a shortes review ever- this smells like a love child of Lalique's Perles du Lalique(spicy,peppery rose) and PdE's Wazamba with it's bonfire, pine ,camphoric feeling...
a wonderful perfume, totally colliding with it's name....

Many of the reviews have this one right on target: dusty rose, lots of berries up front, patchouli but not head-shop product. Second every reviewer on MUA urging great restraint when spritzing. This is a room-clearer. I find that I rarely want to reach for POAL. When I do, the temperature outside has to be less than 50 F, and I spritz one small spritz in the small of my back. This allows me to enjoy warm gusts of a lovely dusty rose scent, while allowing others to breathe.
I'm a huge fan of Dominique Ropion and truly appreciate the cerebral beauties of his creations, especially for FM, but this one is difficult to love. One reviewer below called this perfume "oriental" and I agree. Being of North African descent, and as such am dark and of a definite physical "type" (no one's ever been confused as to whether I came from Scandinavia), I tend to shy away from perfumes that bring to mind a certain, shall we say, overexuberant use of gold everything and smothering fragrances a la Opium (the original). It just feels like too much of a cliche for me. POAL walks a fine line between brooding, dark, sensuality I love, and a certain brassiness I'd like to stay away from. I keep thinking I might grow into this one. I returned a full bottle which was first given to me by my lovely husband, but eventually bought some travel atomizers. I can't say this is a true love, and Le Labo's rose 31 is much more to my taste, or even Christian Dior Ambre Nuit, but I'm glad I have the travel mini's.

This is it, I've found THE rose fragrance I never knew I was looking for. It's a rose that is spicy and dark, and with it comes fruity patchouli and soft musk, and the little bit of oud to give it weight. Beautiful, expensive, with a sillage of about arm's length, and about 12 hours wear, for me. I don't think I want to be without this fragrance, ever.

What a shock! I have always absolutely hated rose scented fragrances. This one has wholeheartedly won me over. It is an intense rose fragrance that doesn't smell like somebody's grandmother. Long lasting. Wonderful whiff of fresh berries add to the allure of this fragrance. The body creme is just to die for because it is sinfully rich and fragranced with that wonderful Turkish rose scent. OMG, this could end up being my holy grail!! Sophisticated and so decadent. Expensive is an understatement. Body butter retails for $200; fragrance even more.

My skin usually "eats" fragances. This one is very special. I get the initial whow effect with a single spritz, then a very dry skelettal rose with a dark patchouli dress that vanishes from sight after one hour. Suddenly several hours later the scent comes back as if suddenly amplified by a microphone. The on and off effect last for more than 12hours and is remarkable as you get a slighty different face of the scent at each return . My pullover smelled for another 24h. However be aware of the "initial overdose" and never spray it in an oriental manner, all family members cried "mammy you drank yourself in perfume?" To try at home only.

It has a very strong rose scent which I don't enjoy. It's just not right for me. It is soft and pretty, but I prefer spicier, more unisex scents.

Portrait of a Lady is a complex and sometimes unexpected olafactory essay on rose, patchouli, berries, sandalwood and spices. Throughout its very distinct phases it remains dry and clear. The best analogy I can think of is that it is like a ruby.

PoL starts out very large, so much so that the first time I sampled it I realized that it needs to be sprayed lightly. The top is dominated by the beautiful rose and fruits. Note lists of PoL indicate that Turkish rose is used. The rose is rich, deep, and sensual, and whether true or not, seems like it has never been near an aromachemical.

To me, the real pay-off comes in about 60-90 minutes, and is a stunning rose dominated interplay that also features sandalwood, musk, and a stunning patchouli.

Rather than this lovely drydown just fading away, PoL changes again after about 4 hours and becomes a rather charming rose skin scent.

While the price of PoL is prohibitive, I love the small, 10 ML bottles of FM scents that make them more affordable.

Highly recommended.

I don't quite know how to put this...this fragrance creeps me out. It smells like rock n roll combined with the scent of a movie villain. I know that sounds non-sensical, but that's what it smells like to me. It's everything I wanted Musc Ravageur to be. And I f------ LOVE IT!

There is certainly a duality to Portrait of a lady. It’s at once dark and mysterious, yet radiant; somber and reserved yet sensual. Like light filtered through a brocade lampshade.

It opens with lush Turkish rose and raspberry, but not a sweet Bath and Body Works type. This is a fresh, slightly tart raspberry. Enough spices are present to give the rose and raspberry a little depth.

Generally, I’m not a fan of patchouli, but it’s executed so well here. It lacks the musty character I normally associate it with. It’s fresher with a pleasantly bitter edge, like biting into a roasted cocoa nib.

The dry down is a swirl of musks, sandalwood, and patchouli. The lack of sweetness here gives it an almost unisex feel (which is strange considering the name…again, duality is the word). This fragrance manages to stay close to the skin, yet lasts for a good 10 hours on me. Absolutely full bottle worthy. Dominique Ropion is a genius.

Very different comments and associations w/this scent. My experience has been different from most of what I'm reading here. This stuff is very strong (arguably too strong), not overly dry, and definitely not simple or straightforward-at least w/my chemistry. I didn't like it when I first tried it (in fact some kid at the library said "somebody smells!" when I first sampled it-I almost burst out laughing and wanted to say "I agree.") Anyway, I sampled again some time later and was sort of compelled by it. I think it's quite layered and complex. It has the same clean musky type element in the base (not your average clean or musky smell) that I recall from Dans tes Bras. Overall, I think this is def. a fall/winter type fragrance and am looking forward to trying it again when the weather cools down.