Launched in 2009, Roses Musk is one of Montale's earlier fragrances in the rose canon, and has become the brand's flagship rose fragrance. This is unfortunate, as I don't find it to be a very good rose fragrance, especially compared to Mancera's Amber & Roses, which boasts a far richer and rounder rose accord. It's also unfortunate when one considers how many roses fragrances Montale has discontinued, things like Highness Rose and Deep Roses, and I'm puzzled by how Roses Musk survived.
Roses Musk opens with a blast of alcohol and aldehydes, but they're not really citrus in feel. It's more of a chemical snow, a cold blast of hairspray with the isopropyl alcohol note especially prevalent. This does resolve into something warmer and "musky" in nature, but not animalic or sweet. It's like a silvery laundry detergent musk that smells intentionally chemical. Weird. This gradually segues into a bouquet of Damascus rose with some pink peony notes to brighten things, and the pink roses effect lingers in linear fashion for a few hours before fading away. Roses Musk leaves a halo of petals around you as you go about your day, and definitely smells far better when you sense its aura than when you smell it up close, although up close gives you a better idea of what's really going on.
I can't say that I find anything wrong with Roses Musk per say, and I actually do like it—just not as a rose fragrance. I appreciate the way the floral notes mingle with the snowy musk, creating a cold abstract lift to the flowers they wouldn't have otherwise. I also like that Roses Musk isn't a foghorn that fills a room like Amber & Roses does, which makes it much easier to wear. I just wanted more of a true rose fragrance from this Montale, and instead I got a fairly synthetic arrangement of rose-like materials. Definitely well made and interesting, but perhaps better thought of as a "rosy musk" than a "musky rose."