New Fragrance Review: John Varvatos DARK REBEL (Rodrigo Flores-Roux) YouTube Review

Rodrigo Flores-Roux

Rodrigo Flores-Roux (photo courtesy of Givaudan)

 Rodrigo Flores-Roux of Givaudan (his official title is Vice President of Perfumery-Fine Fragrance) is without a doubt one of the most gifted master perfumers in the world. And the most knowledgeable; have a question about vintage, aroma chemicals, reformulations, new releases, the state of the industry?  “Rodripedia” has the answer (name coined by his friend in fragrance Yann Vasnier).  Born in Mexico City, he is the ONLY Latin Master perfumer in the world.  Rodrigo has studied with “The Greats”-Jean Kerleo, Carlos Benaim and Jean Claude Ellena. His first commercial fine fragrance was Clinique Happy,1997.

Rodrigo Flores Roux and John Varvatos at the launch of Artisan Aqua

Designer John Varvatos and Rodrigo Flores-Roux at the launch of john varvatos Artisan Aqua 2013

 I first met Rodrigo in 2008 at a press event for John Varvatos Woman and we have stayed in touch ever since. He is an award winning perfumer, written articles for CaFleureBon , and  has been  one of our perfumers of the year .  Our niche loving readers will know his name through his collaborations with Carlos Huber of Arquiste, but Rodrigo has signed so many well known, designer, luxury, mainstream and niche perfumes including designers Donna Karan, and Tom Ford to name a few. But his relationship with designer John Varvatos is special.

 I have interviewed Rodrigo a number of times, but in my 2009 interview (for Fragrantica) and again in 2010 (CafleureBon) he shared  (excerpted here) much about his friendship and collaboration with John Varvatos. “I met John Varvatos back in 2002 through Brian Robinson, at that time, owner of Zirh…John feels very comfortable talking perfume with me, and I consider working with him not only an enormous pleasure, but also a privilege and a great challenge to tackle, as he is always raising the bar. John’s approach is unique: “I’ll know it when I smell it…” and if I may add, I feel privileged as he listens to me a lot. I do the same and we communicate easily and freely”.

Dark_Rebel cafleurebon look feel smell good

john varvatos DARK REBEL Photo: Sebastian Jara

In preparation for his review of John Varavatos Dark Rebel(2015), Sebastian Jara, Contributor, YouTube fragrance personality and the founder of the Facebook Group Looking Feeling Smelling Great.  had a few questions for Rodrigo about the creation of Dark Rebel for this review; thank you  Rodrigo for taking the time out of your busy schedule –Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

 

John Varvatos Dark Rebel Review | FRAGRANCE REVIEW

We hope you leave a comment about what you thought of Sebastian’s review of Dark Rebel onsite as well as at Sebastian’s YouTube  channel.

You can follow us @cafleurebon @lookfeelsmellgreat on Instagram

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6 comments

  • Ali says:

    My husband wears Vintage and I think he would like Dark Rebel. Sounds great for the office, and I love boozy scents. Great review. I did see it at Sephora. Now I will go back

  • fazalcheema says:

    I remember your interviews with Rodrigo earlier and he did talk about his close working relationship with John and how a unique ingredient was the key to first fragrance,. If i am not mistake, Rodrigo has created all of the perfumes from John Varvatos, at least the men releases

  • tammy says:

    I spent a fair amount of my childhood around tobacco farms, so I’m always interested in tobacco scents! I was intrigued by Sebastian’s reference to the tobacco smelling green… tobacco leaves always smell dry to me, even when they’re green, so I am absolutely going to try this.

    I’m that chick always horrifying the fancy SAs by trying all the men’s fragrances on and I bet I’ll love this one.

  • Cynthia says:

    I learned about pronunciations of various words including Varvatos from you, Sebastian! You make this sound very alluring. I bought the first release from this line and also Vintage for my son, and he really liked both.

  • bunchofpants says:

    Thanks for the review, Sebastian. I love masculine scents on myself, so I’ll try a sample of this.

  • ringthing says:

    I fell in love with the bottle as soon as I saw this release. I love many masculines and the description of Dark Rebel’s boozy, spicy leather is instantly intriguing. Sounds like one my husband and I could share. I’m glad CaFleurebon started featuring Looking Feeling Smelling Great on this site as I am slightly overwhelmed by YouTube and wouldn’t have found these videos on my own, they are very well done and Sebastian’s enthusiasm is so pleasantly honest and infectious.