FRAGRANCE | Jasmin Antique EDT by Rogue Perfumery: A must-try for jasmine lovers

It was August of last year when I first got to try some of Rogue Perfumery's releases, thanks to a fellow fraghead who kindly shared a couple of her samples with me. And while I thought each of the three that I tried are full bottle-worthy, ironically I haven't made any purchase yet—until I saw a couple of new releases on Luckyscent. But instead of going for what we've already sampled, my wife and I opted for some blind buys. Jasmin Antique is one of them.

A soliflore with a fresh, bombastic, and hyper-realistic jasmine, Jasmin Antique has a classic, old-school vibe, as with probably anything from Rogue. The opening salvo is just in your face and unapologetic. It's really addictive and smells a lot like our local sampaguita. It is a species of jasmine after all. The scent carries with it a mild sweetness, just a touch so that it doesn't take away from the jasmine's inherent white floral beauty. It's not particularly indolic, at least to my nose. I actually find it clean and very rounded.

While it's clearly aimed at the ladies, I don't think it's a particularly easy fragrance to wear for most women. It may call to mind images of a church and religious statues in an altar, or it could easily fall under that "old lady" category, an association I personally find inappropriate and quite unfair. Either way, we cannot control other people's perceptions, so it's gonna take a huge amount of confidence, a devil-may-care attitude, and an untoward love for jasmine for anyone, woman or man, to pull this with aplomb.

The fragrance takes on a creamy turn after about an hour, eschewing some of the opening's brightness and transparency. Between one to two hours more and the florals just melt on your skin, its initial intensity now waning but the scent itself lasts. Whether you intend to wear it in the company of others or simply in your own private time, Jasmin Antique is a must-try for jasmine aficionados.