Lady Rose Lion (Monkey Unicorn)

Have you been following Gemma's (Retrochick) #glamorousjuly project? I've been joining in when I can, if only because I think most people would welcome a bit of fun and frivolity right now. Today's challenge is to write a positive review to support a small business. And, as it happens, I've got the perfect candidate.

A lot of the 4160 Tuesdays perfumes I've reviewed have been too modern to suit my tastes, but the one I'd really wanted to try from the brand has proved an absolute corker. Many perfumistas have described Lady Rose Lion (Monkey Unicorn) as echoing the scent of a classic vintage chypre. I wanted to try it because it's got a peach note and I was really hoping that with that and the oakmoss it would be like Mitsouko.

Well, Lady Rose Lion (Monkey Unicorn) doesn't smell like Mitsouko. It's got a lot in common with it, but it smells more 1940s/1950s to me – a little more strident than the Jazz Age perfumes I adore. I also think that despite the peach and rose notes at its centre, it's got enough wood and spice in it to work well on a man.

I really like this one and plan to buy a bottle at some point. Reviews online are mixed, though, so it's definitely one to try before you buy. That divisiveness is a good thing, to me - many vintage classics are out of step with modern tastes in fragrance, so not appealing to the mass market can actually indicate that you're getting something genuinely interesting rather than a celebuscent designed to shift X-thousand bottles a month in Boots.

I chose the pictures, by the way, because the story behind the scent is that it started at a party celebrating the five senses, based on the famous Lady and Unicorn tapestries in the Cluny Museum in Paris. Not sure it smells like those tapestries to me. Great name, though.

Comments

  1. Lady Rose Lion sounds like my type of perfume. When peach and rose work well together, it can be magical. When they don't...well, you get 90% of the celebrity perfumes on the market.

    I do like rose notes in men's fragrances.

    I would imagine if you got close enough to the tapestries to smell them there'd be a whiff of mildew and dust about them. Now, that would be a perfume!

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    1. Heh, they didn't let us close enough to smell them. The room the tapestries are in have all soers of climate controls in place, so they're probably cleaner than most hotel curtains ;-)

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  2. Ooh, it sounds lovely. I don't wear perfume much as I don't have a very good sense of smell, but I do like to have some for special occasions!

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    1. I'm an addict. I'm the only person I know with several different ones in my office drawer 'for emergencies'.

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  3. That does sound good, I am having a clear out of my perfumes, some just don't appeal any morr. The M&S one I wear to work will be reduced to being an air freshener I think!!

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    1. I save my least favourite ones for when I'm mucking about at weekends. I should probably just throw them, but it somehow feels *wrong*.

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  4. I wasn't aware of Gemma's Glamorous July (I'm too wrapped up in the Vintage Pledge July on Instagram!) but will definitely check it out.
    The perfume sounds very interesting, the name is really quite intriguing. I literally know nothing about perfume other than the fact that I like what I like! xx

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    1. I have been very much enjoying your VP instagrams. It's fun to see what people are making.

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  5. Well, well..
    I must give my "two thumbs up" to both you and Gemma, for making sure the "little ones" get mentioned, too.
    Any advertisement is a great one!

    MArija

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    1. Yes, and over here a lot of indies struggle as they get squeezed out by big chains - the sad thing is, the big chains are less likely to pay full taxes or use local suppliers. Even if independents cost slightly more at the moment of paying for something (eg indie coffee shops are a little more expensive), the overall benefit to the community is much better if people shop indie.

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  6. this sounds very interesting

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    1. Have you smelled the Star Trek perfume, Pon Farr? I have a bottle of that (it cost a fiver) and it's actually okay. I wear it regularly.

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  7. When your blog thumbnail popped up in Bloglovin' I thought you were writing about Tracy Chevalier's The Lady and The Unicorn, the tapestry features on the book cover.
    What a nice idea of Gemma's, there's so much unpleasantness and backstabbing at the moment. xxx

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    1. Nope, perfume! But also inspired by the tapestries.

      I'm mostly reading urban fantasy novels at the moment, that or vintage crime. I need the escapism.

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  8. Like Cate, I don't know much about perfume other than whether I like it or not. I would never be able to describe a perfume the way you do. This one sounds very interesting, maybe I should give it a try? xxx

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    1. I wouldn't recommend it without knowing what else you like. I'd recommend nipping into the chemist/drugstore occasionally, trying a squirt of something new, and seeing whether you like it. If you do, why? If you don't, why? It's a good way to find new 'fumes, and to work out what appeals.

      I've been sniffing so long, I find myself smelling all sorts of weird things just to see what they smell of. I'm pretty sure Goody and Bibi will understand that, they're 'fumeheads too!

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    1. Crazy name, very good perfume!

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    2. (Unless you mean this blog, which came about after I had a dream about those 1930s Crinoline Lady embroidery patterns, and woke up thinking, "Why is there never a robot in it?" It kind of summed up all my major interests: craft, old tat, SF, so I made it my blog name.)

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  10. You always sound so knowledgeable about perfumes, do you have a good nose I wonder? My favourites are Joy by Jean Patou, Eau de Gucci (discontinued) and Penhaligon's Violetta, all of them either very expensive or hard to track down. I'm always looking for a cheaper, easier to find everyday alternative.

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    1. I'm not sure about my nose. I wonder if I simply pay attention to what I'm smelling - my eyes aren't great, so it could be another sense stepping up.

      I like two online discounters for perfume, AllBeauty (http://www.allbeauty.com) and Fragrance Direct (http://fragrancedirect.co.uk/). While they don't stock most of the unusual lines, they're good for mainstream scents, and well worth keeping an eye on for the occasional delivery of niche stuff or discontinued stock.

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  11. I love the idea of small indie perfume shops. A lot of the "brands" about all smell pretty similar and are just too girlie for me to want to part with my hard earned. The only ones that I like are by Tom Ford (wayyyyyy out of my price range) and a couple by Prada. Really must make a point of tracking down something a bit more unusual so thank you for the recommendations. Xx

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    1. I do love Les Senteurs in London, that's my favourite indie boutique. Some of the niche lines nowadays are vastly overpriced for what they are, but LS are run/owned by knowledgeable people and sell good stuff.

      As I mentioned to Tania, AllBeauty (http://www.allbeauty.com) and Fragrance Direct (http://fragrancedirect.co.uk/) are great if you're hunting for a bargain. AllBeauty have got big reductions on some of the Fords right now.

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  12. I am very unadventurous with perfume, my go to is a very heady jasmine and rose one, I love heady florals and jasmine makes me go absolutely weak at the knees! I was given another which has jasmine, but it's heavy on the vanilla and is so peculiar that initially I hate it, but after a while it settles itself down and is more bearable xx

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  13. Hi Mim. I have been wanting to try this scent since you wrote this review. Well, I bought a sample of this and am wearing it tonight for the first time. Absolutely adore it! Thank you for the tip off x

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