Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
03/08/2014
Sweetgrass
35 Reviews
Sweetgrass
Helpful Review
4
Rise and shine
Bergamot. Ok, a staple of perfumery since forever, for good reason. The opening is bright, juicy and sunny; not too sweet for me, and basil cuts the juiciness just so it becomes a fresh herbal smoothie on the veranda in the morning sun. I am not a fan of how the apricot in the opening seems to interact with freesia (I think?), but the transition from the opening to the heart is smooth and creamy, just a tad soapy and powdery. I have no idea what a ”gold symphony orchid” is supposed to smell like, but overall the powdery floral accord is well done, if a bit generic. I am not that familiar with Beyoncé’s previous releases, except that I remember liking Pulse NYC, so I will refrain from making comparisons. The drydown is sober and mature: I get something woodsy-vetivery and musky after the florals start to subside. Yes. good.
To put it simply, Rise smells good. Not the most adventurous of perfumes, either in concept or content, but a solid performance from a juice that is already available for pocket change from online discounters, weeks after its launch (it’s how I got mine to test). As fruity florals and celebrity frags go, it’s as good a pick as any other, maybe even better than most; it’s great fun, sweet and carefree, but also grown up. My only real complaint is the cap, which is both fugly and inconvenient. I wish I could just replace it with something less tacky, preferably made of metal.
Even if nobody expects a celebrity fragrance to carve niches in perfumery, I do kind of wonder about Rise. An artist with Beyoncé’s star power could surely have taken more of a risk with the perfume and gone for something more exciting and potentially polarizing. As it is, Rise plays it safe and stays firmly in well-charted olfactory territory.
To put it simply, Rise smells good. Not the most adventurous of perfumes, either in concept or content, but a solid performance from a juice that is already available for pocket change from online discounters, weeks after its launch (it’s how I got mine to test). As fruity florals and celebrity frags go, it’s as good a pick as any other, maybe even better than most; it’s great fun, sweet and carefree, but also grown up. My only real complaint is the cap, which is both fugly and inconvenient. I wish I could just replace it with something less tacky, preferably made of metal.
Even if nobody expects a celebrity fragrance to carve niches in perfumery, I do kind of wonder about Rise. An artist with Beyoncé’s star power could surely have taken more of a risk with the perfume and gone for something more exciting and potentially polarizing. As it is, Rise plays it safe and stays firmly in well-charted olfactory territory.
