PARFUMS DE ROSINE ROSE KASHMIRIE: A soft, sweet rose — very easy to wear and enjoy. There’s a distinct whiff of cotton candy throughout the opening, and while the sugary-vanilla aspects quiet down as the scent progresses, it never fully loses its sweet tooth.
The official fragrance notes listed on the Parfums de Rosine website include a laundry list of spices, florals and incense resins, but I suspect that’s simply an attempt to make Rose Kashmirie sound more exotic than what it actually is — a nice vanilla rose with a pleasant woodsy backdrop and a warm saffron tickle.
Others may quibble and launch into personal rhapsodies about Rose Kashmirie’s sensuous glories, but I think the simple and direct summation works just fine.
Longevity is excellent (8 hours+).
***Note: I noticed that the Parfums de Rosine website mentions that their fragrances are “all based on natural essences,” but saying a fragrance is based on natural essences is a lot like saying a movie is based on a true story — you’re getting an interpretation of the real thing, with lots of liberties taken for dramatic effect.
CZECH & SPEAKE DARK ROSE: Allegedly a cult favorite that was discontinued and has now been resurrected, Dark Rose is a saffron + rose combo (like Rose Kashmirie) but without all the vanilla and extra florals stirred in, so it comes across as, well . . . darker.
The shadows in Dark Rose are a result of the oudh and patchouli in its base (a medium-bodied oudh — I like it better than the potent fumigation oudhs I usually encounter in the Montale brand), yet the sandalwood and amber elements serve to smooth out the mix and extend the scent’s lifespan on the skin.
A friend of mine just recently returned from a trip to France, and she sent me some genuine oud essence samples that she picked up from an Arabian Oud store in Paris. The actual oud oils are rich, dense and long lasting, almost like a perfume in and of themselves. The drydown to Dark Rose exhibits some of these same characteristics, and while it’s highly unlikely that Czech & Speake is using genuine oud oil in Dark Rose, I have to give them credit for choosing a decent synthetic approximation.
Other opinions:
Bois de Jasmin: “Dark Rose makes one discover the rarely exploited aspect of rose, its thorns, thus separating Dark Rose from the sweet and pretty rose compositions.”
Sorcery of Scent: “The opening is sprinkled with fragrant saffron before the strikingly rich rose, precious woods, synthetic oudh and white musks combine to create a perfume that is unmistakably Indo-Arabian in nature.”
Dark Rose is another 8 hours + fragrance, so you definitely get your money’s worth — which should incite breathy sighs of relief across the net since it’s not cheap to begin with.
