Why Fueguia 1833's Rosa De La Patagonia Is Worth It

(Image credit: Rachel Bailey)

published 11 May 2022

Welcome back to Worth It, a bi-weekly breakdown of the new beauty products we’ve tested and adored: We're talking that drain-it-to-the-bottom-and-tell-my-friends-I’ve-found-The-One kind of love. If it's featured here, consider this our permission to splurge on it. Read on for the product you don’t want to live without.

Fueguia 1833 Rosa De La Patagonia

The Promise

Rosa de la Patagonia is a tribute to the Patagonia Mountains of Argentina, where the Fueguia 1833 founder Julian Bedel was born and raised. The scent has oud top notes with a smoky, woody base that perfectly mixes with charcoal and rose scents, leaving a subtle, musky floral fragrance that’s designed to conjure visions of South America's natural landscape.

The scent, like all of Fueguia 1833's selections, is also cruelty-free and organic, so you can enjoy wearing it while confident that your purchase is good for both you and the world around you.

Why I'm Obsessed

I’m a rose fragrance aficionado, with an entire shelf dedicated to bottles of the classic floral scent. But I also love musky, oaky scents, and I’ve even dabbled with wearing men's cologne. It can be challenging balancing these preferences, so when I discovered that Fueguia 1833's Rosa De La Patagonia ($812) set out to do just that, I was over the moon.

First, I have to mention the beautiful presentation. It’s wrapped in a map of South America and encased in a lovingly carved wooden box. As someone who grew up loving the Pirates of the Caribbean films, I found this touch to be absolutely delightful.

The smell didn’t transport me to the Southern hemisphere, but the carefully crafted multi-layered notes are something I thought only existed in my dreams: floral, but not too feminine, deep, complex, and full-bodied—summoning the smell of a peated whiskey or scotch—without being too overwhelming. It's the perfect year-round scent, with floral notes for spring and summer, and a woody musk for the colder months. I’ve found my new signature scent.

This story appears in the May 2022 issue of Marie Claire.

TOPICS

Gabrielle Ulubay is a Beauty Writer at Marie Claire. She has also written about sexual wellness, politics, culture, and fashion at Marie Claire and at publications including The New York Times, HuffPost Personal, Bustle, Alma, Muskrat Magazine, O'Bheal, and elsewhere. Her personal essay in The New York Times' Modern Love column kickstarted her professional writing career in 2018, and that piece has since been printed in the 2019 revised edition of the Modern Love book. Having studied history, international relations, and film, she has made films on politics and gender equity in addition to writing about cinema for Film Ireland, University College Cork, and on her personal blog, gabrielleulubay.medium.com. Before working with Marie Claire, Gabrielle worked in local government, higher education, and sales, and has resided in four countries and counting. She has worked extensively in the e-commerce and sales spaces since 2020, and spent two years at Drizly, where she developed an expertise in finding the best, highest quality goods and experiences money can buy.

Deeply political, she believes that skincare, haircare, and sexual wellness are central tenets to one's overall health and fights for them to be taken seriously, especially for people of color. She also loves studying makeup as a means of artistic expression, drawing on her experience as an artist in her analysis of beauty trends. She's based in New York City, where she can be found watching movies or running her art business when she isn't writing. Find her on Twitter at @GabrielleUlubay or on Instagram at @gabrielle.ulubay, or follow her art at @suburban.graffiti.art