Rose Cardamome

It want to say this without sounding smug, but over the years, I have become sort of a cognoscente of rose perfumes, and I now can't simply get along with just any that is presented to me. Often I find them to be too saturated, too jammy, too syrupy, too spicy, too ambery—and don't get me started with the now hackneyed rose-oud combo for which I now have developed such a distaste. I appreciate when a rose accord is allowed some of its own room to be clear; given permission to be a bit green, or a bit sour, or a bit more granular, even. Petale Rose Cardamome comes with all these tints and shades, and then some. Cassis buds annunciate, violet leaf underlines with it verdant flourish, the sweetness is more a refined confit than a treacly mass. Do not expect cardamom to be as forward as the name suggests. It's more a light varnish to this affair, just a bit of lift and camphor, pushing everything into three dimensions, so to speak. More prominent to my nose, however, is this abstract herbaceous phrase in its heart and subtly smoky guaiac wood as it winds down, making it known that this no twee rose, it actually has a bit of, well, you know, soul. Anything that may even hint at a dessert may be the slightest gingerbread tea cake. It's grand, it asserts itself, but it has grace, and that's what I find is missing many recent perfumes that pay homage to this so-called queen of flowers. I imagine that it would wear well in all seasons, all kinds of weather, whether on the rainiest cold night or a dry, hot day in August.

A lightly-worn rose, both fresh and youthful. Sweetness and depth comes from the blackcurrant bud without tipping over into sugariness, and cardamom brings a dry airiness. There's not much greenness here with the fresh side coming from the synthetics. Unfortunately for me I find this one headachy but it's an upbeat, clean, post-shower rose scent.

Unfortunately the violet in this overwhelms all the other notes. For some reason violet is always very strong on me and I now try to steer clear of it, I don’t hate it, but it’s just too strong for me. I’m glad I only bought a tester of this and I won’t be buying a bigger bottle. A shame as I had hoped that the cardamom would offset the violet, but nope, it didn’t. For those who like violet and rose, you will like this perfume.

TWANG! goes the trigeminal nerve. Ouch. Not for me then. Probly going to have to go and have a bath in a minute in fact. Big green woody leathery rose, no cardomome for me (a fave note! where is??) not enjoying the experience..

Gorgeous floral and spicy fragrance. There’s something about it that is so juicy (?). I can’t get enough of it. It projects beautifully and will definitely leave a trail.