Portrait of a Lady Frederic Malle for women

Love Portrait of a Lady! Such a complex weave of scents. For me lots of rose and incense.

The rose in this is done well. It does seem similar to the rose I find in Declaration d'un Soir by Cartier. Sorta metallic, maybe kinda oceanic. It's done beautifully.

It's different, though, from the rose I smell in Lyric Man by Amouage. That's more of a powdery, creamy rose.

Having a complete obsession with fragrances, I've come to own many and sample hundreds. I have to say, that combining Declaration's rose with Bond No. 9's Silver Factory's incense creates a pretty convincing facsimile.

Probably would have bought this one could I not tincture up something so easily from bottles I already own.

In the opening I can smell fruity incense mixing in with patchouli followed by a sweet rose. This is a very complex fragrance with a lot of notes coming at you all at once.

Once it settles the rose becomes more prominent and floral but with fruity undertones supporting the rose.

In the basenotes the incense becomes more dominant and the rose note recedes from the spotlight.

What makes this fragrance better than most other similar scents is it's superior execution. It has a symphony of notes that have been carefully orchestrated to bring you a complex and enjoyable olfactory experience. Very well done!

This grew on me.
I did not like it at the first moment as it opened sour and very dry from rose and incense, but after a while I cached myself wanting to get more and more whiffs of this. Almost hour and a half has passed since the first whiff of this and I must say - this is drop dead gorgeous rose fragrance, it's smoky from incense, extremely dry and very sensual. Full bottle worthy indeed.

A beautiful sandalwood scent. It reminds me of a delicate sandalwood fan someone once gave to me when I was a child. The rose is a lovely compliment, but it's overpowered quickly by the sandalwood.

I love this, but sooooo expensive!

I am really new to perfumes in general, especially ones of this caliber but I can honestly say I'm in love with this fragrance! It is the only Frederic Malle scent I've had the pleasure to try out but I'm so happy that I did.

It is extremely strong and long lasting, I put a few dabs (from a sample) on one wrist and 8 hours later I was still getting lovely whiffs of it.

It has a lovely rose scent which has a very slightly sweet note to it which makes it very wearable.

The thing that I find most amazing about this scent is that it develops with time. For the first hour or so I got the lovely sweet rose and a heady note which I can't quite put a name to but gradually some fruity berry notes appear and then an hour or two later the slightly sweet rose, heady note and berry scents all mix together to mellow it down and change it slightly to make such a beautiful and unique scent.

I know this perfume is extremely expensive (well to me it is) but I can honestly say one/two sprays of this lovely little gem and you will be set for a good 10 hours so it really is good value for money in regards to how much you have to use/how long it will last you.

-Sorry I can't put a name to the heady note, like I said I'm really new to perfumes so I don't know the names of the notes my nose picks out so please just take this review as it is intended.......one newbie to another :)

This is so lovely at times it makes me feel slightly weak in the knees! But I find I can't wear it until evening, because it does have powerful rose notes and persistent incense.

I can't see what it has to do with Isabel in Henry James's Portrait of a Lady mind you, this perfume feels like a happily settled and grounded sort of woman who tends her rose bed with leather gardening gloves and spends the summer months gathering damsons then making them into rich, boozy preserves for the winter months.

My favourite part of this is the way the sandalwood-like incense curls around my nose in little wisps which almost convince me there's real incense burning somewhere.

It really softens the rose (which I sometimes find a bit clean and sharp in perfume) into something skin-scent-like and sensual.

Still not sure if I want to buy a full bottle, but I'm beginning to crave this perfume of an evening, so let's face it I'm going to splash out at some point. I think late August/September would be perfect

REVIEW OF DARRSHAN

WELL I AGREE WITH A PERSON REVIEWING BELOW TAT TIS IS MONTALE BLACK OUD DONE IN A PROPER AND BETTER WAY, STILL POL IS AMAZING AND I JUST LOVE IT, IT STAYS CLOSE TO SKIN IS A COMPLAINT OF MINE VERY LESS SILLAGE AND PROJECTION IS NILL . STILL ITS A VERY SOPHASTICATED ROSE WITH INCENCE

Portrait of a Lady opens with a big blast of incense and rose. The incense does overpower for quite a while, and one spray (if that) is really really enough. It's a perfume that needs to be left a while before going out the door...use sparingly! When I first put it on I thought "oh no this is way too strong for me!", so casually wiped it off. But the thing with this fragrance is, even having wiped it off, it works with your chemistry so deeply that about half an hour later, I smelt the most exquisite fragrance ever in the dry down.

The dry down is where this perfume really shines. The incense softens and the rose lightens into a wonderful elegant scent, you catch a whiff of it and you have to ask yourself "is that gorgeous smell really coming from my wrist?!"

So far, the opening is slightly too much for me, but it's worth being patient for the dry down as it's so beautiful. It's almost a scent you want to use behind your neck, or on your back. I don't know, there just seems something secretive and seductive about this fragrance that having it "on show" seems to be too much. Sometimes I confuse myself, but that's the best way I can describe it!

I can't avoid hyperbole in this case: Portrait is heartbreakingly beautiful. It is quite honestly one of the most complex and moving fragrances I have ever had the pleasure to experience.

Despite what the official notes state, to my nose this is an exquisite oriental-rose-oud fragrance (I'm assuming that oud is part of the incense note here, but Malle didn't want to market it as yet another oud fragrance, so it wasn't emphasized). I also pick up on Saffron -- there is an earthy-leather-medicinal quality that both oud and saffron can impart, and I feel the presence of both quite strongly.

Patchouli plays an important role here, as well. Patchouli and rose are a classic duo, and the potent patchouli note does something magical to the rose in Portrait: it enriches, thickens, and complexifies the rose. It imparts a strength, a sense of force. This is not a delicate-petals-and-spring-garden rose, this is a rose with fortitude.

There is also a delicious jamminess in Portrait -- it's not sweet, but slightly tangy and fruity -- oddly mouthwatering, without being at all gourmand or saccharine.

And the incense...oh, the incense. Portrait somehow manages to evoke the sacred aura of incense without being particularly smoky or powdery. It is a dry incense note, but incredibly smooth and intoxicating. The Ambroxan in Portrait contributes a velvety, woody quality to the overall composition (as far as I'm concerned, Ambrox is like the "crack" of synthetic perfume notes -- I find it completely irresistible and addictive).

Lastly, but not least important, there is an animalic aspect to Portrait that cannot be overlooked. What is it? Is it the earthy, natural patchouli? I can't be certain, but now and again, I get faint whiff of something bodily, something carnal...something secret.

Portrait is perfection in a bottle. It evokes strength and delicacy. Mysticism and sensual pleasure. Earthiness and refined sophistication. The longevity is stellar (12+ hours and going strong!) and sillage is medium (just how I like it --personal but still noticeable).

When I wear this I feel utterly enlightened. You can't say I didn't warn you about hyperbole!

Looking for the perfect rose-patchouli scent i did adventure myself trying this perfume. On paper is very sensual, interesting. But once on my skin after drying up the incense is the dominant note with a hint of musk and cinnamon (which i truly hate...).
To me this smell fantastic for a man (again, sorry I have the same convinction regarding Une Rose). I also let it smell to my boyfriend and he reacted "what a nice men perfume!"
Unfortunately it is not what i was looking for (sensual,, spring-summerish) but perhaps i found a very interesting scent to give as a gift ;)

Portrait of a Lady confused me for a while. The name and the reviews which describe this as a soft, feminine, lady-like scent seemed very far away from what I was smelling.
In my review of JHAG Lady Vengeance I expressed the view that the names of that scent and this one should be swapped to be more fitting which I have to reiterate here.
Portrait of a Lady is a strong rose scent, with spikes of cloves, swirls of incense, mashed raspberry and piles of earthy patchouli. This Lady is beautiful but has dirt under her fingernails and her slick of red lipstick is smeared.
This fragrance isn't really about rose I feel, the rose acts as a canvas to be built upon. Portrait of a Lady gives us a new rose that we couldn't possibly associate with the innocent and pretty rose we think we know.
This scent feels tempestuous and unhinged. It feels like the expression of an alter-ego that has been poorly kept under wraps in Jekyll and Hyde fashion. But more than anything, this scent feels well made. It's fantastic and explosive and distinctive, an entirely individual fragrance. Wear with aplomb.

A package arrived Saturday with this fragrance and I have waited to review it because it is unlike any other I have experienced, having ordered this fragrance blind. The initial spray was a shock to me and the rose seemed overpowering at first. Over time, the rose receded and the dry-down is the most subtle and elegant musk and amber I have experienced (and musk doesn't generally work on me, but this one does in a big way). The scent seems vintage and very refined, but never little-old-lady. I keep envisioning a very modern woman deftly navigating the changing cultural tides of the Edwardian period, spanning from the Victorian to the birth of the Modern. She is unapologetic, assertive and absolutely refined. If she were a piece of music, she would be Daphnis et Chloé by Ravel, with its brilliant, ecstatic finish.

Now after four days, this Lady has me besotted and utterly in her clutches. This is too rich for me to wear daily, and frankly, my coworkers don't deserve it, but this will be in permanent rotation for me. If you don't get this for yourself, try to befriend someone who wears it, so you can at least have the vicarious pleasure of standing near them. And what a pleasure it is!

Words cannot do this justice and hence why I will not even try. But please if you are going to do one thing in your life before you die... Smell this, and ask your loved ones to wrap your body in a cloth that smells of this when you do die. There is no better way to leave this world. Seriously.

This did NOT work for me. Based on the notes, I thought it would be a no-brainer, but it was horrible...scrub off horrible. It was so much drier than I expected and almost soapy on my skin. I would definitely not define this as in the Oriental family...it was well in the Chypre family to my nose. As far as niche fragrances go, I'm afraid that Frederic Malle has been a disappointment for me in general. I like Dans Tes Bras and Musc Ravageur but not enough to buy.

Purchased a sample after seeing a raving review on Youtube. Was excited to get it on for a try. For me, it's dusty Potpourri with aspirin sprinkled on top! Wore it to church this morning and it bothered me so bad I didn't want to greet anyone. My husband who was forced to sit next to me said it gave him a horrible headache (needed that aspirin!). I didn't even spray it on, I dabbed on my wrists and neck. It's a scrubber for me. Not a fresh rose. Reminds me of how I felt in the 90s when I set potpourri out in a bowl and would keep moving it from room to room away from me until I finally threw it out after a few days. Way overpriced and I wouldn't buy it if priced reasonably. Still prefer Rose The One and Stella, but on the lookout for that perfect vividly fresh rose. Sorry if I disappoint those who love it...

An absolutely beautiful rose fragrance that is complex yet soft. My kind of rose.

Post Note: The dry down to me is like a warm, delicious, slightly spiced raspberry and rose petals preserve being served at a prestigious 5-star historical hotel.

This is Black Aoud done right. It doesnt have as massive sillage as Montale, but IMO higher quality ingredients and better balance of notes. It is also slightly more feminine than BO (especially during opening which has noticable amount of raspberries) and goes to my favourite part of BO (aoud + rose + patchouli which I can smell in BO after many many hours) much faster. So far this is best rose + aoud combo that I tried (I tried Black Aoud, Aoud Damascus, Aoud Queen Roses, Midnight Oud, Moon Aoud) and its on par with my favourite Montale - White Aoud which to my nose is more aoud + saffron + vanilla combo than aoud + rose combo.

FANCY AND SOPHISTICATED. If you like Coco Chanel Mademoiselle and Miss Dior Cherie, but are sick of them this is your cup of tea. Lovely, persistent and not outrageous.

***EDIT: the more I use my little decant, the more I love this perfume. There is nothing like it on the market. It is so feminine without being cloying at all. Staying power is amazing and sillage is as good as it gets. Don't buy it though: I want to be the only one having it ;)

When this stuff dries down I can honestly and unequivocally say that it is the softest most stunningly beautiful fragrance I have ever smelt. So original and edgy -- Its the first unisex perfume that I've fallen in love with! Steals the show effortlessly. Not once have I ever worn this without receiving compliments.

I'm going out on a limb here. I'm a man and this fragrance is one of the best I've ever smelled. I can't bring myself to go to Barney's and buy it, it being a women's fragrance and all but this wears well on me and it smells masculine, not feminine.

Edit: bought it, it's not cheap but it is worth every penny. What an amazing scent.

A dark rose opening, surrounded by spices and an earthy depth; the rose seems to fade, but the fragrance retains the spicy darkness with rose intertwined throughout. Fairly linear, but the complexity makes it remain very interesting. Downright wonderful!

I just have to leave another review: I wore this perfume out last night to a Misfits show in the city and honestly, it was just perfect!!! So dark, smokey, but then the fruit and rose helps maintain it from going over the edge, and the clove is to die for! The silage is amazing, so even over everyone else's "scents" you could still smell my portrait of a lady. Even the Bartender asked me what perfume I was wearing because she said she loves it, but I couldn't believe that she was able to smell it in a room filled with other people. Sometimes I wonder if "Portrait of a lady" is meant to be used as a sarcastic title for the perfume and not as a literal title. Dark, mysterious, and always confident, I Love it!

Portrait of a Lady is as simple as a rose garden made scent.

It may carry the notes of various varieties and species, but ultimately they unite to form a fragrance that is pitch perfect.

There are summer fruits here too, crushed raspberries and blackcurrants, their juice released directly onto the prying fingers that try to pick them.

For me, the incense comes and goes and is as much sweet benzoin, spice and sandalwood as it is smoke. It never shouts down the floral heart of the perfume that is so attractive and enduring.

The English Rose is of course a Lady, and this is a particular, accurate and charming picture of her.

But the rose is also the symbol of England itself and no Englishman, indeed no man of any country, should be embarrassed to wear the bloom in his buttonhole and the scent next to his skin.

I tried this one some days ago, after reading the reviews and I was badly disappointed!
I didn't like it on paper, all I could smell was something grandmotherly, but I like to keep an "open" nose so I tried it on my skin too.
I waited for a couple of minutes before I sniffed at my wrist, with my eyes closed and again the same feeling of an old Dame's perfume.
I waited some more and nothing changed much, except that I could smell the roses more...
Hours later, I gave up and I washed it of.
I think despite of how it's been named, this is a unisex scent.
The clove and the incense take away the freshness of the roses making them smell like those you kept for too long , kill its feminine side too, not the sweetness, just a woman's sensuality!
If this is how a Lady supposed to smell like, exactly how long after her prime this Lady is?!
Of course that's how it felt for me
As for the unisex part? On my husband's skin it turned into something masculine and spicy! Very peculiar indeed!!!!

This Perfume is the definition of : masterpiece !!. herbal , woody earthy smoky unisex Perfume! long lasting & great sillage! ever and ever! Damn man! when the salesgirl recommended it to me, I thought that there was something wrong in me ! coz of it's name lol. I couldn't imagine it will be wearable by men !!! . but after I smelled it I really thanked her a lot! so men don't look to the name : this is really unisex perfume! and very fantastic. love it.

It is unisex. I swear. It is soooo dark, so smokey, so woody, beats down most of the man's frags easily. I dont have the fruits and even rose is muted to my nose - pepper, incense, spices added with light hand, and of course the green side of great amount of patchouly. If you love patchouly for the wet, dark sweetness - go away from this. It is something else. It takes an hour to the rose to break out from the crowd. But remains earthy and smokey for the rest of the scent. Well - it is a good piece of art, but not for me.

Heaven in a bottle...and on the skin! LOVE!!! If you buy one fragrance from Frederic Malle, this should be it! Sophisticated beyond compare. Excellent longevity.

It's smells as some kind of dust for cleaning persil or something similar,too bad for niche....

This perfume is just beautiful. I really didn't think I would like it, much less love it, due to just it's name alone. I was expecting some stuffy old lady fragrance that adores roses and whose very excitement in life comes from the "incense" note alone. I couldn't have been more wrong, or maybe not so happily but, the point is that this is not for old ladies playing bridge, to me this smells so dark and mysterious. Maybe the woman wearing this looks like a lady, but do not be fooled....she is wearing her office appropriate dress with a leather bra and lace panties. Also, if a man were wearing this, I wouldn't think anything ladylike about it.....I can picture this being very sensual on anyone.

Now here is a perfume with sillage and longevity that I so greatly long for yet rarely find in modern perfumes. Most fragrances today should be called "scents" or something like that because they are so weak and quiet, even if they are high-quality niches. Portrait of a Lady is truly worthy of being called a "perfume." It takes a while for it to really meld and become one with my chemistry, but it's worth the wait. For the first 1-2 hours, it's so strongly patchouli and black currant. I have never liked patchouli, yet lately it seems to be growing on me. The patch here is nice and smooth, damp, earthy, and pairs very nicely with the sweet, fruity currant. After about 2 hours, the patch softens up considerably and blends a lot better with the other notes. I know the notes mention spices, but they are so subtle that I would never think of this as a spicy perfume. Out of all the Malle perfumes I've tested, Portrait of a Lady is the most grown-up, the most like an old-fashioned, full-bodied perfume. I am on the fence as to whether I really think it's a modern masterpiece or not, whether I want to own it or not, whether it's really "me" or not, whether I can handle all the patchouli or not....but in any case it's very beautiful.

This is a great example of art. A gothıc line. As if dancing in the dark. Certainly very special and so different.

Exquisite! ! !

Portrait of a Lady starts a little harsh, but settles down very nice and quite soft. The sillage is big and the longevity is extremely good.

I mainly detect rose, patchouli, incense and fruit with a clove and cinnamon kick. It's fresh, but not sour (maybe a little sourish, but not the usual disturbing kind) and there also is a bit of sweetness in there.

I've read somewhere that it's very similair to Montale's Black Aoud and I agree. But where Black Aoud is linear (the initial notes are indeed comparable) Portrait of a Lady changes and has so much more facets.

If you disregard the name this could easily be unisex and therefore also be worn by a man.

I normally don't add reviews on here simply because I know once I start I wont stop! Infact this is my first one. And it's all thanks to Portrait of a Lady...

I got a sample of this from Liberty in London a week or so ago, and wore it the next day throughout the day at work. I was anticipating some embarrassment as I knew all the guys would ask me what I'm wearing as this perfume just is so damn fine and I'd have to say "Oh its called portrait of a Lady"...Which in my social and work groups would seem fag like. Much to my delight though it was all the ladies asking what is this sexy scent I am wearing - I didn't hesitate to tell them!

I'm not gonna bang on about notes and such things as everybody seems to do so. But as a guy I was surprised to see that this was so wearable and had a positive effect on women from a broad age range (23-45!). No surprise then that I bought a 100ml bottle the next day :) Not for women only as it says... For a guy, it's quite potent if you can wear it with confidence and pull it off however!

i remember passing up on trying this scent a couple of times but one day i just decided to ask for a sample of this without thinking much about it. i did like the scent in store but it was a mere 'it's lovely' but continue smelling other scents. after getting the sample and trying at home over a week or so, i can honestly say i have found my signature fragrance. i dont say this easily and really didnt think i will become one of the signature fragrance person. but this just completely and utterly drawn me into its magic.

this fragrance represents everything i want in a signature fragrance when i dont even know i had those boxes to tick! it is what some are calling modern oriental or new oriental. it has the headiness and richness of oriental, but done in a more precise composition. it definitely dont smell like any traditional oriental i smelled, and i do like some classic orientals. however i would not wear those because i tend to like my fragrances as newly released as possible. it is very contemporary but without compromising on "traditional" perfumery, so it really does smell like a perfume rather than imitating or exagerating nature.

it has elements of floral, fruity, dirt, green, incense, spice and everything nice, but works in perfect harmony that makes you smell neither very fresh and young, nor mature and too grown up. i wouldn't say this scent is sexy or sweetly feminine per say, but very very sophisticated and elegant. hum...not an "easy" fragrance to wear, i think you have to be certain types of women to pull it off seamlessly. when i smell it, i want to wear my more sophisticated but understated clothes. there is nothing casual about this fragrance.

this fragrance does not sit sharp on me, it is quite rounded...wouldnt say soft but no hard edges. it is quite linear but not a problem with me because i love it from the start. fantastic sillage and longevity. not much bad things to say except the price is high. from what i read that it is 50% parfum...if it is true, i can justify the price somewhat.

i havent been able to buy it yet...but i am looking forward to it. during the time from sampling malle to now, i seems to have lost interest in smelling other fragrances! my mind somehow always wanders back to portrait of a lady. i wonder if this is when you know you have found 'the one'?

at first it was strange to wear that perfume: everybody I met, was attaching his/her nose to my neck, inhaling deeply, asking: "oh my god..what is it that you're wearing?"
now, that I'm used to that effect, I can say: this is love.
a cassis and very strong, thorny rose and gooseberry(?) in the beginning, then there come the spices, cinnamon, sandalwood, incense (wow!) and patchouli (masses of it) and fades out in a way (raspberry in the drydown? is that chemically even possible? don't know..) that I myself have to attach my nose to the bright-red silk-blouse I wore yesterday. simply great.

tenacity: it's like a tattoo. f.e. hair smells still after proper shampooing...

edit: still, every time I wear it, I get several compliments and questions about the name and where to buy it. even married men who want to buy it for their wives;-)

For some reason this was sharp on me. Too sharp. Not for me. :/ Liked it a lot at first........

I'm honestly not in love with this fragrance, or really any of the FM scents besides Musc Ravageur. I could tell they're of very high quality and all, but they generally don't work well with my chemistry, or maybe I'm just a little too young to be able to appreciate them. Many of the FM scents are unique, strong florals; wonderful creations, just not my cup of tea. Portrait of a Lady is exactly that. The sharpness of the patchouli and rose combo is simply too much for me.

Wow! excellent perfume, ultra feminin, very elegant...it is strong yet subtile at the same time. Very complex perfume, reminds me of Lumiere Noir but the notes are blended in a much softer way...It lasts all day ( + day after!).To my nose it ends up a bit soapy after 8 hours which I really enjoy. This is a masterpiece if you like sofisticated rose- patchouli perfumes.

One the best perfume.Very sensual,very elegant and modern now.Prima!!!

The lady is a tramp! After the blaring, elephantesque opening of Frédéric Malle PORTRAIT OF A LADY, I was not surprised in the least to learn that the perfumer was none other than Kenzo JUNGLE L'ELEPHANT creator, Dominique Ropion!

Huge opening with a massive blast of patchouli along with incense and rose. The spices are quite a bit tamer here than in L'ELEPHANT, but this is still much more of an oriental than a floral perfume to my nose. I would compare this composition to Juliette Has a Gun VENGEANCE EXTREME, except that PORTRAIT OF A LADY is much sharper (partly due to clove?) and more declarative, even intense. They definitely occupy the same general neighborhood on the grand olfactory map. PORTRAIT OF A LADY is much closer to VENGEANCE EXTREME than to either LIPSTICK ROSE or UNE ROSE, the other two Frédéric Malle rose perfumes.

The longevity is great and the sillage big enough to make this a wear-at-home-only perfume for me. Very voluptuous and, frankly, unladylike in its brazen, almost animalic sensuality. I like it a lot, I really do. This is a no-holds-barred oriental patchouli perfume with some rose accents. Seems omnisex to me.

I really like this fragrance very much. But why is everybody talking about the rose and allmost nobody about the incense in this beautiful perfume? The insence is very very strong. I like that but it makes this perfume not exactly versatile. I don't mind smelling like a Roman Catholic church. I was practically raised in it. But not everyone appreciates that insence blast. When I purchased this perfume I thought it would be my new all time favorite, that's how much I liked it. But it turned out to be just a beautiful fragrance in my collection. I don't wear it that often. I don't regret buying it though. By the way, I bought the purse spray refills. It's practical to have three little spray bottles instead of one large one. It's also more afordable. (If you don't buy the rediculously expensive purse spray itself)

Beware of this Lady,
Once noticed, you will be delighted titillated
SEDUCED* enticed OVERWHELMED* infatuated piqued PROVOKED* SPELLBOUND* ENAMOURED* ensnared riveted COMPELLED* CHARMED* intrigued LURED* transfixed enthralled aroused beguiled HYPNOTISED* tempted thrilled BEWITCHED* OVERPOWERED* intoxicated CAPTIVATED* enraptured attracted attached stimulated DRAWN* ENSLAVED* ALLURED* engrossed entranced MESMERISED* RAVISHED* tantalised...

Though I'm a great fan of Dominique Ropion, this is one of his creations that I unfortunately am unable to wear. After many tries it just dosen't sit well with my skin.

Its a beauty but a dark beauty. On skin I get mainly middle/base notes from this perfume and later on the bottom notes make an appearance. But after 3 wears, the top notes are virtually nonexistent; I get some faint rose, no cinnamon or clove at all, and a small amount of rasberry but I've got to plant my nose to my skin to smell it.

It has a smell of 'perfume' to it, this is not merely a 'scent'. And its quite a long wearing one. 10+ hours each time I've tried it though I don't awake with the smell still on my skin.

On paper this is an amazing scent, and I can appreciate the structure of the scent, but from what I smell on my skin, or NOT smell as is the case, its not worth a purchase.

I love rose & patchouli scents and I adore Dominique Ropion. Also, I love the movie Portrait of a Lady (by Jane Campion). Alltogether this would make me buy this beautiful fragrance, but still, I don't know... I've tried patch and rose scents like Idylle Duet and Lady Vengeance before. And the problem is that they are all so darn good!

What I'm trying to say is that I need further testing before making up my mind. Portrait of a Lady is a true and complex beauty. It has an immense staying power and it changes bit by bit while it's maturing. But I'm not sure that it's "The One" just yet.

On paper, it's fantastic. It has the consistency of dreams. I pictured a beautiful blonde lady looking out of the window of her white mansion, smiling. It reminds you of all the things you wanted in life but couldn't get, but the memories aren't painful. It brings you back to the beauty of desire.
On my skin, though, it lost everything. The dream was over, and all that remained was a pale, cold rose.

I tried this one on several weeks ago and I love it. dusty roses, incense; slightly creamy and spicy. a bit stronger scent not overpowering, perfect for evening occasions. classic vintage scent; i'm thinking victorian era - reminds me of that type of a lady.
excellent lasting power-all day.

at my inexpert nose:
It begin with raspberry blackcurrent and a sea of rose
after you find incense and rose.
a very unusual composition very liquid intense and feminine
for a lady:-)

Portrait of a lady is startling beautiful. Dark, sensual and provocative to my senses. This is not a scent i would associate with the term "lady" especially one from a Victorian era who would one day face an ill-fated future. This fragrance offers me many things i love, the powerful and sesnuous smell of roses with the scent of freshly crushed berries, i can almost taste the berries and the way they would roll around in my mouth, my teeth ripping through their flesh and my tongue massaging it softly but eventually swallowing it and leaving that beautiful and very bittersweet aftertaste in my mouth. The incense note is beautiful to, it gives the fragrance depth and darkness. This scent is AU$510 here in Australia because i think it is still relatively new here but it is a masterpiece and one i feel honoured to have in my collection.

This was nicely gourmand on me and smelled exactly like Turkish Delight. If that's the smell you love, this is a must!

I was so confident I'm going to love this, as I thought it is going to be something like Back to Black by Kilian, which I liked.

But, Portrait of a Lady somehow turned out sharper and harsher than I anticipated. I think, the separate parts of these fragrance are perfect by themselves - jammy rose, cinnamon&spices, aoud&patchouli... But when they are smacked all together, it resulted in too much sourness and sharpness. PofL also has this air of old-fashionness, which often works for some perfumes, but here, I think, it becomes a bit annoying.

Maybe, I wasn't in the right mood when I sampled it yesterday, but at that moment, this perfume did scare me off.

I've just purchased this wonderful creation from Barney's New York during my vacation.
On my skin the oriental notes appear to come alive.
Whilst dining at Balthazar last evening a female guest sitting next to me to ask what fragrance I was wearing and recorded the name into her mobile. She said that it was exquisite and had to ask!
I was so pleased as I too fell in love with it after a trial in Barney's.
Guys don't be mislead, if you love it buy it; don't worry if it is marketed as a female fragrance!
Enjoy.

Don't let the name misleading you, Portrait Of a Lady is a perfect unisex fragrance. Despite the fact oud is not listed between the notes I get a consistent dose of it together with pepper and, obviously, rose. In the opening, the pepper/rose accord brings to my mind of a sort of Parfum Sacre without civet, but then incense and oud make their appearance giving Portrait Of A lady a different twist. Patchouli and spices add extra depth to this solid composition. Amazing drydown.

A master composition that If you're into bold and spicy rose fragrances you'll surely dig. Comparisons with Black Aoud are inevitable.

Rating: 8/10

I did not see the film, I am merely adding my opinion on the perfume ...

I was looking for a smokey rose and this one got many votes, so got the green light. I had a little preoccupation that it might be high on patchouli but being FM and Dominic Ropion fan could not let this slip away from my radar.

Honestly, this is not a new favourite for me. It is very medicinal indeed. When i applied, i was wondering , oh god why the blackcurrant had to be there and what else is giving the sour smell in it (this time i can be utterly sure the fume is fresh - my sample i got from the manufacturer).
With the fruity references I was hoping for a sweet rose but all i got is a rose pickled in apple-vinegar, mint(?!) and patchouli (guess the mint-like aroma is given off by the 'incense' note).

This rose is dark indeed. It is not red any more - it is dead, brown and dry - killed in a conspiracy by the rest of the notes. And the murderers are enjoying their feast of kill in utter delight. So sad.

P.S. This smells like my grandma's wardrobe. She had a real timber one and she stuffed it with dried lavender and/or naphtalene to keep the moths away. She had some other dried flowers there too

P.S.2 If this perfume is a real fit to a certain person's personality - I don't want to know that lady

:-( i usually LOVE all creations of the great Dominic Ropion but this was not good on me, im sad bc the notes looked very promising and would usually smell good on me! but alas...not for me

[Rounding up and rounding out my notes from a blind sniff hosted by kterhark].

First blast: A big, spicy (cinnamon included), jammy rose with easily discernible black currant, incense and resins. Trying it blind, I wanted to rifle through samples of spicy rose--Czech and Speake Dark Rose, Rose Kashmire, and Histoires de Parfums 1876 and Moulin Rouge for comparison, but I couldn't find them.

This has a balsamy, slightly medicinal, patchouli, incense drydown like many of the Via Profumo perfumes I've tried.

Loud and hardly lady-like, this one promises at first to be a sillage monster, but eventually softens to a gorgeous, polite drydown.

Very nice, but of the sea of patchouli roses that seem to be the fragrance du jour--not my favorite.

Opens as a deep patchouli incense rose- cinnamon gives it a hint of spice without coming to the foreground...and thank goodness I cannot detect the cloves! This reminds me of L'Artisan's Voleur de Roses but a touch sweeter; I think there may be saffron in it as well as a touch of powder(clean patch?). POAL is very much inspired by middle eastern fragrances though it is certainly softer and cleaner in the drydown (westernized a little, if you will). The rose seems to subside in the far drydown though it is still present, intermingling with the subtle spices and incense- this lady is relaxed and none too wild!

I have a feeling that this is a love it or hate it perfume. At the moment, I am definitely in the later camp. I will probably torture myself with it a few more times, but it feels really conservative, uptight and depressing to me. There is something about this one that reminds me of Rue Cambon- same suffocating feeling in both. Maybe they will work come spring or summer? Sigh.

Starts out as a woody rose, strong and muscular and harsh. I really don’t smell the fruits and spices that are listed, but I suppose it’s because they blend into and help form the shape of the rose. It’s a full-flowered, dark rose, accompanied by patchouli and a lot of ambroxan - so much that it almost overpowers the rose but never quite succeeds, so the two engage in a push-pull game, twirling around in circles, vying for top billing.

As the perfume dries down, the notes eventually blend into a whole, a golden rose carved out of aromatic, resinous wood, swallowed by a whale, and vomited back up again coated in ambergris, aged in the sea for decades, then washed up on the beach and put in a Victorian lady’s curio cabinet where it combines with the scent of the cabinet wood.

I like Portrait because it’s assertive. Like a good Arabian perfume or 80s perfume, it doesn’t tiptoe around worrying that it will offend someone. It has character. It has just enough sillage, and it lasts and lasts. I’d be willing to bet that it will still be on my clothing after at least one washing. It’s fairly linear, so if you don’t care for rose and ambroxan, here’s fair warning that you’ll be stuck with it for a long time.

Ooh, Perfection! But this is one of those fragrances that will be all over the place, it seems. I really love it. The opening sniff smells like a cardboard box holding a bunch of spring leaves, but this quickly gives way to an incredibly gorgeous floral.

Unlike other reviewer's comments, the rose sits loud and proud on me. It stays right under my nose and I feel like it fills the room. It spends 2 hours being an art nouveau rose, and if you wanted to know what color I would say chartreuse. Yes, I know this is a funky shade of green, but that's what came to mind. But I must add: my chemistry strongly amplifies green notes and this is what I get here. I'm also getting a powdery accord, probably from the benzoin.

Parting thoughts: I have two fragrances that rotate in and out of my 'favorite perfume spot': Mitsouko and Caron's Pour une femme. Une femme (parfum) is very similar to this; both are incense rose frags with a patchouli/amber/musk base. Now that Portrait is strutting off to the dry down it is becoming more and more like Une Femme. So much so that I may not need to buy it.

But my take is that this is a big Woot Woot!

On my skin it's a beautiful soft rose in a bed of spicey incensce, the rose much weaker than I'd expected from the perfumer's own description. In the top notes I ll get a lot of cinnamon and clove and rasperry but not rose..after an hour or so I can detect the rose in a whiff of musky amber and incense..it stays very close to the skin and has not a big sillage in my opinion. I have to spray and layer it again and again to get the rose out..maybe it s these cold days and dry heating air, it may turn out totally different in hot humid summer days:) can't wait to test it again then... For now I'm sticking to my stronger roses like Rose Chypree or Eau Suave d'Empire.

This sample came as a surprise in a swap with Celina. Thank you!
Absolutely a beautiful fragrance. I hope people will not mind if I speak about my impressions rather than the notes, because, well, you can all read the notes, right?
The opening was sort of like a soda at the beach - fizzy and a hint of salt. (No suntan lotion, I promise. It's a very elegant scent.) After a moment when my brain started to deconstruct the total total effect into components, it becomes clear that this is a rose fragrance. The light rose that was popular in late century green chypres, if you see what I mean. Remember the smell of walking into a department store? Like that.

If I have a criticism, it's that the perfume is cooler in the drydown than I anticipated. Often fragrances warm on the skin. It's not even really a criticism, more an expression of surprise.

Edited to clarify, that I'm not calling this perfume a green chypre, just to draw a comparison in the way rose is used, and clarify what kind of rose I'm getting.

Portrait of a Lady is softer, fruitier, and sweeter than I expected it to be. I could sense the berries clearly in the initial and middle stages of development. They are quite pleasant, actually. I can also feel the cinnamon, which, like the berries, gives Portrait a slightly sweet (though not gourmand) undertone.

The rose declares its appearance surprisingly gently, and it is a softer rose than the one I imagined (purplish, maybe, but not truly dark). It remains a constant presence in the composition. On my own skin, the incense makes a strong statement though it is softened by modern, delicate musk notes. What I especially liked in this fragrance was the spicy nuance (the cloves, I think), which tickled my nose warmly. I wish I had felt the benzoin better.

It is a tastefully done, beautiful fragrance, and if you like a combination of roses, berries, and incense, you should rush and try this one. It turns out I am not a great lover of incense after all.

Longevity is excellent.