Rose Barbare 
Guerlain (2005)

Whilst I detect a very brief touch of bergamot in the opening blast, the rose takes over almost immediately. Bulgarian and later Turkish roses, initially lighter and bright, then a bit more somber and more shadowy, but never really dark and deep. Delightful.

The drydown turns increasingly sweeter, with a maple-syrup-like notes that has a slightly caramelised hint - that is probably the fenugreek.

The base adds the aroma of a honeyed peach, with a soft patchouli added in. There is undertone of a soil-like earthiness arising towards the end, a bit like wet soil.

I get moderate sillage,good projection and a excellent projection of nine hours on my skin.

This is a lovely rose-centred scent for nice spring days, which displays a high quality of the ingredients throughout the first part. Towards the end it become a bit more generic though and quite sweet, although otherwise it is less intense on me. Still, as a rose scent it is rather convincing. 3.25/5.

Not sure why I have never written a review for this, my favorite rose.

It's interesting to read the reviews, from the good, bad and the ugly, but I do think that is to be expected from any Guerlain (particularly the newer) as well as any attempt to create a scent around the rose.

Historically, we can all reach back and compare any rose fragrance to another and claim how much better the other was and how sad it is to see the perfume world deteriorate and blah blah blah. I'm not saying there is not any validity in these discussions nor will I claim that I myself can be exempt from these either. What I am saying, is let's set that particular discussion aside and allow ourselves the freedom to simply explore a fragrance for its own merits.

The materials themselves are high quality. I would perhaps not have known the difference in the quality or even kind of roses used had I not already been exploring a variety of rose absolutes, concretes, and their varieties. In fact, it was this very thing that caused me to sample this scent - I was sitting at my "lab table" and smelling the absolute I had been able to make from the Turkish rose concrete I had received from England. It had taken some time, and lots of reading, and wondering "can this possibly be right??", and as I bottled that tiny bit and inhaled the glorious scent, I decided to look up current fragrances that used Turkish Rose Absolute. For whatever reason, it was not as easy as it should have been, but eventually, Rose Barbare showed up.

I ordered an official Guerlain sample from an eBay seller that I knew well, and it came within two days. I wore it daily for a few days, contacted the seller (who does shopping trips to Paris), and put in my order for a 125 ml of a colored Bee of Rose Barbare.

To understand how much I enjoy this scent, you have to understand that I rarely ever purchase any bottle over 50 ml, and if I can buy a 15-30 ml, that is my preference. My commitment to 125 ml was significant in that I had not only found a scent I loved, but I had finally found a ROSE I loved. The supporting notes are simply lovely: honey, patchouli, and a dash of Aldehydes with fenugreek and peach.

In essence, this is a Rose Chypre, and it is well-balanced and for me, gives the perfect amount of sillage (you won't clear a room, but I do think you'll be remembered) and the longevity for me has been outstanding - there have been days I have gotten at least 12 hours.

A very old fashioned rose – soft and honeyed, in contrast to the harsh, sharp modern rose scents that seem to proliferate in the perfume world today.

It is the antithesis of Nahema, that very green rose masterwork of an earlier Guerlain era.

It is also the antithesis of this series' other rose, Rose Nacree, with its bitter oud and patchouli base. This is the sort of rose you would expect from vintage Worth, such as their Dans La Nuit.

One of the gentlest and most uncomplicated rose scents in many a year. As a soliflore it is quite linear, but very welcome. The name is a misnomer. It is the very opposite of barbarous.