Up At Dawn

I am in LOVE! I don't usually blind buy fragrances anymore, but I risked it for this one and it paid off. This matches the description perfectly and it transports you to a beautiful English countryside garden. Think early morning dew, freshly cut stems, and roses swaying in the wind. It isn't a heavy, overpowering rose scent at all; it's quite light and fresh. It's like the roses are in the garden, but they're in the distance and their scent is being carried by the breeze. There's also an earthiness to it. Honestly, It smells exactly like when you cut the stem of the rose more so than sniffing the head of a rose. The fresh greenness of the stem comes through quite strongly and is incredibly realistic. I do also get some pink pepper, but it's not overpowering and I couldn't smell it past the initial spray. This fragrance makes me want to wake up at dawn, spray this on and have a slow morning tending my garden.🌺🪷 Oh & I read a review saying this smells like an "old lady rose" and I completely disagree. To me this is quite a youthful take on rose and it's also hyper realistic of freshly cut rose stems. The earthy tones make it feel more modern and to me this is a slightly "clean girl," slightly sweet, vintage-meets-modern green floral. Tbf I can't imagine teenagers wearing it, but as a mid 30's woman who loves cottagecore, tending her garden and wearing pretty vintage skirts, this fits my vibe perfectly.

I’m usually not a fan of rose fragrances, it's rarely a scent profile I gravitate toward, yet this one has me completely addicted. The opening is sharp and captivating, striking a balance between vibrant Pink Pepper and a green, cassis-like nuance. It’s damp and airy, possessing a vibrant quality that makes the rose feel alive, as if still covered in morning dew. This subtle tartness adds a soft sharpness, making the entire fragrance feel beautifully elusive. The rose itself is sophisticated, dewy, and sexy. It unfolds slowly, remaining clean and modern—a far cry from your typical powdery or old-fashioned rose. Everything feels controlled and understated. What truly sets it apart is the dry down: a little dirty, mossy, and earthy. There’s a quiet sensuality here, a mysterious animalic undertone that gives the scent incredible dept, like a rose garden at dawn in a mischievous, intimate atmosphere. I would agree it project kind of a british « Downtown Abbey » charm: impeccably polite on the surface, yet maintaining a gaze that lingers just a bit too long. It’s a refined nobility hiding a very deliberate, seductive intent. For a Replica scent, this is a masterclass in memory and mood. It’s the rose for people who don't like rose, and it completely shifted my perception.

Think garden soil still cool from the morning, soft and dark-brown and still holding onto the ground before the day has risen. Not dirty, none rooty, simply the damp ground behaving itself beneath your garden boots. It's quiet. The air is pale. It's still outside—you're awake before everyone else. The roses you tend to are more dampened by the atmosphere than drenched in dew, which is nicer somehow. Less picturesque. More real. Like the flowers, you sit out in that bluish early light, single stalk in your hand. There is just enough softness all around, and for a moment you almost find the ross edible—not really, obviously not, that'll be silly—but oh there is just that faintly delectable plushness to those petals. Mixing with cool air, your breath blurs at the edges, intimate against the bloom. The flower fragrance, albeit close, is lit from underneath by musky warm skin even while the untouched bench and moist peat exhale cool dawn. You inhale. The petals drink. Neither the birds, the wind nor the sun have left dreamland yet. And neither have you.

I’m not usually a big fan of rose-forward scents, but this one hit so differently. The best comparison I have is Heretic Nosferatu, because they both smell like graveyards. On my skin, the earthy and green notes are VERY prominent. One co-worker actually said it smells like dirt on me [she’s not wrong, I just happen to like smelling like dirt apparently]. The main difference is the flower at the center of the fragrance. Nosferatu is a wild lilac bush growing in a dreary northeastern graveyard that you snuck into to do witchcraft in the middle of the night. Up At Dawn is a carefully placed vase of fresh cut pink roses on the headstone of a fresh grave, just as the sun is about to pop up over the horizon. It has a quiet, almost serious sophistication to it. It’s definitely not for everyone; the earthy petrichor notes are powerful in the beginning. But if it’s for you, you won’t regret checking it out.

Initial spray is pink pepper but only for a second or two. Next comes an extreme rose bomb. Sweet, jammy and tart. Let it settle for 15 minutes or so and you are left with the most beautiful and realistic rose in morning dew. It makes me think of the roses I have smelled with dewdrops on the petals. It is not the mature rose scent or old lady rose. It is far more the youthful kind with a naturelike clean scent that still lingers hours after. The earthyness I get is a dewy, mossy, clean type of profile that comes later on when the rose has settled even more after a few hours. A scent made for the mystique that a foggy morning brings. Surrounded by the roses of pink and white. And a breath of moist air with mossy treestems in the distance. I adore this, it is so lovely and such an everyday scent.