Goutal
Goutal
93 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The impact is immediate and slightly jarring—three rose varieties colliding at once, with the Turkish rose's green-peppery bite cutting through the creamier Damask and Bulgarian notes. There's an almost herbaceous freshness here, damp petals rather than dried rose petal confections.
The composition settles into a warmer, honeyed phase as Egyptian and Moroccan roses emerge, but the May rose keeps everything bright and verdant. The sweetness deepens to something almost powdery, yet the green and spicy accords prevent it from ever feeling dated or heavy. This is where Rose Absolue reveals its true complexity.
The tobacco becomes increasingly prominent, casting an earthy, slightly leathery shadow across the remaining rose notes. What lingers is less floral perfection than botanical memory—warm, slightly dusty, faintly spiced. The sweetness has evaporated, leaving something almost bitter-green and profoundly intimate against the skin.
Rose Absolue is an act of botanical obsession masquerading as restraint. Rather than diluting its floral intention with competing accords, Goutal has constructed something almost monomaniacal—a fragrance that circles the rose from every conceivable terroir, each iteration whispering a slightly different truth about the flower itself.
The opening arrives bruised and dewy, those Damask and Bulgarian roses jostling against one another with an almost uncomfortable intimacy. There's a green, slightly peppery quality to the Turkish rose that prevents the composition from becoming merely pretty. This is rose as botanical fact, not romantic fiction.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
Guerlain
3.6/5 (286)