Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest, courtesy of the brand©
Artisan Manuel Cross of Rogue Perfumery ranks among the perfumers I most admire. He creates fragrances that engage us personally; liquid conversations with perfumes past and possibilities of the future of perfumery. With his recent 40 Rogue for Fragrance Vault, Manuel Cross reinterpreted a vintage fragrance Jean Desprez’s 40 Love and gave it his own rogue twist.
Caribou-Targhee Forest, courtesy of Manuel Cross©
Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest explores Manuel Cross’s skills as a cartographer. It is NOT a fragrance inspired by the past, rather a scent of place and here and now. With this perfume we are presented with an ecosystem translated into the bottle.
Manuel Cross of Rogue Perfumery ©
When Manuel seeks respite he heads to a particular place in nature. He describes “Caribou-Targhee National Forest, a short drive from my house. I leave stress behind and spend time with nature. The silence of the forest cuts me off from the commotion at home as if the commotion had never begun. This is a primal silence that centers me.” The Caribou-Targhee National Forest occupies over 3 million acres and stretches across southeastern Idaho, from the Montana, Utah, and Wyoming borders. It is home to fields of sage brush and native grasses with higher elevations supporting lodgepole pines and numerous species of spruce and fir trees.
Caribou-Targhee Forest, courtesy of Manuel Cross©
Manuel describes his vision for Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest as a scent that “centers on the moment when the morning sun begins warming the pine trees and a resinous, sweet musk-like fragrance begins to fill the air. The aroma of the moist forest soil mingles with the scent of the silvery carpet of sagebrush covering the nearby hills. Venturing deeper into Targhee Forest, the fragrance of rich, woody cedar and lush oakmoss is grounding, soothing and uplifting.” The magnificent forest of this fragrance indeed sings. The juniper berry and sage combination is the highlight right out of the bottle. Juniper’s complex evergreen, balsamic and botanical sharpness is a perfect pairing to the piney cedar and peppery eucalyptus tones of sage brush (tridentata) essential oil. These materials together have an elevated lift and bold freshness that awaken the spirit along with the senses. Juniper’s lemony-citrus facet lends to the aromatic complexity of Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest. Bergamot and orange notes warm this agrestic scene with their diffuse morning light.
Caribou-Targhee Forest, courtesy of Manuel Cross©
As Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest moves into its exceptional dry down it is worth noting that perfumer Manuel Cross creates fragrances whose second and third acts are as beautiful as their openings. Contemporary fragrances sometimes have a bad habit of overdeveloping the top notes and leaving us hanging at the end. Manuel is an artisan who understands the ability of a well-made dry down to enthrall and delight. Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest is built around a classic chypre combination of bergamot, labdanum and oakmoss, functioning to frame a lovely development from open fields to forest floor. This journey is accented with coniferous and herbal elements in the opening and woody notes in the base. Geranium transitions us to a beautiful oakmoss, cedarwood, and amber dry down highlighted with patchouli and musk. The ambiance of a dew-laden forest floor is gorgeously articulated with loamy oakmoss and patchouli. Labdanum serves as the amber hearth for Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest, pulling the warmth of citric top notes down through the fragrance and leaving us basking in the very smile of nature itself.
Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest provides us with skyward and earth-bound olfactive interpretations of this precious wilderness.
Notes: Juniper Berry, Fir Balsam, Sage Brush, Citrus, Pine, Geranium, Oakmoss, Amber, Cedarwood, Patchouli, Musk
I purchased my bottle of Targhee Forest opinions my own
Rachel K. Ng, Contributor
Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest, courtesy of the brand
Thanks to Rogue Perfumery we have a 30 ml bottle of Targhee Forest for a registered ÇaFleureBon reader in the UK, EU, 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 quality comment on this site with what strikes you about Rogue Perfumery Targhee Forest and where you live. Draw Closes 5/23/2023. Do you have a favorite Rogue perfume?
Available at ROGUE PERFUMERY
Available in the US at Lucky Scent and coming soon to stockists worldwide.
Manuel Cross was Michelyn’s Best Artisan of 2021 and 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 Michael’s and Lauryn’s top ten best perfumes of 2022.
Derviche II was one of Video Contributor Steven Gavrielatos top 10 best of 2021. Please read Senior Editor Lauryn Beer’s wonderful reviews of L’Homme M. LaCroix and Rogue Perfumery’s 40 Rogue here. Read UK Brand Ambassador and Senior Editor Karl Topham’s review of A’Oud Ancienne here, Rostractro here and Derviche II here. Deputy Editor Ida Meister reviewed Vetifleur here.
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