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Portia
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Hey APJ,
I remember wanting this trilogy so bad when they came out but somehow they never made it into the final buy. Recently a friend sent me a large sample in with a bottle I bought and I thought it might be fun to take a look at it now after four more years to see if it’s still on the list. Especially now that the discounters have it for a song.
Calligraphy Rose by Aramis 2013
Calligraphy Rose by Trudi Loren
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Oregano, saffron, honeysuckle
Heart: Turkish rose, myrrh, styrax, lavender
Base: Labdanum, musk, ambergris, olibanum
The opening of Calligraphy rose is very much like Turkish Delight. A soft rosewater jelly rolled in sugar, beautiful. This impression doesn’t last very long before the fragrance turns very rose, a clean, green, dry, tea rose. It’s sweet but not sickly, the perfect balance. Sheer but fragrant and not something you’d expect from the mass market. It also tackles the Middle East in a very soft and gentle manner without any of the usual hyper-masculine oud and woods attached to the rose.
In Calligraphy Rose the resins and rose join seamlessly and the humanity is very clean. I’m imagining, from my zero experience of such things other than through literature and TV, this is what a freshly washed woman in the harem or zenana would smell like. It’s a hairless fleshiness, overlaid with spicy resins and rosewater. A cool sensuality that I would love to smell on a man. On the average Aussie guy Calligraphy Rose would be totally unexpected and a delightful surprise. Also, thinking of the hours of work and the way fragrance melds with the bodies own fragrant offerings it would add dimensions undreamed of.
Like most Aramis scents the longevity is excellent and projection very good for the first few hours. I wish more men smelled like this.
Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Persolaise
FragranceNet has around $50/100ml
Did you try or buy this one?
Portia xx