Dark Rose by Czech & Speake

Review: Dark Rose by Czech & Speake

With the nights getting colder and darker here in the UK, my tastes for perfume have firmly switched to cosy warming scents. However, one style that has eluded me until now is the traditional rose oud, which just never interested me. That was until a recent fascination with saffron; the big rose coloured doors opened to me quite quickly after that.

Dark Rose contains the essence of Taif Rose from Grasse. Taif Rose is a precious red-pink rose of the Damask species, named after its native region of Taif in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

When it blooms it boasts 30 oil-rich petals which give off an intense but soft, powdery scent with hints of tea and honey. Incredibly, it takes between 10,000 and 15,000 flower heads to produce a small vial of the essential oil, which makes the material really quite precious. At around £90 per ml, you begin to understand how special the materials in Dark Rose really are.

Dark Rose by @czechandspeake, satiates my new found desire with its gorgeous accords of Taif rose, saffron, lily and Cambodian oud. Crucially here, the rose isn’t too jammy, or floral. Rather, it’s beautifully measured, interplaying in a fairly traditional way with the saffron and a gentle oud. There’s a transition after around an hour where the oud drops off somewhat leaving a quietened version of the rose to duet with the saffron, which suits me down to the ground. I really enjoy this switchup and I sense it becomes even more universal at this stage. Some time after this, it turned again into a somewhat woodier thing, with patchouli and sandalwood more noticeable as it dries down. Dark Rose is a joy to wear at every stage, and as good a rose and oud as you will find anywhere.

The juice is not dissimilar to Roja’s Aoud in construction, it’s the closest reference point I can give. However where Aoud has a powerful verbena note, Dark Rose is lightened with an attractive lily note in the top, providing some lighter textures to counterbalance all the dark, sensual notes.

The perfume is presented in a pomegranate coloured apothecary bottle. In my low lit photos the glass looks dark, but when I hold it up to the light it glows bright pink. I must say a few words on the sprayer, which is the most forceful, sharp and effective sprayer I’ve ever witnessed. It has a targeted bloom, excellent for super-accurate application without losing any juice to the atmosphere. I won’t be wasting any molecules with this bottle.

Dark Rose is a wonderfully Autumnal fragrance, and is totally unisex. I feel it would be as appropriate going into the colder winter months too. It doesn’t feel too formal yet isn’t too casual either. It inhabits the space in between, and personally I would wear it to the office, to a party, to dinner, or on a date. However I love putting it on at home and curling up on the sofa too. It has an alluring trail and its projection goes well beyond an arm's length.

Dark Rose was the first sample I tried from the discovery set and I instantly fell in love with it. If you’re looking for a rose, saffron and oud fragrance to warm you throughout this cold, hard winter, I thoroughly recommend sampling it.

And in case you’re as taken with it as I am, the great people at Czech and Speake are offering you a 30% discount on purchases using the code SCENTIEST30.

Bottle kindly gifted for review purposes. The views expressed within this review are sincerely given and are all my own.