Our take
What does Trésor Midnight Rose smell like?
A flanker of Lancôme’s Trésor, Trésor Midnight Rose appeared in 2011 and took a much more youthful route than its powdery elder. The opening is openly fruity: tart raspberry, slightly green blackcurrant and a fizzing pink pepper. The heart centres on a modern rose, cool and dewy, made bubblier by peony and more sensual by jasmine. It then drifts into a base of soft vanilla, white musk and cedar that hints at confectionery yet stays airy. The rose never smells like old-fashioned powder; it has the juicy colour of red berries, with a touch of mystery from the blackcurrant. It is an easy-to-wear floral gourmand designed for light-hearted seduction.
When to wear it
Good for a date or a night out between seasons; it mostly appeals to fans of fruity, sweetened roses.
The story of Trésor Midnight Rose
Trésor, composed by Sophia Grojsman and launched in 1990, is one of Lancôme's great powdery florals. Twenty years on, the house wanted to reach younger women raised on the sweet fruity florals of the 2000s. Trésor Midnight Rose arrived in 2011 with exactly that job. It kept the name and the inverted-pyramid silhouette of the Trésor bottle but dressed it in a darker colour, with a midnight rose as its emblem. Lancôme hired Emma Watson for the campaign, at the height of her fame as the Harry Potter films drew to a close. The message was plain: this was not your mother's Trésor. The formula followed the same logic. Raspberry and blackcurrant took over from the peach and apricot of the original, and a musky vanilla replaced the powdery base. La Nuit Trésor followed in 2015 in a similarly sweet, gourmand direction, confirming where Lancôme wanted the line to go for the next decade.
Our detailed review
Here the opening is the best part: tart raspberry, almost vinegary, pulled toward green and sharp by blackcurrant and pink pepper. Think red-berry sorbet. After twenty minutes the rose settles in, cool and slightly watery, with peony keeping it light. The jasmine stays in the background. Vanilla, white musk and cedar show up fairly early and barely move after that. It's clean and sweet without excess, a little cosmetic. The first hour gets the balance between tartness and sweetness right. The rest is too linear and rather anonymous, and after three hours you could mistake it for a dozen other fruity florals. The musk also turns faintly synthetic on dry skin. It suits young women starting out with perfume and anyone who likes fruity roses. If you know the original Trésor, you'll miss its powder and its warmth.
Trésor Midnight Rose vs its rivals
Ferragamo's Signorina shares nearly its whole opening with Midnight Rose: blackcurrant and pink pepper, then peony, rose and jasmine at the heart. The difference is in the base. Panna cotta and patchouli make Signorina milkier and more chypre-like, while Midnight Rose sticks to a tamer musky vanilla. Armani's Sì Passione is closer still. Blackcurrant and pink pepper, rose and jasmine, vanilla and cedar: it's all there. Pear and heliotrope make it sweeter and more powdery, and it projects much harder. If you want to be noticed, go for Sì Passione. For a lighter fruity rose, Midnight Rose. Meliora from Parfums de Marly takes raspberry, blackcurrant and rose over musk and vanilla and adds almond. It's the most carefully made of the three, with juicier raspberry and an almond base that gives it more relief.
Longevity, projection and use
This is a mid-strength eau de parfum. Expect five to seven hours on skin, a little more on a scarf. The trail is pleasant for the first hour, then pulls in close to the body. Three sprays work for an evening: one on the neck and one on each wrist. For a daytime date, two are enough. A light spray on a scarf helps too, since the raspberry lasts longer on fabric. It fits autumn, winter and early spring. In summer the vanilla feels heavy and the rose goes flat.
It belongs to the Floral, Gourmand family. Trésor Midnight Rose is one of 5 creations by Lancôme in our encyclopedia.
