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Desert Rose Urban Scents 2014

7.3 / 10 120 Ratings

A perfume by Urban Scents for women and men, released in 2014. The scent is floral-spicy. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Floral

Spicy

Fresh

Green

Synthetic

Fragrance Notes

Ginger

Rose

Musk

Salicylate Spices

Spices

Cardamom

Perfumer

Marie Urban Le Febvre

Ratings

Scent

7.3120 Ratings

Longevity

6.997 Ratings

Sillage

6.0100 Ratings

Bottle

7.295 Ratings

Value for money

5.823 Ratings

Submitted by Michael · last update on 12/25/2025.

Source-backed & verified

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Mythos - Hommage à Greta Garbo

Aqua Allegoria Ginger Piccante

Lyric Woman Eau de Parfum

The Coveted Duchess Rose

Rose of No Man's Land Eau de Parfum

À la Rose Eau de Parfum

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

10/17/2015

8Scent 5Longevity 2.5Sillage

Gaukeleya
109 Reviews

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Gaukeleya

Top Review 22

The Way into the Light

- So, onto Desert Rose now, the latest fragrance from Urban Scents that I want to dedicate a few words to (beyond the already released statement) -

Desert Rose is a delicate little plant, that much can be said right away. The strong spices (I primarily perceive pepper) that dominate the scent in, let's say, the first third - perhaps even in the first half - cannot disguise this. Marie Le Febvre wanted, in her words, to create a rose scent for people who are not fans of rose fragrances, and in this regard, I can only nod in agreement again: I am not a fan of rose scents either. And I like Desert Rose (though not as much as some other Urban Scents).

The charming employee at the Berlin shop where I first took a whiff of Desert Rose explained that the special aspect here is primarily due to the salicylates, which give the fragrance a certain sharpness and edge. Now, I must say that I have no idea how salicylates smell or what they can do in perfumes, but I can confirm the sharpness and edge.

At least at the beginning. Desert Rose opens fresh, sharply peppery/spicy and, well, rosy. This opening is, like the entire fragrance, not particularly complex, but beautifully spirited; it has something cheeky, sparkling, bright eyes, freckles. Perhaps also a slightly brittle quality, but not as self-assured and cunning as, for example, La Fille de Berlin (my previous rose favorite).
Where FdB quickly makes it clear that we are being drawn into darkness as the scent develops, Desert Rose soon reveals the path into the light that it will take.

Although the sharp spice with the fine, pointed thorns of this rose certainly lasts a good one or two hours, it cannot halt the triumphant march of the gentle clean musk that will soon dominate Desert Rose and make it light and friendly. I also perceive a distinctly dry note, most likely something woody, though not parched like desert dust, rather completely dry and unjuicy.
I cannot detect anything sweet, even gourmandish, at all. After the sharp spice (and presumably also salicylate) companions, I only smell the clean, fine, bright, noble musk, embedded in the delicate rose.

Desert Rose initially presents itself as a spirited, androgynous creature, a bit defiant, brittle, and cheeky, but deep down, it only conceals its shyness and friendly, gentle nature. Filigree, bright, and transparent, developing quickly close to the skin - perhaps a bit *too* close to the skin, and one really has to want that given the price - Desert Rose lasts about half a day on my skin; it doesn't last longer, which is a pity.

Those seeking abysses will not find them here, nor will those looking for a sweet little girl rose with baby’s breath, and certainly not an opulent, sensual blood rose for seduction. The charm of Desert Rose lies in the purring behind the feistiness, the gentle nature behind the dismissive thorniness, the light at the end of the dark path.

05/19/2019

10Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Micscent
9 Reviews

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Micscent

Top Review 13

A Dozen Roses for Men (6/12)

As a newcomer here, I’m diving right into a series of comments. This is the sixth part.

The motivation, the idea, and the criteria
I am a true fan of the scent of roses (in my youth, my mother had Paris by YSL. I thought it was “amazing”). However, rose is not exactly the first ingredient that comes to mind for a men’s fragrance. Nevertheless, I find that rose is increasingly present in men’s fragrances.
Based on the following criteria, I have selected 12 of these fragrances and will comment on and compare them one by one:
- Men’s fragrance (exception: Desert Rose by Urban Scents as a unisex fragrance, I just had to include it)
- Rose as a heart note (exception: Much ado about the Duke by Penhaligon, I was just in London when I had the idea)
- Released from the year 2000 onwards
- Rating of at least 6.0 with at least 40 reviews
- No oud (not really my thing)
Fragrance No. 6 is: Desert Rose (*2014) (as a unisex fragrance, this is the one exception to the criteria)
(so far: (1) Lumière Noire pour Homme by Maison Francis Kurkdjian, (2) 24 Old Bond Street Triple Extract by Atkinsons, (3) Lyric Man by Amouage, (4) Colonia Ambra by Acqua di Parma, (5) Déclaration d'un Soir by Cartier)

The house, the perfumer, and the purchase
The Frenchwoman Marie Le Febvre (*1976) began her career at the age of 13. During a student internship at a cosmetics company, she met the then rising perfume star Jacques Cavallier (who a few years later (1992) designed “Pasha de Cartier” and “L'Eau d'Issey”). He gifted her a small chemistry kit for perfumers, with the task of keeping a fragrance diary. After a week, she presented him with her homework and received a second, larger kit in return. By the end of the internship, she had found a mentor. This childhood encounter initially led her to study chemistry. Afterwards, like most of the protagonists of “A Dozen Roses for Men,” she attended the famous perfume school ISPICA in Versailles, where she wrote her thesis on the sweet grass vetiver. After her studies, she worked for international perfume houses such as L'Oréal, the LVMH group, and Estée Lauder. Together with her husband, Alexander Urban, an expert in fragrance raw materials, she opened the fragrance manufactory “Urban Scents” in Berlin Schöneberg in 2014. Regarding the name, almost everyone probably had a different association at first!? At this point, I must mention the bottle: The midnight blue design (definitely hold it up to the sunlight!) with a brushed brass cap comes from a glass factory in Dresden from the 1930s. A propeller is the label and documents the passion of the two owners for aviation. I also recommend the “Fragrance Walk No. 4” by FVSpee for the Berlin store, which also houses a lot of art and where Marie Le Febvre creates custom-made fragrances for clients.

The scent, the components, and the experience
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the fragrance creations of Marie Le Febvre “are characterized by a reduced opulence that is expressed in the purity of the ingredients and the artisanal love for detail.” Desert Rose, named after the desert rose, a plant that can bloom in hot regions, is a beautiful example of this.

“Desert Rose” smells rosy from the very beginning. Here, the rose is accompanied by only a few other ingredients. On one side are the spicy components of cardamom and ginger, and on the other side, the sweeter facets of salicylates and musk. We are dealing with an intense but by no means overwhelming (Moroccan) rose. In addition to the mentioned spices, I perceive nutmeg, saffron, and pepper. However, the focus (according to the fragrance pyramid) is clearly on cardamom, which belongs to the ginger family - here, in contrast to “Déclaration d'un Soir,” it is noticeably toned down - and the ginger itself. Both bring a very slight sharpness. The essential oil derived from the ginger root also smells fresh and fruity, but has a balsamic and slightly lemony note. Additionally, ginger oil has stimulating and euphoric effects. Salicylates are the salts of salicylic acid. Salicylic acid occurs in essential oils and as a plant hormone in the leaves, flowers, and roots of various plants (e.g., the sugar birch) and has a pleasantly minty scent when in the form of salicylic acid ethyl ester, which is beautifully noticeable here. (In North America, almost all chewing gum manufacturers offer the flavor wintergreen, which contains methyl salicylate, alongside classic flavors like peppermint.). As with “Lyric Man,” musk is also present in the base here. And typically, an animalistic and slightly sweet scent note is combined. The “animalistic element” conveys warmth and thus feelings of security as well as sexual attraction. The scent progression remains very steady over the entire duration (for me about 8 hours with a not too strong sillage). I keep sniffing it over several days and weeks, yet the scent cannot be “pinned down.” A wonderful constant change, or rather an ambivalence, that truly makes the scent unisex and thus special and androgynous. This without ever becoming arbitrary, but always remaining exceptional.

The conclusion, the comparison, and the practical use
This rose is
- bright and dark
- velvety warm and fresh
- filigree transparent and deep
- delicate mild and peppery
- sweet and spicy
- soft balsamic and sharp
- calming and stimulating euphoric
- classic and modern
- feminine and masculine
This rose remains consistently ambivalent and androgynous. He or she does not send the wearer in a specific direction, but in all directions. Thus, “Desert Rose” becomes the olfactory analogy to the book title by Umberto Eco “The Name of the Rose.” There, the title refers to the last sentence of the book “The rose of yesteryear exists only as a name...” Eco commented on this hidden quote: The name of the rose sends the reader in all directions - thus in no specific one. The “hammer” for every occasion and for me a solid 10!
(1) Lumière Noire pour Homme - The noble softie
(2) 24 Old Bond Street Triple Extract - The elegant Brit
(3) Lyric Man - The “pure” rose
(4) Colonia Ambra - The “warm (rose)wood”
(5) Déclaration d'un Soir - The “olfactory emotion”
(6) Desert Rose - “The Name of the Rose”

07/18/2018

8Scent 4Longevity 4Sillage

FvSpee
323 Reviews

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FvSpee

Top Review 16

The Commissioner is Stuck: In the Footsteps of Mary

Odorato smelled at his wrist and thoughtfully looked at the framed and already somewhat faded art print on the wall of his office: Fra Angelico's "Annunciation," the simple version with the green garden surrounded by a wooden fence.

The Catholic orthodoxy of the Commissioner was not beyond all doubt, and anyone entering his office, seeing Fra Angelico and then smiling indulgently while imagining a pious devotional image within, was missing the point. In truth, the life of a conscientious investigator often meant having to look repeatedly into the ugly face of human meanness and baseness, and this artwork provided a soothing balm for the investigator's soul. Mary and the angel bow to each other in respectful greeting: Mary perhaps because that is how one should behave towards a visiting angel, the angel maybe due to Mary's special relationship with his boss, perhaps also because of the beauty of the young woman. But both, at least as Odorato imagined, were bowing because they both possessed kindness and gentleness, because they could not help but meet an unknown counterpart with openness and respect. This was wonderfully different from most of his cases.

And so all these fragrances by Marie Le Fèbvre were benign compositions, human-friendly, open. Some bowed respectfully before the one smelling them, some gently stroked their hair, many winked or smiled at them, but none ever knocked their teeth out, spat in their face, or insulted them with coarse words. That is why he liked these fragrances so much, just as he liked his Fra Angelico. By the way, these fragrances, despite all their goodness, were never bland (just like the paintings of the artist from Fiesole); they knew how to combine the simple, beautiful familiar with the unexpectedly different in the most delightful way.

The Commissioner turned his attention away from the art print, smelled once more at his wrist, and furrowed his brow. What was to be made of this "Desert Rose"?

Certainly, it fit into the general scheme of the brand; it was once again a humane, peaceful, almost comforting fragrance, and that from the very first second. Of course, the opening was strong-fresh (almost citrusy, one might think) and had a certain peppery sprightliness (for which ginger might be responsible, although Odorato would never have thought of this tuber on his own; he would rather have suspected a pinch of nice, not too coarse-hot pepper, while he clearly felt the cardamom, and he liked that), but how others could ramble on about cleaning agents, fermented plants, and piercing chemicals was a mystery to him and - in his impatience - an annoyance. His colleague G., who had dealt with this case a few years ago, had already wonderfully described the opening, but then she had drawn a comparison with another fragrance, "La Fille de Berlin," which made him quite upset! To compare this still quite beautiful scent from Urban Scents with that muck of cold mallow tea and Berliner Weiße with raspberry syrup that the unspeakable Sergio L. had concocted, what was she thinking, this colleague? He quickly calmed down again because he liked his colleague and usually got upset quickly but rarely for long.

Well then, he thought, this opening is indeed beautiful, and so is the further development, which gradually calms and soothes without ever slipping into sweetness. The rose is clearly felt as the center, but without being truly dominant, unusually transformed by not too sparingly dosed and cheekily combined secondary ingredients. That made some sense, and any friend (yes, indeed, any friend, he perceived this fragrance as rather masculine) of special rose fragrances would certainly be recommended to test it; naturally, the Le Fèbvre aficionados, who collected the beautiful bottles of this brand and forgave it indulgently when one of the fragrances was a bit weaker, just as a collector of a book or film series might do with a less fascinating episode. But still, this rose could not fully captivate him, could not truly excite and sweep him away, and the fact that he did not know why this was the case made him ponder. Perhaps it was also due to the unsatisfactory weakness of the fragrance regarding projection and longevity. He found this unpleasant, irritating, especially since rose scent was not exactly known for citrusy volatility and thus a longer persistence would have been expected. Or was his sense of smell impaired?

As Odorato was about to become grumpy, his mind turned to another topic: What could "Desert Rose" mean? Was this to be taken literally? There were at least two completely different plants referred to as "Desert Rose," anastatica hierochuntica, also known as the Rose of Jericho, and the houseplant adenium obesum; additionally, in the English-speaking world, the small, truly rose family member rosa stellata is also called "desert rose." But for this fragrance, surely the essential oil of "ordinary" roses was used?! Why then "desert"? The composition of this perfume did not possess the classic sweet rose opulence, but rather a very specific round fullness that did not evoke thoughts of a desert (at most of an oasis). Well, there was a hint of woody dryness, but wood and desert do not quite fit either... Could it be? Odorato had a thought. After a few clicks on the internet, he had pulled up the lyrics to the song "Desert Rose" by Sting and Cheb Mami and delved into this lead. But was this the breakthrough in the investigation? Although there was much talk of scents, and also of a "garden in the desert," which seemed to fit. On the other hand, this song from the late 90s was overall a, well, not even a love song, but more an outburst of burning, consuming sexual desire. This fragrance was too cool and peaceful for that.

The Commissioner got nowhere here either. He sighed, smelled one last time at his wrist, and closed the case "Desert Rose" as unresolved.

He looked at his art print, saw the angel and Mary bowing to each other. This was not just mutual respect; it was almost mutual astonishment. How fascinating. Odorato felt comfort once again. By the way: Hadn't the rose always been an attribute of Mary? But with these thoughts, he had already concluded with the Desert Rose.

09/11/2018

8Scent 7Longevity 5Sillage

DonJuanDeCat
2047 Reviews

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DonJuanDeCat

Top Review 7

Desert Roses are NOT Roses!!

Recently, I rummaged through my samples and stumbled upon this scent here. Desert Rose. Despite my limited knowledge of flowers, something clicked for me, as I thought that no roses grow in deserts!

Upon checking, I saw that the so-called Desert Rose is actually not a rose at all. It belongs neither to the rose family nor does it visually resemble roses in any way. They are plants with pink or reddish flowers, but they look completely different. Moreover, they prefer to grow in semi-arid places where there are longer dry periods and are therefore classified as succulents. I bet they are called Desert Roses just to mislead the uninformed like me!! It's a shame when I find out, mu ha ha ha!

And if there really are true roses in deserts or if Desert Roses are actual roses,... then just say nothing and keep reading :D

The Scent:

Okay, the scent does smell like roses from the very beginning. However, I also see that the fragrance contains real roses and not just Desert Roses. In addition, there are light green notes, some ginger, and a slightly sweet note that could come from the musk, even though you shouldn't be able to smell the musk yet.
The scent is also a bit soft, not necessarily creamy, but somehow balsamic. And thus, it is pleasant. The sweetness soon increases a little, yes, now you can also smell the musk, although part of this sweetness also comes from the roses.
Later, the herbal-spicy notes fade into the background; for example, the ginger is hardly noticeable after about half an hour.
A little later, it becomes a bit sweeter, with the musk now smelling stronger, the scent becoming slightly powdery, but the roses weaken a bit, making the overall scent floral-sweet.
Much later, I smell a mix of floral notes, from which the rose seems to stand out slightly again, then musk and general clean notes that could even come across as a bit soapy, but they smell really great. A truly beautiful scent.

The Sillage and Longevity:

The projection is weak, as it feels like the scent would dissipate quickly. Of course, it is detectable on the skin for several hours, but you would have to be close by to smell it reasonably.
The longevity is above average at six to eight hours, which is sufficient for summer days; if necessary, you can just spray a little more on.

The Bottle:

The bottle is rectangular and dark blue. On the front, there is a white frame, the name of the fragrance, and a simple propeller drawing, which is probably the label's logo. The cap is chrome-plated, cylindrical, and slightly widens in height. I find the bottle quite nice despite its simplicity.

Yes, this is typical again. A fragrance that is called Desert Rose, yet Desert Roses are not real roses, but the scent still smells like roses because real roses are included. I am convinced that they are actually trying to confuse me here because I constantly complain about how poor my plant knowledge is (and I am also too lazy to do anything about it, mu ha ha, that's bad, yes, but hey, at least I admit it :D).

Okay, it could of course be that a Desert Rose smells like a rose. There are certainly many scent similarities. Heliotrope, for example, has a scent reminiscent of almonds. Coriander resembles the awful sulfur smells of hell... and so on :DD

In any case, the scent has turned out very beautifully. It is especially nice to wear in spring and summer, as it is loose and very light, exuding a certain freshness and good mood, suitable for both leisure and going out. And the base with its clean feeling and the lovely, light musk smells even better.

However, it is also one of those scents that you could find in every third or fourth fragrance. It is certainly not a mistake to use this otherwise beautiful scent, but you can get such fragrances for much cheaper. Therefore, everyone has to decide for themselves whether they want to test this scent. And yes, I specifically write "everyone," as the scent does smell more feminine. But it is definitely highly recommended!

Yes, in short: Beautiful and made for summer, it really smells wonderful, but one shouldn't expect anything striking or even something new! But this applies to many fragrances nowadays...

10/13/2016

6.5Scent 8Longevity 5Sillage

Taurus
1175 Reviews

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Taurus

Very helpful Review 8

Sent Almost to the Desert

After I had quite a struggle with Sensual Blend, I was eager to find out how the other fragrances from Urban Scents hold up. After all, these are rated quite positively, and one doesn't want to come across as a cultural philistine.

However, with Desert Rose, I was initially taught a lesson. Although there is officially no top note, I felt like I was hit hard in the face during the first few minutes. What unfolded was, alongside the recognizable rose, a truly nasty note, somewhere between fermented plants and harsh, piercing chemicals, unlike anything I have ever experienced in a perfume. I was close to abandoning the test because I didn't want to wear this around people, especially not around colleagues. A postponement to a lonely weekend sometime in winter seemed more sensible.
I would venture to guess that this olfactory total failure is due to the salicylate. I don't know how this smells in nature or under controlled laboratory conditions - but here it comes off worse than misplaced.

Slowly, the rose then develops, like a delicate little plant that knows how to assert itself under difficult and almost surreal and life-threatening conditions. It is minimally flanked by cardamom and other spices to create a soft, dignified bed for the rose scent, even though I missed ginger.

So I managed to venture out after all, although the little plant turned out to be quite delicate and timid yet still resilient. Desert Rose was perceptible for a good eight to nine hours, becoming softer, more refined, and more acceptable as time went on. By the end of the day, I ultimately didn't regret the test completely.

Overall, the little desert rose comes with balanced sweetness, subtle spiciness, and even a touch of barbershop charm, but that salicylate really troubled me. Thus, this not-so-inexpensive Eau de Parfum is by no means suitable for a quick spritz here and there, especially if one doesn't want to offend more sensitive noses. If it hadn't been for the much more conciliatory part that followed, I would have actually rated the scent a 0 and sent it straight to the desert.

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