Christian Louboutin’s beauty line has long translated the house’s sex appeal ,the lacquered heel, the red sole, the theatrical silhouette into bottles that look like jewels. With Fétiche La Rose, the maison adds a distinctly carnal floral to its Fétiche collection: a rose that isn’t demure, but lacquered in black cherry and seasoned with spice – a perfume designed to read as both glamour and intimate temptation.  

The Brief

The creative brief behind Fétiche La Rose is brazenly simple: reinvent the rose as a symbol of fetishised desire ; voluptuous, lacquered, and dangerously polished. The house copy frames the scent as a “veil of lustful sensation” that awakens “erotic power,” casting the wearer like a woman who knows the potency of her image. The new release sits inside the broader Fétiche collection, which riffs on materials and the fetish objects that inspired Louboutin from leather to amber, and now, the rose.  

Released in early 2025 strategically arriving in the months surrounding Valentine’s Day , the launch was positioned as a romantic, but decidedly adult, answer to the seasonal craving for floral gifts. Retailers and fragrance press picked it up as a headline-making drop in the maison’s ongoing expansion of the Fétiche line.   

The Artist(s)

Christian Louboutin – the stylistic hand

Christian Louboutin’s fingerprints are obvious: packaging that reads like haute couture (a ruby-red box or jewel-like bottle), copy that frames scent as a gesture of allure, and a collection concept that treats perfumery as a way to translate the house’s design language into aroma. The Fétiche series is, at its core, Louboutin’s continued exploration of objects of desire, each scent an olfactory accessory to the brand’s visual mythology. 

Quentin Bisch – the perfumer’s craft

The perfumer credited with shaping La Rose is Quentin Bisch, a nose known for rich, modern Gourmands and florals that skew unexpectedly dark or sensual. In interviews and press coverage he describes the project as an exercise in making rose feel “carnal” not merely pretty but tactile and lacquered. Bisch’s approach here is to let a thick, almost liquor-like cherry accord collide with velvety rose, then underline the whole composition with spicy and leathery whispers. That tension between plush fruit and animalic restraint is his signature on this piece. 

 

The Scent — notes, structure, and texture

Classification & Concentration: Fétiche La Rose is an Eau de Parfum in the Floral–Ambery family, offered in the maison’s signature jewel-shaped flacon with an elongated black cap.  

Opening – the first impression: The first sprays read like a glossy cherry syrup poured over fresh rose petals. The cherry here is not confected candy but dense and viscous, think black cherry liqueur while pink pepper crisps the initial sweetness with a biting, effervescent spice. You get an immediate sense of gloss and shimmer; the rose is present as a plush, velvety heart rather than a green or dewy variant.   

Heart  – the core of the idea: As it blossoms, the composition deepens: rose and cherry entwine into a tactile duo, with ginger and pink pepper giving it a metallic warmth. The rose is modern: layered, textured, not just floral but tactile, like velvet under light. It’s eroticized rather than sentimental. Perfumer Quentin Bisch spoke about making the rose feel carnal and lacquered, and that engineering is audible here.   

Drydown — the lingering signature: The base pulls the gourmand-floral into a darker register so the sweetness never becomes juvenile. The finish is a powdery, warm, slightly resinous trail that whispers rather than shouts, inviting proximity.   

Texture & Feeling: If perfume textures were textiles, La Rose would be patent leather lined with velvet – shiny, taut top notes over a soft, tactile heart. It’s sexy in a controlled way: calibrated to seduce but engineered to stay polished. That balance is the point – fetish as fashion, not a costume. (This sensory reading is based on the composition and public commentary; actual wear will vary by skin chemistry.)   

Performance & Wearing Notes

• Projection: Confident initially – the cherry-rose accord throws a noticeable halo for the first 1–3 hours, then settles.

• Longevity: expect 6–9 hours depending on skin and application.   

• Best season & moment: Night and cooler months suit it best (Valentine’s-adjacent launch was no accident), though a bolder wearer could carry it into spring evenings. Retail copy and trade listings suggest it as an evening or special-date fragrance.   

Price & Availability: The 80 ml flacon appears in Louboutin’s official listings and major luxury retailers; pricing varies by market and retailer but falls in the prestige designer bracket (£185 for 80 ml) 

Compared with earlier house releases that flirt with playful or cinematic femininity, Fétiche La Rose leans into a more grown-up, slightly dangerous femininity – a Louboutin woman who prefers her petals lacquered and her fruit dark. Where rivals may soften rose with heliotrope or gourmand vanilla, La Rose keeps an edge via liquor-like cherry and leather, a strategy that places it comfortably between gourmand florals and modern leathery florals on shelves today.   

Fétiche La Rose is for the wearer who wants a rose that announces presence rather than pleads for attention: women and men who enjoy florals with a lacquered, carnal twist; collectors of fashion-house fragrances wanting another statement piece; and anyone who likes their sweet notes tempered by spice and animalic nuance. It’s less “garden stroll” and more “velvet-room rendezvous.” My advice: try it on skin in the evening and let it settle, its real power is revealed as it warms and morphs.