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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Perfume Review: Les Parfums de Rosine Twill Rose

Twill Rose, the new fragrance by Les Parfums de Rosine, is said to have been inspired by “the silky softness of twill and the tie – the undisputed symbol of masculine elegance”. That rather strange inspiration aside, Twill Rose is yet another excellent –and entirely unisex! – “masculine” rose from the line, which, as far as I am concerned, has yet to put a foot wrong.

The marvelously earthy beginning of the scent evokes an image of a wild rose breaking through the wet soil of an abandoned garden. It is not nearly as dark and patchouli-laden as L’Artisan’s “Graveyard Rose”, Voleur de Roses. The cold and earthy accord in Twill Rose makes me think simultaneously of the “boiled courgette” aspect of the orange blossom in S-Perfume Sloth and that slightly awkward, cool, almost-rotting characteristic of iris in Iris Silver Mist that I adore.

As it progresses on my skin, Twill Rose grows warmer and sweeter. Our wild rose is ripening and unfolding its dark-red petals; it has a very slight candied feel that seems especially soft and lovely on the background of the dry woodiness and the cold earthiness of the scent. And as soon as the rose note reaches its apogee of sweetness and juiciness, it starts to dry and wilt. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, dark-red petals to the black soil…The smell of earth grows stronger, sharper, more poignant. The drydown, with its very attractive sandalwood-patchouli combo tells us about the impending winter, of loneliness and decay. And yet, brooding as it is, this is not a desolate scent. In the beautiful, melancholy gothicness of the drydown there is still a hint of the sweet rose, as a reminder that, just like spring and summer were not eternal, the misery and cold of fall and winter will not last forever either.

On my skin, Twill Rose combines the austere elegance and incredible softness; its floral notes are sweet and velvety. On a man (the only one I had to try it on, mind you), the earthiness and woodiness are amplified and the rose seems darker and richer. Wearing it turns the very non-dramatic and not in the least gothic Mr. Colombina into…


…a transformation this fan of Zeffirelli-Oldman's suave version of The Count finds very appealing.

Twill Rose is available at
First in Fragrance, €90.00 for 100ml.

The first image is from perfumeriaquality.pl, the second, from allposters.com.

33 Comments:

Blogger tmp00 said...

oooh (trying not to lemming over this one), so yummy sounding!

10:53 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Tom,
I just hope they release it in the States too. The best one (in my opinion) of the last two (women's) releases, Rose de Feu, is only sold in Europe. Ugh.

10:55 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

A,
Thank you! Gosh, the weather is depressive. Definitely the time for scents like Voleur and Twill.

11:02 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow C, you're having a great week! 3 lovely scents in a row! Keep em coming! Isn't the fragrance world wonderful there's always new stuff to smell and love!!

6:28 AM EDT  
Blogger chayaruchama said...

Hey, Baltic Beauty-

Great job, baby !
The Rose de Feu is available at Barney's [at least, in Boston- they will order it for you if you call, you know]...

Doesn't this appeal to our Eastern European melancholy, though.

Boiled courgettes and almost-rotting...
Sounds like the culinary skills of my dear-departed Lithuanian mother-in-law...[poor soul- no wonder DH married me!]

Don't be telling me that your DH has morphed into Gary O. in that film...
I shall be forced to ravish him pronto, despite my avowed predilection for octagenarians...

If this mood of decadent decay continues, you and I will find ourselves singing boozy ballads in some subterranean boite-

Kisses to you-

7:26 AM EDT  
Blogger elle said...

*Must* have. Today your review is chock full of wonderful descriptive words and phrases: almost-rotting, abandoned garden, dry woodiness, cold earthiness, wilt, decay, melancholy gothicness. Sigh. Perfect. This sounds like it will nicely make up for my tragic inability to have VdR work on my skin.

8:45 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oooh...I can't decide if I should try it, or splash it all over my husband...What a great review!

9:16 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Christina,
YES YOU DO! :-)
I think you would like it a lot.

9:25 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Dear Anonymous,
One new release after another, right? Not every one of them was exciting, but there are some gems, like this rose.

9:26 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Chaya,
"Sounds like the culinary skills of my dear-departed Lithuanian mother-in-law"- HAHAHAHA

So Rose de Feu is available at Barneys? Interesting. Very interesting. Thank you for the info.

9:27 AM EDT  
Blogger lilybp said...

Oh, you are sooooo bad!! You make this sound soooo good!! And who could resist the promised transformation of DH (not that there's anything wrong with him the way he is:). I am not usually a big Rosine fan; I find most of them very pretty, but not dark enough for my tastes. But my favorite is Rose d'Homme, which I do like, so this has a lot of promise. . . Oh, OK, I want it NOW!!!

9:27 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

L,
I think it *is* a must have. It would succeed where Voleur de Roses failed, in a sense that it is that much softer, less wetly earthy, just simply has way less patch. Gothic in a much more subtle way.

9:29 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Sybil,
You should do both, of course! :-)

9:30 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Judith,
It is probably a "tone darker" than Rose d'Homme. It's not a pitch-black scent but it certainly isn't a ray of sunshine :-)

9:31 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am SO getting this for my DH for Christmas! One less rose I'll be spending my money on for moi...or so he'll think. Hee hee.
This one better be released in the States!

M, I must chime in with everyone else and rave about how especially more eloquent you are today. It was a beautiful review.

My heart does not flutter for Gary Oldman, but with my DH wearing this, I will imagine he has turned into Christian Bale, who has something of the "goth" about him.

9:32 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

M,
Thank you so much! Wearing Twill Rose must have given me some supernatural Mad Skillz...ok, where did that come from...goes to show how excited (and scared) I am about the Project Runway finale tonight. Will you be watching? I am on pins and needles. :-)

Anyway, where was I? Oh. Christian Bale definitely has a gothic side. There is something naturally dark about him. But Gary will forever hold a very special place in my geeky heart. I had a crush on him (in this role in particular) for years, at an age where it is already shameful to have crushes like that :-)

9:39 AM EDT  
Blogger marchlion said...

Wow, that sounds wonderful. The Homme is my favorite (Ecume a close second). I'm going to call my best guy Bill at the boutique and see if/when it's coming... I need to go spread some $ around over there anyway.

9:48 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

March,
Please, report back on what he says, whether and when it is coming!

9:50 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am not a fan of the man with supposed Mad Skillz, so I'll probably be disappointed tonight when he is not kicked off. (I don't know what will happen, but I'm sure from the previews that the producers are just trying to mislead us to amp up drama.)

Yes, we are of that age where having a "crush" is a little embarrassing, I suppose..........to refined people who never have such things. Since I will never be one of such people, I will crush my heart out on Christian Bale and many others! :)

9:50 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

M,
Damn right! So will I! :-)

About PR...I've never been Jeffrey's fan, never ever. But in the last episode I got so angry at the accusations made by the woman whom I actually liked the most of the last four that somehow I found myself rooting for Jeffrey. It's like the producers are trying to manipulate us into liking him (who doesn't like the underdog!)...which tells me that perhaps he is the winner. Oh well, we will see tonight. *counts hours*

9:54 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have to like any scent that turns a man into Gary Oldman. I must try this. I have yet to sample a PdR that I didn't like, and I am a sucker for rose anyway.

9:55 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

P,
Same here. Roseberry and Rose d'Amour are my least favorite from the line, but I wouldn't kick them out of my perfume cabinet :-)

10:01 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Will also have to sniff this 'un. dank here today too, though so vewwy vewwy mild still...

And Chaya - stop fondling all those old boys...

10:05 AM EDT  
Blogger lilybp said...

On PR(I am an addict)--I agree that the producers are trying to manipulate us into liking Jeffrey (between the accusation and the scene with his kid), after manipulating us into hating him--and I resent it! I still think he's a jerk and I don't want him to win. And I still like Laura. The nicest person is, of course, Michael, and until recently I thought he was a shoo-in, but his collection looked pretty awful to me. Honestly, I thought Uli's collection was the best overall, but find her somewhat boring. And I do like Laura's clothes (but then I'm old:). I thought Neck-guy's was interesting but erratic (as always)--but he is just so full of himself!!! In any case, I can't wait!

10:11 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Leopoldo,
It's mild here too, warm even, but won;t stay that way for long. I'd never thought I'd say this, but I miss English weather. :-)

11:37 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Patty,
Heh. Is that the earthiness that's hot, the picture of Oldman? :-)

11:38 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

J,
I did not know you were an addict too! Yay!
Well, apparently I am disgustingly easy to manipulate. I started disliking The Neck Guy, and now I am rooting for him. I am such a suckah for a sob story and a man with a kid and a heart of gold hidden deep, deep, very deep down inside :-)
I have a very strong feeling that either Laura wins or Jeffrey. MAYBE Uli. I just cannot believe it would be Michael. His collection was awful.

11:41 AM EDT  
Blogger lilybp said...

Well, I am sorry for hijacking your blog with this--but they have been carrying it on sooooo long! I am still rooting for Laura, but it will be interesting in any case (one of the most interesting things is that in the after-show clips they have shown, L and J seem to be quite friendly. Hmmmmm.) Oh, yeah, I can't wait to try this Tuberose at LeL (I guess that belongs under the other post, but I'm running now)

11:50 AM EDT  
Blogger NowSmellThis said...

So, less masculine than Rose d'Homme, would you say? Sounds compelling either way, actually.

12:02 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

J,
Please, please don't say that. I have no one else to talk to about Project Runway *sniff sniff* DH looks at me like I am quite insane if even mention it. :-)He has no respect for my taste in TV shows.

12:07 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

R,
I'd say it is, for me, on exactly the same level of "masculinity", which is to say that I don't find them masculine at all :-)

12:07 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SOLD.

4:30 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Sold. To the girl in cute boots. :-)

5:44 PM EDT  

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