If robins are the harbinger of spring in the natural world; the release of a lot of new rose centered perfumes is the same in the perfume world. Every year as we move into February my mailbox fills up with versions of new rose perfumes. There are countless rose perfumes out there and it is difficult for a new release to carve out something different. As a result, they generally look to make a variation on a popular trend. Spring rose perfumes fall into two categories; the garden rose or the debutante rose. The latest release from Annick Goutal called Rose Pompon is one of the latter.
Camille Goutal
Rose Pompon is notable for another reason. For the first time since 1989 perfumer Isabelle Doyen is not involved. Annicjk Goutal’s daughter Camille Goutal has been co-perfumer with Mme Doyen for almost all of the releases since 2001. For Rose Pompon she has found a new partner in perfume, Philippine Courtiere.
Mme Goutal wanted Rose Pompon to be a perfume for twentysomething Parisiennes. What seems to be popular among that subset is fruity florals. Rose Pompon is just that but made to be sort of irreverent as if a perfumed pompon stitched on a hat.
Philippine Courtiere
The perfume Mme Goutal and Mme Courtiere made does open with a very recognizable fruity accord. Grapefruit, blackcurrant buds, and raspberry. Baie rose adds some texture. This is a very berry opening with the grapefruit along for the ride. A very dewy light rose is the heart of Rose Pompon. The perfumers add peony for depth without adding intensity. I like that it stays on the light side through this part of the development. A bit of patchouli and cedar provide the beginnings of the base accord. Then a zippy cocktail of white musks provide an energetic finishing flourish.
Rose Pompon has 8-10 hour longevity and moderate sillage.
This is by far the most lighthearted Annick Goutal perfume ever. I kept thinking it had to come from a different brand. I think Mme Courtiere provided a different point of view for Mme Goutal to work with. Is Rose Pompon something different? Not within the panoply of rose perfumes. Within Annick Goutal? Most definitely. As an inaugural collaboration I like the beginnings of what I see from Mme Goutal and Mme Courtiere. It will be intriguing to see what they do next.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample from Annick Goutal.
–Mark Behnke
