Sa Majeste la Rose Serge Lutens for women

It reminds me to Montale's Roses Musk . I still wondering which one I prefer. Sa Majesté has a green touch, is more concentreted, a bit pepper, perhaps too lineal. Roses Musk has a powdery touch, I like the musk there, is more delicate, the sillage is less intensive but more interesting for me. I have one in each wrist and I can't avoid smelling RM again and again.

Review from Off-Scenter on BN
*I could not have said it better. :)

Sa Majesté la Rose is the truest, clearest rendition of the 19th century Bourbon rose that I’ve encountered. (Keiko Mecheri’s Mogador comes close, but overdoes the sugar.) To those who know it, the scent of the Bourbon roses (Mme. Pierre Oger, Louise Odier, and Souvenir de la Malmaison among them,) is unique and unmistakable. It combines the rich, heady, and ever so slightly yeasty fragrance of a damask rose with a tropical fruit or raspberry note, with each component balancing and challenging the other in a complicated olfactory dance. Sheldrake and Lutens have nailed it.

The Bourbon rose accord is evident the instant Sa Majesté la Rose goes on, and it persists in a fairly linear manner that’s unusual for a Serge Lutens product. Don’t for a moment think that I hold this against the scent. The central accord is so bewitching that I’d happily have it go on for hours. There are few distractions along Sa Majesté la Rose’s march toward its floral throne: just some woods and perhaps a touch of vetiver in the base, with a bit of musk emerging in the drydown. All take a distant back seat to the truly majestic rose. Superb sillage and projection, and fine lasting power to boot. All this without a drop of the heavy syrup that bathes most of this house’s offerings.

Sa Majesté la Rose is a tour de force that demonstrates just what Sheldrake and Lutens can do when they lay off of their shared sugar addiction. They’re clearly not making all those sweet, heavy orientals because they can’t do any differently. If these guys put themselves on a diet more often, their line would be more diverse and interesting. Are you listening Serge and Christopher?

At any rate, bravo to the duo on this one! I hope someday they’ll make a few more like it.
29th November, 2010

I smelled this in the middle east a few months ago and ever since i wanted to retry it, now i did, but i am quite disappointed. It is quite harsh and green, for some reason i remembered something a bit more round and sweet. It also smells a bit functional to me somehow...

A beautiful green rose on top and in the drydown it becomes very interesting - along with scant spice I am now smelling almond? Maybe this is the camomile note?

I find this a very comforting rose scent, warming (from the spice accord no doubt) and not spring/summer like at all.......! I have the sample and I now want the bottle!

So far I have liked none of Serge Lutens perfumes, in spite of all the hype and their elegant packaging. This one is old, rotten rose, acrid and aggressive. I don't agree it smells like rose oil, or maybe of rose oil left in the sun for a long time and then in a humid cellar for 100 years. Not for me.

It's true that this is a very longlasting perfume. It clings to both skin and fabric. The problem is that I don't like it as a rose scent. There are many other rose scent which I love or at least enjoy, but not SL Sa majeste La Rose. It smells acrid and sour to my nose and probably on my skin. There is a strange chamomille feeling, like an ultra strong chamomille tea with a whole lemon squeezed in it!
This is a problem I have with almost all Serge Lutens, so I guess it is about chemistry, even if I also noticed that I always feel his perfumes as redundant. There is always something more and out of place that ruin a rather good composition and makes it maybe extravagant but often cloying.

Two stories:
1)it's 10 years ago, I am a tourist in Paris, walking on a shopping street in St. Germain du Pres. An elegant older woman walks by trailing rose scent. I actually follow her into a shop, I love the smell so much. Back then, I didn't have the guts to ask her, but I am convinced it was SMdR.
2)it's 25 years ago, my mother returns from Bulgaria (a very exotic, post-communist destination at the time) with a vial of pure Bulgarian rose essence. I expect to dislike it as too "girly" - I am a rebellious teenager trying to differentiate myself from my mother's image of me - but to my surprise it is not cotton-candy sweet, but rather spicy and rather sexy. The closest thing I have found to replicating this much-loved elixir has been SMdR.

This is a pure rose essence that smells less like fresh roses and more like rose oil. I feel it is for a mature woman who is confident enough of her power in the world to wear a big floral. Not for the shy, but without any trendy or edgy pretensions. A very bourgeois scent (and I mean that in a good way). I don't wear it every day, but there are times that I want to make a certain kind of impression, and this is absolutely right.

Incidentally, this lasts all day on me. Perhaps the differences in staying power relate to personal body chemistry?

This is the most long lasting rose fragrance ever. Linear, clean and deep rose smell pure, without spicy or something else. It smells exactly like the name of it. Not sexy - only pure, majestic single tea rose I used to smell in the garden of fathers house. The smell held 4 days on the paper sample, I was in my room the whole time sniffing, what the good smell is coming from? Then I discovered a small paper sample in a plastic bag unter my bed and remembered this. A must have for every rose lovers! A perfect day time scent, refreshing, sweet and invigorating (not calming, nothing for the sleep).

How could anyone not love this???
It's one of the best roses ever!
It resembles a bit Montale Highness Rose, in it's purity. Personally I don't smell a lot else other than bright red roses, in full bloom, with a few ones not quite open yet. A bit of greenery gives it freshness, and blond wood comes in the drydown. It's dry, without any sweetness. A little cold, keeps the distance from many others that have tried to capture the timeless elegance or roses. It's almost like Serge Loutens tried to capture the thorns of roses in this scent too, not just the flowers, woods, and leaves. And then, in the drydown, it gets warmer, a bit spicy, a bit sweet, just gorgeous.
Extremely noble and aristocratic, it's very "blue blood". Silage and lasting power are very good on me.
This is pure love!
I got this from nophaso, and I cannot give enough thanks to this wonderful fragrantican.

That one is really one of the worst fragrances I ever smelled... Very acid, very persnickety, not natural at all... I went to bathroom to wash my hand with that perfume, the first time in my life. Maybe I just hate roses in perfumes?) But that one doesn't smell rose...

This smells surprisingly natural, like a real rose on the stem.
I usually don't like rose fragrances because they are often to sweet/girly/fruity. This one has attitude and is not sugar sweet. I like it a lot!

This was very herby and green. It wasn't the type of rose scent I was looking for.

A beautiful heady mix of red roses, this is my favourite Serge Lutens fragrance. Initially pungent with a hint of grass, this mellows into a bouquet of roses. This is very similar to Jo Malone's Red Roses.

The first time i wore Sa majesté la rose, i applied it about 2 hours before going to bed, because i couldn't wait to try it. It first conjured up images of beautiful and still young red roses in a garden, early in the morning with dewdrops all over them. In this garden, the roses are the only flowers in bloom, but there is plenty of greenery around and it gives the smell a pleasantly sharp and crisp edge, almost lemony.

I woke up in the middle of the night and automatically smelled my wrist... Someone has cut a dozen of roses from that bush and placed them in a pretty vase in the kitchen (where someone is also eating litchi for that matter...). Their smell is now heady, much sweeter and could be sickening if it weren't for the green leaves that are in the vase along with the bouquet.

I woke up again later that night, and the smell had changed again... The petals are now blackening around the edges and the roses are not so pretty anymore, they're heading for the garbage today. How the green leaves still manage to be identifiable through that strong rotting rose (not in a bad way...) and now strong vanilla and honey is beyond me, but it's a relief to my nose (even though the notes are getting slightly clashing).

The day after, i could still smell sa Majesté la rose(one little spritz lasted almost 24 hours on me... The smell was more tame, more of a vanilla and rose skin scent (but still noticeable).

Now, do i love it? I am not quite sure... I respect it for its spectacular changes through the hours, the astonishing lasting power (i really don't get the comments saying it doesn't last long), the originality... But do i wear it a lot? Not really... I think it's just too much for me.

So, if you are a rose lover, definitly try this one, but DO NOT blind buy...

the price tag should be dramatically lowered, cause this is seriously NOT worth 95£/50 ml !!!
I will certainly never buy it again, not at this price. There are a lot of better perfumes at more realistic and reasonable prices.

This is a rose, rose, rose soliflore. Despite its focus, it's not one-note rosewater. Instead it's a concert overture of roses, full, round and deep. It's green without herbal bitterness and luscious without sweetness. These are mature, open roses, voluptuous with scent. In the top, a green note harmonizes. In the heart, the green slides further into the background and a soapy note develops. My mind's eye sees a waxy, white bar of soap, wet with bubbles. Thankfully, this sanitary note fades too. Then as the basenotes emerge I smell a bit of amber in the still glorious, but wilting roses. As others have said, it only lasts a few hours, and it's hard to justify the cost. On the other hand, next to the old master naturalism of Sa Majeste La Rose, other rose perfumes (Stella, I'm thinking of you) seem crass.

Edit: Upon further wearing, the soapiness seems more persistent. Once the greens step back and the soapiness fades, her majesty once again has my adoration and I wish her reign wasn't so brief. My sample has been stored in the fridge. I wonder if that temperature favors the development of the soap notes.

SMLR is a lovely rose if not a bit insistent. Like all the Lutens I've sampled, this presents with a lot of throw. That said, this is a very pretty, lemony rose. Garden roses can have that sweet lemon note, but in this composition it seems to be a more tangy lemon. I like this, but on my skin it's turning a bit sour; lemon doesn't behave itself on my skin. Goutal's Eau d'Hadrien turns horribly sour on me. I've yet to sense any spices here, but I can detect the honey adding some warmth. If you like rose scents, do try this.

This is very similar to Stella McCartney, only that instead of peony, it has lemon. It's a very nice perfume, but I expected more from this name "Sa Majeste La Rose". I mean, you expect a rose marvel. I wasn't amazed, but, nevertheless... I liked it a lot.It's very delicate and pleasent. A decant would be enough for me, I won't be spending my money on a full bottle.

P.S.-lasting power is not too great, just medium.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this Serge Lutens! For me a lot of his fragrances balance on the thin line between wearable and unwearable. Sa Majeste la Rose is something I think everyone could wearl Very elegant and classi rose scent. The rose here is very mature, beautiful, elegant. Although I get the impression that if the fragrance was named Sa Majeste Lilly of the Valley, it would not be far off the reality. At a later stage lilly of the valley-ish note (notes are not listed, but a few people detected the note so I dont think we are all wrong) starts dominating. The fragrance is warm, spicy, slightly powdery. Kind of like a huge bouquet of roses you maybe get on your birthday/anniversary.

Definitely a beautiful one, for every day and for every occasion.

Sa Majeste la Rose is like a real life roses in a bottle to me.

After I sprayed on, I can immediately smell the fresh, green, nature, garden rose scent you can smell in a nice cool morning. Real and simple, but as elegant as what a real rose smells to me.

After the fresh start, I get some florist’s rose scent. It’s still elegant, but with a tiny bit added sweetness and smells more refined.

Then SMLR dries down to some velvet/powdery/warm/rich sweet rose scent. I was worried it might have a slight tendence to be some reminiscent of Paris Printempt, but it just stayed in the its own simple but elegant way like that.

It's really a safe and nicely elegant scent that any rose lover shouldn't miss out. Worth trying.

I feel the rose note in this fragrance, but not so much as I feel the honey note. It smells too sweet for me. Also I feel something like geranium in this fragrance, even more than the rose note sometimes. I can feel also something sour like a lemon and a lychee.
I can't say that I like this fragrance. First of all, it's too sweet for me. Besides, I don't like the sourness in it. And this fragrance, like almost all fragrances by Serge Lutens, usually almost brings me a headache, because it's too intensive. It is not a rose scent of my dream. It reminds me a rose oil more. And frankly I would really prefer an ordinary rose oil to it. But this fragrance smells natural, like all fragrances by Serge Lutens which I know. Maybe I don't like this fragrance, because there are enough notes that I don't like in it.

A rose, yes. A rose made from yellow-green hard candy, beautiful shape, covered in sugar crystals and tiniest lemon zest particles. This is a visual image I consistently get from this perfume, and the smell is a distinctly sweet rose, somewhat reminding me of a mythical childhood concoction -- rose petal confiture.

I like it a lot, the only con is lasting power. It's less than two hours, regardless of how heavily I applied! I wish it was longer for such a nice fragrance.

One for the rose lovers, and it says a great deal that I like this scent as I just don't like rose soliflores.

It's spring: Fresh, pink roses, planted near the outskirts of woods, surrounded by delicate spring greenery, being soaked by a heavy rainfall. If you stay until the end of the rain to witness the sun coming through the clouds, you'll even smell the roses warm-up and the wet leaves and branches squishing beneath your feet, give-off a spicy, mossy sweetness.

I love SMLR, I am also a fan of other SL scents but I find some overpowering, and complicated. They can be a bit dark and almost dirty like. SMLR is beautiful simple, and more friendly. I like the lasting effect of the rose, and the honey, and greenery smells which slightly spill through. This rose scent is perfect for me, it doesn’t give me an artificial rose scent, it’s a true, and real fresh dew rose smell. It’s pleasantly and comfortable to wear.

I've been exploring rose soliflores for some months now, and this one is particularly lovely.

It begins as most rose soliflores tend to do, with a rush of (to me) unpleasantly herbal greenness reminiscent of crushed stems and leaves, followed by a feminine pink rose. There are hints of white flowers here, too - perhaps muguet and jasmine? - but the focus is squarely on the rose. The longer this fragrance is on skin, the more I like it. It becomes "green" again, with a breath of what might be lemon balm (citrus and mint) cooling the rose. The base never becomes woody in my opinion, but remains light and fresh. Very pleasant.

This is my favorite straightforward rose scent! I am not a fan of most rose fragrances(I was not impressed with Fresh's Bulgarian Rose at all). It's not too muddled with other scents, and doesn't smell artificial at all to me. I left a strip with Sa Majeste La Rose sprayed on it in my car, and it has left a wonderfully delicate aura.

Sa Majesté la Rose is an example of the simplest elegance in form of perfume. The rose is the protagonist that is in the beginning and the final of the fragrance, always constant and floral, always oniric and clean showing the beauty that may be human but also sacred. A fascinating and radiant scent which focus on the roses, not synthetical but very in nature, as imagining bucolic fields and one gorgeous and crystalline beauty lady that keeps the naturality of the fragrance. In my opinion, this trasparent smell but also with feminine personality is the great feature of this fragrance, a otypical masterpiece of Serge Lutens and Christopher Sheldrake. Very pure, very refined and , the best of all, join in the perfume the magnificent power of the roses nature.

This is a very problematic scent for women, because, while lovely, it is really only suited for a mature woman. It's not very current, and not at all sexy. As soon as I smelt it I recognized a strong floral and powder. While I liked the scent, immediately I conjured up images of my late grandmother. This scent reminds me of her home.