Grumpy … and roses

Sigh … I’m now in the countdown to returning to house-house (early October — pic to left is a ways ago). I am very pleased (I’ve been happy in the rental but all of a sudden I’m ready to go home) and the house is coming along well. Just have to get through all the stresses, such as: 1) my landlady in the rental had said she probably wouldn’t re-let until the new year. She’s changed her mind and I’m going to have potential new tenants trooping in and out of the house until she finds who she wants. I really hope the first tranche (coming through on Wednesday) say ‘please, us – we love the house’ (we can’t be in the house during viewings given Covid, so we and the dog will have to wander the village); 2) I have to do the reverse calling for utilities etc to stop everything here and restart stuff at the other house (and do all the utility readings – plus I get a new landline number at the house as they can’t give me back my previous one); and 3) I have to pack and move again. For the outbound move, my son was back from university – ie, he helped – but it’s just going to be me this time. At least I’m taking a week off work to unpack and settle back in.


For some reason I’ve been thinking about rose fragrances. Rose perfumes generally work well on my chemistry, but I don’t generally enjoy them that much. The one rose I own, Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit, doesn’t feel like a full on blousy rose. There’s simply too much else going on.

I have worn rose fragrances over the years, but none have lasted long in the line-up. I had Patou Joy at one point and it was beautiful, but not sufficiently so to keep me that interested. I wore a few Rosine roses. Same thing as Joy. I love roses as flowers but I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m better off with plants (there is soooo much to do in the garden when I’m back in the house – the builders are simply not interested in flowers – I told them to pick the roses and bring them home, but no go).

However, I’ve had a couple of friends who wore rose fragrances and I absolutely adored them on the two of them.

One wore YSL Paris in the 1980s (launched 1983). She was a fashion designer – knitwear (lord, we’d all go mad when she brought bags of samples for us to paw through – a lot of my 1980s wardrobe came from those bags). She was tremendously chic in a quirky way, had bright red hair and wore Chanel powder and red lips when most of us were doing black eye shadow and short on top long in the back mullets. The Paris of that time was big – apparently Tania Sanchez in Perfumes: The Guide called it “a brilliant, beautiful monster” and my friend bathed in it. It was a serious thing to sit next to her in a bar before a night out dancing. Just to remind of Paris’ notes (from NSTperfume): mimosa, geranium, bergamot, mayflower, hawthorn, juniper, Damascus rose, May rose, violet, sandalwood, iris, amber and musk.

Another friend wore YSL Rive Gauche (you can see a pattern here; launched 1970). She was the polar opposite of the above-mentioned friend: low maintenance, pixi cut, jeans and t-shirts – an academic. Again, the fragrance she chose was gorgeous on her and very much a signature scent. She never talked about wearing anything else. The fragrance was so powdery, but it worked well on her. I once bought her a bottle at Duty Free when returning to the UK and tried the open sampling bottle on myself. No. Really not my thing. But on her it was beautiful and sort of comforting. Notes (from Basenotes) for that one: peach, galbanum, rose, jasmine, geranium, lily of the valley, orris, ylang ylang, vetiver, tonka, sandalwood, oakmoss, musk and amber.

Do you do roses? Are (were) any of these things you wear (wore)? Are there perfumes friends wear that you love on them, but wouldn’t ever wear yourself?

PS The pic of YSL and Deneuve is from The Guardian. Other flowers Pexels. Building site is my house by me 

  • Patty says:

    I don’t do roses generally, except three – Amouage Lyric woman (preferabley in the extrait, most intense!), MDCI Rose de Siwa (little girl rose) and Hermessence Rose Ikebana (love the little bit of rhubarb in there). I like them all in theory and will wear some here and there, like Rose de Nuit, but rose perfumes just don’t thrill me, so I sorta forget about them.

  • Musette says:

    House is looking GOOD! I wouldn’t leave rose choices to builders – instead, why not have them dig the borders (so you don’t have to) and you can leave it (or amend it with leaf litter, etc) until you’re ready to plant what YOU want. So many beauties that you can grow – David Austin’s collection will blow you away! And I’m JELEALOUS (yeah, that’s hella jealous!) because I cannot grow them.
    I loved the original Paris and still have (and wear) a gorgeous bottle of nearly 50 yr old Joy parfum (still STUNNING after all these years).

    xoxoxo

    • Cinnamon says:

      Ya think on house? That pic was a ways ago. The main builder promised me when I visited last week that the kitchen (bar the counter top) would potentially be in when I next visit. I do have a David Austin yellow climber buried under next door (the tree haters) bindweed. Getting it uncovered will be a priority when I back there, along with the Etoile D’Hollande.

      • Musette says:

        not the photo so much as your description(s) of how it’s coming together! It always takes at least 25% longer than promised – at least in my experience – and I’m on Property #8 (?). . That’s also why I always lie a little on ETAs ! LOL! xoxoxo

        Etoile de Hollande! Swoooooon! and you must show pictures of the yellow climber, once you free it from its bondage! xoxoxo

  • Dina C. says:

    Cinnamon,
    Lovely post. I hope your housing ducks all line up nicely for you so your stress level is low as can be. I also love real roses, but have only a medium interest in rose scents. I enjoy: Paestum Rose in the cool weather, cheapie Pacifica Persian Rose, a mini of Joy parfum, but my fav for wearability might be Guerlain AA Rosa Pop. I love the flanker to Paris called Paris Jardins Romantiques; it’s lighter and greener. My high school best friend Susan used to wear Rive Gauche so it reminds me of her. Smelled fantastic!

  • Portia says:

    Hey Cinnamon,
    ROSES! Love them, there are dozens of them in my collection. My all time favourite is Mohur by NVC!
    Mum wore Paris during the daytime for a couple of bottles. It was really good on her.
    One of my besties Scott wears a LOT of Rive Gauche and it smells amazing on him. I have it but it rarely gets spritzed.
    Portia xx

    • Musette says:

      I rarely wear Rive Gauche, Portia, but I do wear its expensive clone (or clone-adjacent) Amouage Gold. Both are sparkly! xoxoxo

    • Cinnamon says:

      I really think Rive Gauche either works beautifully or sort of forget it. It was too much powder on me, but on Kirsty it was complex and gorgeous.

  • Eldarwen22 says:

    I have Amouage Lyric and Epic, Guerlain Nahema and samples of Rose de Nuit. I don’t wear Rose de Nuit because I have to be in a certain mood to wear it, Nahema too. I wear the Lyric and Epic on a regular basis. Rose can be goofy.

  • March says:

    YSL Paris is the only rose fragrance I own and wear, which is kinda weird when you consider its intensity. I loved it back in the day and I love it still. In fact I think I’ll put some on right now. <3. I’d much rather have live roses in the yard, I love their fragrance.

  • SpringPansy says:

    I almost never wear rose – I don’t really enjoy it in perfume unless it has other things going on. My two rose perfume bottles bought long ago are Lancome Mille et Une Roses and Stella. And, as filomena813 points out, I should count TF Noir de Noir as a rose fragrance, too.

    Best of luck with the move, etc., Cinnamon. I do hate moving and still have PTSD from our move from Colorado to Seattle three years ago. I was quite sad about leaving and in fact, Colorado still feels more like home. It takes me quite a while to adjust. But you’re going back to your own house so it will be a celebration!

    • SpringPansy says:

      And your questions at the end make me realize that I don’t have any friends who wear fragrance!! (Just long distance PP and NST friends who I really only “know” online but thank goodness for all of you!)

    • Cinnamon says:

      That’s an interesting point, the idea of feeling like home. The rental house is situated in an ‘easier’ location, but I miss my house.

  • lee says:

    Oh Cinnamon, it’s taken me a ridiculously long time to realise that while roses are one of my very favourite flowers and their smell makes me swoon I just can’t wear rose perfumes. My friend wears La Fille de Berlin and on her it’s a dizzying beautiful red rose- on me, air freshener. Paris in the bottle, delicious, on my skin cloying, Rose of No man’s Land on my son, fabulous, on me, nauseatingly sweet.. and so on and on, I just can’t admit defeat. Huh. Can just get away with POAL but it’s really just bloody mindedness because I adore it… Very best wishes for your house move, so wonderful to be returning to your garden, your roses will rejoice!

    • Cinnamon says:

      I haven’t smelled LFdeB in years. Put that on the sampling list. Thank you on move. I have visions of dragging the communal green bin into my garden and going to town with the secateurs.

  • Gina T says:

    Rose is my favorite note.

  • filomena813 says:

    Rose perfumes I own: Sa Majeste La Rose by Serge Lutens; Rose Cut by Ann Gerard; Rose Kashan by The Different Company; Tom Ford’s Noir de Noir; Byredo’s Rose of No Man’s Land; Frederic Malle’s Lipstick Rose, Une Rose and Rose & Cuir; Chanel’s Misia and Le Labo’s Rose 31. I rarely have worn the Lutens or the Tom Ford, but most of the others I wear from time to time. Until I actually wrote this, I did not realize how many rose fragrances I had!

    • SpringPansy says:

      Interesting – I have a couple of manufacturer’s sample bottles of Noir de Noir but I never think of it as rose. I do love that one on the right day.

    • Cinnamon says:

      That’s a fair bit of rose. I used to own Une Rose, but gave it to a friend on whom it worked better. The TF sounds interesting…