Pages

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Jovoy Paris- Rouge Assassins


Rouge Assassins, "Killer Lipstic",  from Jovoy Paris is a tribute to the women of the 1920s. It was a time of great social change which included the way women saw themselves, dressed, and behaved. It was also the era when some of the greatest perfumes appeared on the scene: Shalimar, Cuir de Russie, Emeraude and many others. It was the beginning of modern times and we tend to romanticize that period quite a bit, probably because of the striking aesthetics. Which brings us back to Jovoy and to Rouge Assassins, a seductive full-bodied fragrance that aims for vintage but to me smells quite modern.

Many people who tried Rouge Assassins find it very feminine (you can read Ron's review on Notable Scents). I have to say that other than that buttery iris-rose accord I really don't see it. Rouge Assassins obviously doesn't smell pink and not even very red. It's powdery but not excessively so. This is not Frederic Malle's Lipstick Rose, I promise.  I mostly get a very beautiful woody oriental that leans heavily on a rich multifaceted musk (white musk and the slightly dirty ambrette seed). The wood notes (a mellow sandalwood fortified with cedar) are streamlined and elegant- nothing there is extreme or very loud, but the sum of all these parts is quite robust and rather sexy, though I still don't see it as gender specific.

I had the Husband test Rouge Assassin blindly on his own skin- I didn't even tell him that this was a Jovoy fragrance. His reaction was "nice". No va-va-voom, no excitement. Just "nice". He says that this is all musky base and almost nothing else. It's an interesting reaction,  don't you think? I may have to spray him with some other iris and rose perfumes and see if he really burns through them so quickly.

Notes: bergamot, rose, elemi, solar accord, iris, rice bran, ambrette seed, Virginia cedar, white musk, sandalwood, vanilla, tonka bean, benzoin.

Jovoy Paris- Rouge Assassins ($180, 100ml EDP) is available from Luckyscent and Henri Bendel.

Photo of Tamara de Lempicka by Madame D'Ora, 1929.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I love comments and appreciate the time you take to connect with me, but please do not insert links to your blog or store. Those will be deleted. The comment feature is not intended to provide an advertising venue for your blog or your commercial site.