Le Monarque IV

The idea between the line was to give total freedom to the perfumers. It was Luca Maffei's wish to create a beautiful rose without a rose, which far from being a simple chemistry exercise is, here, accomplished with maestria. I don't think you've smelt the perfume for, if you did, you would have realised that despite not using any rose, IV is indeed a beautiful, long-lasting, elegant and timeless rose. It is one of Luca Maffei's masterpiece for the sole reason he wasn't, in any way, restricted by the creative directors who have put all their faith in his talents. And they were right to do so...

Spent my day off going through over maybe 150 samples/decants I ordered last year and forgot about. I’m probably like halfway in and I’m ready to stop at this for today - Le Monarque IV has won for the day. What a gem! I don’t know what Luca Maffei did to create a rose fragrance without any rose in it, but he has triumphed. Can’t describe it, not similar to any of rose fragrances I can think of off the top of my head. This is creamy, bright, sweet, sharp, effervescent.. smells edible, that’s how good. Dry down is so gorgeous. I NEED. But £406.00 for 100ml? I can’t justify it. :(

Glorious, unique scent! Elegant flacon and classy packaging. However, the glitch of the atomizer has nothing to do with this expensive product! Maybe the poor longevity and sillage are rooted in inadequate atomization power. By the way, this unparalleled abstract gem is one of my favorite perfumes as it is not similar to any other perfumes I have in my immense collection.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." & apparently a rose scent made without any rose smells as sweet too. Well it does smell rosey-ish. & there's oud. Rose n oud. At first there's something v slightly metallic. Rose n oud has grown on me n this is a lovely soft, more rounded one. Son thought he could smell jasmine here too at first but I'm not too sure about that. For me is a more feminine leaning rose oud, I normally find them a bit butch, a bit heavy. This also, I have just realised, is lightened by a powdery violet note, which ironically takes over heavily midwear. I'm not entirely sure what the point of making a rose without any rose in it is for, just to show off the perfumer's art I guess. Le Monarque do offer a bespoke service so I presume it's to hook into that.

I'm still interested to try it, but the idea is like selling gold that isn't gold...