Frequent Questions: 2000 et Une Rose vs. Mille et Une Roses by Lancome and a footnote on La Collection

One of the most frequent questions among perfume entusiasts who love roses and are discovering the offerings by Lancôme is what is the difference between 2000 et Une Rôse and Mille et Une Roses and why the different names. The explanation is rather simple: They're exactly the same scent, ambery and slightly fruity roses on a vanillic base composed by perfumer Christine Nagel, but they came about in different ways. Let's see how!

2000 et Une Rôse (2000 and a Rose) was a fragrance meant to commemorate the Millenium celebrations (along with less well-known 2000 et Une Folie and 2000 et Une Nuit), which was issued in 1999 as a limited edition in a teardrop-shaped bottle of 30ml/1oz with an accent circonflex on the "Rose" to echo the one in Lancôme (a practice the company follows often with the names of their fragrances). There is a blue ribbon threaded through a small gold loop around the sprayer, tied in a bow, as depicted. Naturally, after a while the fragrance got discontinued, as it was never meant to be a permanent addition to the line-up. However, fans of its unctuous rosiness who really loved it, searched high and low for it and had been pressing the company most energetically to re-release it. Their prayers were finally heard.

When L'Oreal decided to release the more upscale project La Collection with archived scents from Lancôme's illustrious past (Magie, Sikkim, Sagamore, Climat), they re-issued this one again, the juice tinted blue making a wonderful contrast with the other scents in the coffrets which are peachy, ambery and green. The bottle reprised the design of the scents in the line-up in architectural sparse lines reminiscent of the classic design of yore. The name changed to Mille et Une Roses (in plural, please note, due to grammatical structures of French dictating it) which simply means 1001 Roses, because the millenium celebration moniker was no longer applicable.
While Mille et Une Roses by Lancôme can be found at counters which have the other scents of La Collection (such as Saks), 2000 et une Rôse can be found on Ebay now and the lone etailer fetching quite high prices, aimed mostly at bottle collectors.
Comparison testing also suggests that the fragrance is quite close to the ambery rosiness of Stella Rose Absolute Eau de Parfum by Stella McCartney.

The other fragrances in Eau de Parfum concentration in the current coffrets of La Collection -in various arrangements within each presentation- are:
Magie (re-issue of the 1950 aldehydic-floriental scent),
Sikkim (re-issue of the 1971 leathery chypre scent),
Sagamore (re-issue of the masculine citrus 1985 scent) and
Climat (re-issue of the green aldehydic 1967 scent).
In 2007 Cuir joined the collection, with a rejingling of the juice launched as Cuir / Révolte in 1936, but its availability is limited to Europe and that only at select spots. (You can read a review of the re-issue here)
The newest addition is Peut-Être from 2008 by perfumer Natalie Lorson, merely sharing the name of a fragrance originally launched in the 1936 (Qui sait/Peut-Être which means "who knows/maybe").

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Lancome scents, Frequent Questions

Pics via perfumenetwork and Saks Fifth Avenue.