Western tradition has long associated flowers to femininity. The rose, with its delicate petals ranging from passionate rouge to blush pink and with an irresistible sweet scent, is deemed to be the embodiment of the female in the contemporary. However, considering the complexity of how the flower serves in romantic affairs, men are also very much involved. As the messenger of love, roses are given by one party to another, and it is perhaps time to abolish the conception that its beautiful aroma only belongs on the female body.
Niche perfume house, Maison Francis Kurkdjian is challenging the gendered role of rose-scented perfumes with its latest creation—L’Homme A La Rose. While the idea of rose perfumes for men is not a new one, so far, scents of such nature tend to mix the flower with oud and leather consequently muting its unique scent. But for this new bottle, translated as “a man with the rose”, an uncompromised rose scent is finally presented for men while simultaneously boasting gentlemanly notes of amber wood, Spanish labdanum and musk.Â
Like a lover boy arriving at your door with a bouquet of fresh roses, the initial notes are very fresh with effervescent grapefruit and bright roses. As the middle notes unveil themselves, the gentlemanly aromas of clary sage, amber wood and labdanum are reminiscent of the classic men’s cologne. Until the very dry down, the rose is fresh, hovering above the manly scent, very much like a man (and his cologne) with the rose bouquet. The trick to blend together the two components? Clary sage, Francis Kurkdjian mentions, “is the ingredient which mediates the two poles, ambery and floral.”Â
