Rose Opéra

Rose opera isn't a screeching opera. It's comforting and beautiful, that scene where the two estranged lovers finally come together. It's youthful, light and happy, and full of fancy, almost whimsical. In the bottle and on first spray, it smells sweet with a little something else. It's like strawberry jam with an oomph, in this case, supplied by a beautifully prominent saffron! Or as if you were juicing strawberries and spilled it on an open pan of saffron, and then both scents did a little ballroom dance together. Soon after, I get wafts of roses! I know Fragrantica does not list rose scents, but I'm very convinced there must be some sort of rose in this. Perhaps just a regular rose note or a taif rose (based on my recall of other rose scents I've tried). It's brilliant. It softens up the entire perfume and makes it now a sweet-spicy floral. 1.5 hours in and there's the patchouli and something wet - almost mossy, and slightly woody. A peppery taste also floats around along with the saffron, but Rose Opera is now less spicy than it was at the start. It lasts about 3.5 hours on me, and as starts to become muted about 30 minutes before it finally dies. Projection for the most part was pretty good. Truly a gorgeous gourmand.

Testing from the sample I received from the perfumer, rose opera opens with tons of nutmeg and incense. Extremely smoky, almost rubbery like sweetnspicy mentioned. I think I'm smelling quite a bit of cyperus esculentus as well, because the scent has a strong bitterness that smells like a hybrid between patchouli, cedar and coriander. It does NOT smell smooth. The blend is borderline-okay. Fruitiness (strawberry) is present, but much drowned by the spices and incense, and doesn't smell fresh (probably synthetic like Kain pointed out). 15 minutes in the bitterness starts to fade and minimal sweetness from strawberry appears. But rose opera remains a very rooty/earthy scent until 2 hours in, when it becomes a little bit soapy! And that's it. No more surprises. The sillage soft, longevity is alright -- dry down is about 6 hours, and the incense base lasts at least 12 hours, yet it's not a smell I enjoy. I appreciate the concept but unfortunately I'm not digging this.

This kinda smells like rubber at first. I thought maybe it contained oud, but I don't remember seeing oud in the notes. I don't really get much saffron like I hoped. The scent, considering all those exciting notes, smells much more simple than I expected. I like it, but it doesn't blow my mind quite the way that Blanc de Paris and Brun Sicilien do. I detect just the subtlest amount of strawberry, and I wanted more. The drydown seems like a floral-woody-musk with the green resin and marigold really shining. I think this perfume is really nice, even if it's not the heavy oriental I expected it to be. I know it's not a perfect comparison, but I think it's in the same league as Coco Mademoiselle EdT, a perfume I love, minus the spice and all the citrus. And a niche version, at that.

Rose Opera has a bit of a deceptive name to me. It starts with a saffron-y suede accord dusted with pink pepper and light touches of spice, mostly nutmeg with a hint of mace for me. Taken all together, I agree with sweetnspicey that it does smell slightly rubbery. It wears more lightly than I would have expected from the leathery spice opening, with hints of strawberry and bergamot in the mix and a light base of vetiver, tagetes, and a sheer patchouli. I get very little floral in this besides the saffron (by the name I expected a dramatic rose fragrance, which this isn't), but still, the balance of sweet, tart, and woody elements is delightful. A wonderful light scent for summer, a lovely light suede for a hot dry summer day.

I don't know about opera, but this is definitely a three act composition. It starts out kind of medicinal and I get the vetiver which behaves badly on me as usual. After a couple of hours a sweet note starts peeking out and at the five hour mark, the rose finally blooms. Its worth waiting for - a sweet berry, incense rose, quite lovely and perfect for those who don't like turkish delight kind of roses. Lasts a long time and stays strong throughout. I'm afraid that my old nemesis, vetiver, ruins the beginning for me but this is another beautiful, complicated and intelligent fragrance from Scent on Canvas.