Rouge Assassin
Jovoy (2012)

Like the equivalent of waking up with last night's eye makeup smudged around your eyes,your hair in a sexy tousled swirl.boudoir gorgeous.warm and soft and sexy.but at the same time there is something very earthy and sensual.a sensual fragrance with a vintage boudoir vibe.it's delicate and dusty,sweet and powdery with the most innocent bouquet of iris,musk and rose.if you are a lover of cosmetic powdery scents this is bliss.

It starts of with a playful,but substantial slap on your nose with a swandown puff,with the ensuing cloud of a pale pink powder (iris and rose being the dominant notes).the dry down;where most of the powderiness appears with subtle hints of wood and musk takes me to the modern twist of the perfume;the vintage vibe fades away and the sweetness is tamed; somehow this becomes a drier,but still sweet fragrance but not overly done.a plastic note develops sometimes,a note that reminds me of the synthetic nature of lipsticks, and because of the context of this plastic note.

The name doesn't help. I would expect something strong and bold. A scent that dares to kill. But this is not a daring perfume. Doesn't stand out and doesn't last. I tried it on holiday hoping to have a memorable day with it ... I lost it out of the hotel's room and couldn't find it anymore.

The key players in this fragrance are iris and rose. A sharp iris at that. I get a little musk and sandalwood with this also (after about 20 minutes). Not bad, but not worth the price IMO. 7/10

Rouge Assassin opens with a beautiful iris note, restrained and well-rounded but dense, full, extremely powdery – the "lipstick" type of iris notes – with a bold waxy/buttery feel, a bit soapy too, refined and sensual, and also amazingly nostalgic. It also sports a mossy/woody side with a hint of patchouli and cedar that darkens and give a bit more dynamism to the prominent note and its poudrée femininity, and also some fresh initial notes which add a sprinkle of light. In short it's a sort of less powerful, more light and masculine take on Iris Silver Mist – that kind of lipstick, buttery, rooty iris scent. The base is maybe subtly leather. A dense, pleasant scent, with a vertical "shadiness" that goes from the head notes to the dark, fruity-vanillin sticky and dense base notes. The sandalwood and cedar note add the right amount of woodiness, perfectly blending with the "waxiness" of iris – the sandalwood being creamy and aromatic as well. Sadly, although it smells great, it all kind of "collapses" really soon, the persistence is really long but it quickly turns into a delicate, still pleasant but a bit more indefinite and a bit dull woody-vanillin-rose scent. Overall however is a nice scent, one of those scents you can buy with confidence at -40/50% bargain sales.

7-7,5/10

Jovoy Rouge Assasin is an extremely sophisticated combination of subtle floral notes, rice cream, powdery woods, balsams and musk. The rice cream is an absolute standout note in my opinion and it is soft, rosey and realistic since the beginning. A fresh bergamot/elemi/orange blossoms feel welcomes us by soon before the white muskiness keeps encompassing elements and souls. A smooth iris reinforces the general rice cream/balsams basic smoothness. There is a dominant sort of natural cosmetic (lipstick) soapy/edible and dry/fresh (almost lacteous) vibe throughout. The amber (ambrette seeds) influence grows up more and more along the way releasing the balmy/musky aroma out even more intimate and almost organic. Perfectly balanced (the vanilla is extremely well calibrated) and smooth with a supreme musky/floral modern subtleness and an almost neutral sort of diffused mildness. A touch of final tonka is appointed to round the amalgam. More than vague conjurations about concoctions a la Elie Saab (warmer), Bellodgia (more classy and complex) or Alien Eau Extraordinaire. Joyful and almost romantic (I don't see the "assasin lady sterotype"). A really modern, suave, soapy/fresh and somewhat glamour sensual concoction.

(Floral) Iris, rose, vanilla. "Rouge Assassin pays tribute to those fearless, unstoppable women who upended the established order and broke all the rules" in the Second Empire (Napoleon Bonaparte's time). I expected to adore this, but I just admire it. Like Jovoy's others, it's an elegant and sophisticated perfume, more a skin scent perhaps than a modern sillage monster.