Super Rose by Les Eaux Primordiales: An Enigmatic and Complex Rose

As far as fragrances are concerned, rose, as a note, is a widely coveted ingredient that can morph into different scents depending on how a perfumer tackles it. The flower itself, which according to mythology, bloomed from Aphrodite’s tears over her lover, Adonis, nicely blends with other ingredients, allowing perfumers to use it as a kind of lush canvas upon which they dream up a new olfactory memory. In my opinion, you can never have enough rose scents and there is always the possibility of discovering something new with a rose-forward scent, provided the perfumer’s vision and mastery of the craft.

This is was a prelude to our subject of matter today, Super Rose Eau de Parfum by Les Eaux Primordiales. It was recently released this year, exclusively in Harrods. This beguiling scent is the embodiment of duality. It’s a fresh rose with a hefty dose of acidic and juicy fruits on top and a sweet musky tone underneath. It took me a while to grasp the structure of this composition and decide how I felt about it.

Straight off the bat, I like this one and its complexity. I had to study it quite a lot before committing to this article and lay out the reasons why I just like it and not fall head over heels for it, given the fact I am a sucker for a complex cryptic rose.

Super Rose opens with a dulcet pair of pear and litchi which gives vigor to the taste of a palpable refreshing fruit cocktail. Its uniqueness is felt the moment your nose approaches and the smell of rose starts to slowly blend into the mix, unveiling its jammy thick sweetness. This is the most beautiful part of this scent and it stays the same on your skin for a while, no doubt about that. After a while, the pear comes through and attempts to join the rosy heart of saffron and iris.

Herein lies the problem for me as the experience took a downward slide for me. The pear somehow did not come off as an authentic smelling ingredient, but rather an artificial sort of smell that further staled the spicy touch of the saffron.

Pear and saffron can play a mind games in rose-based perfumes. They can either soften up a woodsy composition or add a voluptuous undernote to an otherwise chemical scent. In super rose, the duo emerged as the latter to my nose and it did not rest well on my skin.

As the scent delved into the base, the patchouli momentarily made an appearance before the explosion of Ambroxan started eventually reining. I love Ambroxan when it adds a mineral woodsy touch to a rose scent like Rose Ardoise by Atelier Materi or a clean sweet musky undertone like Chanel Chance Eau Tendre. Unfortunately, in Super Rose’s case, it just erupted and became an overbearing chemical aroma that did not work well with my skin chemistry.

The scent has good lasting power with moderate projection and scent trail. The scent opened with such a power-packed and promising start, with some unique traits under its belt. The reason I called it complex is because I think Super Rose flaunts an enigmatic persona that needed to be demystified in given time to allow me to form a solid opinion. I still believe I need to wear it in different seasons and times before reaching an ultimate conclusion, whether Super Rose is an all-year-round scent or not.

Even though the scent has lots of fresh top and base notes somehow the execution of the scent leaves enough room to take it on different journeys in different seasons. So far, I like it enough to own it, but I would not recommend anyone to commit to this scent before sampling even if you are a hardcore rose lover.