Signature Rosé
Zaharoff (2021)

Signature Rosé by Zaharoff (2021) is a bit of a surprise to me, because I expected the Signature pour Homme by Zaharoff (2018) DNA to play a larger role as with the others I've sampled from this house. Instead, I find that Signature Rosé is a rather focused effort that keeps its mind squarely on the business of delivering a rose scent. By the by, this may be the scent's biggest strength for rose lovers, but also the biggest weakness for people expecting the kind of complex evolution some of the other scents in the range have, as the multi-sourced and multi-faceted conglomerated rose note just beats you into submission like a typical Tom Ford perfume with its single-minded front-loaded determination to present the subject without misunderstanding. Luckily for me, I do enjoy a good rose-is-rose-is-rose fragrance, so this is a non-issue for myself, personally. Having smelled so many rose perfumes though, there is still a certain artificiality about Signature Rosé that stays my hand.

Getting right to the meat of it, we see a rose/peony combination that's kind of rare in the men's segment, as peony is usually conveyed as a feminine note, or note found most often in room scent, like the Glade Angel Whispers candle I used to love about 15 years ago. It might sound like an insult to compare the peony here to a commercial room scent product, but you have to understand that I really loved that candle, and wouldn't mind smelling of it if I could, so give me a pass there. Angel Whispers was primarily rose and peony too, although Signature Rosé is far more complex in the end, bringing in a jammy Turkish rose alongside a dense stemmy Bulgarian rose, then buttressing in various woody amber materials, sheer musks, and vanilla. This one is rightfully marketed as unisex, and may veer just slightly towards the ladies unless you are a big lover of rose as a guy, or particularly adventurous with scent. Performance is closer to the skin than some others from the Zaharoff range, but Signature Rosé is not weak by any measure.

Rose itself is a subject that as is, brings a lot of melodrama to a perfume, so having a rose presented with closely-moderated performance can only be a good thing, unless you're looking to be seen as a fop of old, puffy shirts and powdered wigs. My favorite of the range is still going to be the original Signature pour Homme due to it's complexity and excessively-precise balancing act of materials, although Claude Dir did do excellent work here as well. Still, if you're looking for a smooth, radiant, complex, but very to-the-point rose that doesn't transition into another scent after a few hours as so many do, Zaharoff Signature Rosé may be worth investigating if the high price of $155 for 60ml rings true, coming in at an upcharge from the standard varieties and not available in the bigger 4oz size. At very least, this is worth trying if you love rose and also appreciate it being combined with peony and vanilla, which is my favorite thing about Signature Rosé. What this has to do with Rosé wine is a mystery to me. Thumbs up

This is my first try of the most recent release from Zaharoff, Signature Rosé (and pardon me if I leave off the accent subsequently), the fourth incarnation of the Zaharoff Signature DNA, with the original as the base and inspiration, and, as its name suggests, pivoting toward a rose-intense experience that's also evocative of the rosé beverage.

It's pretty remarkable from the onset, and I rather quickly get several intersecting types of rose fragrances that I've experienced before–the jammy/syrupy rose, the incense/resinous rose, the fresh rose–and robust inclusion of aldehydes that creates some effervescence ala a sparkling rosé wine. It's very well-blended in that the rose aspects do not come off sharp, and no particular characterization (jammy, fresh, resinous) seems to stand out too much.

Also, it's clearly dense but does not feel overpowering, great performance with being too overloaded in any particular aspect. It feels like the result of a long, patiently-approached process of blending several roses. Beyond the roses (Turkish and Bulgarian), there are resins (amber, myrrh, oud, olibanum), mostly, along with sugarcane, vanilla, and sandalwood. In this respect, it feels like a pretty straightforward note breakdown but the execution is simply excellent, not surprising in that in comes from Zaharoff, but still a bit remarkable in that few rose fragrances seem this balanced. The rose notes themselves aren't overwhelming (even with rose being the dominant aspect of the rose) that it's so bluntly a rose fragrance; even the typically rose-averse may greatly enjoy this due the resins and effective blending of the roses with the resins.

Again, it performs very well, and is priced in a similar range to the rest of the collection, at $145 for 60ml via the Zaharoff website.

Overall, it's really a superb fragrance, period, and is a wonderful rose offering that generously provides a blended rose (and rosé aspect) for those of us that really enjoy rose.

I'd certainly recommend that everyone check this out!

8 out of 10