Year: 2011
Notes: aldehydes, pink pepper, pimento berry, clove, rose, Virginian cedar, ambrette seed, ambroxan, musk
Comment: Baie Rose 26 is the City Exclusive for Chicago
Employing a rose similar to many Montale rose-ouds, and with the composition initially smelling like a sweeter version of Frédéric Malle's Une Rose, Baie Rose 26 is an effervescent and spicy rose offering that forsakes any verdant flourishes.
The aldehydes provide a vibrancy during the opening, while a spiciness is discernible throughout the majority of its lifespan. But the main accord is pimento berry (also known as allspice and Jamaican pepper) – dried unripe berries, resembling large peppercorns, which yield a collective aroma of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and pepper. Fused with the aldehydes and rose, one detects a short-lived raspberry chord that graduates towards the spicy aromatic properties of carnation (further accentuated by some clove).
By the time the rose weakens in stature, a dry and resinous cedar note increases its prominence, coupled with faint ashy traces of frankincense. The ambroxan upholds any sweetness, while ensuring that the grand finale is smooth rather than unattractively harsh. Unfortunately, during its final moments on the skin, all that remains is a generic woody-amber-musk base that mars whatever virtues were previously on display.
Conveying a spicy-floral translucence, one is still at odds with Baie Rose 26 being granted a higher status than Rose 31. And while some people believe that any limited edition or exclusive fragrance is better than an offering from a regular line, it's a testament to blatant opportunism at the expense of genuine substance.
Composed by Frank Voelkl, it most certainly doesn't deserve its exclusive price tag.
The aldehydes provide a vibrancy during the opening, while a spiciness is discernible throughout the majority of its lifespan. But the main accord is pimento berry (also known as allspice and Jamaican pepper) – dried unripe berries, resembling large peppercorns, which yield a collective aroma of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and pepper. Fused with the aldehydes and rose, one detects a short-lived raspberry chord that graduates towards the spicy aromatic properties of carnation (further accentuated by some clove).
By the time the rose weakens in stature, a dry and resinous cedar note increases its prominence, coupled with faint ashy traces of frankincense. The ambroxan upholds any sweetness, while ensuring that the grand finale is smooth rather than unattractively harsh. Unfortunately, during its final moments on the skin, all that remains is a generic woody-amber-musk base that mars whatever virtues were previously on display.
Conveying a spicy-floral translucence, one is still at odds with Baie Rose 26 being granted a higher status than Rose 31. And while some people believe that any limited edition or exclusive fragrance is better than an offering from a regular line, it's a testament to blatant opportunism at the expense of genuine substance.
Composed by Frank Voelkl, it most certainly doesn't deserve its exclusive price tag.
