I picked up Le Labo’s Rose 31 in the recent Black Friday sale after testing it a few times. Here’s what I think of it.
Rose 31 is described as a floral-woody scent, and I’d generally agree with this. As the name suggests, one of the main notes is rose, which is present throughout wear. It has cumin and rose in the top, rose, vetiver and cedar in the middle, and guaiac wood, musk, agarwood, olibanum and labdanum in the base.
On first spray, there is a distinctive cumin note. I’d say this is why some people can find Rose 31 challenging, because cumin can sometimes translate as a slightly “sweaty” note to some people. It’s also used a lot in cooking and some people don’t want to wear a perfume with food associations I guess. Once the initially blast of cumin dries down, the perfume starts to warm up on your skin and evolves slightly.
After this, a few of the more woody and rose notes come through and then the perfume remains quite linear. This is quite a warm, spicy rose perfume thanks to the cumin. I’ve heard some call it a “dirty rose” fragrance and I guess I would agree. This isn’t like smelling a freshly picked rose from a garden. It has none of that green, stemmy quality. Neither is it particularly fresh. It smells like crushed rose petals with spices on dark wood.
In terms of longevity, I get a good 6+ hours. It certainly isn’t beast mode though, with arms length projection for the first few hours and gradually retreating to a skin scent for the rest of wear. I think this could be warn in any setting due to its modest performance. I probably wouldn’t wear it in the summer though because of the spicy notes. The cumin might get a bit cloying in the summer.
Le Labo’s Rose 31 sits on the higher end of the scale when it comes to price. It is £170 for 50ml which is a lot. I’d say this is slightly overpriced as longevity could be a bit better, but if you manage to get it on sale it’s worth it.
Do you enjoy rose fragrances?
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