Rousse

My childhood cinnamon dream, realised. Let me explain: I grew up in the UK, where cinnamon is much less A Thing than it is in the US. We didn't have much of a culture of cinnamon rolls, or cinnamon toast, or cinnamon candles, or cinnamon breakfast cereal, or chewing gum, or air-fresheners or whatever. (This has changed a bit in recent decades as the whole world got more Americanised.) Yeah, you might - if you were lucky - get a bit of cinnamon on the top of rice pudding or bread pudding or custard tarts, but usually - unless I was left on my own to make homemade cinnamon toast with about a heaped spoon of spice per slice - there was NEVER ENOUGH CINNAMON. It wasn't rationed or controlled or a luxury or anything - it just wasn't that popular. So, when I was a kid, I would long for trips abroad where I could find and eat all the cinnamon-flavoured nonsense I wanted. US Red Hot or French Hollywood Cinnamon chewing gum were LIFE to me. If I wasn't going anywhere I'd beg any friends or family who were, to come back with cinnamon contraband, and hand over my pocket money to them and hope. I just can't get enough... Cut to too-many-decades later. I've turned fragrance fanatic thanks largely to being depraved by an encounter, too late in life, with Serge Lutens scents. I've smelled my way through nearly all the small square-format bottles and fallen in love with many. Picked up a few partial bell jars on eBay. Took a deep breath and bought a bell jar of my own. Keep hearing whispers about Rousse but it's almost impossible to find - and only then then learn it's CINNAMON BY SERGE. MUST HAVE! I stalk this scent for years on end and finally get a 50ml bottle via a ridiculously complicated international route involving a global network of fragheads. (It's like the gum traffic all over again). And: Rousse is cinnamon perfection - and that's all it is. Right down to a sense of the almost-burning cinnamon-infused icing sugar dust on those tiny precious pink rectangles of prized, foreign gum. In some ways it's superlative - a definitive cinnamon soliflore; I get pretty much nothing but straight, sweet, centred cinnamon all the way through... so totally linear it's almost minimalist. It's NOT a burning spice bomb or exotic adventure; rather something upmarket, gentle, femme-ish though unisex and smooth throughout. Yet, if I didn't know better, I might think it a CDG single-note chemical experiment rather than something from Lutens, so often the house of deep, organic, weird complexity. For non-cinnamon-bun-heads, that might bring a sense of letdown: what is all the exclusivity and the high price really about, then? There's none of the deep mellow fruit, or crazy-man spicing, or really dark wood here that you might expect from a Lutens oriental scent. It's absolutely NOT complex; 5 O Clock Au Gingembre, maybe the closest thing to it from the house, is an epic saga of progression compared to Rousse. Sillage is subtle, not huge, but this may be a plus; performance is a little disappinting, to be honest - fading away more or less totally by about 5h in on skin, though it might make 9 -10 on textiles. So despite its towering reputation - this one is not a beast, or a lesson in perfumery art, or the smell of a whole landscape. It's so simple that you might not even think it adds up to a complete fragrance, let alone the smell of an entire persona. But if you have cinnamon right in your soul, like I do ... you may not care. I wear this just for myself, often just before bed: sweet, safe, cinnamon-scented dreams sometimes follow. Magic.

Rousse reminds me of the aroma of a specific (yes, there are several!), Cinnamomum verum, otherwise known as Ceylon cinnamon. Sourced from Sri Lanka, Madagascar and the Seychelles, it is less coumarinic than cassia, with a woodier-spicier warmth. Sheldrake folds this cinnamon accord into a doughy softness that has me swearing there is orris here, or maybe Orivone, or something with irones: it feels pale, powdery, and keeps Rousse from feeling too hot-spicy to the nose. It's beautifully muted and impressionistic, while still evoking the feeling of comfort and safety. There is also this phase that has a more tea-like quality, somehow feeling translucent, yet full-bodied. Anchored with a familiar cedar that has been a keystone since Feminite du Bois, here it harmonizes with the cinnamon as it transitions in the base, feeling softly earthy, with the resins feeling dusted and baked-in. As I take Rousse in, I must admit I want to do anything but work; I want to crawl back into my bed, wrap myself up in a blanket, and lose myself in a good book or film. It's one of those—it softens, rather than energizes; it's one for disconnecting. Side note: this is one of five first samples I received back in 2008 from the SL counter, and its unencumbered, unfussy beauty had my heart since.

When I first smelled it I remember my reaction. Did Christmas came early this year? Don't get me wrong. But all that cinnamon . But with all creations I learned to judge them after you evaluate them for at least a few hours after the first encounter. And it changed a lot. The cinnamon was always predominant but cinnamon does that is one of the most strong modifiers in perfumerie (I personally in my creations rarely use cinnamon I prefer cloves, nutmeg, and even pepper after all you can compose a similar scent of cinnamon but more subtle) so with cinnamon you have to be very light handed or use it in trace . After the hours past it became more woodsy the tangerine started to give it shinning face and the orange appeared. Then the woods ( give me woods and take my heart) came out cedar and maybe some Caucasian pine ? Anyway for me is still my Christmas perfume very gourmand like baked cinnamon cookies and all those Christmas smells in the house. For a cinnamon addict one of the best .

Rousse is a true oriental spicy, but a calm, gentle one. The initial moments are poignant due to the strong cinnamon notes. But they calm down and cloves can be detected. And then we have a perfect chord of those two notes in beautiful balance. We can also sense the mandarins and the cedar, but they are soft, nearly silent, for cinnamon and cloves are more prominent. As mandarins and cedar work, everything gets in the second perfect balance and everything is in its due place. Rousse is a comfortable fragrance, but it takes some time to get to this point: cozy, warm, calm, perfect for cold days. Those days when you step inside and enjoy a fine hot beverage on your old smooth couch.

A beautifully done woody Oriental showcasing the most perfect use of the cinnamon note in perfumery. The perfume opens with notes of mandarin orange, clove, candied fruits and slight iris. The heart is all cinnamon including cinnamon wood and bark. The perfume settles on a powdery bed of cedar, vanilla, amber and balsamic resin. The unisex scent has moderate to strong sillage and very good longevity. Sophisticated, a bit dessert like, and just delectable. Enjoy!