NEW L’Homme À La Rose from Maison Francis Kurkdjian Paris

This September Maison Francis Kurkdjian released a new floral fragrance but this one is targeted towards men. The fragrance is called L’Homme À La Rose which is an interesting floral with a fresh and green character taking a sensual woody turn at the dry down. The nose behind the fragrance is Master Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian.

“L’Homme À La Rose is my free interpretation of a rose for men. I’m giving men the power to wear a rose-scented fragrance.” – Francis Kurkdjian

Packaging: The fragrance comes in a signature MFK bottle but with an industrial style zinc lid to symbolize strength and to give the floral fragrance an edge over others. The packaging clearly shows this is not your regular delicate rose fragrance.

The fragrance’s graphics features typically masculine elements underlining the sillage’s long-lasting & sturdy nature. The bottle has a label with green and pink text representing the fresh, green, and floral notes to recall the feminine counterpart. The verticality of this unique rose beginning to bloom on the sides of the box and on the bottle’s back label. This is a rose fragrance with a twist which is represented by every single detail on the packaging.

Olfactive Family: Floral, Woody

Key Ingredients: absolute of Centifolia rose from Grasse, grapefruit accord, amber woods, the essence of cistus from Spain, the essence of Damask rose from Bulgaria, the essence of sage from France

Composition: The fragrance opens with very fresh, green, and uplifting notes with grapefruit accord and the essence of Damask Rose from Bulgaria that together creates a sensation of natural vitality. This is followed by middle notes of a rosy and woody accord which adds verticality to the composition. The dry down is woody and sensual with base notes of amber which makes it perfect for the cold evenings too.

Sillage & Longevity: The fragrance has a moderate sillage and lasts considerably well on both skin and clothes. I love to spritz the perfumes on my scarves and clothes too but if you want the fragrance to stay close to you, you can just spritz it to your skin.

The fragrance comes in Eau de Parfum Natural Spray in 70 ml (retails for £180) and Eau de Parfum Natural Spray in 35 ml (retails for £110 and exclusive to John Lewis).

This fragrance can be blended with different notes to create an accord: rose/jasmine, rose/violet, rose/fruity notes, rose/musks, rose/patchouli, or rose/oud. This way rose takes the back seat and other notes shine through.

Availability: L’Homme À La Rose is available from Selfridges (all stores & online), Harrods (store & online), Harvey Nichols (selected stores and online), John Lewis (selected stores & online) starting September 2020.

Final thoughts: This is a fresh and bright rose fragrance with a sensual woody character which is perfect for Men and in my opinion, women can rock this so well too. I wear unisex fragrances quite a lot and this fragrance fits so well in the category. I also compared the fragrance with the À La Rose for women and although they both have some similarities in terms of Damask rose, Centifolia rose, these both fragrances are so different. The women version has some notes of orange, violet, cedarwood, and musk while the men version has grapefruit accord and notes of sage and amber wood. The performance of L’Homme À La Rose is impressive in terms of both sillage and longevity considering it is a floral. This is a unique take on men’s fragrances where it is different from the usual aqua, citrus, oud, or heavy leather notes. I love it and believe it will be a popular choice among both men and women.

Until next time, Ashh xo

*This fragrance was gifted to me as a PR sample. Opinions are my own and unbiased.