Cartier Oud & Pink, L’Heure Osee and Pure Rose Review – Mathilde Laurent; 2021

A rose is a rose is a rose is three roses. And three roses are precisely what we’ve just been given by Mathilde Laurent, the supremely talented in-house perfumer at Cartier. Pure Rose edt joins the Epures De Parfum. Oud & Pink extrait is an addition to the Heures Voyageuses. And L’Heure Osee edp is the long-waited new entry in the rightly-lauded Heures De Parfum; it takes up the 5 o’clock slot on Laurent’s timepiece. All three were reviewed in a recent episode of Love At First Scent. Here’s a link: Cartier Oud & Pink, L’Heure Osee and Pure Rose reviews.

The simultaneous appearance of these three compositions would suggest that Cartier are taking very seriously the business of targeting as many potential buyers across the globe as possible. The Epures have ‘let’s appeal to the Far East’ written all over them. The Voyagueses have always flirted with the Middle East. And the Heures are rooted in classically French/European aesthetics. As a strategy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. The crucial issue is: are the perfumes any good?

Ironically, given the acclaim heaped on the Heures over the years, L’Heure Osee is the most disappointing of these three. The brand are presenting it as a punk rose (could French speakers please confirm whether Heure Osee is a play on ‘heure rosee’?) but it’s far too congenial to deserve that label. The Cola syrup note at the top is interesting, but the remainder is a rather tame affair, with no safety pins or ripped jeans in sight. Laurent’s own Declaration D’Un Soir was a more daring take on florals.

Pure Rose is charming. Perhaps the world didn’t need another rose soliflore, but then ‘need’ and ‘perfume’ should rarely be lumped together, especially when the perfume in question is as delightfully executed as this one. Milky, dewy, creamy, pillowy, baby-cheek-soft: it is as innocent and chaste as you could hope a rose composition to be.

Oud & Pink, despite its silly name and the fact that it’s another oud, is the one to seek out. It has been released as a rose – and certainly, the flower features in its mid-section – but it’s also about a vintage-rich blend of other petals (notably: jasmine) and waxy aldehydes. Think: Frederic Malle Superstitious (which itself channeled Lanvin Arpege) laced with Laurent’s less-fecal-more-medicinal take on oud. Vintage grandeur sashaying through the gold souq of Dubai.

Persolaise

[Cartier Oud & Pink, L’Heure Osee and Oud & Pink based on samples provided by the brand in 2021.]

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