AMOUAGE
CRIMSON ROCKS
2020
PERFUMER
Domitille Michalon Bertier
Cinnamon
Pink Pepper
Honey
Rose
Oak wood
cedarwood
Vetiver
I didn’t look up any of the notes beforehand and when I applied it for the first, for a second I though this would become a mix of Gris Dior and Rouge Trafalgar, with a ‘red’ bright feeling, but I couldn’t be more wrong.
After a couple of minutes it’s very clear this is a heavily spiced fragrance with a woody base. The cinnamon is the main player in this fragrance and it’s probably a divisive note with the amount used in Crimson Rocks. It’s quite sweet, but in a nice way, not a screechy or sugary sweetness, so I definitely get why they put honey in the notes.
There’s oak, vetiver and cedar listed for the base. I can’t really say I detect a specific vetiver or cedar (and wouldn’t be able to detect oak anyway). To be honest, it feels more like a resinous amber accord with the honey as sweetness than a specific woody scent to me. Of course the elephant in the room is rose. When a fragrance contains rose, I usually start with that description, but I purposely didn’t here, because I don’t think this should be defined as a ‘rose fragrance’ (and maybe because of the color of the bottle, I assumed it would be).
The rose is definitely there, but it’s not a prominent floral smell, more a rose tinged honey smeared on not-really-woodiness. You might even have to really look for the rose. And it turns out that makes for a unique smelling fragrance from my experience.
I wasn’t sold on the first wear personally. I was intrigued, but the blast of cinnamon was a bit much to my nose; I think for people who generally love spicy fragrances it will fare better. It gets better as it goes along for me and I really think the honey aspect makes the fragrance. Like much of the Renaissance collection, this felt like a new direction for the brand for sure and it reminds me a bit of some of the BDK fragrances (the cinnamon of Rouge Smoking EDP with the spices of Nuit de Sable for example), but it’s not a complete deviation either. Not one of my favorites from Amouage.
