#manuel cross

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[moratoirenoir]

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Rogue Perfumery Champs Lunaires

Nose: Manuel Cross

Notes: tuberose, coconut milk, pomelo, sandalwood, white rose, musk

Champs Lunaires opens with a bell-clear, rather fruity tuberose. In a few minutes, it broadens, grows creamy and almost coconutty, and also acquires a clean salty musk base.

It's luxurious, smooth, bright, and clean. A satisfying, real-deal tuberose, poised somewhere between the "hot pink" fruity type (like Fracas) and the "white" creamy-coconutty type (like Carnal Flower).

A few minutes more, and a sweet pink-grapefruit note sends it more in the "hot pink" direction, though it still retains a soft aura of coconut milk and white musk.

Great fun. Feels like a party.

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Rogue Perfumery Fougère l'Aube

Nose: Manuel Cross

Notes: oakmoss, lavender, geranium, citrus, hay, galbanum, sandalwood, moroccan rose, camphor, musk, costus, amber

Fougère L'Aube is delightful. Fresh, green, and soapy; sharp and cooling; somehow a breath of spring air *and* a freshly aftershave'd guy. It has an air of cheerful confidence. The galbanum zings, the citrus sparkles, the camphor cools, and the soapy floral heart lands softly.

It's clearly masculine, though -- there's a woody-amber in there, and it gets steadily stronger over the first hour until it's clearly too macho for me (as a woman).

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Rogue Perfumery Jasmin Antique

Nose: Manuel Cross

Notes: jasmine, musk, cloves, vanilla

Jasmin Antique is just a big fuckoff jasmine, bright and juicy with ruby-red and purple facets. Lots of dripping nectar, a little bit of a musky rasp, a fair amount of natural sweetness. A "slutty" jasmine with plenty of indole.

It's nothing original but it's a good jasmine. My favorite jasmines are a bit lighter and fresher -- I still think nothing beats Serge Lutens' A La Nuit for smelling like a real jasmine vine in bloom -- but if you like "lusty" florals without too much fuss or extraneous ornament, this is a solid example. (It's a little bit like Lush Lust with the extreme sweetness turned down a notch, for instance.)

Despite the name and Rogue Perfumery's usual retro aesthetic, there's nothing especially old-fashioned or vintage about Jasmin Antique; it feels quite contemporary.

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Rogue Perfumery Tabac Vert

Nose: Manuel Cross

notes: oakmoss, tobacco, carnation, sandalwood, rose, bergamot, jasmine, pepper, amber

Tabac Vert, like all Rogue Perfumery's scents, is intentionally retro, recalling Old Hollywood and classic glamour. A flash of sharp green galbanum-and-aldehydes, a rich grimy slug of oakmoss, a funky, animalic, yet warm tobacco -- boy does it satisfy.

It's totally dry, without the least bit of sweetness. There's the same elegant swagger and bite I remember from Chypre-Siam -- Rogue probably uses the same oakmoss base everywhere --except in Tabac Vert it's enriched with warm brown tobacco. Gradually it fades to ash and even darker oakmoss.

It's a masculine -- we're meant to think of Bogart with a cigar -- but it's not bad at all on a woman.

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Rogue Perfumery Chypre-Siam

Nose: Manuel Cross

notes: makrut lime, basil; jasmine, ylang-ylang; oakmoss, civet, benzoin, spices, sandalwood, leather

Chypre-Siam is exactly what it sounds like: a classic chypre with a distinct Thai basil note and an overall Southeast-Asian vibe. It works wonderfully.

It has that dark-green-and-gold mossy grimy glamour; boozy ambered warmth and zippy, elegant sharpness; and a distinctive greenness about the citrus that makes me feel like I'm headed into a steamy jungle armed with bug spray. But somehow also in an evening gown. I'm Bette Davis in "The Letter" prowling around Malaya.

The drydown is warm golden-brown amber with a faint lime-peel or spiced nuance. Very comfortable.

Basically it hits a similar spot as Bogue Maai or Olympic Rainforest; a retro-glamour mossy chypre, with an unusual vivid-green herbal note that you'd never find in actual early-20th-c classic fragrances. Here it's the makrut lime & Thai basil, in Maai and Olympic Rainforest it's camphor. I love the effect, every time.