Attar de Roses Keiko Mecheri 2010

This is a whisper of a scent, close to the skin. It is beautiful but shy. I will douse my clothes in this and report back...

I'm finding that all of the Keiko Mecheri scents are too close to the skin for my liking. No one ever comments on them, no curious cashiers leaning in and asking, "What smells so good?" While some of the Keiko Mecheri scents are lovely, for the money, I'd prefer something with projection... period.

Being a rose perfume aficionado I always on a lookout for a new rose scent to add to my collection. Attar de Roses is a beautiful true rose scent that is definitely worthy a full bottle. What I love about this scent is a combination of soft and subtle with sensual and rich. It embodies the rose in full bloom perfectly – its delicate, fragrant petals, rich deep color and a divine smell. It wraps around me like a delicate silk veil so gorgeous and feminine. A perfect selection for a romantic evening or a first date.

The opening of this scent is luscious and rich. Natural, true rose in all its glory. I find there is a little bit more going on in this scent than just straight roses. There is a bit of oriental and sweet feeling to the scent in the first half an hour. However, the sweetness with just a touch of powder is never overwhelming but rather perfectly balanced. As the scent develops, I could smell a bit of ambergris, but on my skin it never goes into animalistic territory, but rather remains floral. I get only hints of leather, but it adds a nice touch to the whole composition. The scent settles to a lovely soft rose scent, which stays close to the skin and lasts about 5-6 hours.

I would definitely recommend this scent to those who are looking for a nice, true rose scent which smells natural, not overpowering and easy to wear. This is a rose scent that I can wear to almost any occasion without being overwhelmed by the diva personality, which so many rose scents have. Overall score 9/10.

Keiko Mecheri ATTAR DE ROSES is the sort of creation which makes me a believer in the niche/designer distinction. This is simply a gorgeous, velvety, authentic red rose perfume. I defy anyone to find anything even close to this in the designer houses. All of those "rose" perfumes are pale koolaid roses, while this is the real thing. Here the rose is richly dressed with ambergris and the effect is magnificent.

ATTAR DE ROSES opens on what I initially took to be a benzoin note, but as the composition develops the rose becomes thicker and richer with a texture not exactly waxy but still vaguely reminiscent of Guerlain NAHEMA. From looking at the notes, I initially surmised that what I was detecting in the base was ambergris much more than leather.

After acquiring a bottle and becoming much more familiar with this creation, I have concluded that ATTAR DE ROSES is something of an ambergris bomb. Big rose and equally big ambergris. Think Creed FLEURS DE BULGARIE but multiple the ambergris by about five.

This unique, seductive creation is truly gorgeous and a must-sniff for all rose lovers!

After the application ATTER DE ROSES shows a quite ambitious zest to be slightly mawkish and really sweet. It takes only few minutes to get a tamed, soft, silky flying rose scent, behind the rose curtain, a shy tea scent is hiding, maybe warm woods are propping the fond flowers.
If I would have a rose pillow, it would have exactly the same scent.
Unfortunately longevity and sillage is a bit weak for my expectations.

Attar de Roses flies out of the bottle as a fresh, pretty blend of three different rose oils, from the Taif, Shiraz and Anciennes varietals. It fleshes out over time to become a full, velvety rose with fruity and creamy facets, but never loses its essential bright pink character.

Supposedly, this fragrance has an animalic amber and leather dry down, but if it's there, it's subtle. Something like, let's say, Jicky, would eat Attar de Roses for breakfast. Rather, I would characterize the dry down as being very like powdered Turkish Delight (lokhoum) in the style of Keiko Mecheri's famous lokhoum perfumes, with a slightly jammy, sweet fruit center. It also reminds me a little of lipstick scents such as Drole de Rose and Lipstick Rose, with its waxy, pink prettiness.

Would I wear Attar de Roses? Most certainly - it is one of the most straight-forwardly gorgeous rose scents I have ever smelled, and if a bottle of it dropped in my lap, I would use it most happily. Purely from a sampling perspective, however, I find its pale beauty a bit boring after a while. But that's a complaint I have with most soliflores. Truth be told, this is exceptional.