Étude in Black

In the city I live in, we sometimes experience “false spring“. Where the snow has fully melted because of the strong sun, but the winter air seems to hang on and come through randomly bringing back snow and ice and an edge that makes people wonder if spring will ever come. This perfume seems to have a bit of that. There’s a citrusy note here that doesn’t belong to citrus, but to pine needles and hinoki and the forest. It’s a freshness that feels syrupy and misty at the same time. Like the feeling that whatever is reborn in the spring has had to travel through death first. The rose, the pine, the wood, they all are fed by both decay and sunshine. I think this is the most well balanced blend I’ve smelled from this brand.

Velvety red roses and candle wax. A little bit of tartness that brightens the overall composition from the strawberry note, which thankfully doesn’t read chalky to me and blends into the wax note for me (I almost always hate strawberry so I was very relieved at this). I love the waxiness of this. I think it’s very wearable. I’ve been wanting a more gothic or romantic rose fragrance but I have not been able to find any that are wearable for me — until this one. The others I have sampled in this category have usually had wine notes, and as much as I love wine and the concept of a wine note, I have yet to find any wine note that I can tolerate. So Etude in Black is the rose I’ve been looking for! 🙂

I can't wait for this to come out properly, it's full bottle worthy. I was sent a sample when i placed an order with universal flowering in october and this is seriously so good. a little icy and cooling from the cypress, juicy and sweet from the strawberries and rounded out by rose. it's a rose perfume for someone who hates rose. I don't get much candle wax, but i need to wear-test it more, and my skin has the tendency of pulling out the sweetest notes. i will definitely add more to this review as i continue using up my sample but this fragrance is pretty magical. Courtney Rafuse does it again!

I am a rose grower by trade and to say I am picky about my rose scents would be an understatement. I feel like many perfumers create the standard red rose scents we have in our memories. When you spend your days surrounded by thousands of rose plants and hundreds of verities you realize there is no standard rose scent. Roses are like humans. They each have personalities and unique qualities. This reminds me of bright cheerful rose with velvety petals. It has a flashy personality that brings a smile to my face. I will be needing a bigger bottle!

As soon as this dropped, I automatically bought a 15 ml. There isn’t a single UF fragrance that I dislike, so why would they start with this one? And I thank thee, Courtney, for making me feel like I’m Christine Daae being seduced by the phantom in his lair.