Rose Privée L'Artisan Parfumeur 2015

Rose Privee opens with a natural smelling slightly tart hybrid citrus accord that resembles a cross between grapefruit and peach. Moving to the early heart the slightly tart citrus mix joins modestly powdery, airy lifelike rose as co-stars with a honey pollen-like lilac and subtle carnation supporting floral duo. During the late dry-down the rose turns a bit more powdery but keeps the powder still to relatively low levels as dark supporting lightly spiced hay-like coumarin in the base joins the rose remnants through the finish. Projection is excellent, as is longevity at around 12 hours on skin.

When I heard Rose Privee was composed by the pairing of super-star "old-hand" nose Betrand Duchaufour and up and coming star Stephanie Bakouche (Invasion Barbare) my interest was piqued to find out what the old and new "A List" pairing could jointly produce. On the surface, going with a rose composition appears a pretty safe bet, as it is tough to screw up and has been done hundreds of times over. That said, this is not just an average rose you will find elsewhere. Instead, the pair has added a very interesting and distinctive citrus accord that permeates the rose early and hangs around for most of the composition's development. I still am not entirely sure what is driving the tart citrus, but it comes off as a cross between grapefruit and peach. What I *can* say is I like the accord a lot, and it pairs perfectly with the staring airy rose, creating a distinctive smell that really is sublime. The dynamic duo also add in a carnation and lilac supporting floral accord to the mix in the composition's mid-section that seems to pair with the rose citrus like they were made to go together. The only slight disappointment is in the late dry-down as the rose turns a bit more powdery, joining some deep hay-like coumarin in the base that doesn't quite mesh as well as the rest, but this is only in relative terms and absolutely nothing to worry about. As to similar smelling compositions nothing comes immediately to mind, but stylistically, Duchaufour's absolutely superb Rose Cut by Ann Gerard from last year kind of fits the bill. That said, Rose Cut smelled quite different using peony and incense instead of the tart citrus used here. Rose Privee also would probably be stereotypically described as more "feminine" by most due to the rose's airy nature. At the end of the day, "masculine" and "feminine" are just words, but all I know is Rose Privee smells really, really good and would on anyone. The bottom line is the $180 per 100ml bottle Rose Privee utilizes the talents of two superb noses and delivers the goods big time, earning an "excellent" 4 star out of 5 rating and a strong recommendation to rose lovers in particular.