I bought this perfume for my birthday in 2017 and it’s still one of my favourites.
Finally, I happened upon Tom Ford Cafe Rose – I only picked it up because I love Rose scents and I saw that there was Rose in the name of this one. I was blown away by how unique it smelled. The Cafe part of the Cafe Rose is more about coffee grounds and less about lattes or a coffee shop. There’s lots of Rose and spice.
Here’s the video review:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLsdKATBywc/?igshid=159bq2ph6t8af
At the heart of this fragrance are three different rose notes: Rose de Mai, Turkish Rose, and Bulgarian Rose, so it kind of smells like a garden rather than just one simple rose note. The drydown is incense, amber, and patchouli which makes for a deeply intense woody base. It goes from smelling rosy, to smelling quite like patchouli.
The longevity of this scent isn’t the greatest. One spritz seems to disappear by the end of the day, but layered a bit more, and it does last longer. The final effect is dry and kind of sour, but not in a bad way. Kind of like the pucker of a balsamic vinegar throughout the scent, rather than that of a vinegar. Because this is more of a dark rose, and not a bright rose, it is unisex and can be worn by anyone. Of course, you’ll have to try it out in person to see how it warms up to your skin, but on mine it doesn’t warm at all, and it really stays nice and powdery which I like.
Cafe Rose is different from other rose scents that I have smelled but still does smell like a bouquet of roses.
Pick it up wherever fine fragrances are sold.
YSL Opium was launched in 1978, well before my time as well, and caused a bit of a stir at that time. The hoopla was caused by the shock of a perfume being named after a drug (imagine a new scent released now being called “Meth” or “Coke”). Further sensation was caused by the juice itself which was spicy and heady (and it still is), the YSL couture collection was created to back up the scent (this is the norm now, especially for Chanel who has even in all subtlety featured a large perfume bottle in the center of a runway), and there was of course, a ton of marketing to back up the perfume including a disco party, and a launch at an actual opium den.
For the past few weeks I have been wearing Love and Tears, Surrender By Kilian. This scent is a jasmine-based one and is listed as being unisex, though I can’t imagine any men I know wanting to wear it.
