It’s officially spring time, which you also can tell by the new fragrance launches – fresh flowers all over! Rose is still one of the favorite ingredients of perfumers to use to celebrate the beginning of this new season. Most of these new scents are focusing on women. But in Arabian countries perfumes with this particular flower are used by a lot of men for centuries. In Western world, people think differently, as a rose is marketed as a symbol of the seductiveness and beauty of a woman. Just a few niche brands developed ‘unisex’ fragrances with this flower, so now more men are ‘experimenting’ with rose fragrances.

Mirror Mirror brings you five new spring fragrances starring: rose.

1. Armani/Privé - Pivoine Suzhou
With this fresh eau de toilette Giorgio Armani shows his love for peonies and the classical gardens of Suzhou in East China. These gardens are so special, that they are on the Unesco list of world heritage. The scent opens fruity with mandarin, raspberry and of course peony in the heart. Rose, amber and patchouli add a deep layer to it ($ 165 / 100 ml via department stores and armanibeauty.com). 

2. Chloé - My Little Chloés
A new packaging for the bestsellers of Chloé, now in 20 ml pocketsize for light-traveling. Even tough rose is the main character in all three perfume stories, it’s executed differently. Sensual and powdery in Chloé Eau de Parfum, tender and fresh in Roses de Chloé and airy and joyful because of the rosewater in L’Eau de Chloé. Don’t waist any time as a big fan and go to the nearest beauty counter - because this is limited edition ($48 / 20 ml via Sephora).

3. Jo Malone - Tudor Rose & Amber
The British label captured their country’s history with the Rock The Ages limited edition collection. Tudor Rose & Amber tells the story about the bloody and turbulent Tudor era. Damask Rose and Tudor Rose combined with clove, ginger and amber create a warm, sensual cologne ($65 / 30 ml via Nordstrom).

4. Bulgari Le Gemme – Armarena
An a-list jewelry house needs an exclusive perfume collection to keep up with the others. Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier already had this part of their luxury range, but strikingly the inspiration wasn’t their gemstones. Bulgari stayed true to her roots and launched the haute perfumerie series ‘Le Gemme’ (the gemstone). Amarena is one of the six scents from this range, with juicy red fruit combined with powdery violet, tuberose and centifolia rose (around $ 380 / 100 ml via department stores and Bulgari.com)

5. Maison Francis Kurkdjian - À La Rose
Next to creating of fragrances for fashion labels (like the number one hit for men, Le Male of Jean Paul Gaultier), he also has his own fragrance maison. For his newest addition, he got inspired by a painting of Marie Antoinette (by Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun) in which you can see her love for roses. Kurkdjian expressed this by using Damask Rose and rose absolue mixed with citrusy notes of bergamot, orange and lemon. Violet, woody notes and cedar make a rich blend ($ 245 / 70 ml via Bergdorf Goodman).

By Melvin Balvers