Ferré Rose
Gianfranco Ferré (2007)

Ordinarily, an all-fruit opening line-up, including both watermelon and pomegranate, would be a huge red flag--or rather pink--evoking memories of some of the ghastly Victoria's Secret Secret Garden fruity nightmares. However, as a big fan of Pierre Bourdon's fruity-iris, FERRE edp, I decided to throw caution to the wind and pick up a bottle of FERRE ROSE, which was also created by a famous nose. What did I have to lose? Even if I hated the perfume inside, the bottle would still look beautiful next to my glorious FERRE edp.

As expected, this perfume is indeed pink. About as pink as they come, but somehow the fruits do not decompose and attract gnats, as happens when I attempt to don BEYOND PARADISE and similar synthetic fruity-abstract floral mishmash fragrances. In FERRE ROSE, the fruits retain their integrity and dominate the florals but in a cheerful not a cloying or sickening way. This perfume is nowhere near as nice as the Pierre Bourdon creation, which is more floral than fruity, and golden, not pink. Yet FERRE ROSE is nice for what it is: a balanced and wearable fruity pink (not rose) perfume.

My sister got me a gift set of this from Italy. I had never heard of it and had no expectations. It is very pleasant and easy to wear, a bit safe but I do find myself reaching for it and as I have the shower gel and moisturiser the overall pampering effect works for me. The rose here is fairly subdued but but it does linger nicely blending with the fruits. A nice fruity floral. Not going to offend anybody.

Yes, this is a fruity floral, a member of the much maligned group that fragrance lovers at worst, sneer at, and at best, buy for our teenage daughters with a warning not to over-apply.. But we should not forget the history of fruit notes in some of our grandest fragrances that came out of houses such as Patou, Rochas and of course Guerlain, with its treatment of peach in Mitsouko. Be that as it may, fruit notes are often given the most pedestrian of treatments in modern perfumery. But when done properly, they can be either young, sweet and refreshing or rich and elegant. Ferre Rose reaches for the former and generally hits the mark. This is not a fragrance for those who hate fruit. The top notes are pretty well loaded with them and the impression of watermelon is right up there. It opens with a sweet, though not overly, watery hit of melon. It takes a while to calm and the fragrance may lose the fruit-detesters at this point. The watery notes are not overly brackish. No salty nose-wrinkling notes here. As the heart notes take over, it calms to a blended light rose-based floral, but again, the impression of water remains. Water hyacinth, watermelon, a touch of freesia, but very little noticeable orange blossom or gardenia. The base notes are subtle-soft vanilla and amber, with maybe a hint of cedar and sandalwood. So, do I wear it? On occasion. On a summer day, when I want to feel younger than I am. I can give decants to teenage/20'ish friends of the family without worrying that they will over-apply, because it will soften and smell lovely on them. My bottle will probably last a long time, but I will keep it.