Needle In A Haystack: Rose Barbare by Guerlain
This week’s Needle In A Haystack is quite a solemn event - not only did I pick one of my absolute favorite perfumes of all time but it also happened to be one of the Femme Fatale scents (copyright: Marina at Perfume-Smellin’ Things who created this category). In her pick of the day, she talks about serendipity, and it looks like it’s spilled over to Aromascope as my scent is also a dark, extraordinary rose. In addition, we both share the love for each other’s catch which is becoming rather rare these days as Marina’s been drifting farther and farther away into the Land of Lovely Flowers. So I’m truly enjoying both writing this review and my fragrance.
I should also add I’m enjoying Rose Barbare as my pick for yet another reason: its author is my lovely Francis (ah, I’m all a-twitter!) Rose Barbare was created in 2005 as part of the L’Art et la Matiere collection (a project that coincided with the opening of the Guarlain flagship store in Paris, employing outside perfumers to create an ode of sorts to a particular note). Rose Barbare wasn’t my immediate favorite as my first impression was of this concise nature: “sour rose”. Indeed, Rose Barbare might not be as easy to love at first sniff as it is a chypre fragrance, believe it or not. A modern day chypre, no doubt, that’s somewhat reserved but still not particularly politically (olfactory?) correct. The chypre here is achieved by rose drenched in honey and patchouli or perhaps even a little oakmoss (I cannot find the list of notes). It’s hardly barbaric but it is a rose with thorns and proud of it - dark but not brooding, relatively vicious but not crude. It’s a very successful chypre, considering true chypre would hardly fly these days. It’s approachable but only if you’re willing to approach it. If you see the other side of the rose, if you look beyond its conventional pastel, powdery, honeyed appearance, you’ll love Rose Barbare. To me, it’s like the heart of a rose - its true nature, its intimate secrets of living with thorns, open wide for everyone to see.
Rose Barbare can be purchased at the Guerlain flagship store in Paris as well as at Bergdorf Goodman in New York.
21 comments June 14th, 2007