Voleur de Roses L'Artisan Parfumeur 1993

This perfume is not aggressive but very much present. I get complimented on it quite often. Earthy patchouli and dark scents work with my chemistry. The plum note brings the illusion that the roses have a very slight natural sweetness; it's as if they were at the end of their life in a garden at the beginning of autumn. It is beautifully melancholic.
*This is a review of the earlier formulation, (glass bottle, burgundy label).

L'Artisan Parfumeur VOLEUR DE ROSES is one among a cluster of recent rose patchouli perfumes. This one lacks the sweetness found in, above all, ANGEL LA ROSE. The patchouli note is also rather dry and dirty here, rather than sugar-coated and caramelized, as in the ANGEL flanker.

I have no objection to the earthy presentation of the patchouli, although it is true that it swiftly overwhelms the delicate and already understated rose. (Don't permit thieves reeking of patchouli anywhere near your rose garden!) My only real complaint is that VOLEUR DE ROSES exhibits under some weather conditions the defect common to many offerings of this house: lousy longevity.

In contrast to Lush KARMA, this patchouli-rich perfume strikes me as a composition, not just a mixture of patchouli oil with other essential oils (in the case of KARMA, orange figures prominently). But you really do have to love patchouli to wear this one, too!

The opening of this is unbelievably wonderful! It's like sitting in a damp bed of roses. I get the soil, stems, flowers, leaves and dew. It's all there and it's amazing.

After the initial opening, the Patchouli, which is pretty dirty, becomes dominant and feels a bit to masculine on me. The rose flower is also pretty dominant with the patchouli but it's not a feminine, girly rose. It's masculine and thorny (on me at least). I never really got any of the plum outright but maybe it's what is helping balance everything.

The sillage and longevity are Moderate. This is a Fantastic Rose scent for a man. It's one of my favorites in fact, and I often suggest it to the men looking for a good manly rose scent.

May
31
2014

Roses the flowers of saints; this is the most purest most natural organic
rose fragrance it's not a powdery synthitic rose compound like in givenchy's very irresistable. made with
the purest rose oil and patchouli makes it an earthy feel.

conjoures up the feeling of a pilgrimage to guadelupe mexico to visit
the shrine of the virgin mary or the day of the dead festival in mexico full of colorful flowers dancing skellinton
puppets and dirt.

it's bit a feminine to classify as a
men scent a refined fragrance that is
not gaudy loud or flashy perfect for
sipping deep red wine.

This was an underappreciated gem in the L'Artisan collection, which used to be much more daring and diverse than it is now. Many patchouli-roses push their rose into jammy territory to contrast it with the dark green bite of the patchouli. Portrait of a Lady, Radical Rose, and Eau Capitale are examples of this. L’Artisan’s Voleur de Roses resists this temptation to sweeten the deal. Its rose is not the inhabitant of a romantic poem but of a rainy, overgrown garden. It is raw, it is almost acidic, it has more thorns than one might like. And it is paired with a tumultuous, unapologetic patchouli with a verdant, steamy aroma (without any cacao inflections). No dusty old books are evoked here like with some aged patchouli. The only other note I perceive on top of this dramatic pairing is a soft plum. More winey than jammy, it further fleshes out the gothic character of this perfume.

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