Rose Barbare is one of the older scents in Guerlain's L'Art & La Matière collection, which shocks me as it does not come across as anything ridiculously special or mass appealing. It's actually quite basic in nature and doesn't do much of anything impressive, though it does smell good and feels very well composed. The opening is quite sweet and metallic, with the rose coming into play as it dries a bit. I get a strong note of honey right off the bat, with some soapiness coming from the aldehydes. The opening is actually a bit screechy to me, but it mellows out quite a bit as it dries, with a decadent, dense rose note becoming the primary scent here. There is some leafiness as it dries as well. Unfortunately this fragrance doesn't perform well either, so no matter how great the dry down is, it doesn't stay around very long to experience it for more than an hour or so. One fun fact is that, according to Guerlain's website, this fragrance is based on the opera Carmen, with the juxtaposition of the delicate rose and metallic notes supposedly representing the nature and personality of the titular character.
Considering Guerlain is a house that loves to discontinue things that do not sell, I'm shocked that this one is still in their lineup. Perhaps the nostalgia of it being one of the original L'Art & La Matière scents is keeping it in the game, but I wouldn't say nostalgia is enough to keep this one around. While this is a solid fragrance from the collection, there are definitely better ones in general, and better rose fragrances as well.
