Rose Barbare

WoW! I stumbled across Rose Barbare today while trying to reach an exhibition and the exhibiotion, even if great, had to wait for a while. It was even more pleasant to see the works surrounded by this memorable scent. I knew it existed before, but it's so difficult to find out of France. I could smell many Guerlains "privè" in a perfume store and the salesman was supportive and understood my crave and love for perfumes and Guerlains most of all. I tried Cruel Gardenia on my right arm and I was in delight, lovely citrus-stinging with a flood of gardenia afterwards, vaguely reminiscent of AdP Magnolia Nobile, but better IMO. Then I tried Rose Barbare on a paper and on my left arm: boom! My face probably said it all because the salesman smiled and said: I love it, too. Here comes the rose! I mean, real rose with no excuse. Why Barbare? I don't know. In my mind this divine smell was an experience for nose and brain. I was offered to spray more on myself and I didn't say no! I went off smelling myself like crazy all the way long to the exhibition, in the middle of the crowd, indifferent to my bliss, but who cares? At that point, I had no imagery from the perfume. Iwas taken by it and that's all. Rose Barbare kept evolving, changing, talking to my chemistry to find the perfect balance between them. It's not static, yet it keeps its theme till the end. It's so feminine and refined, proudly seductive but not sexy in a clichè way at all! Like most Guerlains it shows its nature slowly but steadly. After 7 hours it's still on my skin, not steaming but presently whispering in clouds. Only now I see that it could be kind of "middle east" rose, like the perfume of Arabic princess maybe. All in all the concept is not original or new, rose &patchouli combo and I see how people compare with the lovely Idylle Duet. There have been hundreds of rose&patchouli combos in these last years and I love many of them. Lady Vengeance is on of them. Complimentary notes give interesting differences. To be honest I don't know what fenugreek smells like. I think I smelled the herb years ago, but nothing so soft as I can remember. What makes the difference as usual is the blending mastery behind and I guess raw material. You never smell this level of purity in mainstream fragrances, unless it is Guerlain! Still, Guerlain made quite a few mistakes and cheap choices. Rose Barbare won me in an afternoon. Now the patchouli has taken over a little bit but the rose is still there. I didn't buy it because I couldn't afford spending 175 euro on a 75ml bottle, not now at least and I have a good mini-collection to survive on. Anyway, in spite of its relatively simple concept because after all is yet another rose scent, I think that the price could be deserved in this case. There are so many other expensive fragrances that don't stand up their pricetag.

Rose Barbare, the Intriguing Rose This one needs to be tried out, sampled, tested, and then tested again. This rarely happens to me, but Rose Barbare went from indifference (this rose is ok!) to slight disgust (I don’t know if I like these spices) to disappointment (this doesn’t last long enough) to wonder (what the heck smells so good? Who is wearing a new leather jacket?) to hopeless infatuation (I know you’re not good for me, and I don’t know why, but I must have you...) So that was my trajectory when testing this. It mostly a deep dark rose that has a few metallic flints, with a lot of leathery saffron, spices, woods, herbs and greenery. RB has this saturated, dense feel when you wear it, yet it is never overpowering or loud, and it will reassert itself during the life of the wear. I would like to think that the perfumer meant for that to happen, after all, perfume not only smells a certain way, but it ACTS a certain way, too. The rose is deep and grounded, while the spices/saffron/leather/herbs kind of jump all over the place. The more I wear RB the more intrigued I am by it—every time I wear it I find another facet, something that smells different, a note acts different. I don’t always love scent, but I always find it to be fascinating. Lasting power is phenomenal. This is like meeting someone who you initially have an indifferent attitude towards. Slowly, as you get to know them, indifference turns to ambivalence, which develops into you wanting to find out more. When you do get to know them, you become more and more attracted to them, wanting to understand their quirks and habits, and eventually you just want them. So I guess it just took awhile but I really fell in love with RB...which is not good because she is crazy expensive! But worth it, I’ll be saving up my quarters.

An elegant peppery rose, good for any occasion. Neither trendy nor old-fashioned and, importantly (for me), sugar-free. Timeless really. Reminds me a bit of Ormonde Ta'if, but more natural and less spicy. Some large yellow, orange tinged hybrid tea roses smell like that. Projection is medium-weak. It is a scent first and foremost meant to bring tranquility and poise to you, not to swoon the audience. Unfortunately, on my skin the performance is abysmal, hardly 3 hours, although on paper or clothes two sprays go strong even 24 h later. Perhaps it will do better in cold season. Anyway, no regrets whatsoever, I'll just scent my scarves with it. My full bottle comes in a gorgeous black box that, after taking the bottle-molded padding out, can be repurposed for a myriad of graceful uses. So, all is forgiven. Update: we are in November, and indeed the lasting power of the scent on skin is much better now, I am wearing it quite a lot. Now, in cold weather, I smell a bit of pear in it and the opening suddenly strikes me as that of J'adore original (that I got to smell in 2001; I have no idea what the current version is like). Would I repurchase? No, as at this point my collection is so big that I am unlikely to use anything up in my lifetime, unless I begin to spray the rooms with it. That said, I am eyeing Serge Luten's Rose de Nuit, which is supposed to be a first cousin or something. So, as you can imagine, I like the genre.

I am a rose lover- Rose Barbare showcases Rose in a lovely and refreshing way, I actually want to drink it! The scent opens effervescent and bright. There is something almost yeast-like about this rose that reminds me of the way dry french ciders can smell. The rose is not sweet, it's fizzing softly with an astringent hint of bitterness that you can feel in the back of your mouth, also akin to the aftertaste of very nice craft ciders. (In that regard, this scent can remind me of the champagne-rosyness of the opening of Thé Noir by Le Labo.) I don’t get any fenugreek or honey, maybe a hint of honey when I imagine it as an accent note used to build this rose. The aldehydes come in soft and cool, they linger aside the rose in the opening for a short period of time. In the dry down, I get a small dose of that powdery and dusty synthetic oakmoss (Evernyl) that MFK uses heavily in Baccarat Rouge, mixed with a «clean» patchouli note (Clearwood). Rose barbare is very beautiful in the cold, snowy season. As much as I love this refreshing Rosé Cider of a perfume, I don’t think it is full bottle worthy. On my skin, it has poor longevity and projection and no sillage. It lasts maximum 4 hours on me. Actually, I was really surprised how thin it feels on my skin. Really a shame because I love the scent. Towards the end it is a weak dusty abstract smell. This makes it hard to justify the price point.

I was very eager to try Rose Barbare, because I love rose fragrances, and I've seen this described as a rose in a class of its own - which wasn't hard to imagine, considering the usual quality of these exclusive Guerlains. And of course, it turns out to be true: this is without a doubt one of the best roses I've ever smelled. I especially love the early heart, when the honey has come out. At this stage it's really perfect: rich, velvety, natural honeyed roses - just sweet enough, and it warms up wonderfully on the skin. Exactly the kind of scent to fall head over heels in love with instantly. I'm not as sure yet about the (rather soapy) opening and (rather spicy) drydown, though. I'd probably start appreciating them once I really got to know them, but there wasn't much chance of that with my 0.5 ml sample which only allowed for two wearings, but which was really all I could justify to get at that high price. And that's where we get to the problem: it really is ridiculously expensive, at least double as much as even most other high end niche houses - so although Rose Barbare is certainly lovely, I have to doubt whether it's worth its price. If I ever see anyone splitting it I'll be on it in a second, but otherwise I think I can live without it, although regretfully.