rosa Magnifica. Anyone who got close to me wanted to STAY close. I'm now convinced that it is quite possible for a man to pull off a floral aldehyde. The aldehydes begin to fade in about 3-5 minutes and the rose is perfect on me. A DEFINITE replacement for all of those aquatic fragrances that define mediocrity. I'm ordering a few more bottles to keep in my collection.

A duet between leafy-green, palest-pink dewy tea rose and lightly sweet and melancholy violet, Rosa Magnifica is delicately Victorian yet it is rendered in the direction of modern with the powder dialed down and a certain aqueous, watercolor quality that is the olfactory equivalent of ripples on a reflecting pool. Its transparency makes it feel meditative, a cool-hued rose for contemplation. Never feeling showy and bold, it isn't going to bring one to their knees (unless it takes very little), but it is an effortless beauty, so lucid, so minimalist, like the poetry of Ezra Pound: The tea-rose tea-gown, etc. Supplants the mousseline of Cos, The pianola "replaces" Sappho's barbitos. Christ follows Dionysus, Phallic and ambrosial Made way for macerations; Caliban casts out Ariel.