The War Of The Roses - A short introduction to roses for men with facial hair.

I’ve always loved the scent of roses. As a boy I often put a garden chair close to my parents rose bushes during the summer and lay there enjoying the summer sun and the magic rose scent. As an adult I used Trumper’s Rose Shaving Soap until they reformulated it into crap. Recently I decided to give rose scents another go. I am now the proud owner of:

• Dusy Kabinett shaving soap (Will be resupplied)
• Bulgarian Rose Shaving cream (Not bad, but the other are more protective)
• TOBS Rose Shaving cream (I love TOBS, but the scent of this isn't my cup of tea)
• Simpson Luxury Vanilla and Rose Shaving cream (Will be resupplied)
• Cyril R. Salter Shaving Cream Wild Rose (Will be resupplied)
• D.R. Harris Rose Shaving cream. (Will be resupplied, I love the scent)

You could say that I am back rose wise and I like to be back. Even so I wanted to go all the way and find a good rose perfume. I am a middle aged man with a family. I don't feel worried about smelling of roses so I tried these perfumes:

• Tom Ford Café Rose. I found it to be a nice rose scent, but a little bit too feminine to be to my liking, besides the price is just ridiculous.
• Aramis Calligraphy Rose. This is a really nice perfume. On me the main note is vanilla with rose in the background. It’s strong but the scent itself is discrete. If sparingly applied it is a good daily scent.
• Rose of Bulgaria Perfume for Men. This perfume is a bargain price wise (eBay). It’s a sweet natural rose scent that some describe as bubble gum. Rose can smell many ways and to me this is a discrete natural rose scent. When my bottle of Aramis Calligraphy Rose is emptied I won’t rebuy it but stick to this as my day scent instead. It is really inexpensive and good. On me the scent stays for at least twelve hours.
• Montale Black Aoud. This is expensive, but wow! First applied it smells medicinal but then it changes to what I only can describe as pure earthy rose on testosterone. It has nothing to do with romantic subtleness. It’s raw and brutal and it is by far the strongest perfume I’ve ever tried. It hits your nose like a sledgehammer and 24 hours later a single spray still will leave its scent mark, even after having taken a shower. I love it, but I would never wear it to work. The 100ml bottle will last a very long time.

Just for reference my other favorite scents are:

• Crabtree & Evelyn Sandalwood before the last reformulation. I won't touch the new version, but have stocked up a supply of the old version.
• JPG Le Male. It's been my off work scent since it first was released.

I hope the above can be of some help for those looking for a rose scent.

great report!
pics please!

Out of curiosity, did you try Habit Rouge by Guerlain? It's a classic from 1965 and has a nice rose note.

What about the reissued DC1913?

Thank you gentlemen, the ones above are all the soaps, creams and scents I've tried during this "investigation". I'm no expert in scents, but I do know what I like. Once I found what I was looking for I felt no need to look any further. I made good use of this subforum and fragrantica.com.

forgot to mention C&S 88, also a woodsy rose.
not sure if the scent is dark, but the container certainly is.

Another fantastic rose is Bulgarian Rose by Saint Charles Shave.

sarimento1 said:

forgot to mention C&S 88, also a woodsy rose.
not sure if the scent is dark, but the container certainly is.

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I contemplated the C&E 88 but it isn't described as a pure rose scent. By the way I have to reevaluate the Aramis. At breakfast this morning the love of my life told me how much she liked it even though she normally doesn't like such strong scents. I'll order another bottle (it is to be discontinued) when I get home from work. [emoji39]

I would recommend getting a decant of Cartier Declaration d'Un Soir --- lovely blend of rose, wood, and spice. Shouldn't be very expensive.

BigFoot said:

Another fantastic rose is Bulgarian Rose by Saint Charles Shave.

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+1. Also I've tried Mike's and love it. Heard good things about Queen Charlotte, too...

Rose de Pushkar by Le Pere Lucien is a nice rose croap. Otherwise I add some Bulgarian rose oil to AOS unscented cream and mix well - expensive but the best rose cream I've found. Two scents worth looking for - both out of production unfortunately - but sometimes turn up are Amouage Homage and Tribute. They are both highly concentrated attars and present two very different sides of the rose scent. The last for many hours and project quite well.

If you want pure, unadulterated rose in a fantastic soap, try Soap Commander "Love". They also have a matching aftershave balm. From your post, I think this would take you back to your childhood.

blantyre said:

Rose de Pushkar by Le Pere Lucien is a nice rose croap.

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Cino said:

If you want pure, unadulterated rose in a fantastic soap, try Soap Commander "Love". They also have a matching aftershave balm. From your post, I think this would take you back to your childhood.

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I would concur with both these sentiments.

LPL Rose comes across to me as a bit superior to Soap Commander in the performance aspect but both are reasonable scents.

I would add T&H Rose as superior to all the TOBS, GFT, and DRH scents and far, far superior to CRS.

Simpsons Vanilla and Rose is very strong but not a pure rose because of the Vanilla, its some kind of hybrid.

MWS Rosalimone and Mike's Natural Rose and Cedarwood both bear looking into due to their superior aftershave feel compared to all the others but both are also hybrids of a sort and not pure roses.

Thank you gentlemen. You've turned my initial meager scribbling to something useful for anyone looking for rose options. I'd just like to add that all the scents and soaps I tried (Dusy/Klar Kabinett soap and Black Aoud perfume for today) are readily available in Europe. Of the American artisans suggested in this thread none are for sale in Europe and those that do sell to Europe charge more for the shipping than for the soap. One day I hope that I'll be able to get to try all of the suggested soaps though.

Le Pere Lucien rose version is on my list on soaps to try.

In some aspects the Atlantic still is very wide.[emoji2]

Polarbeard said:

Le Pere Lucien rose version is on my list on soaps to try.

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LPL Rose is well worth looking into. Its a light scent but pleasant. T&H Rose is surely available in the EU and also is worth looking into.

Penhaligon's has two rose scents:
Elizabethan Rose and Hammam Bouquet, I think they are both worth trying

I thought everything was free in Sweden?

Cino said:

I thought everything was free in Sweden?

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That's a common miscomprehension. The full quote is: Feel free to pay the highest income taxes in the world.

I concur with the LPL Rose soap. Great stuff.

Wearing Black Aoud now - one of my favorites. Some others you might try are:

Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Lumiere Noir Pour Homme
Dior Oud Ispahan
Amouage Lyric Man

Portrait of a Lady is my favorite rose scent, and one of my favorites of all time. It is super expensive, but one spray will do ya!

jdp93 said:

I concur with the LPL Rose soap. Great stuff.

Wearing Black Aoud now - one of my favorites. Some others you might try are:

Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Lumiere Noir Pour Homme
Dior Oud Ispahan
Amouage Lyric Man

Portrait of a Lady is my favorite rose scent, and one of my favorites of all time. It is super expensive, but one spray will do ya!

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Thank you very much.