Launched in 2015 by L’Artisan Parfumeur Rose Privée is based on the Rose de Mai, or the Provence Rose, which grows in Grasse. It’s a hybrid rose developed by Dutch rose breeders somewhere around the 17th century. It has highly scented round, globular flowers and is cultivated for its particular clear, honeyed- sweet fragrance. The flower is so fragile and that it can only be harvested when it blooms in the month of May.
Rose Privée opens fresh and citrusy from green mandarin while basil adds a green herbal note along with it’s lovely anise facet, Violet leaves keep it fresh and green. This is not the sweet violet smell traditionally used in retro frags. The violet leaves makes Rose Privée modern, contemporary and unisex. Then, the most tangy, fruity note of blackcurrant shows up, with its distinguishing cat pee facet, and just makes the opening – oh, you know this is going to be gorgeous journey and it is. It doesn’t take long for the Rose de Mai to appear - clear, and sweet and just rosy perfect. Carnation gives it a gentle spicy hum on me while magnolia gives it a lush, creamy, floral depth. There is a whiff of lilac to remind me that this is spring. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything like this. The rose stays right through to the oakmoss-free chypre base. This is a game changer where regulatory standards are concerned. There is a note of dry hay at the base, and it echoes the green at the opening, while beeswax adds a deep animalic note, all of it warmed and smoothed by musk.
The drydown is richly rosey, elegant and sophisticated. It radiates quietly from skin instead of sitting on it. Maybe that’s what makes it a rose privée – private rose in English. The best part? I can wear this iconic Rose of May fragrance any time I Iike. Rose Privée is why I love rose-based fragrances.
Notes: green mandarin, basil, violet leaves, blackcurrant, Rose of May, magnolia, carnation, lilac, chypre accord, hay, beeswax, musk
Type: EdP
Parfumeurs: Bertrand Duchaufour and Stéphanie Bakouche.
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