Rosa Novella

I recently purchased a Santa Maria Novella Discovery kit: Acqua della Regina - smells like my favorite Bath Roman Premium Hot Herb Bath Salts (soothing ginger, red pepper, yuzu, etc), but not much the next day, the oddball as the only sample not still shouting 24 hrs later Fresia - a very soapy freesia scent, leaves, potting soil, bright sunshine on a perfect day Rosa Gardenia - that pickled floral that I despise, May roses screeching out for justice, The Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose turned spiteful and pretentious Rosa Novella - wonderfully warm, calm, patchouli-rose. Your mom reading your favorite picture book that you got from the library, a copy that was printed in 1990, after you just did a good job dusting the heirloom hardwood furniture with lemon Pledge. Unrelated to Agent Provacateur (cool-skin rose with warm metallic saffron) or L’Agent (boozey-spicebomb rose). Angeli di Firenze - unripe cantaloupe soap, melon gives my tummy a sinking-feeling Melograno - not what I expected from “pomegranate,” and oakmoss in the ingredients surely helps this become a personal favorite. This pomegranate received the Christmas Orange Ornament treatment and smells like all the best memories. Invokes a bodily response of “everything is going to be alright.” Excellent ally to victory in the battle vs holiday anxiety and car sickness! Tabacco Toscano - delicious, quality vanilla accosted by rubbery hickory smoke Pot Pourri - I was not expecting the Noxema scent, the face cleanser which I once bought to smell simply because it was so soothing and enjoyable, knowing it’s an awful product that has no place in a skincare routine. This is the strongest of the samples and smells just as much like a fresh tub of Noxema 24 hrs later, but now with orange peel demanding attention. 48 hrs later evocative of rose and pine forest and all fae folk who live within. Beautiful, and at no point did I see where this perfume was going.

This is a gorgeous perfume, I doubt it will wow the sort of rose fans looking for something really full bodied but nevertheless it's very accomplished and an inherently wearable piece from a great brand. So I hadn't looked at the notes at the point of thinking about writing this review (obviously have now) and I felt the creaminess of the base is sandalwood materials and musks right out of the gate, and despite them not being a top note, that is what I smell immediately, it actually becomes a bit less creamy after that. (but it does come back later on) Then you get a kind of soapy (in a good way) rose accord and I'm no expert at discerning different rose materials or recreations or whatever and frankly I didn't really know what the subtleties of May rose were TBH. However, I've recently tried a few, just in the last few weeks and this kinda screamed may rose to me...and what do you know? it's a rose de Mai apparently. This is a more functional, less opulent smelling rose to me than the usual suspects of Turkish or Bulgarian or whatever, but no less lovely. Just reading the review directly below and I can imagine that this could be the kind of rose perfume for non-rose fan because it's just so damned easy to get along with, and at the other end of the spectrum perfume fans who can appreciate nuance will like how this isn't atypical and is a smoothly well made blend of creamy and fresh, lasts ages and just smells really really good. I'm a big fan of this from the off and it's growing on me even more, and promoting a real sense of wellbeing today.

Well, I'll start with parameters. I don't know whether it's my nose, used to wearing delicate fragrance, or my skin that is so welcoming for Rosa Novella, but I have no issues with its longevity at all. What's more, I could feel this scent all day long yesterday! And even after swimming in the pool! Really, after reading all the words here how short RN lasts, I'm puzzled. But it's a nice surprise, so I'm the last to complain. As for the scent itself - rose in the name can be misleading, or (if one knows the brand) a prefect example of SMN craft... That is not a typical rose fragrance at all, so I wouldn't recommend a blind buy. I did so with this bottle and I'm more than pleased, but I have Cala Rossa, the other perfum from this brand, and was hoping for the same result and didn't disappoint myself. Cause Rosa Novella lays in exactly the same category - soapy apothecary style. Quite sharp at the beginning it calms down to a lovely, rich and clean luxury SPA vibes. For me - all seasons perfect office scent, with absolutely decent longevity but rather intimate sillage. Just what I like. Rosa Novella is my first perfume purchase in 2026 and I couldn't be happier with such a start.

This is becoming a summer signature for me. It's a very pretty floral - a subtle early summer bouquet whose sillage is perfect. I have a full bottle of the Acqua di Colonia version of Rosa Novella, which is fresher and, at first, slightly more unisex and Herby. I love both. I don't experience rose so much from either version of this perfume - it's definitely more about a gentle spring floral bouquet, lifted by subtle citrus and moss. As it drifts into dry down I get the sense of creamy lily of the valley, though as that's not listed in notes I suppose it's the combo of gardenia and jasmine. Santa Maria Novella's perfumes are like rare, magical elixirs for me - a mind, body and soul experience. Largely because the soul of each note is kept intact, no nasty cheap aroma chemicals. (I don't mind synthetics, I just can't handle the cheap nasty ones). I'm so glad this quality still exists!

Utterly unique in my collection. This opens on my skin with a freshly shaved juicy fennel root note, anisic, green and crisp. The rose is there, soft, pink and dewy. It presents much more like a cologne-type with a floral aspect than a traditional rose-centric perfume. The evolution is slow and deliberate, like the sun moving across the sky on a warm June day. Projection is intimate, but this is not a thin fragrance - it is airy, but substantial with complexity. All the ingredients in here belong here creating the impression of a garden well-loved with somewhat benign neglect. Excited to have this in my collection and looking forward to reaching for it in the heat of summer with no risk of overwhelming myself or others with an overly "perfumey" rose.