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savchuk_aleksey – :
Smoulderose spray EDP is a strong, unique rose scent. Rich deep damask rose is infused with black elder to create a dark sweet berry jam effect. A strong dose of saffron lends a bittersweet, earthy savory touch. Labdanum adds a leather tone, strong and smooth. Patchouli is soft yet deep, anchoring this scent and giving it lasting power. The beautiful rose is surrounded by oud and bergamot. The medicinal toned oilbanum, aka frankencense, envelops the mix to create an overall extremely aromatic lift with a long lasting trail of scent. The smoke and roasted sea shells mix to add the unmistakable smell of sea and sand mixed with campfire smoke. This perfume lasts forever until you wash it off.
When I wear this, I think of a pirate’s lady who dares to sail with him. She wears the intense scent of dark rich deep roses. Her perfume mixes with the smells of sea, sand, leather, and campfires as the crew celebrates and buries their treasure ashore. She’s beautiful, adventurous, smart,lusty, sensual, and very capable of defending herself with a sword and the hidden leather sheathed daggers she carries. She’s a powerful beauty who can easily conquer the wildest heart of any sea-going man she chooses.
hebyDothhiemy – :
A very interesting and unique take on rose. I haven’t smelled anything like it. There is rose all the way, but paired with what smells like gasoline to me. Not oud or wood, but more like gasoline from a petrol station. There are other notes of course, likely resins and florals and even sea shell is mentioned in the notes pyramid above.
It is an intriguing fragrance. I like it, but because of its uniqueness I suspect one might get bored with it after some time. Although it is a rose-focused scent, it leans more masculine in my opinion.
CeppawRotte – :
Perfectly named. This perfume immediately suggests a rose burning on a pyre, with a moist, jammy rose mingled with the acrid odors of ash and smoke. The opening phase also features a lively orange note, along what feels like some traditional aldehydes, providing some effervescence and angularity. Smolderose dries down in about two hours into an extremely tenacious cedar sprinkled with pepper. At this point, the fire has died down, the rose has “joined the choir invisible,” and Smolderose suggests the scent from a jar of old and woody potpourri. A different, dry and astringent interpretation of the rose+woods genre.
samyrai1986 – :
Smolderose is a delicious jammy and smoky rose. It is mysterious and alluring. Gypsy rose! Esmeralda. Add some incense smoke, olibanum, patchouli and wow, mind blowing. Perfect for Fall days. Excellent work by John Biebel.
shef777 – :
this is a wonderfully autumnal perfume: dry, herbal, deep, non-sweet fruity, rose-hippy, outdoorsy, slightly smoky — and always deeply rosy. i have MANY rose perfumes and this has totally surprised me. my favorite perfume of 2017 — and among my most favorite rose perfumes ever. highly highly recommended.
p.s. the presentation of the 3.4 oz bottle is amazing as well: wonderful bottle, great cap (!), lovely artwork on the box — and most importantly: the sprayer is superb, releasing a fine mist
strixallo – :
I haven’t been inspired to write many reviews lately, but Smolderose is so interesting it needs a little discussion. A sample sent to me by a kind Fragrantican…I made a mishap of spilling too much on myself when I was just trying to get a dab! Thankfully a hefty helping of this fragrance is not a fatal overdose. But you could stand to go lightly with it. The sillage is pretty strong still, as my nose is tired from been smelling other perfumes all day and I still can get huge whiffs of this emanating from myself.
The opening is really incensy, jammy rose. It settles down with some woodsmoke, evolving with something leathery that makes me wonder if I’m reviewing the correct version of Smolderose (the other one has castoreum), then what I’m assuming to be the seashell note comes out. It’s a tad animalic and super-salty, like sand notes in some beachy fragrances and even tantamount to the caviar/salty note in TM Womanity. So I’d venture to say this isn’t exactly a safe blind buy unless you’re familiar with that fragrance. (If Womanity were an oriental, here it would be.) I also get the bergamot, suede-y labdanum, and oud just as the note votes suggest.
The rose holds steady throughout this wild progression, jammy as ever. It’s really a wet, salty, sharp, impolite, yet totally entrancing floral oriental. This may be a confusing review until you smell it. I really think this is the kind of scent that niche should be about, as it’s truly creative. Creativity is often defined as novelty with VALUE. This is both novel and something to be valued: not just a crazy weird perfume to cause a hype scene, but a crazy weird perfume that expands the definition of olfactory pleasure.
kristyjanzer – :
Sadly on me this is dried roses and incense. It’s sort of dusty. It’s fine, pleasant. But that’s it. 🙁
xeb165Unlogrere – :
Smells like a vintage book that was packed away with rose petals pressed between every other chapter.
As a bookworm, this greatly appeals to me.
Nice. Very nice.
Phoenix966 – :
Jammy is the right word. This is a rose at harvest time.
It clearly is a full bodies garden rose, but it’s also rosehips and elderberries and a distant smoke. This is delicious and perfect for autumn.
About four hours in I do notice a little bit of a dirty/musky/BO note, like a guy that just finished some sweaty work. I suspect its the oud. It’s subtle and blends and I could imagine this being a good scent to blend with someone who’s body chemistry went that way, but I thought I should make note of it. It faded so I could just be crazy.
Zaptuz – :
Continuing to explore the fragrances in Eau de Parfum concentration from January Scent Project, Smolderose was the one that caught my eye at the first time I read something about the brand. In recent years, I became a true lover of fragrances that can bring the rose to a more versatile side, to the point of being used in unisex and/or masculine perfumes, something that is very common in niche perfumery.
The perfumer and creator John Biebel told me that the names of his perfumes do not follow a typical logic, which uses terms in French. Here, the name comes from the junction of the words Smolder and Rose.
The fragrance features notes of Damask rose, bergamot, saffron, roasted seashells, frankincense, elder flower, patchouli, cade oil, labdanum and oud. By reading the olfactory pyramid, it is not difficult to imagine what kind of smell Smolderose should have. But believe me, the result is different from what we imagine. And the best part is that it does not disappoint!
Smolderose escapes from the usual scent that comes from the combo made of roses + saffron + oud + frankincense, which we are accustomed to find in fragrances depicting the Middle East. From the moment it touches the skin, the incense is light and the rose stands out from the rest of the composition. No matter how opulent the other notes are, the rose remains unchanged from beginning to end. Moreover, this time, the rose was not exploited with dirty or metallized content. Its romanticism was maintained, with the feminine side almost unchanging, but without being too innocent.
The woody notes serve as raw material for the ember that causes the rose to burn, slowly, in honor of its name. The oil of cade, which comes from the juniper, joins the heat of patchouli and oud. The labdanum imparts a leathery nuance that is very noticeable, yet soft.
In a simplistic way, Smolderose is like a beautiful Arab incense of roses, which does not have great evolution, remaining linear, but never ends. Perhaps it is the most delicate fragrance of the three EDP released, but do not misunderstand me: it is not a weak or soft fragrance, because it projects and lasts in an irreproachable way.
It is also worth mentioning that it is not the same fragrance as in the Parfum Oil version, launched in 2015. The latter is rich in rose absolute, castoreum, tobacco, honey, vanilla and other notes. I’ll write a review soon.
To conclude, I admit that John managed to surprise me again, with a fragrance that draws attention by name, captures by the ingredients used and reveals itself in an unusual way, going against expectations and making room for a new type of rose’s scent.
Ziohekx – :
A must-have for rose lovers. This goes on (odd to say because it sort of contradicts) but a green and jammy rose. Then, it turns to incense. Then, it smells like fallen fermented roses or dried rose petals and campfire smoke but the smoke is just a whisp, not the full campfire and never overwhelms the rose. After this stage, it turns a little herbal, and I stopped liking it, but that passed and it became just a beautiful jammy deep rose. There was some patch riding through the top that deepened the rose so that it is a night rose not a laundry drawer rose. I wanted to try this forever. I might cross off two other roses I have on my want list in lieu of this one.
BemblileThall – :
This was my first journey away from the mainstream and into niche, and I was very eager to try this one in particular since I love the scent of Damascus rose. It doesn’t disappoint, it’s very rosy. The opening is verdant and the rose blooms majestically in the heart, interplaying with the smokey resins. I did’t know what roasted seashells was supposed to smell like before, but I totally get the sense of it in some kind of instinctive way I can’t explain. It’s definitely interesting.
This one goes on very thick and rich, with the projection going out like a tidal wave upon application but then settling down to loud, moderately loud, before coming right back to a just off the skin in the dry down. This lasts for ever, I still get a hint if it days after and through showering. The way it interacts with other fragrances I chose to wear has been an interesting game as well, since I can’t really avoid mixing them. I recommend not getting it on your clothes, unless you really want to have the scent infuse everything you own.
All 3 remind me of stories in the Grimm Brothers fairytails and I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with them over the last couple weeks. I really look forward to new adventures.
SeroOccuche – :
Wow..I just ordered mine too!excited!!
princeigor0400 – :
Just ordered my $5 sample set directly from January Scent Project. Free shipping in U.S.!! So excited to try Smolderose and their other scents!
soja – :
I’ve ordered 4 different samples from the house first. The sealed postal package which I received was smelling already something divine. While unpacking, this remarkable smell spread everywhere in my room. I already knew I had to figure out which of the 4 is the one in the air and get immediately its full bottle. It is – Smolderose Spray Eau de Parfum.
The divine smell of Smolderose Spray Eau de Parfum results from incense smoke, bergamot, saffron, frankincense and labdanum. A true masterpiece from John Biebel.
By the way, the beauty of this fragrance is in the complex trail it leaves. Not sure how they made it, but the fragrance smells differently depending on how far you are from the source.
When I smell it I imagine the old silk road in Central Asia with changing markets, sands, Oasis trees with a special heart-aching feel of something exciting to happen.
Будулаша – :
During my youth, Victoria’s Secret’s ‘Victoria’ and Lancome ‘Rouge Now or Never’ were my go-to Rose perfumes. This isn’t anything to brag about, but we’ve all enjoyed bubblegum or Hostess twinkies back in the day. When they were discontinued, I was bereft.. shredded to the core. It was as if, a dear friend had died. Never found another Rose to love, until 22 yrs later, upon discovery of Smolderose!
Smolderose is a partnership of rose & incense. Crisp, fresh, bergamot opens with the sparkling effervescence of Apricot liqueur / Japanese plum wine. A soft rose sings its velvety tones throughout. Balsamic resins hold in perfect tension with aged patchouli, which resonates a sweeter, almost ambery feel. While unlisted, I also sense benzoin and camphoraceous accompaniment (faint moth ball — in a great way) in the background. There’s also a boozy-leather, which lends an almost alien beauty.
To my nose, Smolderose EDP is night-and-day different than Smolderose parfum (rollerball jpg on fragrantica). If you’ve previously found the latter too intense, it’s definitely worth trying the EDP. It’s exquisitely crafted, and extremely wearable.
Just bought a 30 mL full bottle. Welcome to my permanent collection, January Scent Project!