Carner Barcelona - Rose & Dragon

Picture: Saint George and the Dragon (1432-35)
Painting by Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464)
Wikiart.com

Rose & Dragon is the third creation in the luxury, well crafted Black Collection from Carner Barcelona. Rose & Dragon is inspired from the legend of Saint George who saved the princess from the dragon. From the dragons blood, a rosebush with dark red roses grew.

And that one can imagine: Rose & Dragon is a thick, dark, rosy, spicy potion, resting over an animalic, soft leathery dept. The fragrance is sweetened with the todays it-note in contrasting leather or other dark, rough notes: Sweet berries as raspberrys and strawberrys, which could also be found in for example Masque Russian Tea, Tom Ford Tuscan Leather and Acqua di Parma Colonia Leather (not mentioned among the notes in the latter but I can smell it). Rose & Dragon has some similarities in style with these fragrance but is rosier, more animalic and spicy. It is also sweeter, has a certain liqueurish vibe, is much more deep and mysterious. When it comes to the latter; Rose & Dragon delivers the same mysticism as another dark and deep rose, Frapin Nevermore, even if that spicy rose interpretation is almost dry and less sweet than Rose & Dragon.
To my note Rose & Dragon is also the most feminine of the three fragrances in the Black Collection and also more feminine than the fragrances mentioned above. A more feminine dark and mysterious rose I come to think of when wearing Rose & Dragon is Parfumerie Générale Isparta.

Picture: Rose & Dragon
PR: Carner Barecelona (c)

As apprehensible from all associations mentioned above, Rose & Dragon isn't anything new or groundbreaking but it's a very well crafted and smooth blended fragance, one of the very best in this genre. With such heavy ingredients there is always a risk that a fragrance becomes cloying, harsh and unstable, especially if cheaper ingredients are used. Rose & Dragon is avoiding all such mistakes, it is top notch.

Wearing Rose & Dragon is a pleasure and the day is filled with constant wrist sniffing. It's wearable also for elegant evening but should'nt be restricted for such occasions. It's a quite linear fragrance and one can enjoy its mysterious and beautiful accords almost all at the same time. Longevity is about 24h and sillage is medium.
Rose & Dragon is my favorite from the Black Collection, an excellent example of the dark, deep, mysterious sort of rosefragrance which I love.

Rating: 5

Notes: Saffron, cumin, wild strawberry, cinnamon, bulgarian rose, turkish rose, honey, incense, castoreum, leather, labdanum, amber

Ramon Monegal - Hand in Hand

Picture: Skiers

Painting by Frits Thaulow (1847-1906)

WikiArt

Hand in Hand is an oud-oriental  inspired perfume from the Barcelona based perfumehouse Ramon Monegal. As usual the very experienced perfumer, the house of Myrurgia offspring, Ramon Monegal. As Myrurgia is mentioned as the Guerlain of Spain, Ramon could be likened to a spanish version of Patricia de Nicolaï. Both well educated and experienced in perfume/perfume business, running own perfume houses, independent from the old family houses which since long been sold to some of the big ones.

Hand in Hand starts cold, with a woody smell of juniper bush and pine in winter. After a while a smoky accord appears, it's the fresh, dry smell from dry wood, lighted to a campfire a cold and sunny winterday in the forest. This is not the rough,  masculine, meaty, smoky accord as in the campfiresmoke in Mona di Orio Les Nombres d'Or Cuir, the smoke in Hand in Hand is more refined. After a while a hint of leather ant a peppery note also shines through. The dark rose is  discrerte in the first stages of Hand in Hand. Over all the first part of Hand in Hand (even if not smelling the same) reminds me of the first part of Robert Piguet Oud, which also contains the cold, pine note. These two fragrances could be described as the ouds of the North, they are very suitable to the Scandinavian landscape and colder tempratures. Hand in Hand also has some kinship to Frapin Nevermore, as an unsweet, dry relative to that dark, dramatic, boozy, intriguing one. In the second part Hand in Hand becomes more spicy, a spicy mix which togheter with a musky base brings forward the rose a bit more, even if the rosy note not is as dominating as in most rose-oud combos. The rosy note is as integrated with the other notes. In the later stages of Hand in Hand I find similarites with the dark, purple, rose from Parfumerie Générale Isparta.

Picture: Hand in Hand in it's inkwell bottle
Photo: PR Ramon Monegal (c)

The cold, confier and smoke accords  is the first part of Hand in Hand I find the most interesting, the second part is more familiar for this style of fragrance. Hand in Hand could be worn year around at any occasion where a more intense pefume could be accepted. The fragrance is very concentrated, and just as with Isparta, it's hard to avoid overapplying. Less is more is definitly what is applicable in this case. Sillage is great and longevity for 24h+. Hand in Hand is unisex, leaning to the feminine side according to my nose.

Rating: 4

Notes: Rose, oud, spices, musk

A reminder about Mohur....

Photo; Mr Parfumista (c)

It seems as when I reviewed the beautiful Mohur Extrait from Neela Vermiere in september last year, it was not yet widely released. The broader launch was some weeks ago at Esxence 2014, information from Lucas on Chemist in a Bottle, read his very well written report from the event here.

Mohur Extrait is my favorite from Neela and I was reminded of its dark, rosy, velvet, golden, purple revelation when trying the airy, silk, silver, purple rose from Parfumerie Générale, Isparta 26 lately. Mohur Extrait could be a perfect companion in the coming Easter, especially on the serene and sad Good Friday as the fragrance is a calming and perfect for the contemplative mood. Here is the link to the full review of  Mohur Extrait.

Parfumerie Générale - Isparta 26

Picture: Pierre Guillaume
Photo: PR Parfumerie Générale (c)

As almost always when reviewing something from Parfumerie Générale it's hard to resist publish a picture of the perfumer Pierre Guillaume himself :-)

But now over to todays subject, Pierres latest release, a beautiful dark rose named Isparta 26. Isparta is named after the turkish province which roses produces superior roseoils, featured in this fragrance and 26 as PG:s numbered collection now has reached that number of fragrances.

Just reading about the ingredients of Isparta makes me excited. I have to admit that I'm very fond of the rose-patchouli-ambroxan combination in fragrances such as Juliette Has a Gun Lady Vengeance and Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady, and this accord, in Isparta combined with balsamic and animalic accords, makes me drool.

Isparta starts heavy but in the same time transparent and light, the rose is really purple, and the rosy smell is a bit tart and as a contrast it's surrounded by a not too sweet, jammy note. A clean, cold patchouli is also contrasting with a high and clear darkness, just as the night sky a starry night. As Isparta dries down it becomes a bit warmer, even if it remains in the cold spectrum, with balsamic and woody notes, among them a well balanced oud. The clean amber, the ambroxan is not as evident as in Portrait of a Lady, in Isparta it is handled with a lighter hand. In the basenote there is also a moisty, mossy note thar togeter with the tart, purple rose are contrasting the ambrox-oud combo. The mossy note together with the rose is what is left after 24h. The moss in this stage reminds me of the refreshing and uplifting mossy note of Parfumerie Générale Papyrus de Ciane.

Picture: Isparta, a dramatic, dark, purple rose
Photo: PR Parfumerie Générale (c)
  

I have read some comment that Isparta doesn't add anything new to the rosegenre. I have to strongly disagree as IMHO this is an unusual combination of the strong and intense but in the same time airy and light. In texture Isparta is just as an exquisite, purple silk veil with silverstitches and embroderies. That image makes me think of another beautiful purple rose, Neela Vermeire Creations Mohur Extrait, which seems to be Ispartas antithesis in the purple, rosy spectrum. Mohur is like a dense, smooth, purple silk velvet with golden stiches and embroderies as opposed to the light, transparent, sliver silk veil of Isparta. Even if these purples of course are not smelling the same, Mohur Extrait (which is more spicy and flowery than Isparta) somehow reminds me much more of Isparta than the more obvious (when reading about its notes) ambrox-rose-patchouli Portrait of a Lady. Just as Mohur, Isparta gives me images of a relaxed, life i luxury, somewhere in the East, during the time of Thousand and one nights.

Despite its light texture, Isparta 26  is strong in its concentration and one have to be careful when applying, too much and Isparta transforms to a sillagemonster. About four spritses is enough of Isparta to keep it within the limit of officetolerable. Sillage is great and longevity for days if more than the four spritses is applied :-)

Rating: 5

Notes: Red berries, rose, peru balsam, calamus, patchouli, olibanum, benzoin, oud, ambroxan, moss