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A Lab on Fire Rose Rebelle Respawn ~ fragrance review

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A Lab on Fire Rose Rebelle Respawn

Last summer, A Lab On Fire launched Rose Rebelle Respawn, a “modern, feminine” fragrance developed by perfumer Sophia Grojsman. Like everything about A Lab on Fire, it’s a bit mysterious: it’s the third or fourth permutation of Grojsman’s 100% Love, originally released in 2003 by S-Perfume (the parent brand of A Lab on Fire). The original 100% Love was followed by S-Perfume 100% Love {More} in 2006, and more recently, by A Lab on Fire Rose Rebelle in 2011, which I never had the chance to try. (I think it was available only in Paris, and it may or may not have been identical to 100% Love.)

Rose Rebelle Respawn has a composition of ivy, mint leaves, carnation, rose, musks, incense and cacao…

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Aerin Amber Musk & Evening Rose ~ perfume reviews

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Aerin Amber Musk & Evening Rose fragrances

Last week I reviewed Lilac Path, Ikat Jasmine and Gardenia Rattan, all from Aerin, the new-ish lifestyle brand of Aerin Lauder. Erin asked if I’d left the other two fragrances in the collection, Amber Musk and Evening Rose, until later because they were the best of the bunch, but no, I left them only because I wasn’t quite as interested, insofar as I’m not a huge amber fan and rose, well, 2013 was very nearly the year of the rose, right? At least, rose vied with oud as the note du jour. Of course, oud probably won, it usually does.

But yes, they are, arguably, the best of the bunch, and they do have more weight and sillage than the other three. They still don’t quite meet the standard I’d hoped for from the set — something similar to the upscale Private Collection scents Aerin Lauder designed for the Estée Lauder brand, Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, Private Collection Amber Ylang Ylang and Private Collection Jasmine White Moss. But they’re closer in spirit, and while I have no idea which of the five will sell the best, these are probably the two that are most likely to please perfumistas…

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Les Parfums de Rosine Majalis ~ perfume review

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Les Parfums de Rosine Majalis

I had to raise an eyebrow at the most recent issue of Allure magazine, which featured an article discussing “the return of the rose” in contemporary fragrance. I didn’t realize the rose had gone anywhere, since I’ve been wearing rose-inspired perfumes most of my adult life. Furthermore, Les Parfums de Rosine has been offering rose-centered fragrances since the company was revived in 1991, so they would seem to have been ahead of this trend (?); when I first began exploring niche perfumery a decade ago, I found many scents to love in the Rosine collection. (I would have liked to include more of them in my list of 25 must-try rose fragrances, believe me; I was just trying to keep things balanced!)

Majalis is the latest launch from Les Parfums de Rosine, a “seductive and sophisticated” floriental…

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House of Cherry Bomb Cardamom Rose & Tobacco Cognac ~ fragrance reviews

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House of Cherry Bomb Tobacco Cognac

House of Cherry Bomb is a collaborative project between Maria McElroy (of Aroma M) and Alexis Karl (of Scent by Alexis), two New York-based independent perfumers. The first pair of Cherry Bomb fragrances, Truth or Dare and Rebel Angel, were both vanilla-based gourmands created for younger female wearers. Cardamom Rose and Tobacco Cognac are the first two fragrances in the line’s exclusive “Atelier collection” (available through the Aroma M Atelier in Brooklyn), and they seem aimed at a more grown-up clientele, one with a taste for unconventional (yet wearable) blends.

Cardamom Rose is “an enchanting scent to be worn in all seasons…with subtle spice, trails of Moroccan flowers and traces of smoke.” The mention of Morocco seems important here — perhaps this fragrance is meant to evoke a stroll through the streets of Tangier and the mingled scents of fruit stands, flower markets, spice shops, and smoke drifting out of cafés…

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Marni Rose ~ perfume review & quick flanker poll

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Marni Rose perfume bottles

Marni Rose is the first flanker to Marni, the brand’s debut fragrance. It was announced as a “more intense” scent geared towards the Asian market. Now, a more intense scent geared towards the Asian market is a rare bird indeed, insofar as nearly everything geared towards the Asian market is made as light and inoffensive and clean as possible, but the claims turn out to be reasonably true. The original Marni, of course, was not exactly a powerhouse, so we are talking degrees of intense here.

Still, Marni was one of my favorite fragrance releases of 2013, and Marni Rose now joins the “best of” list as one of my favorite flankers of the year.1 It does exactly what a flanker ought to do: explores facets of the original fragrance whilst still being similar enough to justify keeping the name and the packaging (they’ve tinted the bottle in shades of pink, and switched the red cap for a black one). You could very reasonably want to own both, and you could just as easily find that you liked Marni Rose even if you didn’t quite love Marni…

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