Year: 2009
Notes: bergamot, lemon, clementine, bay leaf, cinnamon, Damascus rose, Bourbon geranium, vetiver, patchouli, labdanum, vanilla, oakmoss
Comment: Une Rose Chyprée is part of the Homages Collection
Une Rose Chyprée is a frustrating composition, which could have reached the majestic heights of Andy Tauer's L'Air du Désert Marocain. It also leaves one completely uncertain as to how good it actually is.
Initially, Une Rose Chyprée smells like a variation of Incense Rosé. Once again, there's an opaque and jammy fusion of rose and clementine, but the loud (and amateurishly executed) clementine irritates like an unwelcome guest. The geranium helps to alleviative this over-exploited accord, to a reasonable degree, but the damage has already been done. It's only when the clementine eventually yields its dominance that things start to get really interesting...
With the spicy geranium and rose now in the driving seat, the powdery base of labdanum, vanilla, oakmoss and woods steadily emerge. It's at this moment when its development improves, forecasting an absolutely beautiful and mouth-watering drydown. What began as amateurish has now transformed into something quite masterful. Unfortunately, its overall development comes across more as an amalgamation of disparate halves, rather than a unified whole.
But is Une Rose Chyprée a floral-chypré? Not really – it's more of a spicy floral-oriental than anything else. The citrus lacks an effervescent brevity, there's the glaring absence of a herbaceous aspect, and it's devoid of either a leathery or animalic presence. With great lasting power, it mostly stays close to the skin. But if the first half of its evolution was considerably better, one might have considered purchasing a bottle or three.
Initially, Une Rose Chyprée smells like a variation of Incense Rosé. Once again, there's an opaque and jammy fusion of rose and clementine, but the loud (and amateurishly executed) clementine irritates like an unwelcome guest. The geranium helps to alleviative this over-exploited accord, to a reasonable degree, but the damage has already been done. It's only when the clementine eventually yields its dominance that things start to get really interesting...
With the spicy geranium and rose now in the driving seat, the powdery base of labdanum, vanilla, oakmoss and woods steadily emerge. It's at this moment when its development improves, forecasting an absolutely beautiful and mouth-watering drydown. What began as amateurish has now transformed into something quite masterful. Unfortunately, its overall development comes across more as an amalgamation of disparate halves, rather than a unified whole.
But is Une Rose Chyprée a floral-chypré? Not really – it's more of a spicy floral-oriental than anything else. The citrus lacks an effervescent brevity, there's the glaring absence of a herbaceous aspect, and it's devoid of either a leathery or animalic presence. With great lasting power, it mostly stays close to the skin. But if the first half of its evolution was considerably better, one might have considered purchasing a bottle or three.
