DIOR
ROSE STAR
2025
PERFUMER
Francis Kurkdjian
lemon
pear
sichuan pepper
rose
honey
musk
‘Rose Star: The silhouette of destiny. Rose Star pays homage to two eternal Christian Dior symbols: his lucky star and his iconic flower, the rose. Its fragrance unfurls into different facets of rose, imagined as the 5 points of the Dior guiding star. The top notes of the fragrance are zesty and fruity, blending with a note of Sichuan pepper. They are followed by honeyed and musky accords, giving way to an intense, unexpected trail. An allegorical fragrance, Rose Star is the olfactory embodiment of the original passions that inspired the world of Christian Dior. The perfumer-creator’s star is now revealed within the notes of this rose of destiny, Rose Star.’ – Dior
I’ve been vocal and critical of Kurkdjian’s output in the past couple of years leading up this, especially in his Dior tenure. Rose Star isn’t enough to sway me into a fully positive mood either. However, seeing the reviews and general discourse surrounding this release, does leave me a bit baffled. Rose Star is by no means a new favorite of mine, but I stongly disagree that this smells super generic, boring and especially, that it’s similar to any of the named often comparisons.
Parfums de Marly Delina & Oud Ispahan are both named on Fragrantica a few times, and the fact that those are far apart from each other already, should be a sign. Rose Star has little in common with either if you ask me. Rose Star mostly opens as a spicier take on rose; peppery, but I also can picture things like cumin, cardamom, immortelle… a more Eastern and sweaty leaning spiciness. Which made the first reference for me, Etat Libre D’Orange Experimentum Crucis. Now, Rose Star doesn’t fully lean into that direction and isn’t as eccentric (or as a good) as the ELDO, but I was pleasantly surprised, given what I’d heard beforehand. It’s a safe, subtle take on a spicy rose.
Experimentum Crucis is a divisive scent profile mind you, which I can easily see being true for Rose Star. It smells plasticy, acidic, sweaty… the acidity here goes into cleaning product territory after a while for me. Still, I quite enjoy it, but it’s easy to see why people wouldn’t.
It grows sweeter, but not overly so and I don’t get a specific honey scent at any time.
As it dries, the interesting touches from the opening fade away and Rose Star does end up a more common smelling, more floral, heavily musky, airy scent. Nothing interesting or groundbreaking, but a solid, ozonic, clean rose petal scent with some sugary sweetness. It has a very artificial vibe to it though.
More traditionally feminine leaning than the opening in my opinion. No connection to the darker, oudy-woodier Oud Ispahan, and little to the more tart and youthful Delina. I guess I can see it as a more ‘mature’ Delina, but it doesn’t feel elevated as a wearing experience. There used to be a time where the higher-end Dior’s wore excellent and beautiful, but even the old gems have been reformulated in a way that took away all the magic & that same feeling permiates throughout Rose Star… it’s just not what you want from a Dior, and definitely not one in this (price) range.
Rose Star isn’t one of my favorite Dior releases; it’s not even up for debate as a top 5 rose Dior for that matter. It’s not saying much, but I do think it’s my favorite Kurkdjian Dior since he took position as in-house perfumer.
