Review: Champs Lunaires – Rogue Perfumery

Champs Lunaires by Rogue Perfumery is a beautiful white floral with a very distinctive tuberose presence. This is not, however, the punch in the face, announce-your-presence-to-the-entire-office-floor tuberose of Robert Piguet or Frederic Malle. Rather, it is a lighter, brighter all-rounder tuberose. Don’t get me wrong, I love Fracas and Carnal Flower but you do need to be mindful of other’s sensibilities when you consider spritzing those babies. Also, as much as I love an appreciate those iconic fragrances, they don’t fare well on my skin, the earthy and green notes tend to become a bit of a putrid undertone reminiscent of rotting plants.

…Or perhaps that is what they were going for? In any case, I sadly cannot wear them though I have smelled them on others and adored them.
Rogue Perfumery is the brainchild of Manuel Cross (who was a Chef before he fell into perfumery). This is a small perfumery who uses natural (yes, natural!) ingredients despite IFRA regulations that have abominated (is that a word??) our much loved fragrances of decades past. Rather than sacrifice quality, Manuel has opted to pay homage to the art of perfumery and continues to use ingredients that are classified as potential allergens which have been long banned from large scale commercial perfumes. He does place warnings and disclosures of use of those ingredients on the product and you can read more directly from the website here. What a novel concept! I have been ranting about this for years that surely warnings are sufficient, rather than banning ingredients entirely. Still, I appreciate Manuel for his dedication to the history and art of perfumery so that those who come after us can still (for a few years at least) get an understanding of what a real chypre actually smells like.

Champs Lunaires is approachable and balanced and I would feel entirely comfortable wearing it to work and in the daytime generally. In the opening for me it is all tuberose, full bodied but not heavy, there is a lightness to it that to me puts it in the “pretty” category. When I smell this, I think of a woman who has a grasp on her sexuality but is still grappling with the innocence and shyness of young adulthood. This fragrance has a sensuality, but is not overtly sexual, in my opinion. In the middle the rose, pomelo and musk emerge to balance the tuberose and it seems to sweeten on the skin a little more. In the dry-down, this remains largely similar but I find the coconut notes emerge to deliver a tropical creaminess blended with the tuberose, sandalwood, rose and musk that conjures up mental images of a particularly lovely villa in Bali where I stayed one year.

I don’t find this to be a massive projector but at the same time it is not a skin scent. The sillage is on the subtle end but I do find it lasts well on my skin – although I am want to spritz a little booster after a few hours just to get another dose of that amazing tuberose, which smells more flower than tuber. I will say though, that this fragrance almost seems to pulsate on the skin, sometimes I smell it, other times it is more subtle. It is enigmatic and alluring without being dark.

If you are looking for a tuberose that is more floral than earthy, more realistic and -dare I say..chewy (?) – than, say, a Ralph Lauren Woman, but more subtle and approachable than Fracas or Carnal Flower then this one is worth a sniff.