Rogue Perfumery Absolue de Mousse Bottle, courtesy of the brand

 Within the world of fragrance, there are cliques and clubs; there are devotes of natural perfumes, of vintage bottles, of fragrance as Art, of cutting-edge molecular science. If you can imagine it, there will be a forum out there for fans to gather, share samples and argue boundaries and finer points. This is the fun and life-blood of any community dedicated to a passion project. One such group of devoted searchers is always on the hunt for the ultimate oakmoss fragrance. Lucky for us (I count myself in this particular fan club), there is a new contender on the scene: Rogue Perfumery Absolue de Mousse by artisan perfumer Manuel Cross.

Oakmoss, wiki

 Oakmoss has been a material in perfumery for a millennia (Dr. Elise Pearlstine’s deep dive into the material is a great read), and had a surge in popularity with the bold masculine scents of the 1980s. Classification as an allergen and restrictions beginning in 2009 brought attention back to oakmoss and created a wave of nostalgia, increasing demand for the experience of oakmoss in fragrance. Approximations, reconstructions, alternate materials, and even low dosages of oakmoss have all brought interesting layers and experimentation to contemporary green perfume. Manuel Cross of Rogue Perfumery is well known for his devotion to verdant materials, especially oakmoss, tree moss and camphoraceous aspects of nature like lavender and sagebrush. With his latest release, Rogue Perfumery Absolue de Mousse, Manuel brings to life the essence of moss-covered woods.

Opening with an invigorating pairing of olibanum and artemisia, Absolue de Mousse is at once harmonious and powerful. The bittersweet opening captures the best parts of a walking past a living rosemary bush with a fascinating blend of camphor and woody terpenes painted with herbaceous minty edge. The peppery lift of the olibanum provides a refreshing current of air flowing through its sweetening and thickening aspects.

 

Perfumer Manuel Cross, courtesy of the brand

Manuel’s inspiration for Absolue de Mousse comes from one of his most celebrated creations, “the idea of Absolue de Mousse was something I had been kicking around for a few years. I wanted to take the central accord of Mousse Illuminee and create a “thicker”, warmer scent.” Indeed, oakmoss and tree moss create the most welcome silvered glow. This is exactly the scent I’ve been craving from the cooling earth just barely tipping into fall. Rogue Perfumery Absolue de Mousse radiates that complex atmosphere of bare trees, cold air, wet earth with hay and tobacco nuances like a campfire that has been doused in the distance. Layers of dry crisp leaves newly fallen onto decomposing vegetal wetness, marine and mysterious, at the bottom of the pile. A warmth rises like one’s own beating heart with rose, nutmeg, and orange blossom to anchor the skin in these autumnal environs. Nutmeg’s woody aspect slides easily into the scenery, its terpenic lift continuing olibanum’s song from the opening, and its warmth helps bridge fruity-floral rose and honeyed orange blossom with the green mosses.

Tree moss, wiki

 Absolue de Mousse has a dry down that combines spikenard’s earthy-leather fungal warmth with myrrh’s sweetly balsamic anisic mossy aspects. The softer, sweeter, and richer heft to this phase of Absolue de Mousse has great potential to wear this fall and beyond. Labdanum and musk give a proper clean stoke of resinous heat to the dry down. Rogue Perfumery Absolue de Mousse has arrived at the perfect moment to celebrate nature’s turn to all things autumnal…it is forest floor magic in a bottle.

Notes: oakmoss, tree moss, olibanum, artemisia, rose, nutmeg, orange blossom, clary sage, myrrh, labdanum, spikenard, musk

Rachel K. Ng, Editor

Bottle of Absolue de Mousse my own, opinions my own

Rogue Perfumery Absolue de Mousse by Rachel©

Thanks to Rogue Perfumery we have a 30 ml bottle of Absolue de Mousse for a registered ÇaFleureBon reader in the UK or USA (if you are not sure if you are registered click here – you must register on our site or your entry will be invalid). To be eligible please leave a comment with what strikes you about Rogue Perfumery Absolue de Mousse and where you live. Do you have a favorite Rogue Perfumery fragrance? Draw Closes 9/26/2024

Available at ROGUE PERFUMERY

Luckyscent and Fragrance Vault and other stockists

Manuel Cross was Lauryn’s artisan of the year 2022. Rogue Perfumery Rostracto was one of Karl’s Top 10 best of 2022.

L’Homme M. LaCroix was one of Editor Michael Devine’s and Lauryn’s top ten best  of 2022

Please read ÇaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery 161^st Profile: Manuel Cross and Rogue Perfumery here.

Follow us on Instagram @cafleurebonofficial @rogue.perfumery@rachel.k.ng

This is our Privacy  Policy

We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so “like” ÇaFleureBon and use our  blog feed…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume