Black Rosette
Strange Invisible Perfumes (2005)

In my opinion as a semi-interested consumer of personal care products, the Great Oud Arms Race that transpired in the fragrance industry from roughly around 2005-2015 — aside from being an example of synergy between various marketing and sales opportunities related to globalized commerce, corporate integration and consolidation and the creation of a new recognizable market category in men’s fragrances — once again catapulted rose to the forefront of men’s perfumery. Newly minted or resurrected “heritage” niche brands, established designer houses, all keenly espoused the magic of the exotic, mysterious, completely unavailable, fabulously mystical, even dangerous (geopolitically speaking) olfactory-kaleidoscopic emperors new clothes of the aromachemicals marketed as Oud - it was beastly, but medicinal, but rotten, but beautiful, but oily but, but, but, but but. No one really knew how to define it, but everyone knew what it wa$. Careers were made and wallets were broken. But through the entire transfer of wealth, let us not forget, it was mostly Rose that was the predominant supporting player in whatever was passing for Oud at that particular moment. Rose, with its links to the earliest exemplars of Western European masculine perfumery, represented by the existence of such as Hammam Bouquet; the veneration that hipsters of a certain generation have for Czech & Speake 88 - and the noble association of Oud and its rarity, its embodiment of an oriental mystique - it was a marriage made in heaven for sellers, buyers, dreamers.

Black Rosette was there in 2005 at the very start of it all. A decidedly non-oudy minty rose, tea and leather scent, that despite repeated mentions over the years in the NYT did not ride the elevator to super-stardom as did so many other rose and leather dominant overnight woody masculine success stories. Yet I’d venture to say it may be one of the very best Rose-focused fragrances of our time, and certainly my favorite. I say rose focused and not rose-centric, because the heart of this fragrance is not any of the notes listed - the heart of Black Rosette is soft, smoldering smokiness, viewed through the deceptively simple, multifaceted lens of rose and mint as it furls and wraps itself around subtly tannic, tea-infused leather.

I discovered Black Rosette just messing around on basenotes several years ago, searching for specific groupings of notes. Most of my daily wear scents were dark, ambery, woody scents, and I had nothing that I could really wear in the warmer months. I had narrowed my search to mint and tea, as two notes I could potentially tolerate, and stumbled upon the reviews of this scent. I was indecisive and unsure but eventually did manage to find a 5 ml sample from eBay that has lasted around 5 years.

Having lived with it and turned repeatedly to it over the years, especially in spring and late summer (I used it sparingly because it was expensive) I have gotten used to having it around to the point where it doesn’t seem optional. And so in a strange sort of synchronicity, I am also currently waiting for a 50ml bottle of this to arrive in the mail, after having slept on it for the last 5 years, much like shiftybat claimed to be doing in their review. Perhaps that’s just how it goes with Black Rosette.

On my many wearings I’ve noticed the opening has a moment of similarity to the “bug spray” that older reviewers used to associate with Black Aoud, that in the first few minutes becomes an opulent, smooth, creamy rose. As the creaminess settles, bracing spearmint cools the sweetness and together with the smoky, slight bitterness of black tea creates a sort of refined but intense aura as they warm on the skin. The leather is the fine reverse calf leather of my favorite combat boots. Not a “smell” of leather per se, but an impression, reinforced by the smoke and tea. It feels spicy in these moments, even though this is not a spicy scent, deep down and close to the skin.

In the first few wearings, even though I prefer skin scents I was saddened by how much closer this wore than many of my other scents. The combination of the accords just gets more and more beautiful on the skin as time goes by, until they vanish. Alexandra Balahoutis acknowledged this in an interview and said that her solution was to spray a lot, and it’s actually true. These are botanically derived, truly “natural” scents. Not something I typically go for, but after years of wearing this I can see how odd it is to be miserly in the application of a luxury beauty product. Even so I usually only spray it twice. I can smell it 8 hours on my skin and around me on a good days.

In the time since this scent was launched, I’ve sampled many niche houses extensively. I’ve been disappointed by most of them, the good ones, the bad ones, and even the great ones at times. Niche marketing somehow pitches a line that the ingredients used in making niche scents are somehow more authentic or higher quality or better blended. Roja Dove may be the only house I’ve sampled where this feels more consistently true than not…I still haven’t gotten to the Xerjoffs…but my feeling is that with Black Rosette in my world, I may not have to. Unique and authentic, its true arc is not a journey from top to basenotes, but a journey from vivid technicolor hyperreality to languid, easy tranquility. The leather doesn’t beat its chest and burn your nose - there’s no birch tar cliches, no norlimbanol, no javanol…it isn’t trying to prove anything but it feels truly authentic, lived in, comfortable with itself. It naturally enhances the scent of my own skin in the drydown. Not a compliment getter for me, but one that several times a year, makes me feel more like myself. This is the scent that I had wanted Fumerie Turque to be, but it wasn’t. The baroque smokiness of Fumerie Turque was from tobacco, suede and styrax, which combined with honey and vanilla get urinous and cloying in heat and humidity and the rain, and turn on my skin.

A mysterious, beguiling puff of wide awake, shamanic smoke that can be worn comfortably in spring and summer, Black Rosette fits into my regular rotation by virtue of its dappled minimalism, a trait shared by almost all the scents I cycle throughout a year. It is the most natural smelling out of all of them. Many of the scents that SIP made in the last two decades seem to no longer be in production but this one has fortunately made it to their shortlist. I couldn’t be more delighted that a full bottle is finally on the way.

Once the top notes faded the dry down was astonishing to me. It's lasted over 6 hours so far today on my skin.It's just a bit too pricey for me at $1,230/oz ($307.30/ 0.25 oz with CA tax no shipping.) It's only sold as a pure parfum but still out of my ballpark.I would buy anything that's similar if it were more reasonably priced but I haven't found anything even close.Cheers!

Black Rosette starts off sharp and bitter but soon develops into exactly what one would expect from reading the notes listed. Long ago I had a scented leather rose that smelled just like this minus the mint. Like nothing else in my collection.

Edit: Has it really been over five years? Black Rosette has been in my top ten bucket list of to-own frags since I first tried it, but I always balked at the price (more than my vintage Derby!). My memories of this fragrance were so strongly positive I would sometimes return to the long-since emptied sample vial hoping to catch the smallest molecule of this immensely polarizing masterpiece. I finally found a dealer selling sizable decants of the EDP which arrived today and from the first spray I was transported back to that lovely place in my memory. I am so heartened to find that my love of Black Rosette was not blown out of proportion by time and romantic fancy. This is, beyond doubt, one of the most pleasurable Things I have ever smelled, with a spearmint plucked right out from my childhood garden and a dark, velveteen rose with more facets than a wedding diamond. With the sample rising coolly from my clavicle to greet me and a 50 ml bottle in the mail, I am in a very happy place indeed.

Black Rosette smells like Bandit's little sister to me. It has a wierd medicinal camphor smell at first but then mellows out quickly and the scent of a soft old leather suitcase gently comes through. I don't think I ever caught a rose note - maybe because it is so expertly blended. Would be interesting on a man, I think.

A soothing scent that to me is all tea, smoke and leather, with a wisp of rose popping up now and then. I would definitely consider this a unisex scent. I am in the process of saving up up to buy a bottle, as I find there is a real difference in using perfume made with natural ingredients. From the notes, you would think Bulagari Black is a close match, but that scent is all rubber tires on me. Black Rosette is the way you might smell after spending all night in a tea house somewhere in Central Asis.