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Browsing by tag: rose

Valentino Rock ‘n Rose & Rock ‘n Rose Couture ~ perfume review

Posted by Robin on 1 February 2008 13 Comments

Valentino Rock 'n Rose fragrance

Valentino launched Rock ‘n Rose in 2006. The fragrance was said to have been “inspired by a new generation of young Valentino women….a Rose on the outside and a Rocker on the inside”; as you can guess, that means Rock ‘n Rose hopes to bring younger consumers (or more specifically, “younger women who aspire to a luxurious lifestyle”*) into the Valentino fold.

Valentino Garavani reportedly loves roses; the garden at Wideville, his estate outside Paris, is said to have “acres” of roses. I could swear I read somewhere recently that Valentino does not really adore the smell of roses, but I can’t find a link so perhaps I dreamed it. At any rate, Rock ‘n Rose is not meant to be a rose soliflore…

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Badger Body Butter in Antique Rose ~ scented body product review

Posted by Jessica on 13 January 2008 6 Comments

Badger Body Butter in Antique Rose fragranceAs the winter continues, I’m trying to heal my chapped hands and ragged cuticles, and I want to prevent those tiny, painful cracks that sometimes emerge on the tips of my fingers during freezing-cold weather. My latest weapon against these aggravating little seasonal afflictions is Badger Body Butter. It has a base of natural ingredients, including jojoba, olive oil, cocoa butter, and beeswax, and its Antique Rose fragrance is mixed from essences of rose otto, patchouli, cardamom, and blood orange.

If you are already a fan of Badger’s popular Chai Rose lip balm (with its scent of cardamom, rose, and vanilla), you will most likely enjoy this Body Butter. The two products aren’t identical, but they smell similar enough to please the same noses…

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Juliette Has A Gun Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance ~ fragrance review, with a little rant on niche

Posted by Robin on 19 December 2007 49 Comments

Juliette Has A Gun Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance perfumes

The whole idea of niche fragrance is to offer something special and different, something you can’t find on the perfume counter at your local Macy’s. The best sort of niche perfume house, presumably, will put artistic integrity before mass appeal. I came to perfume addiction via niche, as it were, and I’m still an easy target: tell me you’ve got an incense by Bertrand Duchaufour made with the best possible materials or Jean Claude Ellena re-engineering lavender at the molecular level or Aurelien Guichard conjuring up 1960s pop culture, and I’m there.

But niche, like luxury, has become so ubiquitous as to lose its cachet…

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Yves Rocher Rose Absolue ~ fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 19 September 2007 70 Comments

Yves Rocher Rose Absolue fragrance

Voile d’Ambre, the first entry in Yves Rocher’s Secrets D’Essences line, was so nicely done (even to this amber-hater) that I was tempted by their new Rose Absolue fragrance as soon as I heard about it. Adding to my “why I should buy Rose Absolue” list: it was developed by perfumer Christine Nagel, who also did the lovely 2000 et Une Rose / Mille et Une Roses for Lancome, and best of all, 5 ml miniatures of the Eau de Parfum can be had for $3.

When I purchased Rose Absolue last month, Yves Rocher was running a 2-for-1 special, so I got 10 ml for my $3 investment. I won’t be at all surprised if that turns out to be the biggest perfume bargain I manage to score in 2007, as the fragrance itself turns out to be lovely. It starts out creamy and dewy-sweet, with a hint of spice (the notes: cinnamon, apple, Turkish, Bulgarian and Morrocan rose, cedar, patchouli and tonka bean). The rose is slightly fruity, but I don’t smell apple, and it is just as well — I was a bit worried that with the apple and cinnamon, this might end up smelling like a rose-apple pie. Rose Absolue does have a bit of a gourmand feel, but it isn’t overwhelmingly foody by any means, nor is it cloyingly sweet…

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Wearing roses to bed

Posted by Robin on 9 March 2007 7 Comments

Scientists studying how sleep affects memory have found that the whiff of a familiar scent can help a slumbering brain better remember things that it learned the evening before. The smell of roses — delivered to people’s nostrils as they studied and, later, as they slept — improved their performance on a memory test by about 13 percent.

— Another reason to spritz on some Une Rose before you go to bed, from the journal Science via today's New York Times (with thanks to Ruth for the link).

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