Rumeur 2 Rose Lanvin 2008

A classic case of starting strong and then fading away even stronger... although the positive aspects are clearly in the majority here. The bottle, however, does not belong to that category; I find the newer Lanvins significantly prettier. But let's start from the beginning...

Sometimes I don't even know how & why I come across samples of fragrances... Rumeur 2 Rose, never really successful or well-known and long discontinued by Lanvin, is such a case. I still enjoy testing these olfactory outsiders, even if only 1-3 users per decade might stumble upon this and it’s hard to conjure up a long or creative comment from such a simple scent.

This rumor of a rose starts off really beautifully - zesty, green, naive, summery, simply happy with lemon and pleasant green accents. And at the beginning, the titular rose plays a significant role and stands out - this is where the fragrance earns most of its good rating. I can really imagine a sexy natural beauty on a hot summer day craving roses & refreshment at the same time and then applying this scent perfectly suited for the occasion. Unfortunately, this brief moment of brilliance is short-lived; the rose quickly fades almost entirely, and the fragrance becomes more than unspectacular with musk & a few unrecognizable flowers (lily of the valley being the closest). It's a shame; with a longer duration & staying power of the rose, there could have been more to it.

Bottle: as mentioned: good ideas that were not quite fully developed back then. The lettering especially looks a bit cheap.
Sillage: no matter how hot the days get in summer, this one is manageable.
Longevity: even at regulated temperatures, never more than 4 hours.

Conclusion: a pleasantly light, refreshing, green rose scent for spring & summer... one that you certainly won't miss!