May Rose

Giorgio Armani

The opening of Sì feels like blackcurrant liqueur poured over chilled silk—tart, bright, and unapologetically modern.

Nina Ricci

Few fragrances carry the weight of L'Air du Temps — a postwar release that became shorthand for romance itself.

By Kilian

Good Girl Gone Bad opens with a white floral rush that feels surprisingly restrained—jasmine and rose arrive hand in hand with osmanthus, the latter lending a subtle apricot-leather undertone that keeps the bouquet from veering into bridal territory.

Chanel

The original No.

Chanel

Allure opens with a lightly sweetened citrus—more rounded peach than sharp bergamot—that gives way almost immediately to a soft haze of florals.

Sisley

A floral chypre that opens with a sharp citrus-spice greeting—bergamot and nutmeg creating an unexpected brightness before settling into something quieter.

Guerlain

The first spray reveals a tart brightness—bergamot cutting through ripe peach and rose, the classic chypre tension already apparent.

Dior

The first spray is a burst of fruit cordial—pomegranate and raspberry tart enough to cut through the sweetness, pink pepper adding a fizzy bite.

Issey Miyake

L'Eau Bleue d'Issey opens with a bright jolt of lime and rosemary, immediately clarifying and herbal rather than sweet.

Rochas

Femme announces itself with an unexpected contrast: ripe stone fruits and plum dusted with dry cinnamon, a baroque opening that feels both indulgent and restrained.

Agent Provocateur

The pink pepper here sparks quickly but politely—a fizz more than a bite—before ylang-ylang arrives with its creamy, slightly indolic sweetness.

Giorgio Armani

Sì Intense opens with a sharpness that quickly softens—black currant and bergamot create a tart, almost jammy brightness before freesia smooths the entry.

Jean Patou

Joy opens with an almost shocking opulence—tuberose and Bulgarian rose arrive simultaneously, their combined richness verging on the indecent.

Tom Ford

The first spray delivers a jolt of dark roasted coffee laced with saffron's metallic warmth, an unlikely pairing that somehow works.

Dior

J'adore L'Or opens with a brief flash of floral brightness—jasmine and rose announce themselves clearly but without the piercing intensity of their fresh counterparts.

Tom Ford

The rose in Rose Prick announces itself with a bright, slightly green edge before settling into something darker and more textured.

Kayali Fragrances

Eden opens with a bright, tart snap of black currant that reads more berry-forward than strictly apple, despite the name.

Kayali Fragrances

Invite Only Amber 23 opens with a dessert tray: honey, hazelnut, and chocolate arriving simultaneously, gourmand and unapologetically sweet.

Giorgio Armani

The Sì EDT is a lighter, fruitier reading of the original EDP's chypre-oriental architecture.

Chanel

No.19 opens with galbanum — that sharp, intensely green, almost metallic vegetable-leaf note — alongside neroli's delicate bitter-orange blossom.

Moschino

Fizzy and irreverent, Hippy Fizz opens with a burst of raspberry and lemon threaded through magnolia — bright without being shrill, slightly candy-like without tipping into sweetness.

Kayali Fragrances

Sweet Diamond Pink Pepper 25 opens with saffron's metallic warmth and the bright snap of pink pepper over bergamot — an immediately striking combination that announces itself without apology.

Azzaro

Wanted Girl opens with a tart pomegranate sharpened by pink pepper and softened immediately by orange blossom — a fruit-and-flowers opener that reads as modern and clean rather than retro-sweet.

Estée Lauder

Modern Muse Le Rouge opens with raspberry, saffron, and pink pepper — a bold trio that balances sweet fruit against metallic spice against dry heat.

Giorgio Armani

Pivoine Suzhou opens with a fleeting brightness—raspberry and pink pepper that dissolve almost immediately into soft, pillowy peony.

Louis Vuitton

Pacific Chill opens with a shock of peppermint clarity—bracing, almost medicinal in its intensity—before orange and blackcurrant soften the edges into something between a beach-town juice bar and a herb garden at dawn.

Etat Libre D'Orange

A lime-sharpened opening cuts through the haze of coconut milk and toasted rice, bright citrus meeting creamy tropical warmth.

Valentino

The first spray is pure berry sweetness—strawberry macerated with blackberry, juicy and unapologetically fruity, softened by a halo of clean musk.

Jean Patou

The opening arrives as a peculiar green-floral harmony, where tarragon's anise-like sharpness cuts through Bulgarian rose and a whisper of apricot.

Yves Saint Laurent

The opening bursts with ripe pear and raspberry, their sweetness tempered by a dark currant edge and a flash of citrus.

Mexx

Yuzu opens with a sharp, citrus brightness that feels distinctly modern rather than Mediterranean—more tart grapefruit-lime hybrid than sunny bergamot.

Dior

J'adore Absolu is the heavier, more concentrated sister to the 1999 original, pushing the white-floral bouquet deeper into dark territory.

Issey Miyake

L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Fraiche is a crisper, colder sibling to the 1994 original — less woody, more citrus-forward, built for summer afternoons the original wasn't quite light enough for.

Giorgio Armani

The opening bursts with the tart, almost wine-dark clarity of black currant—bright but not sharp, carrying just enough sweetness to promise warmth ahead.

Juicy Couture

Raspberry pulp and candied grapefruit open with immediate sweetness, the kind that announces itself before subtlety has a chance.

Creed

Carmina opens with saffron's leathery, medicinal warmth softened by pink pepper's fizzy bite—a bright but serious introduction that announces itself without shouting.

Jo Malone London

The opening is a jolt of cool mint, almost medicinal in its clarity, tempered by cardamom's warmth and a whisper of bergamot.

Roja Dove

The name promises sweetness and oud, but Sweetie Aoud delivers neither in expected ways.

Roja Parfums

Cardamom and ginger announce themselves immediately, a warm spice introduction tempered by bright bergamot.

Penhaligon'S

The opening is unexpectedly gourmand—almond and hazelnut dusted with cinnamon, like marzipan warmed by spice.

Amouage

Overture Woman opens with saffron's metallic gleam softened by bergamot, then quickly pivots to spiced apple—not candied but slightly fermented, almost cognac-soaked.

Mendittorosa

Le Mat opens with a dry, almost medicinal heat—black pepper and clove mingling with the faintly sweet rasp of nutmeg.

Paloma Picasso

The opening strikes a balance between sharp citrus and the faint medicinal coolness of neroli, refusing the sugared brightness that marked many florals of its era.

Courrèges

Empreinte opens with a tart, fleshy brightness—peach and bergamot cut through with galbanum's green bitterness and a hint of fig's milky sweetness.

Atelier Cologne

The opening is bright and peppery, with lavender that smells more herbal than soapy—a slightly wild, botanical edge that resists the typical clean associations.

Kayali Fragrances

The rose here announces itself without pretense—plush, slightly honeyed, carrying that characteristic sweetness of May rose at full bloom.

Rancé 1795

The opening is a powdery floral rush, bergamot barely tempering the heady sweetness of jasmine and ylang-ylang.

Dior

J'adore L'Or arrives with a molten brilliance, jasmine pushed to amber extremes.

Issey Miyake

L'Eau Bleue d'Issey Eau Fraiche opens with a sharp aromatic rush—mint and rosemary cutting through bergamot like cold water over herbs left on a windowsill.

Amouage

A study in contrasts, Opus X opens with two roses—Turkish and May—each rendering the other starker, more vivid.

Hermès

Calèche Soie de Parfum opens with a citrus brightness that feels scrubbed clean—neroli and bergamot without sweetness or heft, more like linen than fruit.

Kayali Fragrances

The opening feels sun-warmed and slightly tart, with black currant lending a jammy edge to the powdery softness of freesia.

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce Rose opens with a bright, almost dewy rose that feels freshly cut rather than powdery or vintage.

Louis Vuitton

Rose des Vents opens with an unexpected softness—peach and blackcurrant blur into a hazy, jammy sweetness that feels more powdered than fruity.

Armaf

Derby Club House Blanche is Armaf's version of a very specific idea: the clean, aquatic bergamot-and-tea accord that Creed's Silver Mountain Water made famous.

Pereja

Leylak — Turkish for lilac — opens with pineapple, melon, and bergamot: a tropical-fruity brightness that's more 1984 than its name implies.

Davidoff

Cool Water Woman took the aquatic revolution of the original and redirected it toward the feminine market — bergamot and melon open with the requisite late-nineties aquatic brightness, pineapple adding tropical sweetness alongside.

L'Artisan Parfumeur

A green-fresh opener — basil and violet leaf alongside carnation and lilac — that shades darker into a lush May rose heart.

Molinard

Black currant and galbanum open with a green, slightly bitter edge before the floral heart arrives in full force.

Roberto Cavalli

The Roberto Cavalli signature fragrance — its wearer is the house's subject.

Dior

François Demachy composed La Colle Noire as a tribute to the Grasse estate where Christian Dior grew his obsession: the May rose.

Roja Parfums

Roja Dove's Sweetie Aoud wastes no time: bergamot's citrus brightness opens and departs, leaving May Rose standing alone in the heart — a compositional choice that signals confidence in both the rose and what follows.

Roja Dove

Roja Dove's Aoud opens with the obligatory citrus—bergamot and lemon—but these are brief, evaporating within minutes to reveal the architecture below.

Roja Dove

Danger opens with a trio of citrus notes—lemon and grapefruit's brightness lifting against bergamot's rounder warmth—that feels almost classic before the heart unfolds.

Paris Hilton

Rosé Rush opens on neroli — a fresh, slightly bitter orange-blossom note that reads cleaner and more sophisticated than the branding might suggest.

Gritti

Adele opens with a dazzling white-floral clarity—jasmine and May rose converging with osmanthus's apricot-suede undertone.

Roja Dove

The opening is bracing and aromatic — mint, tarragon, and petitgrain alongside lavender and citrus, landing with the confident sharpness of a barbershop elevated by serious materials.

Roja Parfums

Manhattan takes its subject seriously: a fragrance for an urban environment that is simultaneously exhausting and seductive.

Moschino

Peony and may rose open dewy and green, with a pinkish lift that reads spring-garden rather than perfumery rose.

Mac

Opens with a sharp leather and saffron prickle dusted by pink pepper — bright on the surface but already shadowed underneath, the leather reading more soft suede than tannery.

Goutal

A soliflore that takes rose at its word.

L'Occitane en Provence

The 2014 Arlésienne opens with mandarin orange's sunny brightness, quickly warmed by saffron's gentle spice — a combination that evokes Provençal afternoons without heavy-handedness.

Courrèges

A simple top of bergamot before the perfume's chypre architecture asserts itself.

Dior

J'Adore Extrait de Parfum distils the original's floral thesis to its most concentrated form.

Roja Parfums

Aoud begins with the briefest citrus flash — lemon and bergamot, gone in minutes — before ylang-ylang and May rose declare themselves in the heart.

Roja Parfums

Elysium Eau Intense opens with a sharp aromatic chord — lavender and thyme over a bright spray of citrus — before the grapefruit fades and a lush floral heart surfaces: tuberose, May rose, orange blossom, lily of the valley.

Hugo Boss

Boss Alive Eau de Toilette opens with a fruit-bright rush — mandarin, lemon, and apple — light enough that it reads as sparkling rather than sweet.

By Kilian

Coty

Pineapple and melon lead the opening with a juicy tropical sweetness, bergamot adding a sharper citrus edge.

Nina Ricci

The eau de parfum concentration of L'Air du Temps reads heavier and more resinous than the toilette.

Roja Dove

The name references the rule that a parfum must contain at least 51% natural materials — and 51 Pour Femme Essence de Parfum makes no effort to understate its ambitions.

O Boticário

Elysée Succès opens with bergamot's familiar brightness alongside plum's deep sweetness and labdanum lending a resinous warmth from the first moments — an unusual arrangement that gives the top a rich, slightly jammy density.

Bond No. 9

A Warhol-era fantasy rendered in bergamot and cardamom — the opening is bright and aromatic, nutmeg adding a dry, almost smoky edge before the fruit emerges.

Lubin

The opening pairs creamy gardenia with a tropical-banana ylang-ylang, both sweet white florals but with different temperatures — the gardenia cool, the ylang warm and slightly indolic.

Chanel

A red-bottled flanker built around the bones of No 5 L'Eau, this 2018 limited edition opens on a wide citrus shelf — neroli, lime, lemon, bergamot, orange — that reads more aperitif than aldehyde.

M. Micallef

Mon Parfum Pearl opens with blackberry and mandarin against a background of rose — the fruit is present but not dominant, functioning more as a colorist choice than as flavoring.

Louis Vuitton

May rose opens with a fresh, dewy floral — green-rosy and slightly tart rather than jammy.

Roja Dove

Innuendo arrives on a burst of citrus — lemon, orange, bergamot, and the sharp green quality of lemon verbena that extends the freshness slightly past the usual opening phase.

Roja Parfums

United Arab Emirates was created as a tribute fragrance, and it smells like one: serious, ceremonial, designed to project cultural weight rather than individual personality.

Roja Dove

Manhattan wears its inspiration obliquely.

Guerlain

Nuit d'Amour opens with lychee's watery-sweet pulp against the mild heat of pink pepper — bright and lightly exotic without committing to anything tropical.

L'Erbolario

Frescaessenza earns its name: the opening is sharp and clean, with lime and petitgrain delivering a crisp, woody citrus sharpened by a kick of pink pepper.

Giorgio Armani

Si Rose Signature II extends the Sì DNA toward something slightly more tart and floral.

Moresque

Diadema opens with a bright citrus flash—orange and bergamot—that quickly softens into something warmer and more cushioned.

Roja Parfums

Reckless pour Homme opens in familiar Roja fougère territory: lavender and citrus, clean and confident, before May rose signals the bridge to the base.

Roja Parfums

Parfum de la Nuit 3 lives up to its name: this is a deliberately dark, low-illumination composition built for intimate wear after sundown.

Roja Parfums

Vetiver Roja Parfums 2012 Parfum strips away nearly everything to foreground one material.

Bois 1920

Ginger and incense open with a smoky-spicy haze, raspberry adding a tart fruit gleam that reads dark rather than sweet.

Roja Parfums

Musk Aoud draws the oud tradition toward something softer and more carnal.

Giorgio Armani

Sì Intense deepens the original's chypre-oriental formula by loading more ambroxan into the base, giving the whole composition a radiant, skin-like quality that carries through hours of wear.

Ramón Monegal

The opening is theatrical — pineapple slathered with raspberry, then a smoke plume crossing the fruit and a quick whip of castoreum that adds an unsettling animalic edge.

Maison Alhambra

Bulgarian rose and may rose open layered — the Bulgarian variety leading with its dense honeyed jam character, may rose adding a fresher, slightly green floral lift.

Chanel

The opening explodes in aldehydes — that distinctive soapy-fizzy sparkle that lifts neroli, lemon, and bergamot off the skin into something nearly architectural.

E.Coudray

A layered composition that opens on a cool wash of violet leaf, lemon, iris, bergamot and rose — the iris and violet keep the citrus and rose from feeling bright, lending an almost watercolour stillness.

Roja Parfums

Qatar opens without any real top phase — the fruit hits early but reads more like a heart accent than a citrus lift.

Agonist

Pink pepper opens with a dry, slightly rosy crackle — not sharp, more peppery-pretty — leading quickly into a balsamic core where myrrh and opoponax pour in their dark, resinous syrup.

Jacques Fath

Pink pepper and bergamot open lightly, with osmanthus adding a peach-apricot softness that blurs the line between fruity and floral immediately.

Fragonard

Rose de Mai is a meditation on the centifolia — the May rose harvested each spring in Grasse's fields — rather than a perfume about roses in general.

Jean Patou

Peach and bergamot open alongside galbanum and orange blossom, giving the top a fruity-green freshness with a faintly spicy edge from clove and nutmeg.

Pierre Balmain

Pink pepper and freesia open with a light, prickly freshness that gives way almost immediately to the fuller rose.

Giorgio Armani

From the Soie de Nacre collection, Pivoine Suzhou reads the rose as a silky, high-resolution bloom rather than a market-stall bouquet.

Roja Parfums

Chypré Extraordinaire is the house's fruity-floral take on a classical chypre.

Roja Parfums

Taif Aoud is the house's straight take on the rose-and-oud pairing.

Roja Parfums

Ti Amo opens with an unusually loud fruit: pineapple slung against bergamot, sweet and almost candied.

By Kilian

Roja Parfums

Scandal pour Homme is built on the British men's-cologne template — petitgrain, tarragon, lavender, basil, lemon, bergamot — but the herbs are dosed heavily, almost medicinal at first inhale.

Roja Parfums

Roja, the eponymous flagship, is the house's most classical statement.

Bella Bellissima

Saffron and pink pepper open with a warm, metallic spice over a bergamot-rosewood brightness, making the first impression both vivid and slightly exotic.

Kate Spade

Lemon opens with expected brightness, though it disperses quickly.

Roja Parfums

A direct vetiver portrait, opened with lemon and bergamot and brushed past a single touch of May rose.