Perfume Pen Pals: Frederic Malle Une Rose (Part One)



Dan,

I went on a rose binge at Cheers (aka the Scent Bar) and sprayed on Eau d’Italie Paestum Rose, Parfumerie Generale Brulure de Rose, and People of the Labyrinths A*MAZE. This was all because I was wondering if someday I might want to have a proper rose in my collection. But so far, it's really Amouage Homage Attar or nothing.

Katie


Katie,

As for Homage, do we know for certain that's the rose for you? Or might it seem "too this" or "too that" or "not enough something else" within days of landing on your bureau? Because that happens to me all the time. Except for the bureau part. I don't have a bureau.

As for roses, what do you make of Frédéric Malle Une Rose? I tried it today and thought it smelled awfully distinctive for a rose perfume, most of which smell similarly to me.

I didn't bother with it before because of the name. I imagined a typical rose soliflore, like my head was going to be smooshed around in a gigantic Valentine's bouquet. But it's not like that at all. My head is free to wander all over the place. Une Rose is very complex and, dare I say, sexy. (And I don't often use that word. You know that about me.) I'm already looking forward to smelling it again.

I went back and read Luca Turin's review of Une Rose and I'm more convinced than ever this perfume is for you. I would give it to you for your birthday, that's how confident I am.

Dan


Dan,

Regarding your "how do we know" questions, I don't bloomin' know! But I do a fair amount of checking and comparing before I settle on a perfume purchase, so even if it isn't the be-all end-all, I still know that it will occupy a loved spot in my collection. A bit like Madonna and her next Malawi orphan.

You got me so fuzzed up to try Une Rose that I ended up taking a sheep dip in it today at Barney’s. I settled right in at the Frederic Malle corner nook, picked up the bottle, and began methodically spraying Une Rose. My arms, my neck, my hair, both sides of my cashmere scarf.

Then I opened the big jar of Une Rose cream, and slathered it all over my hands. I was Une Rose bomb like no monkey’s beeswax. I just needed to dive into a quick one-night stand with it, to see if we had a future together.

My initial impression is that the bloggy fumefolk completely exaggerate how crazy/sinister/angry Une Rose is. It's like they all want to top each other with war stories about a war they didn't fight.

But it is beautiful. Wearing it makes me feel like a baby bee crawling around in the most enormous, lascivious, skyscraper rose ever to bloom. And I'll have you know it hunkers down to business right out of the bottle: no pussyfooting around with howdy-do's.

After my Une Rose whore’s bath, I met a theatre friend and ate cupcakes while smelling of lascivious rose, so that was like being in a Noel Coward anecdote. Perfect.

Katie


Katie,

I had picked up a large sample of Une Rose and gave it my first full wearing today. And while it smells great at first -- lively and dirty and somehow both realistic and abstract at the same time -- after a few hours it turns a little pissy on me. (For lack of a better descriptive. Obviously.)

You now have Une Rose experience. Does it turn pissy on you? Might I put my mind elsewhere to avoid thinking of pee? Because right now I'm convinced the dog lifted its leg on my rose bush and my afternoon has gone all to hell.

Dan


Whaddaya say, Fumies? Is Une Rose pissy, or perfection?

Read Une Rose part two here

10 comments:

  1. For what little I know (and therefore what little it is worth), I LOVE Frédéric Malle Une Rose. Granted, I have only experienced a lovely sample of it, but I would have to agree with Katie and the baby bee idea and also that it is like being wrapped lovingly in a soft velvety rose petal blanket. And that blanket smells like the biggest, sweetest, rosiest rose ever. Yummmm...
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  2. Oh thank goodness, SoS. Because my fear is that if Dan smells "dog leg lifted on a rose bush", others will, too.
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  3. I'm trying to imagine spraying/slathering that much Une Rose on my person in public. Glad you didn't smell pissy. I don't think it smells that way on me. Would people tell me if it (and other fragrances) did? "Oh, by the way? What are you wearing today? You smell a touch pissy."

    But back to Une Rose, which I don't interpret as sinister or murderous. I find it to be earthy and kind of, well, chewy. Isn't there a truffle accord in there somewhere? I like it quite a bit, but after a few hours I find that it overwhelms me.
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  4. When I wear Une Rose, I spray my stomach ONCE & drag my wrists across it--that's it. I'm surprised you survived your lavish application! I do agree that it's like being inside an enormous rose; sometimes I feel like I'm being eaten alive by it, but other times I crave it. Go figure.
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  5. I get no pee from Une Rose, and I actually like when it turns to pee. I always thought of it coming from either a jasmine + rose combo or from "honey" because I get the pee thing from Joy and Sa Majeste La Rose, for example.

    With Une Rose I have more trouble with the opening blast of geranium/bergamot or whatnot. I've applied a sample at work and have had people start asking about the "harsh lemon cleaner" smell.
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  6. I am totally with Dan on the pee thing, which I reckon is a surreptitious civetty sting in the tail - I don't have a problem with the early stages of Une Rose, which smell naturalistic - a bit like Creed Fleurs de The Rose Bulgare, but shoutier. SL Rose de Nuit and Sa Majeste La Rose are even higher angles of leg cocking on me, I am afraid.

    I do, however, own a bottle of Brulure de Rose, which my friend described as "lip salve", but I really love it in a metallicy-rosewoody-gourmand kind of way.
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  7. For what its worth, rose-wise, I am a total sucker for Amouage Lyric for Men. One day I will have to give a sniff to the women's version for comparison purposes and research and whatnot.
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  8. m61 & occhineri - you're so right, I pushed the boat out and went to town on the top deck with my reckless initial Une Rose application. It is pure parfum, after all! occhineri's application procedure is the one to follow, not mine. I've since become more reasonable in my Une Rose dabbing. As I have in my Krispy Kreme doughnut eating (no more 6 hot ones right out of the box).
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  9. ahsu - you're right, usually "perfume pee" is some combination of jasmine and honey. But U(ri)ne Rose's "little accident" stems from a different ingredient, which shall be explored in Part Deux of the post, coming up...

    flittersniffer, SL Sa Majeste la Rose does me in, too, with the pee note. The SA at Les Senteurs in London pointed out the presence of green apple in that one, which has now revolutionized how I'm smelling it. It might even tune out the pee for me.
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  10. BooRad - Lyric for Men is such a wonderfully green, spicy rose. And Lyric for Women is really special - I'm transfixed by a salty, almost nutty quality to its creaminess. It's kind of weird and there's nothing else like it.
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