rose: 52 posts

The intense green of sun warmed tomato leaves, the salty taste of red fruit, the bitter pungency of black currant buds… On my wrist was the smell of my fantasy summer, long walks in the park and lounging on the grass included.  When I reached for the new Eau de Parfum formulation of Diptyque L’Ombre Dans L’Eau, I didn’t expect it to be dramatically different from the original L’Ombre Dans L’Eau. Much to my surprise, it was!

The fragrance was so exhilarating and vivid that a single whiff won me over. I stepped out into the grey afternoon holding the perfume box wrapped in thin, crackly paper. It might have been raining, but as I pressed my nose to my wrist and inhaled the perfume of crushed leaves and earthy roses, I didn’t even notice.

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N’Aimez Que Moi

In 1917, Ernest Daltroff creates a fragrance that captured the promises made by the couples separated by the WWI to remain loyal and to await the return of the loved ones from the front. N’Aimez Que Moi was the name given to  this new perfume by Caron. “Love Only Me!” Alas, it is not a promise I can make. While undoubtedly beautiful, N’Aimez Que Moi is too heavy and powdery even for this fan of makeup-like notes in perfume. The top notes are of creamy rose and violet intertwined with soft lilac. The lush floral bouquet is wrapped in sandalwood and cedar, with an accent of earthy vetiver and iris. Unfortunately, that’s when the fragrance becomes unbearably powdery and opaque, and N’Aimez Que Moi and I part ways.

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Caron Or et Noir, “Gold and Black” was created by Michel Morsetti in 1949 in homage to Ernest Daltroff and the tradition of Parfums Caron. Ernest Daltroff was fascinated with roses and incorporated rose absolutes in nearly all compositions he has created for Caron.

A fragrance that served as an inspiration for Parfum Sacré, Or et Noir is a dark rose on a rich base of spices and woods. The opening notes are of honeyed red rose blended with the astringent bite of geranium and bergamot. The sandalwood and black pepper provide a wonderful foil for the rich rose accord. Unlike most rose fragrances that start out bright and crisp and then proceed to warm up on the skin, Or et Noir reveals its sensual facets instantaneously. The darkness of Caron accord is like a breath of cool air that renders the sweet and spicy composition light and airy. I always think of Or et Noir as a rose before sundown, petals closing slowly to hide the unabashedly sultry opening.

One of the Urn Parfums, Or et Noir is available at the Caron boutiques as extrait de parfum. Its notes include Bulgarian rose, centifolia rose and geranium; Anatolian rose, lilac and carnation, oakmoss and woody amber.

On Reformulation 3/31/2011:

The femme fatale roses of Or et Noir are still dark and smoldering, with a wonderful mossy-patchouli undertone. The main difference is that I smell less natural rose and more rose alcohols, which lend Or et Noir an unexpected lemony and zesty quality. Still, it is a good dark rose for those who like this fragrance genre.

Picture: 1949 advertisement for Caron.

Nuit de Noël was my introduction to the house of Caron, and what a wonderful exploration it has charted out for me. Caron creations seem unusual to me; they are carefully balanced, possessing a dark languid undercurrent that immediately conjures visions of classical French couture. I do not want to use the term old-fashioned since it is liable to negative connotations, but Caron’s creations have a classical aspect that I do find appealing, if slightly nostalgic.

Nuit de Noël was created in 1922 by Ernest Daltroff for his lover, Félicie Vanpouille, who loved Christmas Eve and the scents associated with it. Indeed, it is a quiet, whispering fragrance, conjuring perfectly the silence and the serenity of the night before Christmas. “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…” (by Clement Clarke Moore). Nuit de Noël is one of my favorite Caron scents because of its interesting composition and exquisite dry down. Overall, Nuit de Noël is a soft wood-based scent with a floral heart. The top notes are very classical rose, jasmine and ylang ylang–dry floral notes rather than a creamy modern composition. The most interesting changes take place after the fragrance dries down slightly. Suddenly the floral blend is dissipated by the wetness of oakmoss. Then the spicy notes become apparent, albeit remaining very soft and intertwining with sandalwood and vetiver. The fragrance does not lose its dry quality which is wonderful and comforting. I imagine walking around in the city as the snow is falling softly.

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Parure means a matching set of necklace and earrings. The fragrance was created by Jean-Paul Guerlain in 1975 for a woman who loved jewelry but could not find a scent she liked. Thus, he created a scintillating perfumed necklace to adorn her.

Sensual and elegant, Parure opens up on the dark richness of plum and rose, accented with bergamot. The musky jasmine fills out the heart of Parure, while the bittersweet moss and spicy woods form a plush base. Parure in extrait de parfum (now discontinued) is richer and more voluptuous that the eau de toilette, with the plum note more assertive and pronounced.

Parure includes notes of plum, bergamot, greens, fruits and hesperides; lily of the valley, rose, orris, plum, lilac, jasmine, jonquil and narcissus; oakmoss, spices, amber, leather and patchouli.

Chypre Classification

A little bit on the chypre fragrance family: The origins of the term are conventionally attributed to François Coty’s Chypre (1917), which was inspired by the scented flora of the island of Cyprus (Chypre, in French). While Chypre disappeared a few years after its inception, the trend was set by Coty and the term became a generic one. The term is usually reserved for compositions featuring bergamot in the top notes and oakmoss as well as iris, musk and amber—and some might argue patchouli as well–in the base, which lends them an interesting interplay of sensations. The group has evolved to include chypre floral animalic, chypre fruity, chypre floral and chypre green categories.