Damascena was included in a very nice set of samples sent to me from Steve over at The Scented Hound. It struck me as a light, delicate scent with excellent projection and I was surprised when I looked up its notes and House Keiko Mecheri only listed three.
Damascena
In Bottle: Bright, vibrant rose with a nice blackcurrant starting note.
Applied: Sweet with a nice blackcurrant to start, the rose is rather quick to roll in taking the fragrance into a nice, deep, rich rose scent. This isn’t cleaned-up, barely-any-personality rose. It smells natural, expensive, and adds a touch of sophistication to this fruity floral. This is almost a soliflore, were it not for the blackcurrant that keeps the fragrance from being entirely about rose. There’s a very nice mix of the two, pleasant, decently strong, good projection. This could be a very nice transition fragrance for those looking to graduate from the school of Viva La Juicy into something a little more grown-up.
Extra: Keiko Mecheri started out as a bath and body company selling luxury body care products and pretty candles. They’ve since moved into the niche perfumery scene with some excellent products to show for it.
Design: Fairly simple looking bottle with an attention-grabbing cap. Simple, but bold. Nice and easy to hold. Good weight and not a garish bone on its body. This gets me just right.
Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral
Notes: Blackcurrant, rose, musk.
I wasn’t expecting to like this quite as much as I did, but the rose note is very much the star and quite pleasant to boot.
Reviewed in This Post: Damascena, 2012, Eau de Parfum.