Yves Rocher is launching Rose Absolue in the US. The fragrance, which launched in France last year, is the second entry in the Secrets d'Essences line, following Voile d'Ambre:
Dewy flesh, a velvet gift, since the beginning of man, a legend, the incarnation of femininity. Symbol of love and self abandon, the rose, like a woman, is a caress and a bite, innocence and hypnosis.
Rose Absolue was developed by perfumer Christine Nagel and includes notes of cinnamon, apple, Turkish, Bulgarian and Morrocan rose, cedar, patchouli and tonka bean.
Yves Rocher Rose Absolue is available now in a "try me size" for $3; full size bottles of the Eau de Parfum will be available in September. (via yvesrocher, beaute-addict)
Also new from Yves Rocher, Plaisirs Nature Strawberry Nectar:
A mist of sweet, sunkissed strawberry is sure to lift your spirits and turn heads. This fresh and nautural scent is the perfect signature fragrance for sizzling summer days.
Plaisirs Nature Strawberry Nectar is available in a purse-sized Eau de Toilette spray for $4.
I have to say that I love Rose Absolue, and I would never generally wear a rose fragrance. I think it reminds me of rose-flavored Turkish delight, or Indian rose soda. It's sweet and creamy, but still rose.
Thanks — I haven't tried it yet but have heard it is lovely. Voile d'Ambre is beautifully done, I think, even though it isn't really “me”.
Whereas Voile D'Ambre is very definitely me: it's unexpectedly bright and sunshiny, not at all the dark and mysterious oriental scent we expect amber scents to be (though it is an oriental). I'm really looking forward to Rose Absolue; it doesn't sound like the kind of thing I wear, but I really want to smell it.
If you can wait until the Christmas season, I would bet good money there will be a half-ounce spray of Rose Absolue available: last year they did up most of their scents in that format (in a very nice, simple columnar bottle with the cap colour denoting the scent). The price was right, too: $12.50 Cdn. I'd be very surprised if they didn't do it again.
I've been waiting for Rose Absolu to appear in the U.S. since Victoria's delicious review on Bois de Jasmin, some months ago. Managed to acquire lots of substitute rose samples in the meantime… : )
I've been looking forward to this one, too, I've heard only good things about it. I wasn't sure about Voile d'Ambre at first, but I've come to really enjoy it this summer – bright and sunshiny, as p said above, yet a true amber that has nice presence without being overwhelming in hot weather. I'm also impressed that RA is done by Christine Nagel and that she also did Narsisco R., a perfume that I really admire. How does YR manage to hire these people and still keep their prices so affordable!
Luckily I have an Yves Rocher boutique within driving distance, and hoping they'll have at least a tester in stock by the time I make it to the mall again 🙂
Oh thanks, I forgot V had reviewed it! Off to read…
I am assuming they a) don't use massively expensive ingredients and b) make up for the price, at least somewhat, with high volume. But in general, I think YR does a better job than most at creating wearable scents at low prices.
Somehow this company slipped under my radar…although I've seen them around for years….I can not BELIEVE these prices (just checked website). I'm going a bit crazy now ordering gifts for a friends birthday—I can put a whole spa set together for under $25!! Must make sure they include the Rose Absolue to sample! And of course will have to investigate their home fragrances
You really ought to sample their scents before buying, though, even at those prices. Some of them are real winners (Voile D'Ambre, Cocoon, the discontinued Nature Millennaire Pour Homme and Orchidee), but some of them are duds (I think Elevate is dreadful, Comme une Evidence is neither here nor there, and all of the current men's scents except Homme Nature are extremely boring). Just like any line, I suppose. I still can't believe they discontinued the Cocoa shower gel: it was the equal of the legendary St. Ives Chocolate body wash.
Pia, I'd have to agree w/ Pyramus below — while I do think they do a good job at low prices, the scents aren't uniformly magnificent by any means. Don't go crazy unsniffed 🙂
A sort of aside, but we are massive chocolate shower gel fans in my house, and so sorry to hear that YR made a great one — we missed it entirely!
Any thoughts on how the YR Cocoon shower gel measures up in chocolate? I saw it had cocoa. I'm a big fan of St Ives shower gels–sadly never knew the chocolate one–but the citrus has a lovely grapefruit/mandarine-y burst to it. And a nice price to boot!
Thank to you both for the sensible advice….wish I had read it before I hit 'proceed to checkout'. LOL Actually, I didn't go that crazy, but the part that is too bad is that all the products were sent to a friend in another state, so I won't even get to sniff them! Will have to pop by a boutique of theirs at some point soon…
I've never tried the YR gel, sorry! LOVE St Ives Citrus, and use it for all the hand wash dispensers in my house.
My son's current fave chocolate is the very cheap Cleo Shower Cream in Chocolate, but only because I refuse to pay to replace his Philosophy 3-in-1 in Chocolate Ice Cream 🙂
I agree that YR scents are a mixed bag, but I do like Comme Une Evidence. It is kind of a basic floral, but it's based on lily of the valley and has a lot of development on my skin that I enjoy. I pretty much only wear it in the spring, though.
I can recommend YR shower gels because the scents are different from the mainstream, they're a nice size (not ginormous and hard to handle) and they're cheap. The lotion that I've tried is nice…but the cosmetic line is a complete bust, imho.
The Cocoon shower gel is exceedingly nice, but not as chocolatey as you might hope for, because chocolate, per se, is not a note in Cocoon: instead, it has cocoa powder, which is not the same thing (though it's lovely, very dark and dusty). If you like Cocoon, I definitely recommend the shower gel; the scent is gorgeous and hangs around for a bit on your skin. (Last Christmas I bought the half-ounce spray and an eight-ounce bottle of the shower gel: not the regular bottle, it was part of their Christmas line, shaped like a big fat teardrop, and the gel had little sparkly bits in it which thankfully do not stick to your skin.)
The St. Ives chocolate shower gel was killer, just an amazing chocolate experience. The Yves Rocher was also spectacular; it was part of their Plaisir de Nature line, and was available only for a couple of years before they killed it. I ordered it by phone just before it was discontinued, and I should have told them to send me every bottle they had, but, like a fool, I thought, “No, I should leave some for other people,” so I bought only two. And used them sparingly, but eventually used them up. Such is our fate.
L'Oreal Kids recently did a line of shampoos to tout the movie Over the Hedge: there were three, Vanilla, Chocolate, and I guess Berry (which I didn't try). The Chocolate was more or less a copy of the St. Ives, which is to say it's deep, dark, and fudge-brownie-like. I have a couple of bottles stashed away, because, as you can guess, it's been discontinued as well, dammit.