Two, Five & Seven

[whitewhale]

A huge bouquet of squished rose petals: Bulgarian rose, Somalian rose, Turkish rose, Damascus rose, red and white rose, tea rose, wine rose, shrub roses, rose, rose, rose…

…and just an itty bitty bit of green grass.

Being a HUGE fan of rose scents in general (before BPAL, I used to wear straight rose essential oil as my perfume), I was super excited about this one. Unfortunately, I got a little overzealous and bought about 50 imps at once, so I didn't get to try it right away.

I did on Friday, though, finally, and fell in love immediately. I ordered a bottle within five minutes of putting it on my skin. BEAUTIFUL varied rose scents, fresh greenery, sweetness...oh, it's heaven. This is definitely one of my new favourites.

[caitilarkin]

Frimp from the lab--I've avoided rose scents for my entire life, since rose-based perfumes were worn daily and generously by my dad's bossy, controlling aunts. Maybe it's time to overcome some negative childhood associations.

 

In the imp: Just like the description: rose, rose, rose...sweet and flowery but not cloying

 

Wet on skin: The rose is multi-layered and complex, but I'm not familiar enough with different rose notes to discern them individually. Moreoever, the rose garden has been invaded by something that smells like rotten vegetation.

 

Dry on skin: GAH. The rotting vegetation has challenged the roses to a death match.

 

The rotting/sour/rancid smell lasted as long as the roses did--about three hours. For me, this scent evoked both month-old cabbage and my great aunt Lida. Not a keeper.

[femmefatale]

Wet and in the imp it's a very sweet rose with just the barest hint of something bright and green.

 

As it dries on my skin it's a little less sweet with a slightly fresher smell to it. It *almost* smells like this yummy fair trade soap I get from this funky store. Almost, but not quite. There is something there that is just keeping it from smelling like rose soap.

 

As it dries further the grass comes at more and adds it's own crisp sweetness, but never overtakes the rose.

 

This is defnitely a summer rose scent, not heavy and rich at all. It's a brighter, more lively rose.

I am soooo happy someone kindly frimped me this. At some point I will be getting a bottle.

[Schmoozy]

I adore rose, but Two, Five & Seven is a rose scent that I really have to be in the mood to wear.

At times the sweetness of rose can be overpowering, but when the mood is right the green grass balances out the sweetness and I am left with a feminine rose with a blast of green.

The grass feels lush and wet and rose is velvety and smooth. When it's good it's very good, and when it's bad, it feels like a rose garden vomited on me.

[obsidienne]

In the imp: so many juicy gorgeous roses! a hint of sweet green grass! YUM!

 

Wet: ... so many JUICY GORGEOUS roses! a hint of sweet green grass! YUM!

 

Drydown: some of the more delicate roses fade, but still plenty enough remains to appease me. still a hint of sweet green grass. Still yum.

 

Far drydown: lots of rose, but it gets a little less juicy and complex as it dries and my chemistry does whatever it does to try to tame it all; however, one rose in particular remains that is thick and spicy and almost... drunk? and one also that's bright and white and almost fruity. There must be others in there, I just can't really distinguish them anymore. Still some grass. Still fricking yum. Totally gorgeous. Transcendantly rose. I don't know what else to say, I just love it.

 

A little goes a long way. Throw is medium to good.

 

Completely big bottle worthy.

[ankhfangirl72]

Woah, I love rose but this is a LOT of rose. It's predominantly a sugary tea rose on me but I can smell that there are other roses lurking in the background somewhere behind the tea rose. There's a little bit of grassy green-ness but yeah, mostly tea rose. It's strong too and I only put on a dab from my imp wand! This is definitely not one to slather all over. I do like it but I'm going to be very careful about my application when I wear it.

Edited October 23, 2008 by *Dani*

[jessu]

I am a rose fiend, so this was obviously on my list to try. It took me a while, but I finally got around to it.

 

It leaked it transit to me, and smelled awful. The whole package reeked of nail polish remover. I was hoping for better results on my skin than on the scotch tape, but wet on my arm my first impression was still nail polish remover.

 

Thankfully, that stage only lasted a minute! It was followed by a complex rose stage. Like the description says, there are all sorts of roses stuffed in here. Lush roses, wet roses, dry roses... and a minute later, there's the grass!

 

It does get a bit perfumey on me, which I suppose I consider either a good or bad thing, depending on my mood. I'm keeping it as part of my rose collection, but I don't see myself wearing it that often. As far as straightforward roses go, I'd reach for London over this.

[BelleAnge]

I've had this scent on my wishlist for ages. I was so sure that I would love it. I have always loved rose scents. I got an imp of this in a swap and eagerly applied some, hoping for a lovely rose scent. I didn't get even a hint of rose though. Even in the imp this one smells like a cheap pine air freshener. I hoped that the cheap pine scent would fade and the rose would come out. Never happened. Another for the swap pile.

[tigerfish]

I grabbed an imp of Two, Five & Seven, not because I thought I would like it but because I love Lewis Carroll's stories so much and "Two, Five and Seven painting the rosebush" is one of my favourite illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. Like everyone said, it's rose, rose, rose and then some. Not sweet or old-fashioned or girly, like I expected it to be, but just pure rose and gras. It reminds me of the lovely rose oil that they had in our ryad in Morocco last summer. Before BPAL I hardly ever wore parfume, but I enjoyed slathering myself with mint or rose oil while we where there.

 

In the bottle: Rose, rose, rose - but also a bit sharp.

On skin: Yum, it's even better when I wear it. A morning stroll through the rose garden, the petals still covered with dew, accompanied the smell of green gras.

 

It's such a pretty, soothing scent. I poured half the imp over myself and my blanket before going to bed yesterday and slept like a baby. Despite a morning shower the scent is still there in the early afternoon and going strong. I'm probably leaving a rose cloud behind everywhere I go - my poor office mate, I will have to tune it down a bit in the future. But oh, I really, really love this one! *sniffs-wrist-happily*

[LadyLuckless]

This is an odd scent... I'm a complete rosaholic, but I can't do this one. At a sniff, I get rose with an odd fruity undertone, like a rose-flavored jellybean would have. Sometimes I can't smell the rose at all! I think I'm going to blame the fruity weirdness on the "wine rose", and will avoid it in the future. Thank goodness I discovered the glorious Rose Cross in the same pack of imps, or I'd be crushed through rose sadness!

[lothien]

This came as a frimp in my last order. I'm eager to try out roses, so I'm game.

 

In this imp this *scares* me. I get 'rancid.' Smushed rose petals, indeed. I dab a spot.

 

Wet, it's still damaged-smelling and I pray it's one of those notes that burn off. This is not one to apply in the car with others or anywhere public.

 

As it dries it gradually improves, and the majority of the "smushed" scent fades and the multitude of roses begins to come out, and the drier it gets the more it smells like a huge rose garden.

 

It's very pretty, though I still prefer the dark rose of The Peacock Queen and Black Rose, this has a nice depth and not as sweet as I was afraid as it would be. What others are getting as sugary I am getting as the edge of decay (which does make me wonder what others are perceiving when I wear it... sugar or bruised flowers?).

 

Not something I will need a bottle of, but definitely one I will enjoy.

[MaidMirawyn]

I love this one. It came as a frimp from a decant circle (thanks, dpoulsen21), and it was on my wishlist.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how different all the rose fragrances are. This is different than the other rose scents, especially The Peacock Queen. Unlike Peacock Queen's bold roses, this is greener, with a definite herbal background. But it's still roses, for sure. Softer, more modern roses, not full-bodied heady roses.

 

Beautiful. Though I have NO idea why my husband said it made him think of SweeTarts!

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Roses, with a tart tang.

 

Wet: The tang is still there, but it's sweeter now. It's developing new depth every few seconds; I'm going to leave it to see what develops.

 

Twenty minutes: All roses, all the time. Yet it smells light hearted, not heavy and intense like attar of roses. It reminds me very much of a jar of Pakistani rose petal jam; I could eat this with no problem.

 

One hour: Still rose petal jam. Yum! Finally a foodie scent I can get behind 100%!

 

Two and a half hours: Yep, still jammin'.

 

Four hours: And still jammin'. I really like this, but I don't think I'd have occasion to wear it often. Maybe I'll trade it.

 

Five hours: All jam, all the time.

 

I eventually decided to keep this, at least for a while. I'm fond of rose scents, and this is a nice one.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

I am a big rose fan. Love em, always have. I even used to wear just a single note rose essential oil sometimes when I was 12 or 13, and sometimes I'd mix it with other oils...In any case, I'm always on the lookout for interesting rose blends from BPAL. I haven't for the most part, been blown away by some of the ones I've tried so far, but Two, Five, and Seven like Kurukulla is changing all of that! Two, Five, and Seven is a veritable bouquet of various shades of roses. The slight diversity of roses adds a lot of depth and interest to this blend...I keep going back to see which ones I can pick out of the blend, because they're all just swirling around in there. This is a blend I'll be getting tons and tons of use out of this spring. It's bright and joyful and luscious and pretty! I'll probably end up getting a bottle of this when my finances allow!

[Dracoo9]

Form: Frimp from the lab.

 

I love Rose Red so I was expecting TFaS to smell similiar. To my nose they're not even close. Rose Red has a strong, freash smell to it that makes me think of a large, bright, blooming, red rose. Smelling TFaS I think of a small little pink rose. This smells more powdery to me and mostly of tea rose like-ness then my beloved Rose Red.

6/10

[wonderfinch]

I'm a huge fan of rose scents, so I couldn't say no to this :3

In the bottle: It smells like rose-scented Windex. Not a good first impression, but there's a gorgeous rosy scent underneath the first whiff of chemicals.

Wet: The roses become a little more prominent when I put this on, but god, I smell like Windex, and I'm not too happy about it.

Twenty minutes later:No more chemicals-- now, I just smell like I've burst forth from the ground in a rose garden. I can't pick out any of the individual roses, it's just a riot of petals. And I don't think I mind.

Several Hours Later: It's dried down to a nice, powdery rose scent. The petals aren't so much a riot as a nice, polite tea party, and they've settled down wonderfully.

 

Unfortunately, the scent faded pretty quickly. I'm kind of a dabber, though (I apply my BPAL with paintbrushes), so I wasn't too surprised. When I slathered some on the next day after my shower (at 6h00), I could still smell the roses at 19h00. I'll find a way to get it to stay longer, but it's definitely a keeper.

[Bluestocking]

In the imp: Rose, rose, rose, rose! There's just the faintest trace of green, which doesn't smell like grass to me so much as green leaves and stems, but on the whole this is a sweet, dewy, freshly-cut rosebud. It's a very pink rose to me, oddly enough (maybe that's what you get when you mix white and red…), and it definitely smells like a bud rather than something in full bloom. It's surprisingly light and delicate.

On, wet: The roses bloom when this hits my skin, so no more demure little buds; these are big, fat, lush and beautiful roses. It's like rolling around in a bed of fresh, damp rose petals… and just when I think this is all rose, here comes that promised hint of green grass to accent the rose and keep it from getting too heady.

On, dry: A little bit sweeter, but otherwise unchanged. This is just the heady, intoxicating scent of sitting in a rose garden, and it really brings back memories for me—my mother, grandmother and next-door neighbor all had very lush rose gardens, and this perfectly captures the way they smelled in the early summer. It's the closest thing to a real rose scent that I've ever smelled in a perfume. It's also a wet, dewy sort of rose—not at all powdery or dry, nothing like old lady perfume.

Later: Fainter, sweeter, but still the smell of a rose garden.

Overall: The most glorious, velvety, true-to-life rose I've ever smelled. Though I've frequently enjoyed rose as a supporting note, I could never imagine myself going for such a rose-centric scent—until I tried this. My one quibble is that it doesn't last all that long, but it really isn't a hardship to slather myself in something that smells this good.

 

 

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Unsurprisingly, rose. Oddly it smells like the rose in rose flavoured Turkish delight – whether this means it’s Turkish rose I don’t know

 

Wet on me – Again with the roses; soft, luscious, slightly powdery and slightly sweet

 

Dry on me – As they dry the roses become darker and harder, but still keep an edge of sweetness

 

Overall – I’m amazed to say I like this, what with this and Katrina von Tassel, I could be becoming a convert to rose scents

 

[inkaddict]

My first bpal heartbreak

 

In the imp: sharp, almost sweat-like. Uh-oh.

 

Wet: not sweat, thank god, yet still unbearably sharp.

 

Dry:

SharpsharpunpleasantSHARP! No rose at all, just the occasional waft of something floral.

My skin *eats* roses and makes them disappear -see Zombi- but this is simply made of failure on me.

 

But it's rose, my great love, and I noticed with other blends (Vampire Tears, Midway) that my nose sometimes needs a few tries to reset and get in tune with a scent, so I still had hope.

I gave it another couple of tries, but nothing changed. Off to swaps.

[frecklestars]

This was the first scent that really made me fall in love with BPAL!

 

In the bottle: a riot of roses! it's sweet and smells exactly like a huge, tangled, and overgrown rose garden. it's also slightly spicy, the way the best rose scents are (but not in a cinnamon sort of way). I don't smell any green grass, just straight-up juicy ripe fully bloomed or over-bloomed roses. everywhere.

 

On my skin: the roses in this are simply amazing. it isn't even overly girly, which is what I was dreading. instead, it's sensual and fabulously rich. it also doesn't turn powdery or fade from its' rose-y glory.

 

Last thoughts: it doesn't compare to The Peacock Queen - it's not fully sensual, but is a joyous spring garden too. and it's lovely, though pretty traditionally rose. a little juicier maybe. I <3 roses. if you don't, this is not the scent you want.

Edited April 19, 2011 by frecklestars

[anna1850]

Rose and grass. Maybe a bit too high and sweet really. It's not as deep as Rose Red or anything.

 

This is more like a rose soap or rosewater than a real rose. I don't know if I'll wear it much though and sometimes I can smell something in it that smells vaguely like manure.

 

Overall, there's a bit too much green and it all ends up a bit sharp and spiky.

 

2.5/5 There's better rose scents out there.

[spoilsofwar]

In the bottle: Duh. Rose. And it's so soft and lovely, actually. I'm usually anti-rose because it's kind of... I don't know. I love the smell of roses, but I don't want to smell like a rose. But this, I pulled out from time to time to sniff. Finally, decided to test it this weekend.

 

Wet: Here was my reaction: "OHMYGODGETITOFFMEGETITOFFME! I think I'm gonna be sick. OMG, no. I've got a headache. Ugh. Now I'm gagging. It's sort of... rancid and amonia-y but maybe I just need to let it dry down." It took three hours to dry down on me. THREE HOURS.

 

Once dry: It actually faded into a lovely scent, but I'm not going through 3 hours of rancid, rotting roses again. BLEH.

[stellans]

It's taken me all day to think about this review. I love rose blends, with very few exceptions, and I was looking forward to this one today. I was therefore a bit blind-sided when I applied a bit of Two, Five & Seven first thing this morning and caught a hint of something that hinted at...candy cigarettes? That is just SO wrong!

 

Later, the rose scents came out a bit more aggressively, but with a slight juicy note underneath that was a little fruity rather than roses. This one is a puzzler, and I think I will have to retry it again someday for a more comprehensive review. For now, I'm leaving this as undecided.

Edited June 18, 2011 by stellans

[milo]

Rose, rose and more ROSE!! If you are a rose lover, you'll love this. Most of the time rose does not work for me, and this is no exception. At first, I got some citrussy orange, but that quickly burnt off. It does get kind of honeylike in the dry-down. Off to swaps with ya!

[cleske]

(I was sure I had reviewed this, apparently not!) I really, really wanted to love this. I always want to love rose fragrances, and every time they seem to turn on me. At first the roses in this were beautiful, but after an hour they became too sweet, then soured and vanished into powder. My quest for a rose that doesn't hate me continues!