The Black Rose

Trussardi The Black Rose. Signature scent worthy. Mysyerious. Polarizing. Dark. Gothic. Vampy. Powdery. Spicy. Clean. If the unknown woman who visited Rudolph Valentino's grave every year clutching a single red rose were a scent, this is her. I smell a haunted house on a hill, a graveyard down below and a black-clad woman, spider web black veil and the salt of frozen tears on a Halloween cold evening, when her ghost rises from her crypt to visit the Earth and stretch her arms in longing for her one true love. This frag is a tad melancholic, moreso in cooler weather. It's the scent of a woman with a story. This is the perfect frag for a baby bat on her wedding day, and for older club Goths raised on Siouxsie and the Banshees. Simplicity done well. There are not too many notes, yet this is sublime. Some pepper, some rose, a pinch of spice, a tablespoon of powder. The veil of pepper never fades from first spray to drydown. Amazing really how the pepper or pepper/musk steals the show and persists. Under the pepper is a big jammy rose. In the cooler months, the rose is cold and the pepper is an icy mist or a fog. In the heat, the rose presents as spicy and sensuous, with a slight vanilla and heavy powder. This is a year rounder and suitable for daytime or evening. If you are an edgier personality, this is your daytime every day casual wear. For the more demure types, this would be your voluptupus evening or date night frag. Bottle is an absolute stunner. Like a whiskey flask. Will be a star of your fragrance shelf. Not a safe blind buy, certainly a love it or hate it frag. Some women may find it too masculine, especially if not inclined toward this scent profile, or inexperienced in unisex frags. I do not personally find it unisex, it is all woman to me. I would not want to smell this on a man, too rosy posy, especially in warm weather. Then again, I want a man in Drakkar Noir and Boucheron Homme. As with all Trussardis, one must open the bottle and then shelve it a few months for best results. A fresh bottle of this is weak sauce with zero sillage or longevity, disappointing at first. A few months later and you've got a frag that you think is soft, but she's a quiet beast mode bomshell with modetate sillage and impressive longevity. It has the signature Trussardi powdery notes. If one shies away from "florientals," this one performs more like a "clean girl" scent (so much sharp pepper and musk), with rose and powder. It's not a patchouli bomb or CK Obsession or Euphoria-type floriental. This one is such a love for me I want to tear through my bottle like a savage and wear it nonstop. It's a really unique, modern rose, a neat twist on a classic. 10/10 stars for an affordable, quality rose frag. Trussardi never fails to impress!

The Mystery Of The Taif Roses And Reasons Why They’re So Adored If you read anything about Trussardi the Black Rose, you should know it is built around the heart of Taif roses. These blooms derive from the land of Taif in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While the Damask Rose is known for its deep and potent fragrance in the West, in the Arabian world the Taif Rose is renowned for the same properties. Often described as astonishingly aromatic, these 30 petal roses create a unique fragrance that is intense, yet magnificent. I find the fragrance of Taif Rose absolute to be enigmatic at first. Originally, it is quite a mild and spicy floral. As the fragrance develops, the smell of rose becomes clearer and the sweet pink rose notes combined with soft honey notes have a great deal of strength and long-lasting depth. The Black Rose revealed to me that things aren’t so black, and this scent is an unexpected rose. The scent evolves through a spicy, floral, and chypre phases. The first thing that comes to mind when I smell this bouquet is an exotic liqueur from Arabian nights. A pink pepper note is set at the very opening, blended with the bright and light pink flowers whose yellow heart spreads an intense and persistent perfume. Close your eyes and imagine to walk over a pink flowering carpet and the air plenty with their delicate fragrance. The heart is nothing but rose, syrup rose. The quintessential aroma of Taif rose is warm, highly tenacious, immensely rich, deeply rose adorned with spicy and occasionally honey-like notes. It holds a powerful and complex fragrant scent that entices the senses. Nature has conceived an alluring and captivating aromatic redolence that is considered the best in the Middle East. The exotic Saudi-Arabian rose is the true heart of the scent. The base concludes in a classic chypre, warm, and oriental way, with notes of sumptuous vanilla, chocolaty patchouli, suave musk, enigmatic amber, and emotional resins, connecting the East and the West through scent. The heady of the Orient mixed with a salty Mediterranean air. Ain't no oud here, which puts this cologne in the same class with Montale Roses Musk. Fall is an ideal time for this scent. It’s the time when the abundance of its ripe and juicy scent is in harmony with chilly air, yellowish leaves and last days of sunlight. It is labeled as unisex and gourmands of both sexes will know how to enjoy it. There is a lot of wisdom in this fragrance proving Trussardi's genius. It suits workdays at the office, so delicate, not offensive, with moderate sillage yet long-lasting longevity.

I do love a good oriental scent. It's even better if there is a Turkish rose or a Taif rose within it. My definition of perfection demands it also to have a lot of darkness, oriental woody notes, as well as resins and balsamic hints. Last, but not least, I appreciate a final significative touch, an earthy accord. This #black rose has all that and it even dries with an earthy vibe sprinkled with dry vanilla. The house of Trussardi seemed to have lost its initial magic touch, justified by some very good perfumes that made a furore in the 80s and 90s. Later on, the situation got even worse with a somewhat shoddy bottle design for the 21Ist century bottlings. They ruined a high-class standard set in a not very distant but a bygone past anyway. Recently, a new well-conceived design has accompanied the release of some new scents that I qualify as very high-class and high-quality, well over the average of Trussardi's deserved competition. On a visit to a good perfumery, one can verify the recovery of good taste with the new perfumes' flasks and packaging. They fully respect the old traditional Trussardi's approved design. I tried three of the most recent perfume launches and was very pleasantly surprised. The dark rose of #black rose seems to have been raised in the Middle East. It is quite different from the Cartier roses and it is perhaps closer to the Montale and Mancera roses. There is some familiarity with Montale's Roses Musk for instance, but for me, this scent could be a flanker of one of the perfumes I have been enamoured of for several years. I am referring to the dark rose that dominates Tom Ford's Noir de Noir. And yes... the new Trussardi's have a neat Tom Ford energy in my opinion! Trussardi's Taif rose note is warm and incredibly lush, being considerably enhanced by a fine simmering pepper spice in this perfume. It turns out to be a profound and pungent rose, adorned with spices and some honeyed notes. The perfume is powerful, intense and intricate. It entangles deeply with our senses. An exotic Arabic rose is the true centre of the fragrance. The perfume base confirms an oriental warm atmosphere, proposing notes of punchy vanilla and cocoa, earthy patchouli, dark musk and lingering resins. So far, I have only enjoyed a small decant of this Trussardi scent, but I have a keen intention of buying a 100ml bottle along with Trussardi's new woody and resinous fragrances. Anyone who likes a dark and seductive oriental rose should not miss this suggestion from Trussardi. Music: Seal - "Kiss From A Rose"

The Black Rose is a beautiful warm sensual spicy rose combined with soft powdery incense imparting a heady buzz. It gives a feeling of calm and clarity, perfect for introspection and relaxation. There's an air of magic and mystery to this one. It's aura is like drinking a perfect cup of the finest tea on an Autumn evening while reading your favorite book or watching your favorite movie, dressed in comfortable clothing or wrapped in a cozy blanket. It lends itself well to meditation as it truly has a spiritual vibe to the fragrance, like a temple with smoke from resins gently wafting through the atmosphere while a large meticulously kept ancient rose garden blooms on it's grounds. Who'd have guessed a few simple ingredients when blended together with such mastery could yield a fragrance this immense and powerful. This was a blind buy for me based on the Arab Taif rose only, I adore old garden roses such as Damask, Centifolia Muscosa, etc. and grow them myself. I was blown away by the sheer magnitude of The Black Rose and will buy it again and again. This is an amazing performer with all day longevity, fantastic projection and silage but it won't overpower anyone's senses.

A wonderful perfume, perfectly unisex, that fits fabulously on a sophisticated man. As you can imagine, the star of the show is a rose, a Taif rose: It's soft, creamy, subtle, slightly tannic and delicate... So this fragrance doesn't smell like the typical spicy and powdery rose, but fresh, green, mild and "alive". This perfume opens with pink pepper too, giving way to the captivating rose that leads all the journey, where Vanilla, Amber, Musk and Patchouli act as supporting actors in a perfectly balanced concert. - Longevity: Above average. - Projection: Moderate with a classy aura. Perfect for all seasons, avoiding excessive heat and cold. As I said, the perfume is soft and even somewhat refreshing, so it’s suitable for well into spring or early summer. It goes great with a suit and also to perfume a romantic situation that involves calm and/or oriental exoticism. - Conclusion: •The Black Rose• by Trussardi is one of the best rose-based "designer" fragrances that a gentleman can wear.