Kimono Rose
Bois 1920 (2010)

I've tended to avoid rose perfumes, largely because growing up, most of the rose perfumes (and other products, for that matter) I came across were horrifyingly sickly sweet. Lately though, for different reasons, I've been making myself try more rose products, and I've been delightfully surprised. As a skin care product, I've got to say it can't be beaten. And some of the modern rose perfumes I've come across have completely changed my mind about rose scents. They are light years away from those horrid, screechy, synthetic, sickly rose perfumes I remember from my childhood. This one here is a little gem. There is nothing synthetic or screechy about this – it's lovely; a quiet, gentle, refined, soft rose. The bergamot and bamboo stop this from being too sweet, while the amber and cedar give this a beautiful warmth. Every time I take a sniff of this, I feel like I'm sitting in the centre of a big, plump, pink rose – not being overpowered by the scent, just gently surrounded by it. I wonder if that's what bees feel like, when they're going about their business in a rose garden? If this is what they get, then they're lucky little guys. This is simply beautiful.