Rose de Grasse Joyful Bloom
Aerin (2022)

For whatever reason, my hopes weren't particularly high for this one, though, on first spray, I'm impressed by how much this smells like proper rose essential oils instead of the usual fruity, artificial nonsense that often plagues the corporate luxury sector. The blackcurrant bud adds a dirty, musky undertone, as well as a touch of "pink-ness". The result is a perfume that comes across as darker than your usual rose, but without falling into fruitchouli territory. There's a dank green undercarriage that's at least partially geranium and a pinch of saffron, but in all, it reminds me of the dark green herbs you'd find at the core of a masculine chypre along the lines of Aramis, plucked out and used as the support for a beautiful mix of roses. It's a clever juxtaposition of hyper-masculinity and hyper-femininity at once.

So that's about it: pretty, spatious roses with a touch of fruit over a dark mix of saffron, greens, and the musky currant undertones. I'm impressed. From what I can tell, this seems to be the 5th or 6th Rose De Grasse flanker, so they could easily be phoning it in by now, but this feels like actual effort and proper ingredients were used in its creation, so it's a thumbs up from me!