I bought 30ml of Rose 31 in a split, and the dear husband is testing it right now. Since I’m neck-deep in Havana Vanille (a very happy purchase I might add), I won’t be testing it until tomorrow. Review to come soon!
I say god damn! This stuff is good. Notes (compliments of my friends over at Now Smell This) Grasse rose, cumin, pepper, clove, nutmeg, olibanum, cedar, amber, gaïac wood, oudh wood, cistus, vetiver and animalic notes.
It starts out smelling classically masculine, with hints of medicinal oudh peeping through… I don’t know enough to identify just why, but it reminds me a tad bit of Guerlain’s Habit Rouge. Cumin smells sweaty to some, and I definitely get cumin; not so much as a sweatiness, rather, a delicious manliness–without being specifically masculine. It’s woodsy too, but a not the ethereal transparent woods I’ve been encountering lately (on the top of my dresser : ), but a warm, deep woods. This is freaking awesome–I’m rarely this pleased with any fragrance right out of the gate, and I think I know what it is:
Oudh.
The stuff is trendy right now because it’s really good, and Le Labo frames it perfectly in Rose 31. When I blow through my 30ml, I might just spring for a liter.
beauty on the outside 